I started learning Japanese myself (through Anime) . After which I took an intermediate course at NUS. The teachers at NUS are really experienced teachers who had taught in US , Korea etc. It is not that they are no good, but the textbook really bores me. Too many rigid exercises and forced conversation settings. I think there are people who will agree with me (but did not voice out to their teachers ) . I believe there are more engaging textbook out there but I am not sure why all jap language sch in Singapore subscribe to this series.
Basically, one of the reasons why this textbook is used is because 95% of the Japanese schools in Japan are using this book as a textbook. If a student were to halfway decide to go to Japan to study, he/she will be able to continue from where he/she has left off. I guess this is something unknown to you.
The reason why there is what you called the rigid exercises and forced conversation settings is because these teachers probably did 100% what the teacher's guide tells them to do and did not change the way of how lessons are taught to suit the natural Japanese which Japanese speak. In my class, my students start learning 謙譲語 in chapter 1, where we just start to learn あいさつ。 You might ask "why so fast? ", but for me, i like to teach the real Japanese that is used in Japan, at the same time, i also like to emphasize to my students, that it's still very important to use 丁寧語 like ます・です with people that you don't know. It's a form of respect. Of course, i leave it to the students what kind of Japanese they wanna use in the future.
To be honest, throughout my 6 years experience with Japanese language books, i have seen some other books which are more engaging like Genki/Shin Bunka no Nihongo (MOELC uses it), but they do not present the topics in a systematic way, as compared to Minna no Nihongo. In fact, Minna no Nihongo was a product which took 3 years to design and plan. I know how lessons are conducted in NUS, so i can really see where you are coming from... Normal language classes in schools are taught differently from how NUS teach.
Like to point to this
article which mention more about this, so that you can understand better where the schools are coming from.
This
article tells the teachers to teach students to close the textbook and creates some conversations to help students to speak more real life Japanese. This is something i find not many teachers do in Singapore, which i guess your teachers in NUS did not do...
Yup... We need N4 and N5 to take higher level. But my point is I know of many people who stop at basic level (N4 level) . It is a pity because the real useful japanese starts at N3 onwards . Therefore I want to encourage
learners not to give up and at least earn a N2.
We don't need N4 and N5 certificates to take higher levels. Rather, we require the knowledge gained in what we learn in Beginner and Intermediate Japanese to help us understand the grammar presented in the Pre-advanced levels from N3 onwards. I personally do agree with what you said about grammar learned at the N2 level, that is more used in daily life.
Speaking from my 3 years of Japanese IT helpdesk background, i rarely use grammar from the N2 syllabus, except for grammars like ～かねます、 ～ながら、～として。The rest of the grammar which i use comes from beginner or intermediate Japanese.
No offence but i hope you learn more from the standpoint of how a teacher a.k.a myself sees this. 一緒にがんばりましょう。
