This is a report on a joint 2-class trial, focusing on oral comprehension practice, dialogue practice and Kanji instruction.
For more than thirty years, a one-year program has been offered at the Japanese Language Center for International Students (hereinafter "the Center") to prepare international students for college level education in Japan. In this program, the number of students is limited to fewer than 8 or 9 in a class in order to achieve the ambitious goals of this sort of one-year intensive study. As the Center's student population has grown, the need has been perceived for a 2-class joint program. Therefore, in the first term (April-July) of 2003, we implemented a 2-class joint program once a day from Monday to Friday.
Although there are some points that need to be improved, we consider the program a meaningful effort.