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.