Nihongo Web

Courses

Nihongo Web Online Japanese offers 4 semesters of Japanese language: JA 101, JA 102, JA 201, and JA 202.

Each course lasts approximately 15 weeks and follows the same academic calendar as the University of Alabama classroom classes. Students must complete a course within the term allotment as stated in MyBama (fall or spring term; summer term is not offered). All levels are available during both fall and spring terms, but cannot be taken simultaneously.

Prerequisites

High school students seeking college credit must enroll in the University of Alabama Early College program and complete the courses within the term enrolled, just like regular college students. Before taking any online courses at UA, high school students must first complete UAEC 200, a preliminary online readiness course.

The prerequisite for courses JA 102 or higher is completing the previous semester course with a C- or better, or the completion of a placement test.

Timeline

You will have approximately four months to complete each course. You can check online in myBama for deadlines once you have enrolled.

Textbook

The curriculum is based on the new third edition of the Nakama textbook by Hatasa, Hatasa, and Makino. Instructions for ordering the book and workbook are included in the syllabus in the Blackboard Learn site, which you will have access to once you have enrolled.

We will cover the same material in Nihongo Web that The University of Alabama covers in the classroom courses, so if you decide to come to UA, you will be on track to enroll in the next. If you don’t intend to come to UA, please check with your home university if they will accept transfer credit for UA Japanese courses. Laurie can provide your school advisor with a syllabus and detailed curriculum overview if needed, just let her know the contact details!

Here’s what we will cover in the textbooks:

  • JA 101 & JA 102 both use the Nakama 1 textbook. JA 101 covers chapters 1-6, and JA 102 covers chapters 7-12.
  • JA 201 and JA 202 both use the Nakama 2 textbook and Student Activities Manual workbook. JA 201 covers chapters 1-5, and JA 202 covers chapters 6-10.

Placement

If you feel you can skip into JA 102 (or higher), you must take a placement exam first if you have not received a formal grade (on a transcript) from another educational institution using the same curriculum that we do. Students must receive a C- or higher grade to go into the next level. You may repeat a course (but you will have to pay tuition again) if you score lower than a C- in it. You CANNOT take JA 102 if you cannot expertly read/write hiragana, katakana, or the kanji as listed in the Nakama 1 curriculum chapters 1-6. There are also basic grammar forms you must know upon completion of JA 101 (such as particles, demonstratives, location nouns, basic noun/verb/adjective conjugations, te form) before skipping into JA 102.

If you want to enroll in a level above JA 101 you will need a permit (computer prerequisite override) to enroll from Laurie Arizumi, the head instructor, before you can enroll through myBama. You will either need to provide a transcript with your grade or take a written placement exam.

If you skip JA 101 and place into JA 102 or higher, you will NOT receive credit hours for any course other than the course you complete with us. In other words, no “retro” or “back credit” is given for courses you skip.

Tutoring

Nihongo Web is different from classroom teaching because you will be privately tutored instead of group tutored. You will be talking one-on-one with Japanese tutors who can help you with your special situation and go at your pace. Most students benefit from at least one intense session a week, and two is optimum.

We do ask that you prepare in advance of your tutoring session by studying your Nakama textbook, and using audio files to learn vocabulary, and going through the chapter grammar videos and handouts and other online supplementary materials we have provided in Blackboard Learn. This way you won’t waste valuable tutoring time drilling words or asking your tutor for grammar explanations in English (Laurie can answer those questions by email). Your tutoring session is mainly for talking in Japanese!

Once you enroll and have access to the Blackboard Learn site you will find your syllabus which contains all the important information you need to get started learning, a detailed lesson plan, an online grade book to check your scores, and of course all the study materials you need.