Learn Japanese

Getting Started

With JapanesePod101 Live Group Classes

Welcome

Thank you for joining our Live Group Classes.

We’re happy to have you with us.

For the next 10 weeks, you’ll be learning Japanese in a fun, effective way: with weekly live 1-hour classes. You’ll learn with an expert teacher and up to 4 other students.

On top of the live classes, you’ll also get:

6-Month access to our Premium PLUS plan
A bonus PDF textbook
Post-lesson feedback from your teacher
And a certificate of completion at the end of the course.

What’s your next step?

Go ahead and start learning with the assigned learning path.

You’ll receive another email shortly containing the link to your class and extra course materials.

Getting Started

Ready to get started with Live Group Classes?

In this video, we’ll show you how to prepare for your first lesson, so you can enjoy your learning experience without running into technical issues.

You will need:

The Zoom App installed on your device
The Learning Path and materials you need to review before your very first lesson
You’ll need to know how to get extra assistance

Requirements for Zoom :

Internet speed recommended by Zoom: 800 kbps/1.0 Mbps（up/down）
(To check: https://www.speedtest.net)
Computer/mobile device specs recommended by Zoom:
- Processor: Dual Core 2 Ghz or higher
- RAM: 4 GB
Using a speaker and microphone
Using a web-camera

See here for more details about system requirements for using Zoom.

How to Join a Zoom Meeting

Zoom

If you don’t have Zoom already, go to zoom.us/download, download the app, and sign up for a free account. You’ll need this app to attend our live classes.

Materials

Check the welcome email you received upon upgrading. Inside, you’ll find links to all the resources. Please take the lessons and review the materials before your class.

Help

If you have any questions or are having trouble with Zoom or getting your course materials, you can always email us for help.

Click Here

Once you have an account with Zoom and your course materials, you’re ready for your first live class.

Getting The Most Out of Live Classes

Now that you’re all set up, you’re ready to learn. In this quick video, we’ll show you how to get the most out of this course, learn the language, and maximize your results.

Please follow these steps for each one of your classes…

Steps:

Study before class

Just watch and review the lessons inside the learning pathway we sent you inside your welcome email.
Practice

Inside your learning path, you’ll also have practice videos to get you speaking the language. Watch the practice videos and repeat out loud.
Complete the practice assignments inside the learning path

Completing these first 3 steps will help you easily understand the concepts taught in group lessons.
Join the classes

We’ll email a link to your class. So, be sure to click the link on the appointed day and time of your class.
Submit your material

After class, submit any writing materials you completed in-class, or any other items your teacher requested.
Get assessed

Take the assessments in your Learning Pathway that you’ve been assigned for the week. This will test you on everything you learned that week.
Prepare your portfolio

Each week is part of a larger unit. At the end of each unit, complete the portfolio assessment.

When taking the class:

Please take a lesson in a quiet room.
Please be ready 5 minutes before each class.
Please mute yourself when it’s noisy around you except when you speak.
Please try to cut the video if there is any internet connection issue on your side.

Before Class Each Week

You will receive an email a few days before your class each week with a Zoom link and password to join the class. Be sure to double-check the time of your class!

Each week’s email will contain the following information:

Your learning pathway to be completed each week before class (Hint: This is your homework and will be part of your grade. Please study these materials before and after the class to maximize your learning.)
Your Zoom link (which will remain the same throughout the course. You can save it somewhere easily accessible on your computer if you’d like).
Your CanDo Textbook (if applicable)
Lesson notes for your upcoming class

Your Dashboard

To make the most of your Live Classes, you also received a Learning Pathway of Lessons to study on your own.

You’ll find your first lesson waiting for you on your Dashboard.

What’s the dashboard?

The Dashboard is your home base for language learning.

Everything you need to know about your account and learning progress is here.

You can see:

The current Learning Pathway you’re studying.
The next lesson you need to take (just press “study” to start learning).
You can also see your progress through that pathway.

To access your student dashboard simply head to
japanesepod101.com/dashboard.

Now that you’re on your student dashboard you can…

✅ Join your live class!

✅ Manage and Access Your Learning Pathways!

✅ You can add any learning pathways to your dashboard by clicking the +Follow button in the learning pathway.

Don’t forget! Make sure to click the “Mark Complete” button when you finish studying each lesson!

✅ Communicate With Your Tutor

You have a communication tool on your dashboard called the My Teacher Messenger.You can submit your homework or ask questions to your teacher through the My Teacher Messenger tool. More information on this feature is available further down on this page.

Your First Group Lesson

To attend your first group lesson, find our notification email. Click the class link in the email to launch the Zoom app 5 minutes before the starting time.

You will then join your teacher and the other students.

Just bring a pen or pencil and paper to take notes.

The Live Lesson:

Lessons are structured around a single goal, such as: introducing yourself, talking about the weather, or explaining where you’re from.
You’ll go over a quick dialogue.
Your teacher will explain the relevant words and grammar points.
You’ll get to practice the dialogue and the grammar points with the teacher.
All lessons end with a cultural section, teaching you a bit of the culture.

After the lesson, your teacher will send you a post-lesson score sheet to give you feedback on your performance, tips on what to improve, and how.

And that’s it.

For the next lesson and all lessons after, you’ll receive a new email with the date and time, the link, and course materials to review.

Pathway Lessons

In your welcome email, you should have received a link to your course materials which includes a Learning Pathway of lessons you’ll need to take for your upcoming class.

What’s a learning pathway? It’s simply a pathway of audio and video lessons and assignments for you to complete…from lesson 1, to 2, to 3 until the end.

Pathways are based around a common topic or a learning goal. In this case, learning how to introduce yourself. So, once you finish the pathway, you’ve completed that learning goal. You know how to introduce yourself.

The lessons are just a few minutes long, so you’ll learn quickly

Click on the first lesson and press the play button to start.
As you take the lesson, you can follow along with the lesson notes or transcript.
After the lesson, you can review with the line-by-line dialogue, the vocabulary list, and the quizzes.

When you’re done, mark the lesson as complete, and move on to the next lesson in the Pathway. Remember, since this is a 10-week long program, you’ll get a new pathway every week to prepare you for the live class.

Assessments, Assignments and Grading

Inside your Learning Pathways, you will also find practice assignments and assessments. The goal of assessments is to reinforce what you’ve learned.

Inside, you’ll find:

An initial diagnostic test that evaluates your knowledge before you start the lessons.
Core multiple choice assignments that test you on the lesson content.
The final assessment, which is graded by your teacher. It evaluates your mastery of the topic after the pathway..

The final assessment will go towards your Learning Portfolio - a collection of your completed assignments - to show how much progress you’ve made since the start.

So, be sure to take these assessments and assignments.

Grading:

Each learning pathway features three kinds of assignments: Practice, Core Assessment, and Portfolio Assessment.

These should be completed after studying the videos and audio lessons in the learning pathways or after attending your class.

Practice assignments

Help you solidify your understanding of what you learn in the audio and video lessons. Doing these practice assignments will help improve speed and fluency.

Core Assessments

Give you a holistic and quick overview of your strengths and weaknesses. If there’s something you didn’t fully understand in the audio and video lessons, it will help you identify what you need to review.

Portfolio Assessments

Give you a deeper understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Not only will you get feedback from your teacher, but you’ll produce direct evidence of your language ability. Handwritten portions of the portfolio assessments may be submitted directly through My Teacher Messenger and will be graded by your teacher.

Grade reports

You will receive two grade reports during the 10-week course: the first report will be sent after the first 5 weeks, and the final report will be sent after the 10-week course.

Your grade report will cover:

Diagnostic Grade Placement Assessment taken before starting class - Not counted as a part of your final grade.
Exam Grade Same questions as placement assessment, used to measure how much you’ve learned in the first five weeks - Counted as a part of your “Assessment - Exam” score.
Pathway Study/Class Participation (40% of grade) - This combines your attendance (20%) score with your learning pathway completion rate (20%). Please note that this is the highest percentage of your grade - it’s very important to complete your learning pathways for each week and attend class!
Practice Assignment Score (10% of grade).
Assessment Score (20% of grade) This grade combines your core assessment grades as well as your teacher’s in class score.
Portfolio Assessment Score (30%) - From completing your portfolio assessments.
Weekly Grade - Your combined weekly score based on the above grades. This weekly grade will then become a part of your final total score for the course.

Attend class and complete your learning pathways, and you’ll have nothing to worry about!

My Teacher (Premium PLUS)

With the Premium PLUS plan, you also have access to an on-site teacher via the MyTeacher messenger tool. You can find MyTeacher on the site, or in our app.

Their job is to help you learn the language and get the most out of our learning program. Your Premium PLUS teacher is not part of your live classes.

Look for the My Teacher Messenger in the site top menu

Look for the My Teacher Messenger in the app bottom menu

With the My Teacher messenger, you can

Ask your teacher general language questions.
Ask about which lessons to take.
Practice chatting casually.
Get corrections and explanations.
Send in images of your writing.
Send in audio or video recordings of yourself speaking the language, and get feedback from your teacher.

They’ll respond to you within 1 business day.

How to Use the My Teacher Messenger

My Classes

What happens after you finish a class?

At the end of each live class, your teacher will give you personalized feedback.

You’ll get a post-lesson score sheet.

After each lesson, please remember to do the following:

Read through your teacher’s feedback on your Post Lesson Score Sheet
Review your class notes and learning pathway
Get started studying for your next class

You’ll also learn what you need to work on, and how to improve.

So when you’re done with a class, look for the post-lesson score sheet inside “MY CLASSES” on the site.

Missing Class

If you miss a class, you will receive a recording of the class session to catch up on what you missed. Please try to attend all classes! Keep in mind that attendance is a part of your final grade.

Certificate of Completion

Students who manage to achieve a final score above 60% for the course through completing their learning pathway assignments will receive their very own certificate of completion signed by our Dean of Faculty.