DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES & LITERATURES

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

COURSE TITLE: Beginners’ Japanese I
COURSE CODE: JAPA 1001
LEVEL: 1
SEMESTER: Semester 1 and 2
NO. OF CREDITS: 3
PRE-REQUISITE: None

COURSE RATIONALE
This course introduces Japanese as a foreign language for beginners. Classes will focus on
listening, speaking along with reading and writing for better development of students' language
and communication skills.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The aim of the course is to develop mastery of the basic grammar and writing systems of the Japanese
language as well as listening and oral communication skills. Japanese alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana)
and basic Chinese characters (Kanji) will be introduced.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course students should be able to:
a) read and write Japanese alphabets along with basic Chinese characters;
b) communicate with Japanese speakers at a very basic level;
c) talk about themselves using simple structures.

CONTENT
TOPICS
Classroom and daily expressions
Introducing yourself
Introducing your family
Expressing likes and dislikes
Talking about your favorite foods, sports, music, etc.
Talking about your daily life
Talking about how you spend or spent Friday night

GRAMMAR
The structure of noun-predicate sentence
The particle “~no” (indicating belonging, affiliation, etc.)
Family terms (plain and honorific)
Various Japanese counters (people, general items, age, year of school, etc.)
The structure of “~wa~ga sukidesu” (to like)
The structure of verb-predicate sentence: non-past and past
Two types of adjectives: Na-adjective and I-adjective
The structure of adjective-predicate sentence: non-past and past
TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Communicative Approach
Direct Method
Audio-Lingual Method

6 hours per week

4 seminars
1 lab
1 tutorial (conversation)

ASSESSMENT
4 In-course tests (60%) including:
 Oral 10%
 2 Written tests (15% each) 30%
 Listening comprehension 20%

Final Exam (40%) including:

 Oral 10%
 Written exam (2 hrs.) 30%

REQUIRED READING
NEJ A New Approach To Elementary Japanese Vol.1 (Kurosio Publishers)

J10A Beginners’ Japanese Hiragana Katakana Practice Booklet (The University of the West
Indies, Mona campus, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures)