Japanese IV: Japanese Newspaper Reading and News Listening (313-1-20)
Instructors
Noriko Taira Yasohama
8474671986
1880 Campus Drive, Kresge Hall, Office 4-552
Office Hours: Varies quarter to quarter, please check with instructor.
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-329: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
AY 23-24 JAPANESE 313-1 is an upper-intermediate fourth-year Japanese language course. All of the fourth-year Japanese courses have the common goal of bringing students' overall proficiency towards the Advanced-Low defined by the proficiency guidelines of American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) or B1.2 defined by the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) by the end of the year as close as possible. JAPANESE 313-1 centers on the reading and analysis of news articles curated by the instructor. The focus will be on enhancing students' news reading-comprehension abilities through systematic vocabulary building that includes collocations, idioms and kanji compounds. Students will have the opportunity to practice their newly acquired vocabulary in discussions that develop ideas from the articles read in class. Students will also hone their listening-comprehension skills by watching and listening to news. This course does NOT provide training for writing skills development (All students taking this course are expected to have at least the intermediate-level writing skills, equivalent to the end of JAPANESE 211-3, and should be able to write an opinion paper in the plain style). The students who need writing skills development should take JAPANESE 314-1.
Registration Requirements
Students must have completed JAPANESE 211-3 with C- or above, or must be placed into the class by the departmental placement test.
Learning Objectives
Upon the successful completion of the course, the students will be able to 1) understand non-technical news articles and news without heavily relying on a dictionary; 2) summarize the main point of news articles concisely; 3) express thoughts about issues covered in the news; and 4) gain awareness to social issues of contemporary Japan and analyze them in the cultural context.
Teaching Method
Classes are conducted only in Japanese. Class time will be used for vocabulary building practices (e.g., paraphrasing, providing definitions in Japanese) and for discussions. Active and productive class participation and class performance are expected.
Evaluation Method
Kanji/vocabulary quizzes, assignments; oral and written examinations; Presentations; active and productive class participation and class performance.
Class Materials (Required)
(To be provided via CANVAS)
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have passed Japanese 211-3 with at least a C- or be placed in according to placement test results.
Prerequisite: Students must have passed Japanese 211-3 with at least a C- or be placed in according to placement test results.