This introductory refresher program, works with the textbook, Yookoso : An Invitation to Contemporary Japanese  (Chapters 1-3) and its accompanying workbook, to review the following grammatical and functional points: the copula, and basic verb patterns, basic particles, existence verbs, personal pronouns & demonstratives, adjectives & adverbs, location & position, likes & dislikes and to learn to converse and understand Japanese on the topics of ‘school and classmates’, ‘my town’, and ‘everyday life’.  Hiragana and Katakana will be reviewed and 100 Kanji studied. 

The course may be counted towards a Master of Asia-Pacific Studies or Master of Arts (Asia-Pacific Studies).

By the end of the course, the successful learner will:

• consolidate an understanding of introductory Japanese, focusing on all four skills.
• develop the linguistic skills needed to progress from a basic knowledge of Japanese to an intermediate level of understanding
• consolidate grammatical and communicative understanding of introductory Japanese and begin to develop functional skills at an intermediate level 
• learn to understand and participate in a variety of everyday situations in Japanese 
• develop language-learning strategies to help take charge of one’s own Japanese language learning
• learn about a variety of socio-cultural information useful to learners of Japanese
• consolidate reading skills: both hiragana and katakana, and up to 100 kanji.

Workbook Pre-Class Preparation Tasks  10%

Homework 25%

Take-home Final Exam  40%

Oral Test  15%

Attendance & Participation  10%

1.5 hours of class per week with one hour preparation and one hour homework expected.

Departmental consent.

Introductory level of Japanese.

Tohsaku Yasu-Hiko, Yookoso: An Invitation to Contemporary Japanese, Third Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Tohsaku, Yasu-Hiko, Workbook / Laboratory Manual to accompany Yookoso: An Invitation to Contemporary Japanese, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005