Modules taken for fall semester,
Class name: 総合日本語3 (Comprehensive Japanese 3)
Level 3
I was planning to jump to Comprehensive Japanese 4 for my second semester but when I attended the introductory class, I realise that the level jump was too much for me. So I stuck to Level 3 class (which could help you pass JLPT N3). In the coming semester, they would be revamping the class with a new textbook. But in general this pace of this class is a little slow and about 35% of the class time was to prepare on research, presentation on how to do a research topic in Japanese. If you want to focus on grammar, the pace of this class is a little slower.
Class name: 現代の短編小説を読む３ (Reading Modern Short Novels 3)
Class teacher: 櫻木 紀子
Level 3
This was a tough class for me as it was too abstract, each week we would read a page from a modern novel. Then we have answer the questions posed by the teacher. The questions posed was always too abstract and sometimes, I don’t really understand what the teacher was saying. Alot of students in this class were actually from higher level like 4-6. The class format is mainly to discuss the paragraph in groups, then the teacher would go through the passage. The questions posed in the answer sheet was usually open ended and you would score a zero if you guess it wrongly. Not really my favorite class as it was too abstract. However, this class was fully registered from the first registration. 😛
Class name: 職場でのコミュニケーション２ (Communication at Workplace 2)
Class teacher: 中山 由佳
Level 2
One of the perks of being in CJL would be the huge range of Japanese business classes that you can choose from. Communication at Workplace classes range from the low level to the higher levels. The higher level classes go at a much faster pace and you have to interview with society people that the teacher would invite to class. I took the most basic class, where the teacher would go through the notes and we would do role play. Quite an easy class but it was quite fun as the people in my class were very spontaneous. The teacher in charge was also game to role play and really act out the character that we wrote out on days our partner is absent.
Class name: 日本の暮らしと行事を楽しもう２－３ (Enjoying Life, Culture & Seasonal Events in Japan 2-3)
Class teacher: 宇都宮 陽子
Level 2-3
Basically a fun class as quoted by the teacher where the teacher would go through various Japanese cultural and seasonal events in Japan. Each student have to do 1 solo presentation and a group presentation. In this class I went for Ikebana, Japanese Tea ceremony and Kimono experience class. There is also a higher level cutural class for level 4-8 students where they would take part in more activities (like the Sumo viewing). Do note that extra fees have to be paid for these cultural activities.
Class name: コミュニケーションの日本語文型３（1）(Japanese Sentence Patterns for Communication 3（ 1）)
Class name: コミュニケーションの日本語文型３（2）(Japanese Sentence Patterns for Communication 3（ 2）)
Class teacher: 春名 万紀子
Level 3
1 textbook is used for this class, Class 3(1) is from Chapter 1 – 35 and Class 3(2) is from Chapter 36 – 70. You can register for 1 class each semester or both classes at the same semester. Most of the grammar taught in this class should cover your JLPT N3. Pure grammar classes are usually boring but I think I learnt a lot of grammar this class and the teacher was very detailed in her explanation. If you do your homework weekly, there is no worry to scoring this class.
Class name: 男女の会話から学ぶ「ていねいな話し方」「うちとけた場面での話し方」３－４ (Formal and Informal Expressions in Spoken Japanese – Learn from Dialogues – 3-4)
Class teacher: 小池 恵己子
Level 3-4
The materials prepared by the teacher was a lot but she teaches the class at a rather fast pace. Most of the conversation learnt from this class is relevant to our daily life in Japan. Informal talking is tough for me in Japan as most of the classroom environment is on polite setting and most of the students would put their focus to learn business Japanese. However, out of the classroom on a daily life basis you have to speak like every Japanese in your daily life. This class would make an introduction to such informal speaking. Though, the pace of the speaking in this class is quite fast, so you have to listen really carefully.
Class name: 項目別日本語文法３ (Selected Topics in Japanese Grammar 3)
Class name: 項目別日本語文法４－５ (Selected Topics in Japanese Grammar 4-5)
Class teacher: 新井 慶子
Level 3, 4-5
My favorite classes, although the teacher speaks like a shinkansen but the topics she taught in this class is not so text book based. She makes you think of why such form of grammar is used in such a way for the Japanese language that we learnt routinely from the textbooks. Though there is much self revision and homework for this class but I think what I had learnt was very useful. In particular when the teacher went through the correct usage of particles since it was my weakest link. Definitely recommend this teacher’s class if you want to learn more and don’t mind the homework.
Xuan's Howdy Days 