JPNS W4005

heavy. (MUCH heavier than second-year Japanese.) but if you're in third-year Japanese, you should know this by now.

Workload: Daily quizzes and HW 4 Tests, 1 Midterm, 1 Final

Standard third-year workload — vocab/kanji quizzes and homework every day, tests every two or so weeks, midterm and final, and a presentation or essay project.

I feel like I might be shot for writing this review, but here goes. Yes, Okamoto-sensei is a wonderful person. And she's certainly not a bad teacher either. She's basically a kindly smiling old lady who still enjoys having fun with the youngins....your typical benevolent grandma, really. While you will certainly enjoy class with her, there are a few drawbacks to her teaching style. (In a nutshell: if you need an instructor that goes through Japanese VERY SLOWLY, and if you're not comfortable with your ability to keep up with a brisker pace in class, Okamoto is for you.) First: class with her moves slooow. This works for some people, but it did not work for me. This may not be very apparent to you unless you've actually had Japanese with another professor at Columbia - but once you have, class with Okamoto can seem almost excruciatingly slow at times. Her teaching style involves grilling every single person to make sure they grasp some new grammar concept and can reproduce it in a made-up sentence - students making up sentences take time. Okamoto herself trying to come up with new and exciting sentences for them to complete takes time. Be prepared to wait and space out during long periods of awkward silence. Also, sometimes class feels like it's going so slow just because she's such a nice old lady. Sometimes when she spoke to us I felt like I was back in preschool. Second: Oka…

Matsui sensei, as we call her in class, is fantastic. She is an incredibly kind caring teacher, who will be patient with you in your questions. If you have the chance, I highly recommend taking Japanese with her. The workload is manageable, and even if you get behind she will not penalize you but instead help you catch up!

I'm now taking Fourth-Year Japanese with a different teacher, and I am just realizing how much I miss Eguchi-sensei's class and what truly fantastic teacher he was. There is no doubt that taking Japanese at Columbia is a lot of work (those who have survived it can attest). But Eguchi-sensei can make it so much more doable, bearable, pleasant, and even FUN than any other Japanese teacher I've had here. He is so lively and energetic in his teaching, and there is never a lull in his class. Eguchi-sensei makes the class run like butter — he starts and ends the class on the dot, and begins each class by writing on the board our homework and quiz for the next class. He is extremely punctual, very clear about instructions for assignments, and makes sure that everyone needs to know what they need to know in order to do well. He does a better job at explicating the reading assignments than any other teacher I've had. Every day in class he will go through the section of the text we're working on for the day and, sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph, discuss the grammatical nuances, highlight vocabulary, and actually EXPLAIN what the passage is saying, which is critical in Japanese since texts can be very difficult to crack, especially when the class moves at the pace that ones at Columbia do. All in all, Eguchi-sensei is the best Japanese teacher I've had at Columbia. Definite…

- Vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of every lesson that occasionally morph into kanji and/or translation quizzes by the end of the semester. - Audio recording of certain chapters - Usual workload expected of a Japanese class - usually a page of vocabulary a day, grammar assignments, the occasional writing/presentation assignment.

Okamoto-sensei will smile at you mercilessly until your sense of shame dissolves and you spit out the vocabulary you weren't sure you memorised the night before. She is one of the nicest human beings on campus, and also one of the hardest working -- she is always full of energy in her classes, which makes a huge difference in everyone's attitudes by the end of the hour. In terms of teaching style, Okamoto-sensei reviews the grammar and then round-robins questions until everyone has had their turn, which helps shore up oral practice. She has never failed to entertain a question before, during or after class.

Worksheet(s) every day, quiz every day over kanji/ vocab, ~5 tests (2 are glorified to become the midterm and final)

Okamoto-sensei is lovely and amazing! She is so cute and quirky; every day I walked out of class more cheerful than when I'd come in. I learned a lot of Japanese in the class too; Okamoto is really good with her examples and also using English if the class is just giving her blank stares. Take it! You'll love her. <3