About Japanese Program

Welcome! My name is Hiroko Takagi. I am the course-chair of the Japanese program at the University of San Diego. It is my pleasure to give you a brief sketch of our program.
 

Program Goal

The goal of the Japanese program is to provide our students with elementary and intermediate training in Japanese language and culture. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills are equally emphasized.

History

Our program was started in 1989 with one small class of first semester Japanese. We now offer two first semester (Japanese I) and one third semester class (Japanese III) each Fall. Each Spring we offer two second semester classes (Japanese II) and one fourth semester class (Japanese IV). We have between 40 and 60 students each Fall, although that number declines to about 30 in the Spring. This is because the University has established a general education requirement of only 3 semesters of a foreign language, so some of the students who completed Japanese III in the Fall leave the program.
 

Teaching Method

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures has adopted a teaching method called the "Intensive Language Model"--ILM for short--which is advocated by Dr. John Rassias of Dartmouth College. I feel that oral proficiency is the most difficult of the four skills to gain when a professor employs traditional classroom instruction methods. ILM promotes oral proficiency. Under this system, all first and second semester students take three hours per week of instruction with a master teacher like myself. They also spend another three hours per week in drill classes conducted by Apprentice Teachers--we call them AT's. AT's are usually undergraduate students trained by master teachers before the semester begins to use the special ILM techniques. They are closely supervised by the master teacher with whom they work and are observed in the classroom by the Director of the ILM Program and other faculty. AT's convey the meaning of materials already presented by the master teacher through enthusiastic and energetic dramatization and provide our students with the encouragement to speak the language in a non-threatening, very supportive environment.
 

In addition to spending 6 hours in the classroom per week, students spend time in the Media Center on campus listening to audio tapes and/or viewing videos. They also complete written exercises in our computer lab.

Study Abroad

In 1997, the University established a formal relationship with Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan through the auspices of the Institute for the Education of International Students. One student has already returned from spending a very successful semester in Nagoya. Another two students are there this semester and a fourth student has been accepted for the Spring 1999 term. Although students need only have completed two semesters of Japanese to be eligible to study abroad, those who we have sent so far have completed the fourth semester here at USD. Nanzan University offers our students advanced Japanese language instruction. It also offers courses which are conducted in English in all of the other disciplines available to our students on the USD campus. Naturally, the greatest benefit that Nanzan University provides our students is complete emersion in Japanese culture.
 

Community Sercice-Learning

This semester, our third semester students are participating in community service-learning projects. Four of them are assisting a Japanese teacher in his class at Mission Bay High School. Others are helping Japanese-speaking children at Doyle Elementary School in La Jolla to learn English. Since this is the first semester that a community service-learning component has been included in the curriculum, we have not found other community partners who would be able to utilize the Japanese skills of our students. If you feel that you, or someone you know, might be able to offer such an opportunity to our students, I would very much appreciate it if you would let me know. New opportunities to work with the community would give our students a sense of usefulness to the San Diego community and would instill pride in their ability to communicate in Japanese beyond the classroom setting.

Before I close, I would like to give you some Japan-related resources in San Diego and also on Internet, which I am certain that you will enjoy.

Thank you so much for your interest in the Japanese program and I hope to see you in my class or in my office in the near future. If you are not in our area, I am looking forward to talking with you over telephone or via e-mail.
 
 

Created on December 6, 2000