GCSE Japanese

This course is designed for students with one year's previous experience of the language, and is demanding. Standards expected at the end of three years are broadly the same as for French, which most people take after five years of study, and a high level of commitment will be expected of all students who choose to study this option.

The advantage of being able to understand, read, write and speak Japanese in our modern world is very clear. Particularly in an Asian context, but also in a wider world context, a knowledge of Japanese could be a very useful skill when thinking of future career possibilities or when applying for a job. A practical working knowledge of Japanese would be useful, not only for professional purposes, but also for pleasure and for communicating with Japanese within and outside Japan.

The course is topic based, covering a wide range of topics similar in nature to those experienced in French, Mandarin or Spanish. The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing will each be equally important for you to master. To start with, the teacher will direct most of your work but increasingly you will find yourself working independently or in small groups.

Because of the difficulty of learning Japanese to GCSE in just three years you will be expected to maintain a very high level of commitment to this course, in particular you will have to spend a lot of your own time working on the Japanese writing system. By the end of the course you can expect to have a good working knowledge of the language as well as an appreciation of, and an insight into, the culture and civilisation of modern Japan.

The majority of students opting to study GCSE Japanese will have completed the Year 9 beginners' course in Japanese, which is a valuable introduction to the GCSE course.

Assessment

In GCSE Modern Languages the experience of assessment is a positive one and all students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, abilities, and achievements, and to show what they know, what they understand, and what they can do.

Students are assessed in four language skills : speaking, reading, listening and writing.