CLAIR Jet Programme Japanese language course

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I will say that my friends who are taking the beginner and intermediate courses said that their books were more useful than my friends who took the advanced course. So it could be that the lower-level books are worth the time. To me, I wish I had spent my time learning Japanese with my 7th graders instead of learning it from the JET course.... I would have done better.... and according to my school's Japanese teacher, it's just about the same level.

The beginner course had a lot of the same issues.

[darlo]

My method for the advanced book (from book 3 onward having given up on it but still wanting to continue my commitment).

Open notepad.
List the grammar that comes up.
Go to the test.
Pick whatever is new as the answer.
If more than one answer is new, look them up in a decent book, choose best answer.

I've passed all tests*. Including completely taking the mickey on book 5s written section where for my answer I complain about the course. But in doing so I use every single new grammar point taught, and in order. That section on 8/10.

But I noticed on the form for next years course it didn't mention the interpretter course and ... the other one. Will they come on a later form? (Would ask my supervisor but I only see him for about an hour a week and that was yesterday).

(*still obviously waiting on book 6 result)

[Siyris]

My method for the advanced book (from book 3 onward having given up on it but still wanting to continue my commitment).

Open notepad.
List the grammar that comes up.
Go to the test.
Pick whatever is new as the answer.
If more than one answer is new, look them up in a decent book, choose best answer.

I've passed all tests*. Including completely taking the mickey on book 5s written section where for my answer I complain about the course. But in doing so I use every single new grammar point taught, and in order. That section on 8/10.

But I noticed on the form for next years course it didn't mention the interpretter course and ... the other one. Will they come on a later form? (Would ask my supervisor but I only see him for about an hour a week and that was yesterday).

(*still obviously waiting on book 6 result)

I think if you wanted to take the interpreter course or the pedagogy course you needed to get permission from your supervisor a while ago. I could be wrong about that though.... I know you need approval from the BoE or CO because they have to not only give you a week off so you can attend the course sessions, but also pay for the course out of their budget.... so you need approval before you can enroll in those two.

[Jen_KyotoPA]

My method for the advanced book (from book 3 onward having given up on it but still wanting to continue my commitment).

Open notepad.
List the grammar that comes up.
Go to the test.
Pick whatever is new as the answer.
If more than one answer is new, look them up in a decent book, choose best answer.

I've passed all tests*. Including completely taking the mickey on book 5s written section where for my answer I complain about the course. But in doing so I use every single new grammar point taught, and in order. That section on 8/10.

But I noticed on the form for next years course it didn't mention the interpretter course and ... the other one. Will they come on a later form? (Would ask my supervisor but I only see him for about an hour a week and that was yesterday).

(*still obviously waiting on book 6 result)

For the T&I course and L&P course, the information is online and you're supposed to submit your application to your supervisor TODAY, May 25th.

http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/course/je ... index.html

Your supervisor does have some extra time to get the application to the host prefecture/city if your CO approves, so you may still be able to finagle that application in even if you can't do it today. But that'll be up to your supervisor.

I took the advanced course and while I doubt it will make a huge difference in someone's Japanese ability, I learned some new things and some of them were useful, especially when studying for the JLPT. Every advanced Japanese course I've taken has involved a lot of grammar that isn't used in everyday conversation. But, just because it isn't used in everyday conversation doesn't mean it's not useful. Think about constructions like "neither...nor" in English -- sure, no one says them, but no native speaker would have trouble understanding them. I don't think the grammar is necessary if you just want to get better at conversation, but if you want to be able to read and write better it's pretty helpful I think.

[OsakaAmerican]

Has anyone taken (or have heard from anyone who has taken) the Linguistics & Pedagogy course? I did Translation & Interpretation last year, so I decided to do the other one this year...but I'm still feeling a little skeptical. Also, what is the test for that one like, anyway?

And because I happened to see this when I was looking through this thread:

For example, one of the test questions for Book 2 was: 今日はとても寒くて、雪が降っていた。　外にいる犬が心配だったのでドアを＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿、犬がすごい速さで家の中に飛び込んできた。
Two of the options are 開けているところ and 開けたところ which, to me, both make sense. "The dog flew indoors just as I was opening the door" versus "The dog flew indoors right after I opened the door." Apparently, they were looking for the latter, for some reason that I really just can't figure out.

The correct answer makes more sense to me, though I agree that it's more of a question of logic/reasoning than of Japanese grammar.
Because the phrase begins with "Since I was worried about the dog," it would make more sense that you had just gone to open the door and the dog flew in, rather than you already had the door open. Sorry, that's probably not the best explanation, but when I read 開けているところ, it didn't make sense to me in context.

[Guiteau]

For the T&I course and L&P course, the information is online and you're supposed to submit your application to your supervisor TODAY, May 25th.

Wow, thanks for posting this, I thought it was later in the year. Got it in just in time, we'll see if the BoE approves/I pass the test, I guess.

The correct answer makes more sense to me, though I agree that it's more of a question of logic/reasoning than of Japanese grammar.
Because the phrase begins with "Since I was worried about the dog," it would make more sense that you had just gone to open the door and the dog flew in, rather than you already had the door open. Sorry, that's probably not the best explanation, but when I read 開けているところ, it didn't make sense to me in context.

Reading through everything again, I think my misunderstanding came from 開けているところ v 開けていたところ v 開けたところ. I was accidentally reading 開けたところ as 開けていたところ, which was what was causing my consternations.

How was the Translation and Interpretation class last year? I signed up to take the test (see above), but I don't know very much about the contents of the course. Did you find it helpful/worthwhile?

[darlo]

For the T&I course and L&P course, the information is online and you're supposed to submit your application to your supervisor TODAY, May 25th.

... well it looks like I won't be taking a JET course this year after all. Never mind. Just out of curiosity, where online is (was?) it? I've had a good look about the main jet site and tried using google but just couldn't find it.

[Guiteau]

... well it looks like I won't be taking a JET course this year after all. Never mind. Just out of curiosity, where online is (was?) it? I've had a good look about the main jet site and tried using google but just couldn't find it.

It's here. You may be able to try to turn it in if you do it today because there's still a little time for your BoE to send it to CLAIR, ask your sup.

[darlo]

Thanks for that, turns out it wasn't in my city's budget. Shame (?) there's no option to pay for it yourself, I was intending on going to Shiga over winter break anyway, ney mind.

[OsakaAmerican]

How was the Translation and Interpretation class last year? I signed up to take the test (see above), but I don't know very much about the contents of the course. Did you find it helpful/worthwhile?

The translations exercises are...very much written by non-native English speakers, if you know what I mean. I found some of the translation examples to be questionable. But, I thought that the reading passages and some of the formal conversation made for good Japanese practice. (Unfortunately, I got lazy and hardly cracked open the books by the time I got toward the end.)

The monthly tests are kind of stupid, especially when they ask you to translate paragraphs completely out of context. (In real life, I would always be able to ask questions about what it's used for, what the background is, etc.) They really nitpick on the scoring, a lot of which I didn't agree with. That said, it doesn't actually matter as long as you can get over 70 out of 100, which is what you need to pass the course.

And ALL THAT SAID, this course gets a "highly recommended!" stamp from me because the interpretation seminar is outstanding! It's absolutely worth it just for that.

[Guiteau]

T&I Review

Thanks!