Professor Lonce
Assessment:
10% - Individual Assignment (Interview skills)
10% - Group Assignment (Design)
10% - Group Assignment (Campaign)
10% - Class participation
20% - Midterms (MCQ)
40% - Finals (MCQ)
Omygosh, how I hated this module. The dreadful lectures, the lazy professor that spends the first ~10min of each lecture reading newspapers to us.. Urgh. However, if you are someone who puts in a moderate amount of effort and wants to find an 'easy' mod to score in, NM1101E is the mod for you. In addition to lecture slides prepared by the prof, we also had to do compulsory readings which are available in ebook format (purchasable at COOP). Prof Lonce doesnt really go through the readings in detail during lectures, but it is important to read them as quite a fair bit of content is tested for midterms and finals.
The 3 assignments were rather heavy, in my opinion. The amount of work required for each assignment was definitely disproportionate to its weightage in the final grade. However, they aren't difficult. The theme for my module was 'Citizen Science' so our first two assignments were structured around that theme, while the last assignment was on designing a campaign strategy for wildlife conservation in Singapore (or something along that line). ANYWAY, just hope that you get responsible group members cos sadly, the groups are pre-assigned by the tutors.
Content wise, the lectures were relatively easy to digest and the readings can seem quite 'common-sensical' at times, but it is important to read them to memorise the technical terms. Although i didn't really enjoy the module, I did learn something.. I guess. Haha. Also, this turned out to be my highest-scoring module (A+). Just needa mug!
PS1101E
Professor Yoshi
Assessment:
20% - Class participation
40% - Term paper
40% - Finals
A compulsory module for me as I am a PS major. No complaints regarding Prof Yoshi's teaching style, so far I don't know of anyone who didn't like his lectures. His powerpoint slides are informative, but as he doesn't upload them onto IVLE until after the lecture, I usually take notes during lecture. However, he mostly reads off the slides and does not mention any extra information so I guess it's possible to skip lectures and just read the slides. However, Prof Yoshi is pretty funny so do go for lectures, they are enjoyable and easy to understand.
Like other PS mods, this module only has 4 tutorials (each lasting 2h) in total. As class participation is counted into the final grade, please don't skip tutorials! I can't say that I learnt much during tutorials - 8am class plus annoying classmates that liked to act smart by regurgitating the lecture slides-, but my tutor was pretty cool. I was pretty worried for my participation grade though because I hardly spoke in class, but my final grade turned out fine, phew.
Prof Yoshi released the list of questions (many, many questions to choose from) for the term paper 1 or 2 weeks after recess week (sorry I can't remember), and the essay was due ~Week 12/13. As it's an exposure module, not much research had to be done and in Prof's words, it's more of a 'think' paper than a research paper. The word count was 1500-2000.
Besides lecture slides, Prof Yoshi will also upload the compulsory readings for each week onto IVLE. Although he does a pretty good job summarising each reading during his lecture, I would advise you to do the readings to get a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. Although the readings might seem quite tough, you can read them after the lecture so that you already have some sort of basic understanding of the topic, which will allow you to grasp the readings more easily. Prof also gives hints for the final exam during his last lecture (reallllly good hints) so do go! Final exam comprises of 5 (i think) definition questions -just pure memory- and 1 essay.
JS1101E
Chris Mcmorran and Dr. Amos
Assesment:
10% - Class participation
10% - IVLE posting (1 original post and 2 replies to other posts)
30% - 5000 word group paper
50% - Finals (MCQ)
I absolutely loved this module. Super content heavy, but worth it, assuming you have an interest in Japan. There are two lecturers for this mod, Dr Amos lectures on Japanese history while Mcmorran (he's a geographer) does everything else. We also had two guest lecturers, one was Professor Fujiwara from University of Tokyo, while the other one was more of a talk by a Kabuki Onnagata. You don't have to know the japanese language to take this module!
This module does not cover Japanese anime, pop culture..etc, but mostly looks at Japan from historical, sociological, geographical, and anthropological points of view. Tutorial sessions each lasting 1h are conducted weekly. As 1h is really way too short, not much discussion was done. During your first tutorial, you will have to form groups for the group paper, so choose your seat wisely because you'll most likely end up forming a group with the people around you. Thankfully, my group members were rather nice and pulled their weight for the group paper which is disgustingly, 5000 words long (5 members, 5000 words, 4 members,4000 words etc). There's no fixed topic, so it's up to you and your group to decide as long as it is something related to Japan. The deadline is near the end of the semester (week12/13).
Besides the group project, we also had to do up an individual IVLE forum post (anything about Japan) ~750 words and also reply to 2 other forum posts. The amount of work needed to be done for the individual post is disproportionate to its weightage in the final grade, but it won't be that much of a problem if you enjoy reading and writing about Japan.
Lectures were always very informative and super enjoyable. Dr. Amos is such a nice guy and so is Mcmorran. One thing to note is that Dr Amos's slides are super duper informative (information overload) while Mcmorran's slides are just the opposite, so be prepared to take notes for Mcmorran's lectures cos he tends to value add to the slides. However, this also means that there's ALOT of content to mug for the final paper. So try not to do last minute revision because there is really alot of information to cover. The MCQ finals were not super tough but not easy either even for someone who studied, so if you wanna get a decent grade, do study. Many people say that JS1101E is the hardest module in the Asian Studies basket, I don't know how true is that but I would not recommend this module for people who hate memorising, hate group projects, or has no interest in Japan.
LAJ1201
Ms Kazuko Morita and Mr Osamu Amazaki
Assessment:
75% - Continual Assessment (lecture quiz, class quiz, midterms, oral, listening tests, class participation)
25% - Finals
Alot, alot, alot of work. Not for the lazy. I had to do so much preparation for this module ontop of the 7h of contact time weekly (2h lecture, 2h tutorial A, 2h tutorial B, 1h tutorial C) that my friends were joking that I was a Japanese language major. However, it was the most fun I had and classes were always so enjoyable with passionate and responsible tutors. My lecturer was Morita sensei who has been teaching this class for many years so she knows how to put across the content in an easy way to understand! However, one downside was that there were alot of cheaterbugs who already had background knowledge in the language and did not take the placement test (which is required for people with prior knowledge), so that could be kinda annoying since NUS works on a bellcurve and they have an advantage. BUT, if you study hard for it and practise consistently, I think a B+ is definitely attainable.
We learnt all sorts of grammar patterns, basic vocabulary and kanji during the lessons. Compulsory resources for this module include the Minna no nihongo textbooks and workbook, and the course packet, all of which can be purchased during the first lecture so bring enough money! Bring around 80bucks? Should be enough (cant rmb the exact price).
At least once weekly, there would be vocabulary quizzes which are scored out of 10, and all of them contribute towards the mysterious CA component. No one knows the actual breakdown of the CA part so it's a must to perform consistently if you wish to score a good grade for this module. Tutorial A and B is mostly about going through new grammar patterns and vocabulary, while Tutorial C is where we get to role play a dialogue that we had to memorise before class. Jap classes are always super fun and it's where you can make friends (hehe I made friends with Unknown 2 and 3). Jap classmates are also the only classmates I still wave to outside of tutorial classes even long after the module has ended haha.
Finals were quite easy, in my opinion. However, that also meant that the bellcurve would have been steeper. So double check your answers and don't make careless mistakes! All in all, the Japanese department in NUS is amazingggg and super dedicated. If you want to pick up a language and have an interest in Japanese, PLEASE TAKE THIS IT IS WORTH IT! :)
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