Chabot College
Fall 2009
Replaced Fall 2010
Course Outline for Japanese 1A
BEGINNING JAPANESE
Catalog Description:
1A - Beginning Japanese
5 units
Introduction to the Japanese cultures of the world featuring the study and practice of the four
language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of Japanese. Strongly recommended:
eligibility for English 1A. 5 hours lecture, 1 hour laboratory.
[Typical contact hours: lecture 87.5, laboratory 17.5]
Prerequisite Skills:
None
Expected Outcomes for Students:
Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:
1. compare and contrast American and Japanese-speaking cultural practices in relation to speech,
social attitudes, and values;
2. demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the culture of Japanese-speaking people,
including formative historical events and relevant geographical information;
3. demonstrate proficiency in understanding and using, orally and in writing, the grammatical
structures presented and vocabulary assigned;
4. demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing of the hiragana and katakana syllabaries;
5. demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing thirty kanji characters;
6. demonstrate the ability to comprehend a short conversation composed chiefly of the vocabulary
and grammar studied;
7. apply the sentence patterns and grammar structures presented in the course to create new
sentences in culturally appropriate ways both orally and in writing;
8. conduct a simple, culturally sensitive conversation in Japanese on topics studied, using words
and expressions in structurally correct sentences;
9. write a coherent and culturally appropriate paragraph on a topic studied and/or discussed in class;
10. make simple descriptions in Japanese related to size, shape, and color orally and in writing;
11. demonstrate understanding of the basic phonetic principles of Japanese pronunciation.
Course Content (Lecture):
1. Introduction to the history and geography of Japan and other Japanese-speaking places
2. Social and cultural information necessary to understand important differences between Japanese
and American cultural practices and to be sensitive to cultural differences in social interactions
3. Introduction to Japanese phonetics through Romaji (Romanized Japanese)
4. Introduction to hiragana and katakana syllabaries
5. Thirty kanji characters
6. Functional vocabulary and grammar to allow students to:
a. identify themselves in the target language (name, age, nationality, place of birth, profession
or occupation) orally and in writing
b. greet others, make introductions, take leave, thank, and write simple culturally appropriate
expressions of thanks
c. order food and drink in restaurants, buy food in shops and markets, read menus, and write
shopping lists
d. discuss in simple terms their strengths and weaknesses in such things as languages, sports,
music, and marital arts
e. describe their daily routines using basic action verbs and appropriate time expressions
f. count, understand, and write numbers, and be sufficiently comfortable with numbers for
simple financial transactions in the currency of the target culture(s)
g. ask others their preferences in food, movies, books, or other aspects of popular culture, and
have culturally appropriate reactions
Chabot College
Course Outline for Japanese 1A, Page 2
Fall 2009
h. identify clock time, the date, the weather, and be able to read and write them as well
i. discuss in simple terms their likes and dislikes and to inquire in culturally sensitive terms into
likes and dislikes of others, orally and in writing
j. function successfully in basic cultural interactions that involve buying tickets and requesting
and paying for services (public transportation, taxis, post offices, hotels)
7. Syntax and grammar that allows students to correctly use orally and in writing:
a. present, past, and future tenses of affirmative and negative activity verbs
b. basic particles including o, wa, e, ga, ni, de, mo, kara, and made
c. command and request forms of verbs and sentences
d. basic interrogative expressions
e. basic adjectives in the present, past, and negative forms
f. progressive sentence structure
g. expressions of invitation
h. linking verbs in the affirmative and negative present and past tenses
i. demonstrative pronouns
j. comparative forms of adjectives
k. using “after” with progressive verbs
Course Content (Laboratory):
1. Activate lecture content using interactive audio and audiovisual programs on CDs, DVDs, CD
ROMS, target language websites, etc., featuring culturally authentic and contextual guided
speaking, reading, and writing activities such as cued repetition of native speech, dictations, cued
oral responses, listening comprehension, and interactive realia (culturally authentic texts).
2. Organized laboratory activities including conversation groups.
3. Fundamentals of Japanese writing (hiragana, katakna, and kanji) and pronunciation:
a. Writing and pronunciation of the forty-six hiragana characters.
b. The Japanese sound system, including voiced consonants, long vowels, double consonants,
and glides.
c. Reading and writing the katakana symbols
d. Introduction to kanji.
e. Pitch (high and low) accents
Methods of Presentation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lecture/discussion in target language
Choral/individual repetition of model speech
Re-creation of dialogues and improvisation
Small group activities leading to skits, dialogues, etc.
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
1. Typical Assignments
a. Demonstrate linguistic skills and cultural awareness in a restaurant skit.
b. Memorize especially useful lines for a typical, everyday conversation.
c. Write sentences that include basic biographical information, such as nationality, place of
birth, birthday, and current residence using hiragana and katakana characters.
d. Laboratory Assignment: make a recording of an extract from Tale of the Genji.
2. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress
a. Tests, quizzes (including kanji, hiragana, and katakana quizzes), and interviews to evaluate
the four language skills in relation to material presented
b. Student participation in class activities
c. Homework assignments
d. Recordings from the language laboratory to evaluate pronunciation skills.
e. Mid-term and final examination
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Chabot College
Course Outline for Japanese 1A, Page 3
Fall 2009
Textbook(s) Typical:
Yookoso, by Toosaku, Yasuhiko. 3rd edition, McGraw Hill, 2006.
Nakama 1 Introductory Japanese: Communication, Culture, Context, second edition by Yokiko Abe
Hatasa, Seiichi Makino, and Kazumi Hatasa, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company:
Boston, New York, 2009.
Special Student Materials:
None
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