Course Syllabus: Japanese Business Manner

 以下は2020-2021年度の第二学期に日本語学科の3年生に対して行う商務礼儀実訓(商务礼仪实训)の授業の授業計画である。
(2021年3月1日にVer.1を作成)

授業の目標
 卒業後、身分・立場が学生から社会人に変わり、環境も大学から職場に変わる。この変化にうまく対応し、社会人として活動できるようになることを目標とする。

教科書
外語教学与研究出版社「日本商務礼儀教程」2017.6、48.0元
この教科書は日本公益社団法人 全国経理教育協会主催 社会人マナー検定試験指定教材をこちらの国の中で教科書として出版したものである。

授業内容
 この授業では、日本の社会人が職場等で仕事をするときに最低限必要な常識やマナーを学習する。内容はほぼ教科書に準じる。ただし第1編第4章「一般知識」は項目が多く、暗記することも不可能なので、冬休み中に配布した「商務礼儀の覚える用語一覧.xlsx」に記載のものを対象とする。

授業計画
 実際の授業進行においては変更の可能性がある。各授業の前に教科書を読み上げたmp3ファイルを配布するので、聞きながら教科書を読み、読めない漢字を調べるなどの準備をすること。また、途中3回小テストを行うので復習もしっかりすること。

第01週:職業観と企業
・教科書: 002~011ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル8本

第02週:仕事の進め方
・教科書: 015~024ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル5本

第03週:ビジネス計算および一般知識
・教科書: 027~032ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル2本
 mp3ファイルは028~029ページおよび049~050ページである。2つの間の部分は冬休み中に配布済みである。

第04週:一般知識
・教科書: 035~050ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル3本
 mp3ファイルは当日の範囲ではなく、次の週に学習する079~083ページの録音を先行して配布する。当日の範囲の録音は冬休み中に配布済みである。

第05週:職場の人間関係
・教科書: 078~087ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル3本
 mp3ファイルは083~087ページの録音である。

第06週:小テストおよびコミュニケーション
・教科書: 087~094ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル5本
 mp3ファイルは087~094ページの録音である。
 小テストはここまでに学んだ内容を対象とする。教科書で言えば、最初から087ページの「04社外コミュニケーション」の終わりまでが出題範囲である。5つの選択肢から選ぶ小問が20問あり、10問はヒアリング、10問は読んで回答する。

第07週:社会人としての言葉遣い(尊敬語)
・教科書: 099~102ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル3本
 mp3ファイルのうち、2つは当日よりも先の内容を含む。05応対用語と06効果的な話し方である。

第08週:社会人としての言葉遣い(謙譲語)
・教科書: 102~104ページ
・事前配布:ビジネス会話での敬語の適用例1
 事前配布物は他の教材を使用する。ビジネスにおける敬語の使用について、重要な点に気づいてもらうことを目的とする。

第09週:社会人としての言葉遣い(接遇用語)
・教科書: 104~110ページ
・事前配布:ビジネス会話での敬語の適用例2
 事前配布物は他の教材を使用する。より実際的なビジネスの場面での敬語使用に触れることを目的とする。

第10週:社会人としての言葉遣いおよびビジネス文書
・教科書: 110~115および123~143ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル4本

第11週:小テストおよび職場のマナー
・教科書: 148~155ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル4本
 小テストの出題範囲は 教科書の087ページの「05コミュニケーションの効率化」から115ページまでである。第2編第3章「ビジネス文書の活用」は、第16週の小テストの範囲に先送りする。小テストには5つの選択肢から選ぶ小問が20問あり、10問はヒアリング、10問は読んで回答する。

第12週:接遇・訪問のマナー
・教科書: 159~178ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル5本

第13週:電話のマナー
・教科書: 184~195ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル6本
 mp3ファイルのうち2本は教科書186~190ページの「02電話の受け方」である。日本の会社に就職したい人は、この2本を徹底的にシャドウイングすることを勧める。

第14週:会議
・教科書:224~231ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル2本
 教科書の第3編第5章の「交際業務」を飛ばして、第6章の「会議」を先に学習する。mp3ファイル2本は交際業務の箇所を先行して配布する。

第15週:交際業務
・教科書:198~220ページ
・事前配布:mp3ファイル4本

第16週:小テストおよび文書の受取と発送
・教科書:234~231ページ
・事前配布:小テストの準備を考慮して、配布物はない。
 小テストは教科書の121ページから220ページまでである。5つの選択肢から選ぶ小問が20問あり、10問はヒアリング、10問は読んで回答する。

第17週:ファイリング・他
・教科書:245~255ページ
・事前配布:現在予定していない。

第18週:総合復習
 授業内容は未定である。

授業の進行
 毎回の授業の標準的な進行を以下に示す。ただし、変更の可能性がある。
(1) 出席確認:掲示板に各自「出席」を記入する。
(2) 当日の授業内容の説明
(3) 用語クイズ:2人に指名
(4) クイズ1問目:前回授業のふりかえり
(5) 1コマ目の授業、途中クイズ2問目
(6) クイズ3問目:2回前のふりかえり
(7) 2コマ目の授業、途中クイズ4問目
(8) 授業のまとめ
(9) クイズ5問目
(10) 授業終了

その他
・提出物のある宿題は出さない予定である。各自予習復習すること。特に読めない漢字がないように準備すること。
・毎回のクイズと3回の小テストは教師側で採点するが、各学生へのフィードバックは最小限にする。解答を示すので、自己採点すること。
・期末試験の形式は未定である。決定したら連絡する。
・オンライン授業は学習にふさわしい場所で受講すること。すなわち、授業に集中できて、周りにも迷惑をかけない場所である。スマホを見ながら電車の中で受講するようなことは、してはならない。
・教師に相談があるときは24時間、何曜日でも良いから、Dingtalkなどを使って連絡すること。他の教師には、夜中や週末に連絡することは避けた方が良いが、当教師に対しては遠慮する必要はない。ただし、寝ていたり、畑で作業中だったり、自宅Wifiの届かない所にいるときなどは、返事ができないこともある。

以上

Making “Pre-Amplifier” between Microphone and the Main Amplifier

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


Recently I made an electric device so that my mom could talk to me from her room to my room. However that device could not amplify my mom’s voice well. The reason was that sound level by the microphone unit was too low. So I needed to put a “Pre-amplifier” between the microphone unit and the main amplifier. I looked for it by amazon.co.jp. and ordered it. The issue was that it was not a unit but a kit. That meant I had to assemble many parts.



This was delivered yesterday.



The package was from a Japanese company. I would say what Japanese do is elaborate, maybe too much. The package is being put in thick plastic bag. There are a lot of detailed explanations on the sheet of paper, including the circuit diagram. The parts are neatly divided in three small plastic bags. Those elaborate things are basically good, but often ends up high price. This kit costed approximately 12 USD. I think that high prices and excess qualities are typical to Japanese products. It must be a disadvantage in current harsh international competitiveness.



So I needed to solder each parts one by one on the small circuit board.



This is the bottom side of the board. All the parts were soldered, but wires were not yet. I should say my soldering is not good becasue there was a poor soldering at one point. When I turned on this unit first, actually this didn’t work. I checked my soldering and found a poor soldering. I melted it again. And then this pre-amplifier became functional. I haven’t done these soldering electric parts for so long. This time was the first since the last time 30 years ago.



This is the top side of the board.



I put the pre-amplifier into the box. It seems as if the left space in the box would have been designed for the pre-amp unit from the beginning (Actually not).



And I put the device again on the column in my mom’s room. This time I put indications to tell her what the switch is and where the microphone is. My mom shows the early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. So for her it is difficult to learn anything new. She always try to push the volume control to turn on it, although it is not to push but to rotate. Anyway I have to tell her how to use this, on and on.


Mic on the 1st Floor and Speaker on the 2nd

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


My family is not wealthy by any means. However, our house, located in suburban, is a little bigger than those houses in urban area. I am always in my room on the second floor, doing PPT slides making for online Japanese teaching. My mom is in her room on the first floor. So when she calls me, she needs to come out from her warm room to cold corridor and shout my name aloud. I had been thinking about if there was any good way for her to call me from her room. I thought of making a device with a microphone, amplifier, long wire, and a speaker.



I bought several electric parts by amazon.co.jp. The solder was the only thing that I needed to go buy in DIY shop.



I forgot to take a photo while I was assembling. The device was finished as in the photo. Voice caught by condenser microphone is amplified by 6-Volt. And the speaker with 77mm diameter sounds at the end of the long wire—–If it could work as I designed. People may say “Oh, you should have arranged those parts a little more left in the box, because there is an empty space.” Yes, I thought the same thing when I finished assembling. But I would say, that empty space on the left will be used, liking it or not.



So I put this device on the cedar column in mom’s room. I wish that this device will not be disturbing when my mom puts the futon down in the night and puts it back in the morning.



My house is a kind of traditional wooden Japanese style building. So it is relatively easy to place a long wire from room to room and make a hole on the wall. This is a photo in my room.
But I found a big PROBLEM with this. The voice on the speaker is too small even in the maximum volume. In Japanese expression, this would be metaphorically said “voice of a mosquito’s weeping”
I know that the amplifier works well because I tested and confirmed that it could make sufficient sound volume before assembling. So the problem is on the microphone unit. The unit does not make enough gain for the signal that is coming from the microphone. I have already sent a question to the vendor through amazon, asking whether or not the mic unit output did not gain a good sound level such that can be connected to amplifier directly. I don’t expect that the vendor can answer my question soon because now is the time of lunar new year.
So I think that I need to add a “pre-amp” between the microphone unit and the amplifier. I will buy a pre-amplifier unit from amazon and place it in that empty space on the left in the box, probably.



Yesterday I went to a DIY shop by walk, to buy solder. On the way I found two swans when I was walking in rice fields area.

Weekly Logs: Jan. 25-31, 2021

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


I haven’t recovered from fatigue that had accumulated by hard work in the last semester. Most of the time I couldn’t get up from my bed even in daytime. Nonetheless the university forced me to work for scoring “Contest”. I worked for about 16 hours in total for evaluation each student’s performances.

Now the first year anniversary day of my dad’s death is approaching. Although numbers of the expected participants to the ceremony are small, I ordered return presents for those people. They are all elders and trying to come through bad weather of the middle of winter. I thought I had to choose good presents for them. I went to the only department store in the city to make the order. While I was looking at the gift catalog at the gift corner in that department store, the clerk lady didn’t want me to be there for long. So I left there with the catalog, got back to my house, and let my mom choose the present. That was on Thursday, I had to go there again to fix the order on Sunday. Two times of go-and-back required me to pay for JR-train, of course the department lady didn’t care about such things, Okay, those were good excursions for me.

The main dish for Monday supper was Mackerel boiled with soy sauce; Fried sliced pork on Tuesday, Soba noodle with Tempura on top on Wednesday, Leftovers of lunch that was Chinese food on Thursday, Grilled salmon slice on Friday, Chicken thigh boiled with soy sauce on Saturday, and grilled salmon slice again on Sunday.

I put a small wooden plate so that the pigeon could rest on it without being hit by snow fall.

Weekly Logs: Jan. 11-17, 2021

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


January 11, Monday
I used two hours in the morning for posting the last week’s log here in the morning. I worked for six hours in the rest of the day. The main dish in supper was boiled fish.

January 12, Tuesday
I cleared snow in the morning, worked for four hours, and went to a library and supermarket. I cooked curry for supper.

January 13, Wednesday
I worked for ten hours. That was preparation for the Japanese business manner class in coming spring semester. I cooked pork for supper.

January 14, Thursday
As was the day before, I worked for ten hours to prepare for the business manner course. I went to the library in the afternoon by walk. The main dish in supper was grilled salmon.

January 15, Friday
I got to know that the university would make me work even in the winter break.

January 16, Saturday
I went to Niitsu 1st-6th morning market in the morning to buy Kimchi from Ms.Yamashita. Since I wouldn’t like to work, I spent most of the afternoon by internet-surfing.

January 17, Sunday
I worked all day as usual to prepare for spring semester. Now my concern is whether or not I will be able to be ready for the coming spring semester because the university is going to make me work for an additional task during this break, which I didn’t predicted.

Weekly Logs: Jan. 4-10, 2021

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


January 4, Monday
One and a half hours were spent for posing the last week’s log here in the morning. The rest of the morning hours were used for reviewing my scoring of the final exam for reading class. I just made scoring on image files captured from PDF because I could not get students’ real answer sheets in paper format. Once I finished reviewing, I started the second check by inputting students’ answer one by one into a big spread sheet of excel in the afternoon. After the supper, I made some tables of my grading so that it would help me input grading on online registering system. I went to bed at 10:30p.m.

January 5, Tuesday
I started working in the morning. That was to register my grading for the students’ performance in the fall semester. But when I was still doing that, the system had become stopped its function. I knew that the capacity of that registering system was very limited. So I just thought I would do that later. And then I went to out and got on a local train. I needed to get rid of snow in a house. Now the house doesn’t have a person to manage. If there was snowfall, the path from the road to the entrance would be completely covered with snow. It took two hours to make a path by digging and throwing snow with heavy steel shovel. It made me tired. I went to bed at 8:30 p.m.

January 6, Wednesday
I just wasted my time in the morning. Probably it was partly because I was tired from the hard work in the fall semester and mostly because I couldn’t even open the web page for the online registering system for the students’ grading. It seemed that I could not complete registering by the deadline. I took a long nap on the bed in the afternoon. I woke up and then went out. I got on a local train to go to Niigata. I bought a mouse in the electric appliance store by the JR Niigata station. I got back my house at 5:30 p.m. I cooked supper. The main dish was boiled flat fishes with soy sauce.

January 7, Thursday
Since I couldn’t register myself the students’ grades online, I asked the chief to register them on behalf of me. Although I asked the task, I myself had to used the whole morning hours for this to be done. In the afternoon I started preparation for the coming spring semester. I tried making the course design for the business manner class for the third grade students. I cooked salmon for the supper, practiced my bass an hour, and then went to bed at 8:30 p.m. I usually read an English book on the bed until I feel asleep. For this kind of reading a foreign language book, I think it is common not to use a dictionary. But this time I try to use my CASIO electronic dictionary as much as I can understand meanings of English sentences. There are a lot of words that I don’t know. A lot ‘n’ lot. Never is there an end for the second language learning.

January 8, Friday
I didn’t work in morning hours. I just rip music from my music CD and saved them in my Sony Walkman that was mp3 music player. Let me say this; the CDs were that I bought by my money. The mp3 player is for me to listen. So there is no copy-right violation because it is sheer personal use only.
In the afternoon was as follows; I took a nap for an hour. I went to a supermarket to buy foods. I revised the course design for business manner class. I cooked chicken for supper. I recorded my voice so that my students could improve their listening. I practiced my electric bass for an hour. I went to bed at 9 p.m. And then I fell asleep with the help of reading an English book.

January 9, Saturday
We had got a lot of snow in this winter. I got rid of snow a little in the morning. And then I reorganized picture files on my another photo blog on “goo”. This task used two hours of my time in the morning. In the rest of the day, I had just worked for recording my reading voice to make listening materials for my students. The main dish of supper was the slice of mackerel grilled simply with salt.

January 10, Sunday
I worked hard in the morning. But that work was not as a Japanese teacher but as a labor to clear snow. Not only for my house, I made a path for the community although it was just a ten meter or so. I was exhausted. After I finished and I was taking a little rest, I heard a sound of a heavy machine coming. It was a big snowplow probably hired by the city. In a few minutes, the machine had done what I could never do with my hands. It was just like go-and-back, and then the work had done. No sign remained that indicated I worked hard to get rid of snow before the machine came.
But that was not the end of my fight against snow. The air-conditioner as a heater in my mom’s room didn’t work. I was not sure for the reason, but I guessed that the outdoor unit was buried in snow and it could stop the fan rotation. Snow depth was already more than one meter (three feet). I dig the snow and reached the unit. As I expected, snow and ice piled up and went into the unit. They were preventing the fan from rotating inside. What I needed to do was simple; to get rid of them. But the problem was that I couldn’t remove the big circle like mesh lid on the surface of that Hitachi made air-conditioner outdoor unit. I used hot water in a kettle, a long chop stick, and even plastic straw to remove or melt the snow inside from outside through the meshed lid. I blow my breath through a straw in order to melt the snow that was sticking on the fan. Actually this method didn’t work well. I confirmed the fan could rotate, then turn on the AC. I found that that sent a warm air. It took two hours.
In the afternoon, I took two hours of nap on the bed, I went to the library by walk to return books and borrow new ones. Back in the house, I continued recording my reading a textbook for business manner course. I cooked pork for the supper.

三年生商务礼仪实训:試験的投稿

This is a test positing as a preparation for Japanese course ‘Business Manner’ that will be taught in coming spring semester.
The posts under this category will be written in Japanese.
I am sorry to say that this post doesn’t have any useful information to you.

Weekly Logs: Dec.28,2020 – Jan.3, 2021

My another photo blog “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery”(outside wordpress)


December 28, Monday
I posted the last week’s log on worepress in the morning. And then I went out and got on a train for shopping in Niigata. I bought a 21.5 inch PC monitor at the big appliance shop on the south side of JR Niigata station. Now I am typing this by looking at my new monitor, I think I should have bought the bigger screen much earlier because my eye is already tired of looking at a small screen of notebook PC for these two years. And 23 inch or even 27 inch would have been better to buy, I just regret that. Back to my home before 1 p.m., I had a lunch, went to a supermarket, took a long nap, and cooked supper. After eating supper, I evaluated test results of the final examination for conversation class. I evaluated three pairs before going to bed.

December 29, Tuesday
Of course I had to give scoring for the final exam, but I didn’t start doing that in the morning. Instead, I started cutting a timber (lumber?) plate in the morning. I wanted to make two speaker boxes in order to listen to music in good sound. But it was obvious that I could not complete two speaker boxes in one day. So I just stop the work at noon. I took a nap a little while just after the lunch and then went to a supermarket. I just graded the final examination of conversation class in the late afternoon. That grading continued after supper until going to bed.

December 30, Wednesday
In the morning I started the rest of the work for making two speaker boxes. The hardest part was to make two holes to set the speaker. The diameter was 94 millimeter. Since I didn’t have any cutting machine or drill, I did that using primitive tools; a gimlet and small chisels. It tool many hours, so it was 4 p.m, when I fit two boxes on the wall of my room. My supper on the day was chicken breast. After supper I evaluated three pairs for the final exam of conversation class.

December 31, Thursday
I cleaned the room with vacuum in the morning. It was because I just didn’t want to work for the examination scoring. And the day was the last day of the year 2020. I thought that the supermarket would be congested with people who wanted to buy food for new-year holidays. So I went to the supermarket just after the shop’s opening. There were less people there shopping. It was what I predicted, but it also made me worry if the supermarket could survive or not because there were less people even in the last day of the year. Anyway, I had to use all of the rest of the day to evaluate students’ final exam for conversation class.

January 1, 2021
The colleague sent me PDF of the answer sheets in the morning. That was of reading class and the exam was conducted the day before. So I wanted to start scoring soon, but I hadn’t finished evaluation about students’ performance during the semester. I spent most of the day to complete the evaluation, although I took two hours nap in the afternoon. After supper I started scoring the answer sheet of reading class examination. I practiced my electric bass for an hour, and went to bed.

January 2, 2021
All day was spent for scoring the final exam for the reading class. I evaluated 17 students. I was actually disappointed by some of students’ answers. Some students used the postposition “-ga” for objects, which was actually to be used for subjects. One student didn’t understand adjective conjugation when the adjective works as adverb. That was my responsibility for teaching those things. Students’ answer simply meant that I failed to teach them well. Thinking like that, scoring didn’t move on to next student. I gave up scoring at 10 p.m. with seven students remaining.

January 3, 2021
Being tired of working, scoring was not proceeding well. I spent all day for scoring the final exam only for seven students. After supper I found that I had to change scoring criteria and redo the scoring again for some reasons (I cannot write the reason here). The gradings need to be registered by January 6th on Wednesday. I have to continue to work until I register all the gradings of the students by that time.