Faculty-led Study Abroad in Osaka

As many of you know, one of my big goals for the past year and a half has been the creation of a Grand Valley faculty-led study abroad program to Japan. I put the proposal in last year, received initial approval to go to Japan this past summer, and on Monday went before the committee with my proposal... which was approved! As long as I can get the required minimum twelve students to commit by February, I'll be taking them to Japan next summer! A lot of the details have been up in the air, so I've been deliberately vague when discussing the eventual form the program might take, but now that we've gotten approval the details are pretty well set... and here's how they look:

The program will be based in Osaka, at Osaka Gakuin Daigaku, and include attendance in an existing summer language program at that school run by a company called CET Academic Programs. Basically, I will be going to Japan with the group of students at the beginning of May, teaching a traditional Japanese theater course during the first month, and then returning to the US while students begin the intensive language program, which lasts eight weeks. That's right, it's a full three months in Japan, from the beginning of May to the end of July! That's a bit longer than most faculty-led programs and the program also unconventional in other ways. For one thing, the hybrid faculty class/language program model is not like any other faculty-led program offered through the Padnos International Center and, while there was initial excitement about the possibility, there was also some resistance to the implementation. In the end, I am very excited about it, since it will allow me to open the program to students at all levels, from absolute beginners to students who have gone as far at Grand Valley as they can, and also allow students to make real progress toward the course of language study at Grand Valley rather than being merely supplemental to our language classes. It also gives students almost a full month in-country before beginning formal language study, something which I think will help with the transition from our classes to the intensive program. All in all, I'm excited to see if it works as well as I think it will.

The 3-credit traditional theater course I'll be teaching will focus on both the "big three" of Japanese theater: nô, kabuki, and bunraku; but also a wide range of other performing arts such as kagura, gagaku, biwa, kyomai, butô, Takarazuka, and modern theater. It will include four "field trips" in which we explore the entertainment districts of Osaka, Kyôto, and Nara before watching live theatrical perfomances of kabuki, nô, and whatever else is available at that time in the Kansai area. Combining readings and discussion of plays prior to watching them performed live, I aim to give students greater insight into the performance traditions than can be achieved otherwise.

During the intensive language portion, students will work through a full year of our coursework in eight weeks. CET uses the same textbook series we do, Genki for first and second year and Tobira for third year, but the pace is much quicker, with two hour classes in both the morning and afternoon five days a week. In addition, one class session per week is spent with the instructor outside the classroom, pursuing tasks in the community which force students to make active use of their language skills. Finally, CET maintains a strict language pledge during the eight-week time period, requiring students to use only Japanese not just in the classroom, but at home as well.

"Wait a second," you ask. "Japanese at home too? How can they possibly enforce that?" Well, the housing used throughout the three months is not in dorms or homestays, but in Japanese apartments, each student living with a Japanese roommate. The language pledge is not enforced in the first month, while students are taking the theater course, but during the eight weeks of the language course roommates sign a pledge that they will communicate with their roommate only in Japanese. I can speak from personal experience when I say that "all Japanese all the time" is the way to really learn the language. And, of course, it allows you to speak with great authority when you tell people, "Yes, Japanese apartments are really really small."

So twelve weeks in Japan and twelve credits worth of classes... that's the equivalent of a full semester abroad. And, of course, the price reflects that. My calculation for the program fees come in at $8,787, which includes airfare, housing, field trips, insurance, etc. However, students will also need to enroll in 12 credits of GVSU tuition (part of which goes to pay for the language class, of course), as well as paying for meals, groceries, personal expenses, etc. With my estimate of your needs over three months, that jacks the total price up over $16,000. That's not an insane price in comparison with comparable Japan programs, but it's still a good sized chunk of cash, and one of the big obstacles to getting that 12-student minimum. I'm going to be spending a lot of time over the next several months looking into scholarship options and encouraging students to apply for all that are available. If you're interested in the program but concerned about the price, by all means come talk to me about it.

Well, those are the details. Please feel free to ask whatever other questions you might have, and let me know if you might be interested. We'll be promoting the heck out of it for the next three months, so I'm sure this will not be the last time you hear me talk about the program. If you'd like to know more about the living and studying situation, CET has a student or two per semester writing blogs about their experience, and you can check them out here. Just click on the "Japan" tag. See you in Osaka?

Update:
After talking with the Padnos International Center, it seems they want to divide the program into two separate components: the theater class in May and the language component in June-July.

So what does this mean to you? Well, for students who were planning on studying for the whole summer, it doesn't mean much of anything. The budget, time frame, and content are all the same as they would have been before. It does, however, open up the possibility of just taking the May course and skipping the June-July component. Students who choose to do this would end up paying about half the total price for one-third of the time, and they would also not be considered full-time, with only three credits. However, it might be an option for students who can't swing the tuition for the full program or aren't interested in language study. It does mean that there might be a better chance of getting to that minimum 12-student threshold more easily, though. I decided to eliminate the Japanese roommate program for students who weren't going on with language study, but aside from that the experience during the May component would be the same for all students, regardless of whether or not they pursue the language portion.

Update:
The official flier is available here, and students who are interested in applying can do so here.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test

So, you've studied Japanese for a year or two, made it through the textbook, did all the homework... but just how good is your Japanese really? One of the problems with studying Japanese in a college classroom is that there's no objective measure of your ability. Pace, materials, and focus change from one school to the next, and an A in one teacher's class might be a C at a different school. Isn't there some external measure of Japanese ability that could get everybody on the same page, like an SAT or ACT test for Japanese?

Why yes, actually, there is. There's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or 日本語能力試験. The test is sponsored by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, and serves as an independent measure of Japanese proficiency. It isn't an accreditation, so success on the test doesn't entitle you to anything, but it can be useful for getting a sense of where you stand. After completing first year Japanese, you should be able to attempt the lowest level of the exam, Level N5, and after two years you might attempt Level N4. And most importantly, it is offered in the US once per year... in Chicago on December 5th.

I am not encouraging anyone to take the test. There is, after all, a fee involved ($40 for the N4 and N5 levels) and it isn't going to earn you extra credit... or anything except the knowledge of where you stand. But if a large enough number of students decide to take the test, I will look into renting a van or chartering a bus to take students to Chicago as a group. We could take the test in the morning, then in the afternoon visit Mitsuwa Marketplace, a Japanese shopping center with a Japanese grocery, bookstore, housewares shop, and a couple of restaurants.

If you are interested, you will need to register on your own and then let me know via e-mail if you would like to be a part of the group trip. Unfortunately, you will need to make a decision quickly, as the registration deadline is at the end of this week, September 24th at 5pm. To register online, go to the Japan Foundation website. Once people have signed up for the test, I would also be happy to conduct some group sessions to talk about strategies for studying, introduce some existing study resources we have in the LRC, etc. Just let me know if you're interested.

Japanese Conversation Table... again

We have set the dates and times for our first week of meetings, as well as potential times for our more permanent schedule. For this week, we will be meeting at:


Tuesday, 9/14, 4-6pm, MAK B-2-226
Thursday, 9/16, 2-4pm, MAK B-2-241
Friday, 9/17, 3-5pm, MAK D-2-168

There are three two-hour sessions per week, so people can feel to come and go as their schedules permit. Hopefully everyone who wants to come and make it to at least one of these three sessions. For they time being, we will be sticking with this schedule, but for Fridays we will be using a different room than that for the first week. The "permanent" schedule will be:

Tuesdays 4-6pm, MAK B-2-226
Thursdays 2-4pm, MAK B-2-241
Fridays 3-5pm, MAK B-2-116

That's "pending room reservation approval" of course, but it should be fairly stable.

Japanese Conversation Table

As I've already mentioned to many of you, I'm trying to get the GVSU Japanese Conversation Table up and running again this year. What is the JCT? Well, to quote from the Official Facebook Page:
The GVSU JCT is a forum to practice communicating (in both oral and written forms) in Japanese. It is casual, social, and centered on topics of interest to its members.

The JCT is NOT:
- centered on GVSU Japanese language courses
- limited to those enrolled in Japanese classes
- limited to those with advanced Japanese skills
- a forum for getting help on your homework

The official goal is to improve language skills through active use of the language rather than through targeted study. It is not intended to replace language classes, but to reinforce what is learned through practical use in a casual setting.


Now to be clear, I do think it would be valuable to schedule times to study and collaborate with others in your individual classes. I'd just like the JCT to be separate from this and concerned with communication rather than homework, etc. I'd like to schedule two afternoon meetings per week, to try and accommodate as many different schedules as possible. I'll be holding an informal meeting to gauge interest this Thursday (9/9) at 2pm in MAK Room B-2-226. If you are interested in the JCT, please either come to this meeting or send me an e-mail (robinjer@gvsu.edu) with some alternative times that might work for you. Hopefully we can manage to put some times together that will work for you.

Happy New (Academic) Year!

Welcome back, everybody! And to those of you who are new to Grand Valley, or at least new to this blog, Welcome! This really feels like a fresh new semester for me because, for the first time in two years, I have two classes almost entirely filled with new faces. I taught both JPN 101-102 and JPN 201-202 when I first arrived at Grand Valley two years ago, and then JPN 201-202 and the third-year students last year, so I got to know those students really well but didn't see all that many new students. Now most of my JPN 201 class were studying with Abe Sensei in the first year, so it all feels new and I'm eager to get started with all the plans I have for the program. I hope you are all returning from summer vacation with renewed energy as well.

I haven't been posting much over summer vacation, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been much happening. Most of it has been "behind the scenes" stuff, but there have been some major developments that are only just now starting to bear fruit. In fact I have enough material for three or four of these updates, so I'll just summarize a few of the topics for now and leave the details to upcoming posts. First, I did make a trek to Japan over the summer and took a look at the partner institution where I'll be building a faculty-led study abroad program starting next year. The final proposal is almost complete, and I'll post the full details soon. The past president of the JCA, Keren Benavides, is on her way to Japan for a year of study abroad, but the new president has met with some of the regular members to start planning this year, and there should be some announcements about meeting times, film series, etc. fairly soon. And there seems to be a lot of interest in getting my proposed Japanese Conversation Table up and running as well. I'll be posting more details about that before the weekend is done, and holding an initial meeting to gauge interest sometime next week. I'll also be trying to see how many students might be interested in a trip to Chicago in December for the annual Japanese Language Proficiency Test. For now, though, enjoy the long Labor Day weekend and I'll see you next week.