Professor Tomoko Takami

Presentation 1:
Current Trends of Business Japanese Language Education in the U.S.
米国におけるビジネス日本語教育の現状

This presentation will address the current trend of Business language education in higher education in the U.S. Takami and Tabuse conducted a Business Japanese program survey in 2018, a follow-up survey of Tabuse (2009). By highlighting findings from survey results, the presentation will illustrate the profile of current business Japanese education and compare the trends between 2009 and 2018. The discussion will include business Japanese course levels, objectives, formats, textbooks, and instructors. It will also provide resources for teachers who want to learn more about business Japanese education.

Presentation 2:
Business Japanese with an Emphasis on 21st Century Skills
21世紀型スキルに重点をおいたビジネス日本語

What is “Business Japanese Education”? There is undoubtedly a need to design a course that supports its students in finding a job at a Japanese company or being employed in Japan. However, having been teaching Business Japanese courses for 20 years at the University of Pennsylvania, I have re-examined business Japanese education’s widely believed objectives.

I re-set the course objectives to nurturing students to be future global professionals focusing on the three Cs (Communication, Collaboration, and Critical thinking and problem-solving) of 21st-century skills. The presentation will provide concrete lesson plans of “first-time meeting at work,” which was implemented in the Intermediate Japanese for the Professions course (4th-year Japanese equivalent course). They are designed to learn Japanese business culture and customs, think critically about different cultural perspectives, and create solutions for avoiding possible intercultural miscommunications.

About Professor Takami

Tomoko Takami is the Director of the Japanese Language Program and a Senior Lecturer in Foreign Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds an Ed.M. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the Founding Chair of the Japanese for Specific Purposes Special Interest Group at the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) since 2007. She is the author of Powering Up Your Japanese Through Case Studies: Intermediate and Advanced Japanese (2014, 8th printing 2020: the Japan Times) and co-editor of Language Education for Social Future: Critical Content-Based Instruction (2015, 2nd printing in 2018; Coco publisher). She has published papers on business language instruction through Global Business Languages, Journal of Japanese Linguistics, and AATJ. She is an Editorial Board Member for Global Business Languages (2020-present).

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