AP Central^®

AP^® Japanese Language and Culture

Dear AP Japanese Language and Culture Teacher:

As you know first-hand, teaching an AP course demands considerable time, effort, and dedication. The College Board applauds you for your commitment to providing rigorous, college-level coursework to your students, and we hope you find the information in this newsletter helpful.

Starting in 2009, the number of free-response question types on the AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam has been reduced from seven to four. In 2009, students will be assessed on the following free-response question types: Interpersonal Writing: Text Chat; Presentational Writing: Compare and Contrast Article; Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation; and Presentational Speaking: Cultural Perspective Presentation.

There are no other changes to the exam, and the learning objectives for the course will not change.

Save the dates!

The AP Program is now accepting applications for AP Japanese Language and Culture teachers to serve as Readers at the annual AP Japanese Reading which will be held in June 2009. Check the 2009 AP Reading Calendar later in the year for exact dates and locations.

The AP Reading is an energizing opportunity—an intensive collegial exchange with over 10,000 highly skilled AP teachers and college faculty. AP Readers consistently tell us that the time spent reading, discussing, and evaluating student work alongside accomplished educators at the Reading represents the best professional development experience of their teaching careers.

Readers are provided an honorarium of $1,555 and their travel expenses, lodging, and meals are reimbursed. Readers who teach at the high school level also receive certificates awarding professional development hours and Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for their participation in the AP Reading. Click here to apply today!

Visit the Japanese Language and Culture course home page for a variety of free resources related to teaching AP Japanese Language and Culture, including:

The College Board offers IACET-certified professional development in hundreds of locations across the United States and around the world. All participants in College Board AP Japanese Language and Culture workshops for experienced teachers will receive, "Special Focus: Instructional Strategies to Increase Interpersonal Communication Competency."

To find an AP Japanese Language and Culture or related Pre-AP strategies workshop in your area, visit Institutes & Workshops. The College Board also provides professional development opportunities for international teachers worldwide. Visit International Professional Development Events for more information.

The AP Annual Conference is the largest gathering of the AP and Pre-AP communities, bringing together thousands of AP teachers from around the world to engage, inspire, and promote innovation in our schools. Help make the AP Annual Conference an even more valuable professional development experience by submitting a session proposal today.

Administrators at your school are responsible for renewing any courses that were authorized last year through the AP Course Audit process and are being offered again this year. If your course was authorized in 2007–08, and you are teaching the course in 2008-09 but it has yet to be renewed, alert your school administrators to this information. If you are new to teaching the AP course at your school, and haven't yet submitted your course audit materials, you must do so no later than January 31, 2009.

The online, publicly-accessible 2008–2009 AP Course Ledger, in which all of your school's authorized courses appear, will become available on November 1, 2008.

Every five to seven years, the College Board reviews the content of AP courses and exams to ensure their continued alignment with the standards and expectations of colleges and universities, which in turn grant credit for qualifying AP scores. At times in the AP Program's history, this work has resulted in changes to content of a course or an exam.

Currently, the suite of AP science, history, and world language courses is undergoing such a review. The College Board believes that this effort will generate a number of significant benefits to AP teachers and students, including the development and release of:

The Curriculum Framework for your course will be finalized over the next several months. This material and other information will be released at least two years before the launch of any potential course changes. The AP Program looks forward to sharing with you information on the progress of this review as well as details as to when new resources will become available. Please check AP Central later this fall for more information. We look forward to hearing your responses to what we believe to be exciting new developments in the AP Program.