Japanese IV

Full-year course. Japanese IV builds on the foundation established in Japanese III, expanding on previously-learned material while introducing a variety of new, essential strategies for communication. Students will use skills in the following areas and build global competency skills for future careers and experience based on the World-readiness Standards for Learning Languages from ACTFL:  Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities.

Students will continue to develop basic competencies in the four modalities of language learning: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to use Japanese to navigate everyday situations such as interacting with a Japanese host family, talking about controversial issues, and sightseeing around Japan, as well as to provide detail about themselves, their interests, and their future plans in increasingly nativelike conversational styles (speaking); to write about their lives in diary/blog post style, and to write polite emails using an appropriate mix of hiragana, katakana, and 275 common kanji characters (writing); to recognize, understand, and respond to everyday conversational expressions and some specialized vocabulary in both polite and casual speech (listening); and to comprehend most of the information conveyed in mid-length texts written for learners and brief authentic texts, such as text messages and online profiles of celebrities (reading).

We recommend that students enrolling in Japanese IV be comfortable with the topics covered in Grammar III. Grammar instruction is not a pre- or co-requisite, however we have found that students are more successful learning a new language when they have a strong understanding of grammar rules. Use the placement tests found in our grammar course descriptions to find the appropriate grammar course for your student.

Prerequisite:Japanese III; Japanese IV Placement Test