Sophia Summer Session 2024 will be held in person.

Course Information

Japanese Language Courses are three-weeks intensive and divided into 4 levels. *
Students must attend three classes (period 1, 2, 3) everyday.

・Intensive Japanese 1 (100 level = beginner)
・Intensive Japanese 2 (100 level = intermediate)
・Intensive Japanese 3 (200 level = advanced-intermediate)
・Intensive Japanese 4 (200 level = advanced)

-Students will be placed in levels that are appropriate to their Japanese proficiency test score. The class level will be announced before classes begin.
*All courses are subject to change without notice.

Credit

Participants can obtain 3 credits upon successful completion of the course.

Study Hours

<For a course>
-100-minute lesson × 3 lessons a day × 14 days
-Total number of hours throughout the program: 70 hours

Class Size

Number of students per class and available courses may vary depending on the number of overall participants and their language levels.

Textbooks

Textbooks required for each course will be indicated on the syllabus. Please make sure to read through the syllabus in advance before the notification of your class level.

We suggest that you do not purchase the textbook until your class level is confirmed, which will be mid-June. Students starting at a beginner’s level, however, may want to purchase it beforehand to prepare yourself for the course.

Language Levels

Japanese 1

This course is designed for students with no or little knowledge of the Japanese language. This course focuses on survival Japanese that students can use immediately outside the classroom while learning basic grammatical structures, the Japanese writing systems (i.e., hiragana, katakana, and some kanji), and developing four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. By the end of this course, students are expected to handle a variety of daily conversations and read and write simple texts with hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

Japanese 2

This course is designed for students who already possess basic communication skills in Japanese, and have mastered hiragana, katakana, and approximately 150 basic kanji for both reading and writing. It will enable students to establish a stronger foundation of basic functional Japanese grammar and to develop more refined communicative abilities by integrating the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. By the end of this course, students will learn how to express their own ideas and opinions effectively in Japanese. Various aspects of traditional and modern Japanese culture will also be incorporated throughout the course. Students will also be expected to recognize and produce approximately 150 new kanji.

Japanese 3

This course is designed for students who have completed basic grammar. It aims to develop language proficiency in Japanese, integrating four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). The materials cover intermediate-level sentence patterns and expressions. Students are expected to become able to talk about life in Japan beyond the level of survival Japanese.

Japanese 4

このコースは上級の日本語をめざす学習者のためのコースで、中級から上級へ橋渡（はしわたし）をすることを目的としている。日本人の読者のために書かれた日本の生活、文化、社会、言語に関する読み物を読み、理解し、習った文型や表現を使い読んだ内容について書き、話し、意見の交換（こうかん）をできるようにする。また、書かれていることだけでなく、書かれていないメッセージも理解できるようになることを目的とする。

Grading System

Sophia Grading System

Participants will be graded according to the following table:

Each Grade is assigned a weight called The QUALITY POINT INDEX (QPI).
The number of credits of a course multiplied by QPI is the grade point (GP) of that course.

Transcript

An official transcript will be issued upon a successful completion of the program.
The transcript is available in hard copy only, and will be post mailed to the designated address by the end of August.

Credit Transfer

Participant expecting to transfer credits to another institution should seek for prior approval by the institution to which they wish to transfer the credits to. The syllabus and study hours will be helpful during the process.

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