4Th Day in Golden Pavilion & the Rock Garden

Very hot 100F heat index day was for us to visit the Golden Pavilion and the Rock Garden (Ryoanji).  It was not too far between two temples, but we felt very far as the heat continued to attack us.

From Ryoanji Temple we went to Ritsumeikan University, where we had lunch in its cafeteria located at Zonshinkan. 

From Ritsumeikan University, we walked to Kitano Tenmangu via Hirano Shrine.

From Hakubaicho, Randen train took back home.

Nara Deer Park and the Giant Buddha on the 3rd day of the trip

Three different trains took us to Nara in the morning, and we walked to the World's Largest wooden building which housed Great Buddha image.

Exceptionally high heat caused a little modification of the daily plan to avoid acidents. 

Instead of heading to Kasuga Grand Shrine we went back to the train station area shopping street for lunch.

After lunch, we came back to Kyoto Station where we were we took bus to the hotel.

Another great day.

2024 Spring Semester is underway and Spring Trip to Kyoto, Japan is ready

 In this Spring semester, there have been following classes:

Japanese 1101 (In-Person & Virtual), Japanese 1102 and Japanese 2252.

Spring Trip to Kyoto is ready with 16 students leaving on Friday 3/22/24 and returning to Chicago on Sunday 3/31/24. According to the weather/Sakura blooming forecast, 3/24 will be the full blooming day in Kyoto/Osaka area so we will be there right on time.

Summer Study Abroad is also ready with over a dozen students.  Summer trip will leave on Monday 6/10/24 and return to the U.S. on Friday 7/12/24.

We will be joined by 10 East Los Angeles College students there in Kyoto and spend the program together.

For those who want to accelerate learning, Japanese 1102 will be offered virtually and be ready for the second year program in Fall.

2023 Fall Semester ended with a few survivors and ready for the year 2024

 For Japanese 1101, total 15 students out of all three classes successfully completed and will move forward to Japanese 1102.  Spring semester 1102 will include these students as well as students from past semesters.

2nd and 3rd semester classes (1102 and 2201) had less than 10 students from the beginning so I decided to open Japanese 2252 which can hold everyone who passed 1102.   

There will be:   Japanese 1101    Mon/Wed  10-12, 1-3 (In-person) and 5-7 (Virtual)

                         Japanese 1102    Tue/Thu 12noon-2

                         Japanese 2252    Tue/Thu  10-11:15

Spring Break Cherry Blossom Trip to Kyoto, Japan has 16 students and we are ready to go! 

2019 Spring Semester has ended!

Spring semester is now over.  There were 50 students total from the first semester class (1101) through 6th semester class (2252) and 41 students passed with A, B, C, or D.

Summer on campus class is only for the first semester (Japanese 1101) class and will be taught by my friend teacher.

For Fall semester 2019 is now open for registration.

Japanese 1101 (1st semester)  Mon/Wed. 10am-12noon or 7pm-9pm
                                                 Tue/Thu.   10am-12noon or 12noon-2pm

Japanese 1102 (2nd semester) Mon/Wed. 5pm-7pm

Japanese 2201 (3rd semester) Mon/Wed. 1pm-3pm

Japanese 2251 (5th semester) Mon/Wed. 7pm-8pm

Busy Fall is coming and I do hope every class will run!!

Spring 2019 has just begun!

Busy Spring 2019 semester began with horrible weather.

Japanese 1101  Tue/Thu
10am~12noon, 12noon~2pm, 7pm~9pm

Japanese 1102  Mon/Wed
10am~12noon

Japanese 2201  Mon/Wed
5pm~7pm

Japanese 2252  Mon/Wed
1pm~2:15pm

Spring trip to Kyoto, Japan is still accepting students.

Summer Japan Program is open!

Fall 2018 Registration is going on!

COD Japanese language classes are now waiting for students!

Japanese 1101  Mon/Wed  10am-12noon   19 students as of 7/30/2018
Japanese 1101  Tue/Thu    10am-12noon     6 students
Japanese 1101  Tue/Thu    12noon-2pm     11 students
Japanese 1101  Tue/Thu      7pm-9pm          2 students

Japanese 1102 Mon/Wed     5pm-7pm         3 students
Japanese 2201 Mon/Wed    2:30pm-4pm     1 student  (10 max)

Japanese 2251 (5th semester class)  Mon/Wed   1pm-2:15pm    9 students

This fall is unusual as students of 5th semester are more than 3rd semester!

Night students (1101 and 1102) are welcome!

Spring Break Sakura Japan Trip is also accepting students
The trip is from 3/22/2019 to 3/31/2019 and two class meetings will come before the trip!

Japanese 1100 is the trip class in Spring 2019!

Fall 2017 is now over!

2017 Fall semester is over now.

25 students out of 35 students of Japanese 1101 survived!  Now 2018 Spring semester is welcoming students.

Spring classes are:

Japanese 1101   5:00-6:50pm (Mon/Wed), 10:00-11:50am (Tue/Thu), 12:00-1:50pm (Tue/Thu)
Japanese 2202   1:00-2:50pm (Mon/Wed)
Japanese 2252   3:00-4:00pm (Mon/Wed)

Spring Flower Viewing Trip to Kyoto, Japan is now full with 13 people!

Summer Study Abroad in Kyoto, Japan is now accepting application and 5 students have already admitted!

Japanese Classes in Fall semster 2017

GTS' 24th academic year at COD is just around the corner.  COD has been suffering declining the number of students for many reasons. 

Besides less and less students are taking night classes across the college.  Japanese classes are somehow surviving yet now hitting the wave.

The Fall classes will be:

Japanese 1101   10-12 (Mon/Wed) (TUE/THU)  12-2pm (TUE/THU) 7-9pm (TUE/THU)
Japanese 1102   5-7pm (MON/WED)
Japanese 2201   12-2pm (MON/TUE)
Japanese 2251   3-4pm (MON/TUE)

Spring Field Trip to Kyoto, Japan (Humanities 1800) can be also registered now!!
The trip is from 3/24/2018-4/1/2018

Back to the "normal" life!

As soon as coming back to Chicago, the regular life re-began.  Some didn't come back to class and there will be fewer students to complete every class!

Summer Study Abroad 2017 is now ready to leave for Japan on Monday 6/19/2017 with over 15 students like last year!

We will be joined by 10 students from Gerogia Southern University in Kyoto, which is very exciting!
Regular summer course at COD will offer Japanese 1101 and its students can continue to study Japanese 1102 in Fall.

The Fall semester classes are now announced.

Japanese 1101  (M/W 10-12, T/Th 10-12, 12-2, and 7-9pm)
Japanese 1102  (M/W 5-7pm)
Japanese 2201  (M/W 1-3pm)
Besides these classes, Japanese 2251 is under planning for those who completed Japanese 2202.

Spring Japan Trip 2018 has been proposed and soon to be announced!

Happy New Year! The Year of Rooster has come!

Year 2017, the Rooster year has just begun and GTS is ready to move forward to raise cultural awareness with colorful diversity.  The focus is always between USA and Japan but trans-cultural undrstanding has no border!

COD Japanese class will begin on Monday 1/23/2017 so still three weeks remain to register the class.  All the classes are GO (green light) and Spring Trip to Japan has 13 participants and Sakura, the Cherry Blossoms, will wait for us!

JAPANESE 1101      TUE/THU      10am-12noon, 12noon-2pm, and 7pm-9pm
JAPANESE 1102      MON/WED    10am-12noon
JAPANESE 2201      MON/WED     5pm-7pm
JAPANESE 2202      MON/WED     1pm-3pm


Summer Study Abroad Program to Kyoto, Japan is also coming!
The orientation is 5/21-22/2017 (Sat-Sun)
The trip  6/19/2017-7/20/2017

Already 15 students have partially submitted the application and most likely be admitted!

Have a wonderful year!

Fall 2016 is over!

Fall semester 2016 is now over.  The distribution of letter grades is as usual.
2201/2251     3A's  7B's  2C's  2D's
1102              3A's  2B's  6C's  2D's
1101              9A's  5B's  7C's  3D's  and 12F's

Spring Semester registration is going on and all the classes seems to be held.  No cancellation due to the enrollment.

Spring Flower Viewing Trip to Kyoto has amazingly 13 students in it and soon to be closed.

Summer Study Abroad Japan has 5 registrants and abot 12 more are expected to register.

Dollar value is going up so we are in good shape!

Fall 2016 is now closing!

Time flies.  The fall semester 2016 is about to end.  As usual I lost many students from 1101 but those who registered 1102 and 2201 survived quite well.

Now the Spring Semester registration is open and many classes are waiting for you.
1101  Tue & Thu 10-12 and 12 to 2 (2 classes)
1102  Mon & Wed 10-12 (1 class)
2201  Mon & Wed 5-7pm (1 class)
2202  Mon & Wed 1-3pm (1 class)

Plus  1101 Tue & Thu  7-9pm (taught by Imamura-sensei) will be open as well.

Spring Break trip has already 11 participants and will be closed shortly

Summer Study Abroad anticipates 15 students (according to my recent memo) and 3 have submitted their application and likely to be admitted.

Fall 2016 Classes are ready for you to register. All GTS classes will open.

Fall 2016 classes have been waiting for students to register.  As of the end of July, all 5 GTS classes have enough students to open and continue to wait to be filled for next 3 weeks.

Japanese 1101
Monday/Wednesday  10am-12noon 
Tuesday/Thursday     10am-12noon   AND 12noon-2pm

Japanese 1102
Monday/Wednesday    5-7pm

Japanese 2201
Monday/Wednesday   1-3pm

There still will be night Japanese 1101 class on Tues/Thurs night.

Fall Class Registration Continues!

This coming fall, there will be 6 classes scheduled.

Japanese 1101 (First Semester) 
Mon/Wed  10:00am-11:50am
Tue/Thu   10:00am-11:50am, 12:00noon-1:50pm, 7:00pm-8:50pm 

Japanese 1102 (Second Semester)
Mon/Wed 1:00pm-2:50pm

Japanese 2201 (Third Semseter)
Mon/Wed 5:00pm-6:50pm

All classes have still seats!  Please register!

Our Spring Flower trip will be 3/18/2016-3/27/2016
Summer Study Abroad will be 6/15/2016-7/21/2016

Stay Tuned!
                                          

First GTS/JCC Dinner tonight!

The first GTS/JCC dinner in 2013 is coming up tonight and I am looking forward to meeting many new students as well as former royal students.

JCC will help the elementary school in Downers Grove to hold the event for diversity in April 12th.
We will decorate their school classroom and introduce some cultural activities.  It is very exciting opportunity for the first time for JCC current team!

Spring field trip has 5 students and GTS is still expecting more to join in the trip.  Trip to Kyoto will be the last week of March and Japanese Meteology Agency announced a few days ago that the full bloom of cherry blossoms in Kyoto Area be 3/25, which is perfect!!!

Sumer Study Abroad began getting applications and 5 are already officially registered and about 5 are in the process at a moment.  Hopefully we will have a big group like last year! 

First test of all the classes have passed!

The average score of the first test of Japanese 1101 and 1102 are both 75%, which is predicted.   One for Japanese 2201 and 2202 are both 65%, and this is a bit lower than expected so I have to raise this score in the next test.

Usually first test is difficult for students as they have never seen before and the second test on, it gets a bit easier for them to expect and prepare. 

As a result of the first test, I may lose a few students from Japanese 1101 but not many from other courses because students have already an idea of how GTS keeps challenging them!

The second test will be more accurate as student anxiety will drop considerably.  (I Hope)

The Spring Semester began!

The first day of the semester has neded peacefully.  Japanese 1101 morning class was full with some in the waiting list! 

Japanese 1102 has 18 students, all from last semester and seem to be ready for possible challenge by GTS.

Japanese 1100 is finally coming back to COD with 10 students and we all enjoyed self-introduction among others and be ready for performing as one Group called JAPAN during the new project of INMP (Illinois Negotiation Module Project)!

Japanese 1100 night class is still getting students and a few more to be filled!!

This is the great start!

Spring Semester is now coming up!

GTS has driven back to Chicago after the round driving trip to Orlando, FL for 10 days!  Refreshed and ready for the new semester!

Well, it seems to be a bit slow for every student to register classes.  So I am hoping that every class will be ready on Monday 1/7 before the beginning of the semester on 1/10!

So far,
Japanese 1100 (culture and civilization of Japan, not language)---- 7 students
Japanese 1101 -----41 students (just enough)
Japanese 1102 -----30 students (more than expected)
Japanese 2201 -----7 students  (a little more needed)
Japanese 2202 -----6 students (I know there are at least 5 more students to wait for registering to the last minute for financial reason!)

Spring Trip has 3 registered, hope fully a few more students join to go!
I will take them to Japan even if it is a smaller group!

I am just waiting for number rising!!

The Fall semester ended!

The Fall semster of 2012 has ended and be ready for the Spring 2013.
Final Tally of the Fall is:

Out of 41 students of GTS 1101:
A=14, B=7, C=11, D=2, F=6, and Incomplete=1
Well, 34 students out of 41 students survived somehow.  (83%)

Out of 11 students of 1102:
A=3, B=3, C=2, and D=3 all survived.

Out of 14 students of a 2201:
A=2, B=3, C=5, Satisfactory=1 and F=3  (79% survived)

Hoping those survivors to continue to be in class!