Elementary Japanese 1A  Online Syllabus
City College of San Francisco
Fall 2007

Course Number:77951
Section Number: 831

   
Instructor: Mikiko Matsumura
E-mail: mmatsumu@ccsf.edu
Phone: (415) 452-5359
Mailing Address: 
Mikiko Matsumura
City College of San Francisco
50 Phelan Avenue, Box A4,
San Francisco, CA 94112
Office:  Arts 203
Office hour:  M 2:00-2:30 pm, Th 9:30-10 am, F 9:30-10 am or by appointment.

Office Hours
I will be available for consultation and additional help with difficulties you may experience in learning Japanese. All students are welcome to discuss any special academic interests or problems during the prescribed office hours. If these office hours conflict with your schedule, please contact me and a mutually convenient time for a meeting may be arranged.

Prerequisites
None

Course Description
Japanese 1A course description.

Objectives of the Course
After this course, students should be able to:

1. read and write Japanese syllabic letters (Hiragana).
2. read and write paragraphs in Japanese.
3. introduce yourself and introduce someone to someone.
4. talk about yourself (occupation, hobbies, something your like and dislike, something you are skillful and unskillful) and ask about someone
5. tell and ask locations
6. comment on something
7. tell activities that you do and don’t habitually, you will do and won’t do near future, and you did and did not in past
8. demonstrate appropriate manners of bowing, exchanging business cards, and addressing.
9. understand social, cultural and historical components of Japan

Observations
Japanese 1A is the first in a series of courses in which you are learning to communicate in Japanese. Communication means understanding what other say or write and transmitting your own messages in such a way as to avoid misunderstandings. What you are learning is a skill. It demands a great deal of practice and constant repetition. Do not become discouraged too quickly. Keep on practicing. Your proficiency will increase only with practice and repetition.

Required Textbooks
1. Learn Japanese Vol.I by City College of San Francisco 
2. Hiragana Worksheet by City College of San Francisco
All required materials are available at CCSF Bookstore phone: 415-239-3470

Required Equipment and Software Programs
Besides a computer and a headset with a microphone, you will need several software programs to help you practice Japanese language. Click on the link to download software to your computer.

1. Headset with a microphone.
2. Web Cam (optional)
3. Skype (free, should be downloaded to your local computer), for making free phone calls over the Internet and talk to other students and the teacher.
4. QuickTime Player (free, should be downloaded to your local computer), to view somepresentations.   
5. Support for entering and dispalying Japanese.  
            
6. Technical Support
   CCSF WebCT Technical Support or call toll free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: (866) 238-6867.
   
   

Class Participation
As we are using the COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH, oral class participation is essential. You should use Skype software and practice oral / aural practice and communication with your classmates and instructor. Also, you are required to post weekly messages, questions, and answers in English, Japanese, and Roma-ji (Roman letters) through Discussion Board and email. Your active participation will benefit the classmates as well as yourself.

Homework and Assignments
You should set aside a total of about 3 hours (minimum) per week for practice and study for this course. You will have homework/assignments for each week. The assignments will be reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and will require that you practice materials so you can use them with ease. You must practice sufficiently with those materials to be able to eventually perform without referring to the book or written notes.

Doing the exercise once will not be enough. Like any skill, language requires repetition and persistence. Just as you would not take a tennis ball and racquet and strike the ball once and believe you are ready to win a tennis match, or just as you would not sing a song once and feel you are ready to give a performance on stage, so is it with exercises in Japanese. They need to be repeated over and over and over and over and over… It is very important to repeat the same exercise until you can do it with a certain degree of fluency and confidence.

Review
You should frequently review the materials of the preceding chapters. While doing chapter 3, for example, you are expected to be able to use the structures and vocabulary from the previous chapters. Each chapter is a stepping stone to the next one. You cannot perform well with the chapter 5 materials if you are not proficient with the structure and vocabulary of chapters 1-4. 

Quizzes and Exams
There will be an online test and aural and oral test at the end of each chapter. The lesson tests will be cumulative (e.g., lesson 2 test will be based on lesson 1-2, etc.). The purpose of these tests and quizzes is to give you and me an indication of your progress: what has been mastered and what needs work.
There will be no make-up exams or quizzes except for some emergencies. (e.g., unplanted business trips, family emergencies, hospitalization, etc.) Please be sure to contact me. There is the face to face mid-term exam will be based on all materials covered up to that point.

Oral Tests on the Phone
Four oral tests are required to take in this course. Each test will be taken with Skype at the end of each chapter. A week before each phone test, you are requested to make an appointment with the instructor via email.

Final Exam
The final exam will be a comprehensive exam covering all the material in the course. You must take the in-person final exam on the day specified in the schedule. If, for some reason, you are unable to do so, you must request the instructor give you a grade of incomplete, and then take the exam later (see the catalog for regulations of the removal of a grade of incomplete).

CR/NC Option
This course may be taken on a CREDIT / NO CREDIT  or on a LETTER GRADE basis. The credit/no credit option does not mean you are not getting credit for the class. It means that:

• instead of the letter grades A, B, or C you would have the notation CR on your transcript;
• instead of the letter grades D or F you would have the notation NC on your transcript.

If you choose the CR/NC option, it is your responsibility to declare to the Office of Admissions and Records the intention to take the course on a credit /no credit basis no later than deadline date established in the Calendar of Instruction. You need to submit the request on the appropriate forms.

Final Grade
Students will receive a letter grade based on the following:

Your FINAL GRADE will be an estimation of how proficiently you communicate when using the materials introduced during the semester. Because of the complex nature of language learning, it is impossible to compute this by averaging scores or ay any other mathematical means. Language learning is cumulative. Performance towards the end of the semester, and especially on the final exam will weigh more heavily than the performance in the easier, earlier part of the semester.

A system of letter grades is used to indicate the quality of work done by students:

A:  Excellent              
B:  Good               
C:  Satisfactory
D:  Passing, less than satisfactory
F:  Failing
CR:  Credit (At least satisfactory, C or better)
NC:  No Credit (less than satisfactory / failing)

Class Policies

1. All online tasks and assignments need to be completed by due dates. 
2. Late work will be accepted without penalty up to one week after the due date. 
3. Assignments later than one week will be marked lower.                            
4. Participation (Read Participation ) is required.                                  
5. Textbook and materials are required.                             
6. Academic dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated.
   All submitted work should be your own.
7. Each student is expected to read and consult Student Handbook of City College of San Francisco.

Accomodations for Students with Disabilities
Students who need academic accommodations should request them from the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) located in the Rosenberg Library, Room 323 on the Ocean Campus. Telephone: 415-452-5481 (V)  415-452-5451 (TDD). DSPS is the campus office responsible for verifying disability-related need for academic accommodations, assessing that need, and planning accommodations in cooperation with students and instructors as needed and consistent with course requirements.