Goals of the Japanese Language Program

Basic Japanese grammar except passive, causative, and causative-passive forms

• the skill to talk about familiar topics related to daily life, such as one's self, family and school

• the skills to write personal letters, notes, personal journals, e-mails, etc.
• thorough skills in basic writing rules and penmanship

• the skills to read personal letters, e-mails, short essays, simple stories, etc.
• the ability to recognize the difference between spoken Japanese and written Japanese

• the skill to understand daily conversation in basic personal and social contexts

• acquire survival skills in Japanese

• the skill to express familiar topics related to daily life smoothly and with appropriate usage that reflects the social hierarchy
• the skill to create multiple-sentence narratives

• the skill to distinguish written styles from speaking styles
• the writing skill to use conjunctions and organize one's own idea and thought

• the skills to read personal letters, e-mails, essays, etc.

• the skill to understand paragraph-length speech and explanations, in addition to daily conversations

• gain appreciation and enthusiasm for cross-cultural understanding

• the skill to present one's opinion in paragraph form
• the skill to use conjunctions appropriately, and to combine learned and new material to accurately express oneself
• the skill to conduct presentations and interviews, and to participate in discussions
• the strategies to deal with social situations with unexpected complications

• the skill to summarize ideas and stories, etc.
• the writing skill to use conjunctions and newly introduced expressions accurately
• the writing skill to express one's own ideas and thoughts in organized paragraphs, including response essays

• the skill to thoroughly read instructional materials written for Japanese language learners, e.g. essays and short stories
• transitional strategies to go from careful/attentive reading to skimming, analyzing the structures of the materials

• the skill to grasp the general idea and content of movies, dramas, interviews, videos, news on the internet, etc.

• deepen one's understand of other cultures
• learn Japanese communicative skills in order to be comprehensible to native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives

• the skill to summarize one's opinion and to present it accurately
• to have sufficient control of the vocabulary for the JLPT N1 level
• the skill to conduct presentations and participate and lead discussions with accuracy and fluency
• the skill to express abstract concepts and describe scenes and one's feelings concretely

• an understanding of grammatical structures necessary for an academic thesis and how to structure one's own thesis
• the skill to summarize ideas and express them accurately
• vocabulary and kanji for the JLPT N1 level

• the skill to critically read various genres of published work, such as newspapers, essays, and short stories
• vocabulary and kanji for the JLPT N1 level

• the skill to develop a deeper understanding of video news on the internet, movies, dramas, interviews, documentaries, etc.
• the skill to comprehend speech and announcements even in a noisy environment or crowded area (for example, announcements at an airport)

• further deepen understanding of other cultures
• increase interest in international relations (Japan-US relations) and social issues