Soko Gakuen offers a variety of courses that are designed for people of all ages and needs.  Our courses range from basic conversation classes to more comprehensive language courses.  We also offer preparation courses for  the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).  For a list of our current class schedule, please click here.   

Conversation Courses

Beginning Conversation
Perquisites: None
This entry-level course an introduction to develop conversational Japanese. The main objective of this class is to help a student develop survival listening and speaking skills and introduce basic vocabulary. No writing will be taught in this class.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to: introduce yourself and others; ask for telephone numbers; talk about the times of meetings and parties; ask the hours of services in stores and hotels; ask the prices of items in a store and make a purchase; talk about where you will go, when, and with whom; talk about the whereabouts of things and people; talk about everyday doings--what you will do, when and where.

Intermediate Conversation
Perquisites: Beginning Conversation, 1st semester college-level Japanese conversation class, or 45 contact hours in any Japanese class
This is the continuation of Beginning Conversation.  No writing is taught in this class.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to: order food at a restaurant; talk about characteristics of things and people; use basic greetings when visiting people and receiving guests; express your thoughts about experiences; make telephone calls; talk about events; make plans with someone; invite someone to do something or refuse someone's invitation; talk about weekend plans and travel plans; ask for permission, grant or refuse permission.

Comprehensive Language Courses - Beginning Level

Beginning 1
Perquisites: None
This entry-level comprehensive course introduces basic concepts of reading, writing, and conversing in Japanese.  Hiragana, the elementary Japanese writing system and sentence structures will be introduced. However, emphasis will be on development of conversational skills.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to: introduce himself or herself and others; greet and take leave; give information about self; express apologies; make requests; use numbers; ask, tell, and confirm prices; attract someone's attention; make offers; express gratitude; give orders using numbers; count objects; take taxis; give directions; make purchases; recommend something in Japanese. Computer software programs for practice and homework may also be introduced.

Beginning 2
Perquisites: Beginning 1, 2nd semester college-level Elementary Japanese class, or equivalent
This class is a second-tier continuation of the introduction of basic concepts of reading, writing, and conversing in Japanese.  Katakana, another Japanese writing system used for foreign names, places, people, and things will be introduced. 

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: ask and tell time, express specific time and periods of time; ask and make comments on places; things, and events; express agreement and disagreement, uncertainty, intention and purpose; give reasons; express what one does, express likes and dislikes; compliment; combine nouns; make comments about something; express the action of going, coming and returning.

Beginning 3
Perquisites: Beginning 2, 2nd semester college-level Elementary Japanese class, or equivalent
This class is a third-tier continuation of  the introduction of basic concepts of reading, writing, and conversing in Japanese.  Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced.

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: ask for and give locations; express probability; interrupt someone; state a decision; make requests using the verb-TE form; confirm information; ask and give destinations and routes; ask for suggestions and recommendations when going somewhere; learn the use of "iie" in Japanese; invite someone to join in making decisions; reiterate an accepted plan; accept or decline an invitation or offer; ask for permission; give permission or prohibit; ask for a preference; offer to do something for someone; use quantity expressions.

Comprehensive Language Courses - Intermediate Level

Intermediate 1
Perquisites: Beginning 3, 2nd year college-level Elementary Japanese class, or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Beginning 3 and is the first level of 2nd-year equivalent of college-level Japanese language courses.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced.

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: introduce himself or herself and others, start and end a conversation, buy things and send mail at the post office, order meals and pay at the restaurant, ask whereabouts of things and people, confirm information.

Intermediate 2
Perquisites: Intermediate 1, knowledge of at least 200 basic kanji, and/or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Intermediate 1.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced.  By now, the student should have a solid knowledge of all three writing systems - hiragana, katakana, and up to 200 essential kanji.  Starting from this level, all writing must be done in Japanese.

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: ask information about a word, confirm understanding, ask for instructions, give an alternative, ask for telephone numbers, make an appointment, ask permission, and give a warning.

Intermediate 3
Perquisites: Intermediate 2, 3rd year of Japanese and/or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Intermediate 2.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced. 

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: consult a doctor, ask for advice, decline politely, cancel your order, ask for and give directions, confirm information, and express capability, and use levels of speech with great facility.

Intermediate 4
Perquisites: Intermediate 3 or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Intermediate 2.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced. 

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: apologize and give an excuse, make and accept an offer, describe things, thank or decline offers of help, propose a joint course of action, substantiate a point with reasons, phone a taxi and give directions to the driver.

Intermediate 5
Perquisites: Intermediate 4 or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Intermediate 2.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced. 

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: invite someone, accept or decline an invitation, ask to speak to someone, arrange to call again, leave a message, express praise, start a conversation, explain a procedure, express an opinion. Various aspects of Japanese culture will be introduced and discussed in class.

Intermediate 6
Perquisites: Intermediate 5 or equivalent
This class is a continuation of Intermediate 2.  More Kanji, or Chinese characters, will be introduced. 

Upon completion of this level, the student will be able to: complain, express anger, apologize, ask about the patient's condition, symptom, progress;  make a request, accept someone's request, make a proposal, voice disagreement, support someone else's view, ask for someone else's approval, avoid a definite statement.

Intensive Kanji Comprehension Courses

Kanji and Reading 1
Perquisites: 150 total contact hours of Japanese classes or equivalent
Introduction to basic reading and writing of kanji. Acquisition of survival skills through reading modern Japanese. Approximately, 200 essential kanji characters will be introduced and taught through reading.   This course is recommended to those who have taken Japanese before or concurrently and also want to improve his or her kanji literacy and comprehension. 

Special/Advanced Topic Courses

JLPT Prep Course
Perquisites:  Intermediate 6 or equivalent
Capstone course and advanced continuation from Intermediate 6.  This course will further develop Japanese language proficiency by acquiring advanced vocabulary, grammar, and idioms to increase comprehension. 

Focus on improve Kanji reading and writing skills will be a main focus.   This course will also go over the test format, questions types, and scoring.  For proper preparation,  students in this course will practice and learn key test-taking strategies and gain experience and confidence with practice tests, exercises, and essays.

Practical Communication
Perquisites:  300 contact hours or equivalent
After several quarters of this course, the student will be able to: (a) expand vocabulary, comprehension, and other communication skills; (b) develop linguistic and communicative competence, understand "Speaking Rules" and the relation between linguistic form and function in Japanese; and (c) recognize degree of formality, uses of silence, appropriateness of questions, types of questions, gender and age-related restrictions depending on to whom and when he or she talks.

Reading for Comprehension
Perquisites:  350 contact hours or equivalent
The instructor will help students analyze, synthesize and interpret general reading materials including some with abstract concepts; increase speed and comprehension in silent reading; develop the skill to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary from context; read for enjoyment; and at the same time gain new vocabulary words and sentence structures.