Introduction to 6th year Japanese

This will be your final year of study. At the end of this year you will have to prove and substantiate the work that you have done over the 2 years when sitting your leaving certificate. In order to succeed, I suggest the following:

1. Decide if you are doing higher or lower level. 2. Find out how many points you need to enter the 3rd level

course of your choice and how important your Japanese score will figure in you achieving these points.

3. Be here every class. 4. Be on time and ready to go with each class. 5. Be attentive and ready to practice and learn in class. 6. Ask questions and be certain about what you need to

know. 7. Do your homework thoroughly. 8. Keep your work in order. Keep your folders, homework,

hand-outs and reference material in order. 9. Don’t make excuses. Just do everything you can to learn. 10. Enjoy being really good at Japanese.

Learning materials To help you in your study you will need the following items:

1. A pocket dictionary. I can suggest: “Random House Webster’s Pocket Japanese Dictionary” ISBN: 0-679-77373-8

2. An A4 writing pad and a ring binder with loose plastic inserts to store hand-outs, homework et cetera.

Contents of LC exam

The Japanese LC has both an honours and an ordinary level paper. Both Ordinary and Honour levels test the four following areas:

1. Speaking Japanese known as an Oral test. 2. Listening and comprehending Japanese, known as

an Aural test. 3. Reading Japanese. 4. Writing Japanese.

The overall marks for each are divided in the following way:

Oral or speaking – 25% of total marks Aural or listening – 20% of total marks Reading and writing – 55% of total marks

You must be proficient in each to get an A. Weakness in one can cost you in your over-all marks. In helping you organise your study, the percentage of over-all marks given to each category should be an indication of how much time and effort you should spend on each. Topics and themes of the LC Japanese exam All four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing will be tested under the following 14 major headings:

1. Self-introduction こしょうかい

2. My hobby and sports 私わたし

のしゅみ スポーツ

3. My family & friends 私のかぞく・私の友とも

だち

4. Daily schedule 私の一日いちにち

5. Weather & the Seasons 天気て ん き

と きせつ

6. Nature しぜん

7. Japan and its culture 日本に ほ ん

とそのぶんか

8. Summer holidays & Travel 夏休なつやす

みと りょこう

9. The weekend 週しゅう

まつ

10. Food & cooking 食た

べものと りょうり

11. My home town and my home しゅっしんと 私わたし

のいえ

12. School life 学校がっこう

のせいかつ

13. Japanese study 日本語に ほ ん ご

の勉強べんきょう

14. Graduation and my future 卒業そつぎょう

と しょうらい

You will not be tested on anything in the exam outside of these

topics. We will spend more time on some topics over others depending on the following criteria.

1. Some topics are guaranteed to come up. The first two topics of jikoshokai and shumi are always on the exam.

2. Some topics require more thorough study such as school life or likes and dislikes as there is more to talk, read and write about. Also, some topics are contained in other broader topics. For example sotsugyo or graduation would come under the category of school life or shumi or hobby would come under the heading of daily schedule or weekend.

3. Past papers. Topics that appeared in last years paper and are therefore unlikely to be a priority in the 2015 paper will be allocated less time.

The Japanese LC is about expressing in all four areas of

listening, speaking, reading and writing your experience as young, secondary school students. This is central to the exam. The themes are set out with this in mind. You will not be asked about things which you have little or no experience of such as Japanese economics or politics.

Concentrate on the themes outlined above and you will have more than enough to be working on over the next nine months. Stay focused on these and you will have more than enough to succeed in your exam.

We will be finished the course by December and will spend the rest of the year revising and making exam preparations from then. As a first course of action, familiarise yourself with the 14 categories and secondly, please write your name, the best email address to get you at (for receiving corrections, extra materials etc.) and whether you’d like to do higher or ordinary level. Please consult with your parents / guardians before making your decision and get both yourself and them to sign the slip. Please return this slip for next class. The very best of luck! ======================= Cut here =================== JAPANESE LC2 Student name___________________________ Student email address ____________________________ I would like to sit HIGHER / ORDINARY(please circle your choice) Japanese for my Leaving Certificate. Student ________________ Parent / Guardian _____________