The Japan Foundation, Sydney: Online Basic Japanese Course for Teachers of Japanese Stages 1-4

Online Basic Japanese Course for Teachers of Japanese Stages 1-4

The Japan Foundation, Sydney first offered the Online Basic Japanese Course for Teachers Stage1 in 2005. Stage 4 has now been completed and from this October, we will be offering all four stages of the course.

In this edition of Sensei’s Pages we would like to introduce the Online Course. We invite teachers who want to improve their Japanese language proficiency to take this course!

Feature of this course

This course

assumes a knowledge of the Japanese syllabary and ability to read hiragana and katakana.
is designed to be completed in 8 weeks, working at your own pace within the 8 week period.
* The eight units will be available online from each Monday. Previous weeks’ units will remain online for you to refer to during the course. Each unit will finish with a production task sheet. You will be required to complete each week’s production task sheet and fax it to the Japan Foundation by the following Monday.
is made up of 8 units in each stage (Stages1-4), the last being a revision unit.
includes written tasks to be completed at the end of each unit and sent to the instructor by email or fax.
offers optional speaking practice with the instructor by phone.

Course Contents

This course has been designed to cover the content of Level 4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLTP). As you take successive stages, the dialogues become longer and the sentence patterns introduced in each unit become more complex. In this way, you can learn Japanese usage and grammar patterns step by step.

The chart below is a list of the topics for each week of this course. The main character appearing in this course is a young Australian student, David, who lives in Japan. You can learn Japanese through David’s experiences in Japanese society.

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4
Week 1	Introducing yourself	Talking about your health	Year end cleaning	David goes on a diet
Week 2	Talking about your family	Looking for an apartment	Shopping	Gossip
Week 3	Your favorite food	Talking about a trip	Mysterious old woman	A surprise party
Week 4	Daily routine	Fitness camp schedule	Asking the way	At a sushi restaurant
Week 5	Talking about your holiday	Planning a holiday	Tatsuya’s birthday	Which one is he?
Week 6	Inviting friends	Preparing for a wedding	Wedding anniversary	After the film
Week 7	Teacher talk	Searching for a lost item	Class reunion	Good-bye, David!
Week 8	Revision test	Revision test	Revision test	Revision test

If you would like to know about the course content in more detail, please click the PDF icons.

	Stage 1 (48kb)
	Stage 2 (51kb)
	Stage 3 (56kb)
	Stage 4 (97kb)

Activities

These are examples of activities done in this course.

Dialogue
In this section you listen to an introductory dialogue in Japanese accompanied by flash animation. A written version of the dialogue is given for you to read, followed by an English translation. A vocabulary list and grammar notes are provided, and you can also download the dialogue on an MP3 sound file.

Vocabulary exercises
In this section you can check and reinforce vocabulary.

Matching fractured dialogues
In this section you learn conversational phrases by matching utterances and responses.

Listening exercises
There are two types of listening exercises, Listening Grab and Listening Task.
In each activity, you listen to the Japanese sentences and choose the pictures which match the sentences.
You can also download MP3 sound files here.

Kanji exercises
From Stage 2 you start learning kanji.
This section shows the stroke order of the kanji and you can download the Kanji Practice Sheet for writing practice.

Grammar exercises
From Stage 3 you practice grammar by putting words in sentences in the right order.

Reading exercise
From Stage 3, you have the opportunity to read authentic Japanese text. You can also hear and download the sound.

Typing exercises
From Stage 3 there is a typing exercise section.

Application procedure

Please visit the sample lesson (ID: guest, PW: view), try the exercises and check that your computer will enable you to fully access the course without problems. You need to make sure that your computer plays the sound, and enables you to read Japanese script and view PDF files.
Download an application form and submit it, with cheque payment,

Fees

Registration fee:

Stage 1	A$110	NZ$130
Stage 2	A$110	NZ$130
Stage 2 + view Stage 1	A$150	NZ$180
Stage 3	A$110	NZ$130
Stage 3 + view Stage 1&2	A$160	NZ$190
Stage 4 new!	A$110	NZ$130
Stage 4 + view Stage 1,2 & 3 new!	A$170	NZ$200
Writing	A$100	NZ$110

Please note that course fees are not refundable.
If you require a Tax Invoice for GST purposes, please contact us on (02) 8239 0077 or email jbasic@jpf.org.au.

Applications:

Applications close 23 October 2009.

Comments from participants of the Stage 4 Trial Course

“As with the previous Stages, I really enjoyed the opportunity to review my Japanese Language skills. The positive feedback was great and it was very encouraging to realize I could do it !!!”

‘This course, especially now that the grammar is becoming more complex has supported me in my own self study and in my teaching.”

“It is a great course and I am delighted to have been able to participate in it.”
“I think this is a wonderful opportunity for teachers of Japanese to focus on the language. I have found it really beneficial”

“I thank you for giving me the opportunity to partake in the Stage 4 On-line course. I have enjoyed all the Stages and have found them user-friendly with a variety of activities.”

Online Japanese Writing Course

For teachers with a more advanced level of Japanese, we also offer a Japanese writing course. This course was originally devised and managed by past Japanese Language Advisers at the Queensland LOTE Centre. For more information about this writing course, please click here.