The Intensive Japanese Language Course is the main focus of this program. KCP realizes that students enter with varying Japanese language backgrounds, which may have stressed different aspects of the language. Special emphasis is placed on a balanced language education program which stresses all 4 communication skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—to help students achieve a balance between general knowledge of the Japanese language and practical ability.

We employ the Direct Method: classes are taught in Japanese without a vehicular language such as English. We use the Direct Method for these reasons: first, KCP teaches students from all over the world, and there is truly no common language other than Japanese. More important, we want to help students to think in Japanese by listening in Japanese. If we were to translate Japanese to students’ native languages (often with totally different grammar structures), it would take a significant cognitive effort for students to convert what they hear into Japanese—a task that is counter-productive to learning to think in Japanese.

There are over 220 classroom hours of instruction in each semester term. In addition to the main class, a small group study session meets twice a week. Each student will have several instructors for each course, as well as an assigned language advisor and a student coordinator.

Course Descriptions, Intensive Japanese Language