First-Year Japanese through Anime and Manga I ASIANLAN123: Course Syllabus 3credits Instructor Yuta Mori Email: ymori@umich.edu Office phone: 734-936-8808 Office: South Thayer Building 5022 Office Hours: Tuesday 4:00-5:00 pm Friday 2:30-3:30 pm Meeting Time Section1 Time:12:00-1:00 Classroom: 1265NQ Section2 Time:4:00-5:00 Classroom: G311 DENT The class meets THREE times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Main Textbook "GENKI I" An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Second Edition Make sure that you have the Second Edition! Marugoto Katsudo A1": Japanese language and culture Starter A1 Course Description ASIANLAN123 is the first half of the accelerated first-year Japanese course taught through various types of media, mainly anime and manga. It is designed for students who have some previous knowledge of Japanese, but less than the equivalent of one year s study of Japanese at the University of Michigan. Students will need to obtain a qualifying score on the placement exam to be placed into this course. However, students do not need any specific knowledge of anime and manga. Upon successful completion of ASIANLAN123, students will take ASIANLAN124 (First-Year Japanese through Anime and Manga II) in the following semester. What s new about this course? The course will incorporate at length various media forms into class activities to improve students language skills, as well as to help students have fun. This approach will increase familiarity with aspects of both traditional and modern Japanese culture that are necessary for language competency. This course also encourages students to become autonomous language learners by providing online tools for self-learning (e.g. vocabulary practice games) and personalized tasks that students may design on their own (e.g. drawing original manga). This course implements a can-do syllabus that focuses on realworld tasks that students need to perform in Japanese (e.g. order sushi at restaurant in Japan). This approach will establish a direct connection between classroom activities and learning objectives, and encourages students sense of achievement. 1
Canvas All course materials (semester schedule, weekly schedule, slides, additional assignments, handouts etc.) will be posted on Canvas. It is your responsibility to check it regularly. Grading Scale 1) Attendance 10% 2) Preparation&Participation 5% 3) Assignments 10% 4) Personalized Projects 15% 5) Quizzes & Lesson Tests 25% 6) Final and Oral Exams 20% 7) Final Project 15% Total 100% Grading Scale: A:100-90 B: 89.9-80 C: 79.9-70 D: 69.9-60 Goals ASIANLAN123 Fall 2015 The goal of the course is the simultaneous progression of the four main language skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading). Specifically, by the end of this semester, students will be able to Develop a repertoire of vocabulary and basic sentence patterns that will allow them to speak about themselves and topics of personal relevance solely in Japanese. Develop basic pragmatic and socio-cultural skills to gain basic understanding of the manga/anime/movie that they like. Master the hiragana and katakana writing systems and 90 kanji (Chinese characters). Use written symbols to read parts of manga and prepared texts, and to write about themselves and topics of personal relevance. Grading Scale 1)Attendance Remember that this is a skills-based course. This means that your language skills will not improve unless you participate in classroom activities. Therefore, coming to every class is necessary and mandatory. You are allowed two unexcused absences without penalty. After two such absences, each additional unexcused absence will cost you a 1% direct deduction from your attendance grade. This means that if you are absent from class 5 times, your attendance % will be 7%. In other words, even if your performance is otherwise excellent, you will not have the chance to earn an A for your final grade if you miss 12 or more classes. Keep in mind too that coming to class late will also negatively affect your attendance grade. If you have compelling extenuating circumstances such as illnesses, we will take it into account. You will need to provide one of the following formal documents for our consideration: (1) A letter from a doctor (if a doctor cannot provide a formal letter, please get the doctor s business card with his/her signature and date) (2) A note or e-mail from a teacher with his or her name and phone number. Those who miss classes due to compelling extenuating circumstances should call or e-mail the instructor BEFORE class starts. The notification is invalid, for example, if you wake up late and inform us of your absence after class. If you miss class without notifying us, you will receive no grade for performance or any quiz given on that day. Any make-ups should be conducted with your instructor on the day you return to class. It is your responsibility to initiate communication with your instructor regarding make-ups. 2
2) Classroom Participation & Performance You must actively participate in class in order to learn Japanese and improve your language skills. Your participation in classroom activities, pairwork, answering questions, cooperation, and general attitude will be taken into consideration for grading. 3) Assignments Assignments are: (1) Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji Practice Sheet (2) Listening Comprehension (3) Reading Homework (4) Grammar Homework (Optional) Grammar homework is optional to submit. The answer key will be updated on Canvas website. (5) Other Assignments for self-learning (Optional) When submitting your homework, please make sure to: * Staple all the pages of each assignment together. * Label the assignment with your name You are required to submit the correct assignments by 5:00p.m. on the due date. Any assignments turned in AFTER 5:00PM (South Thayer Building closes at 5:00PM) on the due date will have 10% deducted from the full score for every day it is late. If you must miss class for religious reasons or due to a previously arranged event and therefore cannot turn in an assignment on the date it is due, you should notify your instructor via e-mail as soon as possible and follow his/her instruction for your situation. Most of all homework assignments are graded. Due to how certain assignments are graded, it may appear that one assignment is worth more points than others. However, your points will be converted so that every homework assignment has the same value (10 pt/homework assignment) 4) Personalized Projects This course consists of four modules. Module 1: Self-Introduction (Genki, Lesson 1&2) Module 2: Daily Routine (Genki, Lesson 3) Module 3 Describing Cities & Home (Genki, Lesson 4) Module 4: Your Favorite Place (Genki, Lesson 5&6) At the end of each module, you will work on a mini project you can design on your own. For example, the topic of the first module is self-introduction, and the goal is to be able to introduce yourself, your friends, and/or your favorite anime/manga characters to other Japanese speakers. Vocabulary and grammatical expressions are assigned to use, but as long as you accomplish this basic criteria, you can design your task on your own. For example, you may draw original manga for introducing yourself. More details will be announced later. 3
5) Quizzes& Lesson Tests Quizzes are: (1) Grammar Prep Quiz (before class) (2) Grammar Review Quiz (after class) *Deadline is the end of the next day of class (3) Vocabulary Quiz (in class) (4) Kanji Quiz (in class) All quizzes will take less than 10 minutes. For (1) Grammar Prep Quiz and (2) Grammar Review Quiz, you will receive full points as long as you complete them on Canvas in time. (3) Vocabulary Quiz and (4) Kanji Quiz will be given at the beginning of class and graded by point value. Lesson tests will be given after every module. Each lesson test is 25-30 minutes long. 6) Exams Oral Midterm Exam and Oral/Written Final Exam will be given on the days indicated in this syllabus (refer to the schedule). The final written exam is an achievement test consisting of four parts: grammar points emphasized in the various lessons; listening comprehension; reading; and writing. The oral interviews may occur outside of your scheduled class period. 7) Final project At the end of the semester, you will choose and describe your favorite place in Ann Arbor and make a useful guide map for Japanese expatriates who have recently arrived here. Using a mobile application called ARIS, it is easy to create a map that people can consult with their smartphone or tablet computer. More details will be announced later. Opportunity for Extra Points For Attendance Points If you attend an approved bonus event (ex. CJS Noon Lecture and Japanese Conversation Table) and write your name in the attendance sheet, you can receive 0.5 attendance points. Please note that you can only earn 1.5 extra attendance points for the semester (3 events). * The CJS Noon Lecture Series features talks given by Japan scholars and specialists from a wide variety of academic and professional backgrounds. The talks take place on Thursdays during the fall and winter terms at 12 noon in Room 1636 of the School of Social Work Building. (1080 South University) Website: http://www.ii.umich.edu/cjs/eventsprograms/noonlectureseries 4
For Assignments Points: Reflection Paper: If you write a one-page reflection paper (Japanese: double-space; English: single-space) on one of the following topics, you will get extra 10 points (equivalent to one homework assignment) for each essay. Please note that you can only earn 40 extra assignment points with reflection paper (4 essays). (a) A cultural difference between your country and Japan that you noticed through Manga/Anime. * If you can, please scan/paste the scene that represents the difference. (b) Special events related to Japan and its culture (ex. CJS Noon Lecturer, ANIMANIA, etc.) For Personalized Projects Points: Knowledge Sharing: My technology assistant and I plan to create a platform on SNS where you can exchange your knowledge of Japanese culture with your classmates. The followings are some example ways of knowledge sharing. (ex 1) Sharing manga/anime that you would like your classmates to read/watch. (ex 2) Sharing an event related to Japan and its culture (and inviting your classmates!). Details will be announced later, but you are encouraged to use Japanese as much as possible on your post. With one knowledge sharing, you can earn 0.1-0.2 extra % towards personalized project points. Please note that you can earn an extra 2% with knowledge sharing (10-20 times). POLICIES (1) No incomplete grades will be given, and there will be NO exceptions. (2) Many important announcements will be posted on Canvas. Please check Canvas regularly so that you will not miss any important messages. (3) Cheating on an exam or quiz results in an automatic E. Copying or otherwise cheating on any assignment will result in an E as well. Any and all such misconduct will be reported to the Office of the Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs. (4) You cannot make up any quizzes or tests except in the case of compelling extenuating circumstances (illness, death in the family, etc.). In case of illness, you will need to submit a doctor's note to your teacher. Also, you must let us know of your absence on the day you miss class BEFORE your class starts by e-mail, note, etc., and take any quiz/test on the day you return to class. (5) It is a departmental policy that if you receive a "D" (D+, D, D-) grade, you cannot continue on to the next semester course offering (ASIANLAN 124). If you are not comfortable with your performance, please contact your instructor as soon as possible. It is extremely important that you contact your instructor regularly. (6) We encourage you to register for this class on a letter grade basis. For undergraduate students who register pass/fail, a grade of C- or above is necessary to receive a passing grade; for graduate students, a B- or better will be needed to pass. 5
REQUESTS (1) Do not chew gum or eat food in class. You should be ready to be called on at any time during the class period. (2) Please turn off your cell phone when you enter the classroom. You should refrain from using your cell phone during any and all class periods. (3) Please do not be late for class, especially for recitation class. It is extremely disruptive when you come in late, as conversation practice progresses from the beginning of class. If lateness is unavoidable, please let your instructor know in advance. 6