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Remember, it's never too late to register for a class, even after it's begun. You can always catch up with any sessions you may have missed by watching the video recordings of previous sessions. The time remaining to register before the first class session is below, so stop hesitating and get to it!

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Offered:

as in-person classes, live-streamed Zoom sessions and video recordings.

• Term 1 (Feb-Apr ) and Term 3 (Jul-Sep) each year, pending sufficient enrolment. • This course is offered as an in-person course at the EarthDiverse Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand, live-streamed via Zoom if you live elsewhere, and as video recordings of the live sessions if you cannot attend the regularly scheduled class.

Date & Time:

Begins Tuesdays 20 February 2024

  • • Our 2024 Term 1 Japanese 101 course meets on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:30pm beginning on Tuesday 20 February (New Zealand time) and continues for eight consecutive weekly sessions. The last class of the Term is held on Tuesday 9 April 2024.

  • • If you live outside of New Zealand and wish to Zoom in to our live class sessions, check the nearest local Time Zone equivalent below:

Time Zone equivalents:

for live-streaming Zoom Sessions from New Zealand. If your Time Zone doesn't suit our live-streamed class, you can also access our courses by watching the live-recorded sessions that are posted to the course webpage each week, usually within 1-2 days.

  • Honolulu, Hawai’i: begins Mon 19 Feb 2024, 7:00-8:30pm

  • US Pacific: begins Mon 19 Feb 2024, 9:00-10:30pm

  • US Eastern: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 12:00-1:30am

  • London, UK: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 5:00-6:30am

  • Paris, France: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 6:00-7:30am

  • New Delhi, India: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 10:30am-12:00pm

  • Bangkok: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 12:00-1:30pm

  • Singapore: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 1:00-2:30pm

  • Tokyo, Japan: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 2:00-3:30pm

  • Sydney, Australia: begins Tue 20 Feb 2024, 4:00-5:30pm

Description:

Japanese 101: Introductory Japanese, Prt 1

  • • This is Part 1 of a four-part Introductory course taught over 4 successive school terms (take as few or as many as you’d like!) specifically designed for beginning Japanese learners who have not previously studied Japanese before. All of our language programmes focus on acquiring reading and conversational skills, and learning about local culture. Our courses are designed for busy people: we do not expect you to study outside of class, nor do we assign homework (unless you’d like some!). Come and spend 12 class hours per Term (eight 1.5 hour weekly classes) studying Japanese and learning about Japanese culture, and have some fun too!

  • • Our Introductory Japanese 101 course begins with a focus on learning hiragana and katakana scripts, writing and reading practice. Includes basic introductory grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and conversation.

  • • Subsequent Term courses continue with Introductory Japanese (i.e. our Japanese 102-104 courses) and continue to include additional reading and comprehension practice, intermediate grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and conversation and will continue in the same time slot for the duration of the full course.

Course curriculum:

Week by week new material will be posted throughout the duration of the course. Video recordings of each weekly session will be posted here 1-2 days after each class.

    1. EarthDiverse Course Information

    2. EarthDiverse Zoom instructions

    1. Japanese writing practice sheet

    1. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 Lesson 1 PDF

    2. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 Greetings Vocab PDF

    3. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 Lesson 1 Vocab PDF

    4. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 Time Age Numbers PDF

    5. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 Omiyage PDF

    6. 20240221 T1.1 Japanese 101 video

    1. 20240227 T1.2 Japanese 101 video

    1. 20240305 T1.3 Japanese 101 class notes

    2. 20240305 T1.3 Japanese 101 video

    1. 20240312 T1.4 Japanese 101 class notes

    2. 20240312 T1.4 Japanese 101 video

About this course

  • Video and PDF content of class presentations or whiteboards notes are uploaded weekly after each live session
  • Begins on Tue 20 Feb 2024
  • NZ time: Tuesdays 6:00-7:30pm

Meet our Instructor:

Japanese Instructor Matt Ferri

Born to a Kiwi father and a Samoan mother, Matt Ferri is something of a cookies-and-cream milkshake. It explains why his childhood was divided between two rather distinctly-sized islands, and, more importantly, why cookies and cream is his favourite flavour. At some stage he grew up, got a degree, and moved to a third island, Japan, where he spent five years teaching English and studying Japanese. His BA in English has a ‘First Class Honours’ suffix, which may have helped him get there; and his Diploma in Creative Writing has also proven invaluable – as filler content for his CV. Back in Hamilton now, Matt tutors NCEA English and proofreads university reports. And now and then he ponders, as he reflects on those three islands, how the phrase ‘home is where the heart is’ applies if your heart feels split.

Location:

This is a hybrid class with both in-person sessions in our classrooms and streamed live via Zoom.

All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse offices and classrooms located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located just north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station) (entrance is located on the side of the building, see map). Those looking for parking for our evening classes can park just in front of the building in any of the available car parks. Daytime parking can be found in our dedicated car parks, or free 2-hour on-street daytime parking can be found just in front of Anglesea Street.
Location

Distance Learning:

This course has distance-learning options for those unable to attend the live class sessions in Hamilton. Students have three options for attending our courses once they have registered:

  • Attend in-person classes in our Hamilton classrooms at the regularly scheduled day and time.ck

  • Attend our live on-line classroom sessions via Zoom at the regular scheduled day and time.

  • Watch the live-recorded class sessions at your leisure, at a time, day and place more suited to your schedule.

Distance-Learning options:

Live Zoom sessions and Video-Recordings

  • • In addition to our in-person classes in Hamilton, our courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed Hamilton classes are available via free Zoom software for those living outside the Waikato. Live-streaming allows you to participate fully in your own learning, ask questions of the instructor and participate fully in the same way as if you were in the physical classroom.

  • • Those unable to attend the scheduled date and time of the actual class sessions, or those who need to miss a class or two due to previous engagements or unexpected illness, can watch any or all of the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace and in their own time.

  • • Detailed instructions on how to access our distance learning components will be sent after completing your registration. There are no additional fees for this service. However, distance learners will need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a good quality web-camera (tablet devices and mobile phones can also access our live-streamed classes), a built-in microphone (most modern laptops have built-in microphones) or a headset with a microphone. You will also need to download and install the free Zoom software on your computer or device. Those accessing the video recordings will be able to do so with a simple web browser on any device.

Pricing options

• All prices in New Zealand dollars and includes GST. • Unwaged includes students, seniors, retirees and unemployed. • Prices remain the same regardless of your chosen method for accessing this course.

Notes:

Those who cannot make the class meeting day and time via live Zoom sessions may consider accessing this course through the weekly recorded video sessions. Class videos are usually posted within 1-2 days of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning on a day and time of your choosing.

  • • This course has no assignments, quizzes, tests or exams.

  • • You will not need to purchase any reading materials.

  • • All classes encourage questions and group discussion.

  • • If you’re attending in-person, course fees include tea/coffee/snack at each session. Help yourself!

  • • There are no refunds for missed classes. If you miss a class, you can watch the video recording!

  • • Guests of registered participants are welcome to attend a single session without registering.

  • • If, however, this course is cancelled due to insufficient enrolments please note that your registration fee will either be refunded in full or you may select to receive a course credit. Your choice!

Materials:

All materials are included in the course fees. These are developed by our instructors and distributed as PDF files as the course progresses.

  • • Course materials are provided to all registered students as digital materials made available to you on the course webpage for download (accessible after registration). There is no need to purchase any additional textbooks for this course, although you may choose to do so to supplement your learning.

  • • You will only require a pen or pencil, a notebook for taking your own class notes, and a loose-leaf binder.

  • • Any notes that our instructor writes on our class digital notepad are posted to the class webpage on your dashboard as a PDF file so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.

Prerequisites:

A keen desire to begin studying Japanese!

  • • There are no prerequisites for this course.

  • • This course is open to all learners aged 10 years and above.