[Self-paced] Quest for Japanese Fluency 2

Overview

Quest for Japanese Fluency 2 builds upon level 1 as a unique online Japanese course that introduces culture as a foundation to studying the Japanese language for pre-college students. The manga-style illustrations depict a group of students from around the world who are studying at a high school in Japan.

There are six theme-based units which correlate with the six themes suggested by the College Board for Advanced Placement ® (AP® ) World Language and Culture courses. They are used in each level to start preparing students for AP® from level 1. In addition to the full course, individual units are also available for purchase.

Time Frame

In level 2, each of the units are designed to take approximately six weeks each.  In the classroom or individually with consistent practice, the learner could complete the online Japanese course in about nine months.

Unit Sections

Each unit of this online Japanese course is divided into four sections. The unit objectives are based on the three modes of communication as presented in the Performance Descriptors designed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. In this course, the three types of communication are labeled as Communicate for interpersonal communication, Comprehend for interpretive, and Create for presentational.

Overview Includes:

• • Essential Question
  • Unit Objectives
  • Making Connections (think-pair-share activity)
  • Kanji Lists
  • Vocabulary Lists
  • English Translations of the dialogues
  • Downloadable Worksheets for Kanji and Grammar

Communicate and Comprehend Part 1 & Part 2 each include:

• 3 lessons which feature:
  • • lesson objectives
    • cultural point
    • animated videos of kanji
    • vocabulary flash cards
    • short, natural dialogues
    • concise grammar notes with examples
    • exit tickets
• 2 two activity lessons:
  • • interactive vocabulary activities
    • listening with comprehension questions
• Students learn vocabulary and grammar points through , while engaging with cultural information related to the unit topic. In the dialogues, grammar points are indicated in orange font, while words or phrases to be replaced for the practice are underlined. 

Create

• 1 Reading Comprehension covering entire unit
• 2 Projects for students to “show what they know” through presentations in both written and spoken formats

Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji

Before main units, there is a section titled Reference Charts with hiragana and katakana charts for reference, but it is expected that the student can read and write all of these characters before starting level 2.

Kanji are introduced starting in the introductory unit of Level 1. In level 1, 3-6 kanji are introduced per level. The number of kanji increases to 10-12 per unit in level 2. Students study kanji that are relevant to the unit topics and see them throughout the unit.  Videos of how to write each kanji are available in the lesson they are first introduced. The same as for hiragana and katakana, a kanji worksheet is provided as a downloadable pdf. Students will watch the videos to complete the information on the worksheet. In the lessons, a kanji bank is given for the ones that appear in the dialogues of that unit. However, the kanji no longer appears in the kanji banks of subsequent units to enforce retention.