6 posts tagged “class”

Way back in January I wrote about the courses I thought that I would take. The list hasn't changed that much, but now that the semester is nearly over, you could say they've solidified a bit.

1. Cultural Evolution of Japan
2. Enculturation and Education in Japan
3. Contemporary Japan and Popular Culture
4. Urban Psychology in Asia
5. Linguistic Description of Japanese
6. Japanese Speaking
7. Kanji
8. Independent Study

The first five meet once a week. The next two meet twice a week. The last is a pseudo-class: there's no set class period, but I dedicate 5-7 hours every Monday to this project.

Today I went to the J-4 class, just to see. Phew, what a rush. The professor didn't speak a single word of English; when someone didn't know a word (mostly me), the explanations were in Japanese. Mile-a-minute Japanese. Oi.

I'm having a bit of trouble with class scheduling, by the way.

The Japanese classes haven't started yet, but our placement test results were posted today. I tested into K-4 and J-4b. There are 8 levels, with 8 being the closest to fluent. 1 is for people who have never studied Japanese before. "K" stands for "Kanji" (Chinese characters the Japanese adopted --- the "complicated" alphabet). "J" stands for... "Japanese". It's the general language course.

Anyway.

I pre-approved four/five courses at my home university (which I posted about before: Informal course selection), but one of them conflicts with a single day of my Japanese class, whose schedule we just received. I discussed it with a few professors here, and they recommend that I substitute the Speaking class for the Jeneral class. This would decrease my workload by two class periods per week, but would probably stall my Japanese grammar education. They just teach speaking fluency, as far as I know.

I'm going to attend the Jeneral class on a trial basis until next week, when I interview to have my speaking level determined (please not S-2!).

I'm still on the fence about which class would be better for my education. I really need speaking practice, but at the same time, I was placed into J-4 instead of J-5 because of my elementary grasp of Japanese grammar. I will probably have to take a placement test when I get back to prove that I learned here what I would have learned there. The speaking class may put me behind, even if it gives me speaking confidence.

I'll post more on that when something happens.

Is there a perfect balance between life and school?

And blogging?

Life ruled until a few days ago. I was seeing the sights around town, adding a whole new photo set to my JTW collection, called Trip to Fukuoka Tower. That was fun. Though there were no monkeys, there were swan boats and many jars of nothing. And a giant ship without explanation!

Then classes geared up and homework started becoming due. Unlike some new students I know and in some cases people I happen to be sitting next to, I haven't missed any due dates. Yet. There's always tomorrow. The readings are longer than I was expecting based on reviews of the classes from last semester's students. They all said the only classes that required time were those for Japanese. I may be busy this semester.

Anyway, that's my filler. Take it for what it's worth.

Me, blocking Fukuoka Tower

The welcome packet is quite long, but there is a lot of good information inside that study abroad potentials will want to know. So, to follow up on part one of my "Welcome packet" series, here is part two. Part three is also now done.

Where professors give permission, Kyushu University allows JTW students to take faculty courses, some of which are taught in English. Some are for full credit, but do not count toward the five-course minimum the program requires; others can only be visited, which I assume means that homework will not be required, tests will not be required, and credit will not be given. Detailed information on choosing courses is on the JTW courses page.

You can only take a language course other than Japanese if "you can demonstrate advanced proficiency in Japanese," and even then, you will not get credit for courses in English. This makes me wonder if there will be people attending who didn't learn English as their first language. I really hope so. I was told that there would be, but this rule makes me curious. Hopefully it was only printed in the English version of the acceptance letter!

The courses (each 90-minutes, once every week) are taught at the International Student Center (会館 - kaikan) on the Hakozaki campus [site in Japanese]. Interestingly, the courses are open to university students as well---I wonder if any ever register.

Then the letter gets into the numbers.

There is a one-time, examination and matriculation fee of 38,000 yen ($315 USD). Tuition (per credit) is 14,400 yen ($119 USD). This adds to at least 172,800 yen ($1,432 USD) per semester, as 12 credits per semester is the minimum.

And now, for the monthly costs of living:

• Housing & utilities. 13,000 yen ($108 USD).
• Food. 30,000 yen ($249 USD). This is calculated based on the 400 yen ($3.30 USD) cafeteria lunch and average costs for preparing breakfasts and dinners.
• Local transportation. 10,000 yen ($83 USD). Obviously this depends on the person.
• Books and supplies. 5,000 yen ($41 USD).
• Health insurance. 2,000 yen ($17 USD).
• Personal expenses. 20,000 yen ($166 USD). This, again, depends on the person.

The USD amounts are calculated using Google's currency calculator, with the current exchange rate of 120.63 yen per dollar.

People who have read the archives or are following along know that I made a big deal about banking earlier. It turns out that I need to worry even less than I thought. JTW plans a session on opening a Fukuoka Bank account with debit card as part of their orientation. Score.

Also, as far as the rooms go, they guarantee that each room comes with a bed, writing desk with lamp, chair, book shelf, wardrobe, refrigerator, telephone, air conditioner, heater, private bathroom and balcony. I'm guessing that not all the rooms on campus are like that, and I'm also guessing that this is to help a bit with the inevitable home sickness, when students just want to be alone for a while. Who knows? Maybe they just want to pamper us. Each floor has a kitchen shared among the 6-7 nearby residents, for breakfast and dinner.

For getting around campus, new bikes can be rented for 7,500 yen ($62 USD), used for 5,000 yen ($41 USD).

Look out for part three: JTW life, campus facilities, and Fukuoka.

Of the courses offered at JTW next semester, these are the ones I've informally chosen (and gotten approved by my home university):

• Contemporary Japan and Popular Culture
• Linguistic Description of Japanese
• Urban Psychology in Asia
• Cultural Evolution of Japan

If the schedule for this semester is any indication, classes will meet Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. There will also be two Japanese lectures, 90-minutes each, like every other class. On that calendar, Monday is marked "Field Study," and I'm still not sure what that entails.

I am supposed to register for at least five courses, and I thought I had, but apparently I listed "Cultural Evolution of Japan" twice on my form by accident. The first "Cultural Evolution of Japan" was written in someone else's script which I can't read easily, so I mistakenly added it again. If I had my original notes, I could see which course I meant to write, but those are gone now.

I suppose this means that I need to choose another. "Japanese Life through Tea Ceremony" sounds fun...