Practical Course of the Osaka YMCA Japanese Language School

Application for Admission

The high-level Japanese learned here will be effective in business settings and practical for daily living. Students with a short–stay visa can study in this program for 3 months and those with a long-term visa can study up to 2 years.
If you wish to apply for a ‘pre-college’ visa in order to enroll in this program, please contact the school and fill out an application there. If you are a holder of one of the following visas or have another type, you are eligible to enroll in this program: spouse, dependent, long term reseident, work or religious activities etc. If you wish to enroll for the 3-month (10-week ) program, you’ll need to obtain a resident permit.

Students will learn basic Japanese from standard language texts.

This class is the ‘first step’ for learning the 4 technical language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. This class provides a good foundation of comprehensive Japanese language study upon which consecutive classes will build. Every day, students will take 4 classes. For beginner and intermediate level students, 3 of those classes are basic classes and for advanced level students, 2 of them are basic language classes.

Practical Level Step 2

As the level gets higher, students will get a more concentrated education on the relationships between the 4 technical skills which will be divided, at this time into two groupings: listening / speaking and reading / writing.
These classes are beneficial for students whose language ability is lop-sided (for example, high language ability in listening and speaking, however low language ability in reading and writing).

Classes which suit your purposes and needs. More than 50% of your classes are electives!

One main feature of the Practical Japanese course is the abundant electives offered. The focus in these classes is the content, rather than the study of language.
Here is a list of some electives offered: Business Manners, Kansai Dialect, Japanese Customs of Daily Life, Japanese Traditional Culture and Current Topics.
Students will have the opportunity to learn many things about Japan as they study in everyday Japanese.

Course Goal: Students will learn Japanese to a level where they can live comfortably in Japan.
COURSE OBJECTIVES：

LEVEL	OBJECTIVE	MASTERED ITEMS
Beginner 1	To explain basic information about him/herself	・give basic information about him/herself ・simply explain feelings ・explain condition of daily life and work. ・ simply describe objects and situations
Beginner 2	To explain situations and about objects and formulate an opinion . To approach a partner, request, proposition, advice and inhibitation etc, according to need.	・In some detail, explain　situations and describe objects including context,　relational matters、 and reasoning for a judgement. ・ make a request, a suggestion, give advice or a warning appropriately ・ judge by location and partner which style of language is appropriate
Lower-Intermediate	To negotiate appropriately in every day situations	・obtain information necessary for choosing a desired house, part-time job, or merchandise ・ understand the rules and customs of life in Japan and uses the language accordingly.
Intermediate 1	To interact freely and present own thoughts regarding every day matters	・catch the main points and follow the flow of conversations regarding familiar topics ・ collect / select necessary information when researching. ・ put thoughts together and present them. ・ identify similar and contrasting points and explain them
Intermediate 2	Can explain his/her viewpoint and reasoning regarding topics of social or cultural nature and other topics of some technicality	・ understand the expansion of topics and the configuration of conversation ・ explain things from one’s own standpoint ・ identify similar and contrasting points, consider them and come to a conclusion

初級では、従来のテキストに比べより実用性を重視したテキスト『ひらけ日本語（上・下）』（凡人社）を使用します。また、従来“初級”として一括りにされてきた初中級レベルでは、レベルに最適化されたテキスト『いつかどこかで』（萩原一彦 著、スリーエーネットワーク）を使用します。また、中級、上級で使用している『テーマ別　中級から学ぶ日本語』、『テーマ別　上級で学ぶ日本語』（松田浩志、長田龍典、亀田美保ほか著 、研究社）のテーマ別シリーズは、大阪ＹＭＣＡ日本語学校の教員が開発したテキストです。現在も多くの日本語学校でこの教科書が採用されている信頼できるベストセラー教材です。

TIME TABLE(sample)

1.Beginner〜Intermediate
Monday ~ Friday, 13:20 am ~ 17:10 pm. 4 classes, 50- minutes per class
Instructors change depending on time and course. Maximum 18 students per class.

Time	１	２	３	４
	13:20-14:10	14:20-15:10	15:20-16:10	16:20-17:10
MON	Basic class	Basic class	Basic class	Listening & Speaking
TUE	Basic class	Basic class	Basic class	Reading & Writing
WED	Basic class	Basic class	Basic class	Listening & Speaking
THU	Basic class	Basic class	Basic class	Reading & Writing
FRI	Basic class	Basic class	Basic class	Listening & Speaking

2.Advanced

Time	１	２	３	４
	13:20-14:10	14:20-15:10	15:20-16:10	16:20-17:10
MON	Listening & Speaking	Reading & Writing	Elective class	Elective class
TUE	Listening & Speaking	Reading & Writing	Elective class	Elective class
WED	Listening & Speaking	Reading & Writing	Elective class	Elective class
THU	Listening & Speaking	Reading & Writing	Elective class	Elective class
FRI	Listening & Speaking	Reading & Writing	Elective class	Elective class

Elective classes(sample): Business Manners, Kansai Dialect, Japanese Customs of Daily Life, Japanese Traditional Culture and Current Topics.