Tomoko Takami
Title: Lecturer in Foreign Languages
Japanese Language Program, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Courses:
- JPAN381-680: Japanese for the Professions I
- JPAN382-680: Japanese for the Professions II
Course Description:
This course is designed to teach Japanese with emphasis on using Japanese for professional purposes. Completing JPAN212: Intermediate Japanese II or equivalent level is pre-requisite. The course is designed for students who are intermediate-mid level in the ACTFL OPI guidelines.
The course aims to foster the skills and the knowledge of effective cross-cultural and inter-personal communication in Japanese and to develop intercultural competence. The specific course objectives are:
- To understand and be able to use preferable and frequently used vocabulary, expressions, and discourse in business contexts
- To improve oral communication skills. Although improving all four language skills is encouraged for effective language learning and acquisition, improving speaking proficiency and oral communication skills is strongly emphasized since the business communication often occurs in oral communications.
- To acquire communicative competence (both accurate and culturally appropriate usage of the language) in using Japanese for communication in business contexts
- To understand Japanese business culture and Japanese current affairs: Japanese business customs and manners, Japanese way of thinking, values and concepts in business and society, and the current affairs and social issues through the news.
- To raise the cross-cultural differences in business and professional worlds and to develop intercultural competence, “...an ability that enables individuals to operate effectively and appropriately in more than one language-culture” (Fantini)
Personal Information
Tomoko is originally from Hiroshima, Japan
Education
- M.S. in Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA May 1996
Teaching/Professional Experience:
University of Pennsylvania
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations [September 1996-present]
- Lecturer in Foreign Languages
Penn Language Center (PLC)[September 1995-present]
- Lecturer
The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies,
- Instructor for thirty-hour pre-orientation mini-immersion “Boot Camp” [April of 2001, 2002, and 2005]
- Country Assistant for the Japanese Summer 2001 Program and 2002 Program
College Board / ETS [June 9-15, 2008]
AP Japanese Language and Culture Reader
Certification:
- Intercultural Development Inventory Administrator and Interpreter Certificate (2008)
- AP Japanese Language and Culture Reader Certificate (2008)
- ACTFL OPI Tester Certificate (Japanese) (2001 to present)
Selected Publications:
- “Building Connections between Language and Culture Learning: A Hybrid Curriculum Model for More Effective Business Language Instruction.” (2009, Forthcoming). In M. Gueldry (Eds), Walk the Talk: Integrating Languages and Cultures in /for the Professions. The Edwin Mellen Press.
- “Employing International Business Cases for Business Language Instruction.” (2008, Forthcoming) Global Business Languages.
- “Integrating language and content: A case study of intermediate Japanese for professions.” (2005). In R. Jourdenais, & S. Springer (Eds.), Content, tasks and projects in the language classroom: 2004 conference proceedings (pp. 69-77). Monterey, CA: Monterey Institute of International Studies.
- “A Study on Closing Section of Japanese Telephone Conversation.” (2002). Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, vol. 18. Philadelphia, USA: University of Pennsylvania
Selected Awards And Grants:
- Penn Lauder CIBER Faculty Research/Curriculum Development Grant (2008) from Penn Lauder CIBER.
- First Annual Business Language Research and Teaching Grant (2007) from CIBER Consortium for Business Language Research and Teaching.
- SAS Language Teaching Innovation Grant (2007) from the University of Pennsylvania.
- SAS Language Teaching Innovation Grant (2006) from the University of Pennsylvania
- Best Project Award (2008) from the 2nd Annual Language Grants Showcase (hosted by Penn Language Center), University of Pennsylvania.
- Rotary Foundation Academic-year Ambassadorial Scholarship (1994-1995)
Academic Leaderships/Activities:
- Coordinator of Japanese for Specific Purposes (JSP), Special Interest Group (SIG) at the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ) (April 2007- present)
Affiliations
- American Council on the Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
- Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ)
- Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MAR-AAS)