Introduction to 6

th
year Japanese

This will be your final year of study. At the end of this year you
will have to prove and substantiate the work that you have done
over the 2 years when sitting your leaving certificate. In order to
succeed, I suggest the following:

1. Decide if you are doing higher or lower level.
2. Find out how many points you need to enter the 3
rd
level
course of your choice and how important your Japanese
score will figure in you achieving these points.
3. Be here every class.
4. Be on time and ready to go with each class.
5. Be attentive and ready to practice and learn in class.
6. Ask questions and be certain about what you need to
know.
7. Do your homework thoroughly.
8. Keep your work in order. Keep your folders, homework,
hand-outs and reference material in order.
9. Dont make excuses. Just do everything you can to learn.
10. Enjoy being really good at Japanese.

Learning materials
To help you in your study you will need the following items:

1. A pocket dictionary. I can suggest:
Random House Websters Pocket Japanese Dictionary
ISBN: 0-679-77373-8
2. An A4 writing pad and a ring binder with loose plastic
inserts to store hand-outs, homework et cetera.

Contents of LC exam
The Japanese LC has both an honours and an ordinary level
paper. Both Ordinary and Honour levels test the four following
areas:

1. Speaking Japanese known as an Oral test.
2. Listening and comprehending Japanese, known as
an Aural test.
3. Reading Japanese.
4. Writing Japanese.

The overall marks for each are divided in the following way:

Oral or speaking 25% of total marks
Aural or listening 20% of total marks
Reading and writing 55% of total marks

You must be proficient in each to get an A. Weakness in one
can cost you in your over-all marks. In helping you organise your
study, the percentage of over-all marks given to each category
should be an indication of how much time and effort you should
spend on each.

Topics and themes of the LC Japanese exam
All four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing will be
tested under the following 14 major headings:

1. Self-introduction
2. My hobby and sports

3. My family & friends

4. Daily schedule

5. Weather & the Seasons


6. Nature
7. Japan and its culture


8. Summer holidays & Travel

9. The weekend

10. Food & cooking

11. My home town and my home

12. School life

13. Japanese study

14. Graduation and my future

You will not be tested on anything in the exam outside of these
topics. We will spend more time on some topics over others
depending on the following criteria.

1. Some topics are guaranteed to come up. The first two
topics of jikoshokai and shumi are always on the exam.
2. Some topics require more thorough study such as school
life or likes and dislikes as there is more to talk, read and
write about. Also, some topics are contained in other
broader topics. For example sotsugyo or graduation would
come under the category of school life or shumi or hobby
would come under the heading of daily schedule or
weekend.
3. Past papers. Topics that appeared in last years paper and
are therefore unlikely to be a priority in the 2015 paper will
be allocated less time.

The Japanese LC is about expressing in all four areas of
listening, speaking, reading and writing your experience as young,
secondary school students. This is central to the exam. The
themes are set out with this in mind. You will not be asked about
things which you have little or no experience of such as Japanese
economics or politics.
Concentrate on the themes outlined above and you will have
more than enough to be working on over the next nine months.
Stay focused on these and you will have more than enough to
succeed in your exam.
We will be finished the course by December and will spend the
rest of the year revising and making exam preparations from then.
As a first course of action, familiarise yourself with the 14
categories and secondly, please write your name, the best email
address to get you at (for receiving corrections, extra materials
etc.) and whether youd like to do higher or ordinary level. Please
consult with your parents / guardians before making your decision
and get both yourself and them to sign the slip. Please return this
slip for next class.

The very best of luck!

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JAPANESE LC2

Student name___________________________
Student email address ____________________________

I would like to sit HIGHER / ORDINARY(please circle your choice)
Japanese for my Leaving Certificate.

Student ________________ Parent / Guardian _____________