Abstract:

In terms of Japanese language education, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, (stаte university) Bulgaria, offers a B.A., M.A., PhD course and non-degree courses (NDC). The present article aims at exemplifying the recent situation in engaging students attending a Non-Degree Course (NDC) at the time of COVID 19 outbreak.

For years, the course has been offering 360 study hours for the period of two years. Students prepay every academic year or pay by semester. In the Japanese language classes, NDC teachers heavily rely on using Japan Foundation`s MARUGOTO textbooks. Out of a sudden, COVID 19 outbreak occurred and respectively, state-wise measures were undertaken to prevent the spread of the disease. The students, presently involved in the course, had prepaid tuition fee and eagerly expected their face-to face courses. According to the contracts they had originally signed with Sofia University, the latter has officially offered them namely that form of learning.

Providing that the teachers wanted to hold the classes online, they were unable to do so, due to what the contract clauses state, namely, that the classes type was exclusively restricted to face-to-face education.

As educators we were at loss what to do and how to keep students engaged. The COVID 19 stroke at a critical point. Our students had just reached the middle of the course, gathered momentum and we wouldn't let them lose what they had learnt by that time.

Not knowing what the future holds, we voluntarily decided to offer them to make good use of the unexpected break and revise their knowledge by covering the texbook material utilizing online resources from E-minato online platform of Japan Foundation. That seemed to be the only alternative we had, had we wanted them to keep alert and positively engaged.

By doing so, we apparently overcame the the issue how to keep them engaged and motivated, but a new one arose – namely, how to control that revision process. We aslo asked ourselves if that was really necessary?

Naturally, we came up with the idea of offering our students questionnaires at the beginning, middle and the end of the revision process. The main idea was to check their motivation, progress and overall understanding.

We realized that the questionnaires would be our valuable tool to control and account for the achievements in a situation like the one we are in now. So far, the questionnaires have proved to be invaluable sources of information on what has been covered, how previously unclear grammar items or vocabulary have turned into steady knowledge by the means of revision, re-thinking and self-study.

Having reached the mid-questionnaire we hope that the last one will pleasantly surprise us with data that proves our original assumption - that our students did not waste time and effort but had conscientiously and diligently re-established and improved their knowledge of Japanese language despite the force majeure situation and the resulting turbulent time of COVID19.

Keywords:

Non-degree course, face-to-face learning, distance learning, motivation, revision, COVID 19, MARUGOTO, E-Minato, Japan Foundation.