Like JAPN 111, JAPN 212 focused mainly on day-to-day spoken communications. This included regular opportunities to talk with classmates in Japanese during class, as well as a Zoom meeting with native speakers at the end of the semester. In contrast to JAPN 111, this course began to focus more on developing reading and writing skills. In this class, I had to read picture books regularly and write short summaries of them in both English and Japanese. This provided me with the opportunity to learn new words from context without needing to look them up, as well as practice with written output. This class also had several assignments that involved my classmates and me describing various things, such as favorite foods, items, and cities, and then asking follow-up questions to get more detail. Below are some examples of coursework.

このコースで日常会話を勉強するのが続きました。毎日クラスでクラスメートと日本語で話しました。あと、学期末にZoomで日本人の学生も話しました。それに、JAPN 111よりJAPN 212で読む練習と書き練習をしました。たとえば、学期中に簡単な絵本を読んで、絵本について日本語で書きました。絵本を読んで、辞書じゃないで新しい言葉を覚えられました。それがすごく良い練習だったと思います。最後にこのコースはクラスメートといろいろなものを詳しく説明する宿題がありました。下に２つの宿題の例があります。

Coursework Examples/宿題の例:

Picture Book/絵本:

JAPN212-PictureBookアンティ・ボールズ.pptx

For this assignment, I had to create a picture book that described the seasons in an area of my choosing. This assignment provided me with the ability to practice using the concepts I had recently learned in class and expressing my thoughts and feelings about the area I live in. This assignment was a valuable experience because it showed me that I was capable of being creative in Japanese.

これは私の辺の季節について絵本を書く宿題でした。この宿題は最近クラスで勉強したことを練習でした。私は私の辺について気持ちと思いを表現することができました。それに、この宿題の前に日本語でクリエイティブなことを作ったことがありませんでした。

Reading Log/読むレポート:

JAPN212Tadoku-Reading-Logs

These reading logs allowed me to learn new words and guess their meanings by seeing them in an easy-to-understand context. This assignment was also valuable because it gave me experience expressing my thoughts on a topic in two different ways: by summarizing the story and writing my impressions of it. Through these assignments, I was gradually able to write more as the semester progressed.

読むレポートを書くので私は新しい言葉を覚えられました。この宿題で思いを説明できて、良かったです。読むレポートのおかげで、私は書くのがどんどんとくいになりました。