This 5-week course is part of a five-part series designed for highly motivated students who are ready to dive into the exciting world of Japanese language. I started learning Japanese, myself, at 18 years old. Therefore, I understand not only which grammar or vocabulary can be tricky for teens but how to explain these in a way that is clear and accessible to English speakers. In addition, I will help students avoid common pronunciation pitfalls that arise when first learning Japanese. My teaching style is relaxed and always welcomes mistakes - they are how we learn! Lastly, as someone who has studied, lived and worked in Japan, I am very excited to deepen students' knowledge about Japanese culture. 


Course at a glance: 
This course will have students reading, writing, listening and speaking in Japanese. Each week (consisting of two classes), students will learn: 5-10 words, 1-2 grammar points and 1-2 cultural focuses. Classes may incorporate a mixture or activities, games, discussion or multimedia (such as slides, videos or audio). Each lesson (and homework) will incorporate vocabulary or grammar from previous lesson(s) so that material is constantly reinforced. There will be an optional test at the end of the course.

Assessment:
Students will receive regular feedback on homework and tests stipulating where they are strong or where they need more practice. Homework is given weekly, but will not exceed and 60 minutes.

**NOTE**
- This course is designed for students who can *already* read the Hiragana alphabet (the first Japanese alphabet).
-This course will respond to the unique needs of the students and, therefore, the pace of the course may vary greatly depending on the students. 
-While some courses teach the Hiragana and Katakana alphabet back-to-back, this course will solely utilize Hiragana in order to get students completely comfortable using this alphabet first. This also frees up students to get more practice with grammar, speaking and listening so that they can say more right from the beginning.
- The 'Culture Focus' (see schedule below) is decided week-to-week and is dictated by the students' interests, current events etc. Culture Focus example: How Japanese students, not janitors, clean their schools. What do you think of this tradition?
- This course will only run with 2 + students


Weekly Schedule (Tentative) 

Week 1: 
- Get to know your teacher
- Get to know the students
- Vocab: Simple greetings; Introducing oneself 
- Assessment: ability to recognize hiragana alphabet 
- Culture focus

Week 2
- Vocab: I, friend, teacher, high school student, Mr./Mrs, Japanese (language), you
- Grammar: Simple sentence construction X は Y です, such as "I am John" or "I am a student"
- Grammar: Learn how to make questions using particle か.  For ex., "Are you a student?"
- Culture focus

Week 3
Vocab: mother, father, boyfriend, girlfriend, Japanese (person), American (person), name, this
Grammar: Using Particle の to make possessive in Japanese, such as 'my, yours, (name)'s'.
Grammar 2: learn to state someone's nationality.
Students will be able to say such things as: "my mother is a teacher", "Sara is my friend", "I am American"
Cultural Focus

Week 4
Vocab: (younger/older) sister/brother, singer, actor, student, anime character, 
Grammar: How to make a negative sentence (じゃないです/じゃありません). Ex, 'She is not a singer"
Grammar 2: Students will learn how to say "I am from____"
Cultural Focus

Week 5
Review day. Activities or games that review all vocab, grammar and hiragana rules
Test.