JAPN 302: History of Japan
Course Description:
This course further develops advanced Japanese proficiency through an understanding of Japanese history as a dynamic, interrelated system and employs a variety of processes to identify, analyze and evaluate cultural themes, values and ideas. Students will demonstrate ability to accurately comprehend ideas across a range of historical content. Taught in English and Japanese.
Narrative:
This was the first Japanese culture class I took in Japanese, and at first it was hard to adjust to and intimidating. As the weeks went on I slowly go used to the class pattern and the work became interesting. I had always wanted to take a Japanese history class, but they had never offered it at the times I was think of taking it at CSUMB. The course was also not offered as a class while I was studying abroad in Japan. Getting the opportunity to take a class that I had wanted to take for the longest time and complete it entirely in Japanese made my self confidence in my language proficiency go up. Although this particular class did not go into teaching much grammar, we were able to study and complete kanji quizzes ever week. Because of this I was able to learn many new kanji readings, and while some of the kanji were strange such as names of people (藤原道長=Fujiwara (no) Michinaga) it was something new and enjoyable to learn. In the class we had a copious amount of new vocabulary in each section and while at first it was intimidating, because we had so much reading and writing homework, I just naturally learned most of the words through the assignments. Every week we had short answer writing question, but what I think really helped me learn the history and language in class were the critical thinking writing assignments. These critical thinking questions helped me feel more comfortable speaking in front of the entire classroom, and I was able to use the vocabulary I learned that week to help me articulate my answer. This helped out greatly in my final presentation (sample 1) on the Japanese modernization (Sample 2). I was able to learn about Japanese history in Japanese. Although it was fast paced at some times, through all of the homework and in class assignments, I was able to learn the general history of Japan starting from the 7th century and ending in the present day. By knowing the history of Japan and discussing in thoroughly in class discussions, I feel that I can now converse with a Japanese person on a higher level than just daily speech. Because I have always been interested in certain parts of Japanese history, in the future I would like to learn more about those parts of Japanese history I enjoyed the most. If I have the time I would like to take the other history class available at CSUMB on Japan.
This course further develops advanced Japanese proficiency through an understanding of Japanese history as a dynamic, interrelated system and employs a variety of processes to identify, analyze and evaluate cultural themes, values and ideas. Students will demonstrate ability to accurately comprehend ideas across a range of historical content. Taught in English and Japanese.
Narrative:
This was the first Japanese culture class I took in Japanese, and at first it was hard to adjust to and intimidating. As the weeks went on I slowly go used to the class pattern and the work became interesting. I had always wanted to take a Japanese history class, but they had never offered it at the times I was think of taking it at CSUMB. The course was also not offered as a class while I was studying abroad in Japan. Getting the opportunity to take a class that I had wanted to take for the longest time and complete it entirely in Japanese made my self confidence in my language proficiency go up. Although this particular class did not go into teaching much grammar, we were able to study and complete kanji quizzes ever week. Because of this I was able to learn many new kanji readings, and while some of the kanji were strange such as names of people (藤原道長=Fujiwara (no) Michinaga) it was something new and enjoyable to learn. In the class we had a copious amount of new vocabulary in each section and while at first it was intimidating, because we had so much reading and writing homework, I just naturally learned most of the words through the assignments. Every week we had short answer writing question, but what I think really helped me learn the history and language in class were the critical thinking writing assignments. These critical thinking questions helped me feel more comfortable speaking in front of the entire classroom, and I was able to use the vocabulary I learned that week to help me articulate my answer. This helped out greatly in my final presentation (sample 1) on the Japanese modernization (Sample 2). I was able to learn about Japanese history in Japanese. Although it was fast paced at some times, through all of the homework and in class assignments, I was able to learn the general history of Japan starting from the 7th century and ending in the present day. By knowing the history of Japan and discussing in thoroughly in class discussions, I feel that I can now converse with a Japanese person on a higher level than just daily speech. Because I have always been interested in certain parts of Japanese history, in the future I would like to learn more about those parts of Japanese history I enjoyed the most. If I have the time I would like to take the other history class available at CSUMB on Japan.
|
|