Soko Gakuen Japanese Language School
1881 Pine Street
San Francisco, California 94109
Phone 415-928-9608
https://sokogakuen.org

COURSE SYLLABUS

Term (Contact hours) .............. WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, & FALL (33 hours each)
Class & Section ........................... PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION SA or ME
Instructor ....................................... TBA
Meeting day & Time .................. Saturday 1:00-4:00 p.m. or Monday 6:00-9:00 p.m.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
After several quarters of this course, you should be able to:
l. expand vocabulary, comprehension, and other communication skills;
2. develop linguistic and communicative competence;
3. understand "Speaking Rules" and the relation between linguistic "form and function";
4. recognize degree of formality, uses of silence, appropriateness of questions, types of questions, gender and age-related restrictions of interlocuters; in Japanese.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
1. Handouts prepared by the instructor.
2. Online
    a) Japanese newspapers
https://sokogakuen.org/newspapers.html
    b) Practice Japanese online
http://coelang.tufs.ac.jp/english/modules/en/dmod/index.html
  
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/signs
http://www.ajalt.org/sj
http://www.webjapanese.com/photo
http://www.schei.com/cgi-bin/flash.cgi
    c) Online translation
http://jisho.org
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html
http://www.rikai.com/cgi-bin/HomePage.pl?Language=En
    d) Online resources
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/links
http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/00_songs.html

EVALUATION
1. One final exam (2.5 hours).
2. Upon successful completion (80% or higher attendance rate and 80% or higher final exam score) of the course, a STUDENT PROGRESS REPORT will be written if requested at the time you take the final exam.
3. Your final exam score (%) and attendance (%) will be kept in a digitized form @STUDENT GRADES AND INFORMATION REPOSITORY.

TEACHING STYLE & PROCEDURES
1. In this course, an eclectic teaching method is used.
2. In class, student and teacher (and student and student) will engage in interactive language activities, dialogs and a variety of exercises, using Japanese as much as possible.
3. Students will reinforce and develop vocabulary, structure, listening and conversational skills through weekly assignments.
*Weekly assignments on specific dates may be available from your instructor in class.

PLEASE NOTE
1. You are expected to complete all assignments before coming to class.
2. Please be on time for class; otherwise, you interrupt the lesson for others. Regular class attendance and participation are essential for language learning.
3. The results of your final exam (%) and attendance (%) will be kept in a digitized form @STUDENT GRADES AND INFORMATION REPOSITORY Your PROGRESS REPORT will be kept in the Soko Gakuen Records Office, and the Office will release it only upon your request.
4. When you obtain a score of 80% or higher on the final exam, you move up to a higher level class or remain in this class. Soko Gakuen's exit criteria for each class/level are based on the 1987 ACTFL Japanese Language Proficiency Guidelines.

POLICY ON THE FINAL EXAML
If you are unable to take the final exam on the scheduled date due to circumstances beyond your control, the exam will be given only in a similar test-taking situation (under supervision of an instructor at Soko Gakuen). Unless the final exam is made up before the PROGRESS REPORT is submitted (from the instructor to the Soko Gakuen Office), NO CERTIFICATES shall be issued.

ALL THE ENDEAVORS OF THE TEACHER WILL FAIL TO INSURE SUCCESS UNLESS YOU PREPAREWITH DILIGENCE
AND CONSTANCY THE EXERCISES TO BE GIVEN IN CLASS.

GAMBARI MASHO!


Soko Gakuen's tuition is the lowest rate possible while keeping its high level of quality.