Implementation of the course Practice Teaching of the Japanese Language and Culture

Considering the global increase in the number of Japanese language learners, the need to establish educational institutions (primary, secondary, higher education, non-school education) for Japanese language learning also arose in Croatia and, subsequently, the necessity to foster a new generation of qualified teachers with sufficient theoretical and practical background in teaching Japanese as a foreign language. The purpose of this paper is to examine and describe the process of implementing the graduate course Practice Teaching of the Japanese Language and Culture, along with its challenges such as online classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper discusses the role of teachers as facilitators, the role of students as trainees and the role of learners, i.e. the participants of an intensive two-week Japanese language course, which is part of the abovementioned graduate course. Furthermore, the paper discusses the learner survey and the trainee self-evaluation report with respect to the improvement of their knowledge.