2.2

Noriko Omae

Languages - Simon Fraser University

2.2
Quality
4.0
Difficulty
N/A
Would Retake
83
Reviews
2.2
Quality
4.0
Difficulty
2.3
Helpful
2.0
Clarity

N/A

Would Retake

83

Reviews

Rating Distribution
Official

5

8

4

10

3

16

2

15

1

34

What Students Say

“Take out lesson from it is "AVOID HER IF POSSIBLE"”

JAP100 - 1.0 rating

“The textbook itself is laden typos and errors, and heavy in grammatically jargon ignoring the work of modern to simplify textbook formats such as those by Genki”

JAPN101 - 1.0 rating
Class Info

Online Classes

100%

Attendance Mandatory

67%

Textbook Required

84%

Grade Predictor

Your expected effort level

LowHigh

Predicted Grade

A-

65% confidence
Based on 5 grades
Most common grades:
A (2)
Not_Sure_Yet (1)
B+ (1)
Grade Distribution
A(3)B(1)C(0)D(0)F(0)A-/B+(1)
Based on 6 reported grades
A: 2
Not_Sure_Yet: 1
B+: 1
A+: 1
Common Tags
Skip class? You won't pass. (2)
Participation matters (1)
Tough Grader (1)
Amazing lectures (1)
Tests are tough (1)
Tough grader (1)
Graded by few things (1)
Rating Trend

Declining

-0.46 avg change
Jun
Nov
Dec
Jan
Apr
Apr
Last 6 months
Ratings by Course

JAP100101

5.0

(1)

JAPA101

5.0

(1)

JAPJAP

5.0

(1)

JALANG101

5.0

(1)

JAP200

4.0

(1)
+16 more courses
Difficulty by Course

JAPNXXX

5.0

JAPN200

5.0

JAPN102

5.0

JPAN100

5.0

JAP

4.5

Reviews (83)
3.0
3.0
JAP100
Sep 11, 2001

Well, I suggest not to take her class

2.0
3.0
JAPN100
Nov 26, 2001

Kind of annoying

4.0
4.0
JAP200
Jan 28, 2002

She is a gd Jap teacher once you get to the 200 level!! She is strict, not mean!

4.0
3.0
JAPN100
Mar 31, 2002

can seem VERY intimidating at times, but you get used to it.

5.0
3.0
JAPN101
May 16, 2002

Very nice and friendly...once you get to know her.

1.0
5.0
JAPNXXX
Jul 27, 2002

No Comments

3.0
1.0
JAPN201
Aug 18, 2002

Getting easier and easier. Can get good marks without knowing anything.

4.0
4.0
JAPN100
Aug 22, 2002

Strict, but okay once you get used to her style

4.0
3.0
JAPN100
Feb 26, 2003

No Comments

2.0
4.0
JAPN101
Mar 16, 2003

Worst Japanese teacher I've ever had

3.0
2.0
JAP201
Mar 27, 2003

um...

5.0
3.0
JAPN101
Mar 29, 2003

Omae is strict but quite nice if u know her more. Her expectation is high, easy to get grade but very demanding course. Worth to learn it.

1.0
4.0
JAPN101
Apr 3, 2003

No Comments

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Apr 7, 2003

No Comments

2.0
3.0
JAP201
Apr 8, 2003

No Comments

3.0
4.0
JAP
Apr 24, 2003

very picky.

2.0
4.0
JAP201
May 1, 2003

No Comments

5.0
1.0
JAP100101
Jul 27, 2003

Omae is kind and funny. I really don't know why many people dislike her. The seminars are interesting and fun. She teaches quite fast for the beginners though. Better memorize all the Hiragana and Katagana before the class starts. she likes funny students

4.0
3.0
JAP201
Sep 1, 2003

strict and picky

2.0
4.0
JAPN101
Nov 23, 2003

Omae is extremely picky about how you do every little line when writing Japanese. Her classes are dull, but if you get distracted, she will ask you leading questions, then try to convince you that you have ADD (ADHD). The final exam is difficult.

4.0
5.0
JAPN101
Dec 4, 2003

No Comments

2.0
4.0
JAPN201
May 3, 2004

Picky and harsh. Un-organized and the classes are boring. Final exams are straight out from the textbook which seems unreasonable. Who has that much time to memorize the whole textbook word by word?

4.0
3.0
JAPN
May 5, 2004

I don't understand either. Why so many ppl complained Omae sensei. She's not that strict nor harsh. I took 3 JAPN classes with her and I learnt a great deal. It's been almost 10 years now and I still remember my Japanese. Sensei, arigatou!

1.0
5.0
JAP
May 5, 2004

people complain about her is bacause she plays favoritism. YOu must be teacher's pet, that is why she liked you.

3.0
4.0
JAPN101
May 24, 2004

No Comments

2.0
5.0
JAPN100
Sep 8, 2004

Very Picky, If you are taking this class, make sure your writing form is identical to the book, even a little bit off and she will give you zero. Funny though, because her writing is just as bad.

1.0
4.0
JAPN
Sep 9, 2004

I agree with the other comments in that she has favourites.If you're not one of em, good luck.She doesn't really teach, classes are identical to a tape, take DisEd, at least there's no bias there.

2.0
4.0
JAPN101
Oct 4, 2005

Horrible teacher.

1.0
5.0
JAPN
Oct 9, 2005

extremely hard. always late for class. very picky on quizzes, the only way you can pass the quizzes is if you bring a ruler and protractor to measure the strokes and lengths of the characters. instructions on her excercises are very confusing and unclear. if you want a course that will pull down your GPA, then you must take jap with this teache

3.0
2.0
JPN101
Oct 18, 2005

People who have learned Chinese since they were little may have the advantage to do well in this course, for they would have no problems memorizing strokes, Japanese alphabets and kanjis. However, personally, I think there is too little to learn in the course. Should be able to pull off at least a B+...I suggest taking this course with a friend...

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Nov 22, 2005

She's very picky on the strokes of the characters. She docks marks even if the angles and lengths of the strokes are slightly off. Very unreasonable.

2.0
5.0
JAPN101
Dec 22, 2005

This is the kind of prof who'd receive a D at best from the evaluation of her students....extremely hard, picky, always late for class, asking those in-your-face questions....mmmm, & i wonder how u can pass the final when all u were told is to read the two non-refundable texts with no criteria given....anyways, avoid at all cost!!!!

1.0
5.0
JAPN100
Mar 22, 2006

doesn't know how to teach, way too hard, way too picky, tries to embarrass people in class and she thinks she's cute.

2.0
5.0
JAPN100
May 3, 2006

Not all the classes are taught by her. Some sections are taught by TAs. Overall organization of the class is horrible and there is no clear outline of what we are expected to do. TA was not good at teaching either. Final is extremely hard. Textbooks are made by her, are not very good and has lots of erros. Also, cannot be sold back or refunded.

3.0
5.0
JAPN100
May 10, 2006

She expects so much from student. She teaches everything very quickly but not throughly, and she expects you to know it way away. Her teaching style and her textbook are extremely unorganized. She doesn't have a systematic way of teaching, she expects u to pick up the material along the way.Her exam is extremely difficult, and she's picky onWriting

4.0
3.0
JAPN101
Sep 16, 2006

very nice prof.! She is very friendly altho she might seem a little picky at times. She teaches quite fast and expect you to keep up with her.

1.0
5.0
JAPN100
Oct 3, 2006

How does she still have a job? Unclear. Unnecessarily difficult. Doesn't stop to clarify, just races through the material with reckless abandon. She's effectively killed my interest in learning how to speak Japanese.

2.0
5.0
JAPN100
Oct 16, 2006

Do not hold a pencil/pen (most people do it because it's a habit) when she tells you to not write and pay attention to the overhead!! She'll tell you to get out of the room O_O. I never get enough time to finish practicing dialoges with my partner in class. And...it's scary when she looks at you.

3.0
5.0
JAP100
Nov 27, 2006

As a teacher, she doesn't know how to teach and expects way to much from a student. Her tests, although seemingly easy, get marked impossibly hard because she is too picky. She is however, quite lenient with oral times, and can be understanding in certain situations. But as a teacher, she blows.

2.0
5.0
JAP100
Dec 19, 2006

No Comments

1.0
4.0
JAP101
Mar 24, 2007

I don’t know how they approved her as a prof. She was the worse prof I've ever had. She has no teaching skills & marks unnecessarily hard to make the class seem important. Irrelevant topics in class, learned nothing. Her teaching 'skills' make me refuse to take any upper level jap courses. My experience with her was waste of money & time.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
May 10, 2007

Worst prof I ever had. I was very interested in learnig Japanese, but after I took her course I decided not to take any upper level Japanese courses anymore. Her textbook is also useless. I don't know why she continues to use that.

1.0
5.0
JAP201
Nov 6, 2007

dun ever take her classes!!!!!

5.0
3.0
JAPN101
Nov 26, 2007

I can scarcely believe how ridiculous some comments below are. I've taken 3 yrs of Japanese in highschool & studied outside of it, & I'm just finishing JAPN101 now. I can tell you that Omae Sensei has been the most helpful, hilarious, & fun teacher I have ever had. She's neither strict nor mean & will help you immensely with Japanese! Take JAPN101!

1.0
5.0
JAP101
Dec 26, 2007

she is a ****! worst prof ever!

1.0
5.0
JAP101
Jan 10, 2008

This prof will give u good grade if you know some serious kiss ass skills. which may be the only skill u will need to succeed her class. Overall, i thought her grading system is extremely unfair and shows obvious favoritism towards certain people. It really hurts students with honest efforts.

5.0
3.0
JAPA101
Jan 29, 2008

Omae sensei is the one of the best teacher I ever had. Well... her final is hard. however, if u read her note( a lot!!!), u will be fine. She knows how to teach and always willing to help!

1.0
5.0
JAPN200
Feb 26, 2008

She thinks she is a senior in teaching so she does not need to follow what the departments says. She only uses a textbook that she edited on her own(useless compared to the actual course book). Her syllabus is a mess and changes often. Finals are ext. hard and tests on dumb stuff (ie what is Tokyo's temp. on May?) Take her class, waste $ and time.

4.0
2.0
JAPN101
Apr 5, 2008

This is not an "easy" course, you have to study the materials that she WANTS you to study the way she WANTS. Although she tries to help students, she is really picky on little details (and I mean it) so it can get a little bit annoying. Overall I think it's an ok class as long as you are interested in Japanese, and willing to study at least some.

5.0
3.0
JAPN100
Jul 4, 2008

I think Omae is a great teacher. Everyone in my class seems to like her. She has her own way of teaching and I think it's an effective way to learn a language. She is picky about the shapes of characters. Good idea to show her your writing after learning the characters to make sure you get them right. Not a hard course but requires a lot of work.

2.0
5.0
JAPN102
Jul 28, 2008

she is just horrible

5.0
3.0
JAPJAP
Nov 24, 2008

She is a enthusiastic teacher. Her class is pretty fun and I've never missed one class. I can learn lots of Japanese culture through her teaching. In her class, we can always speak Japanese aloud and do not afraid of making mistakes. I like her^^

3.0
3.0
JAP100
Dec 8, 2008

Omae always come late. She's always "ill," so expect to have cancelled classes. She teaches from her own notes, not from the Genki book (extreme waste of paper). She doesn't teach grammar, she expects to get it "the pattern". Oral/written exams are okay, not extremely hard. She usually has quizzes every class so... show up.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Feb 19, 2009

She is extremely pick on marking and scares students to ask question that she mentioned in her syllabus.It seems she has a bad temper so that she sometimes yells at student. Worst professor I ever had..extremely hard to ask a question...what a ****

3.0
4.0
JAP101
Apr 21, 2009

...................

4.0
4.0
JAP101
Apr 25, 2009

Omae sensei is tough, but not as bad as people say. She's a pretty fair marker, and REALLY NICE! Her teaching method has some pros and cons like all other profs. If you take her class, your speaking skills will improve. However, you really have to study to get the grammar parts, because she doesn't really teach you those that thoroughly.

1.0
5.0
JPAN100
Oct 12, 2009

NEVER TAKE HER CLASS!she never let u take notes and allow u to look at your text book in her class.it is because she want u to focus on her class, but her notes are very useless. she is very picky. if u ask her question she will ask u back did u study or she will say i have talked this in the class. she didnt teach any grammar. poor skills i dont k

2.0
4.0
JAPAN101
Oct 14, 2010

Omae can be a nice person but is not a very good teacher. She takes off marks if handwriting is done not identical to the textbook, but her writing is not identical. I would not recommend taking her class as she does teach anything useful in the scheme of really learning Japanese, and doing the 101 level by distance would probably give be better.

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Dec 11, 2010

This class is geared towards Chinese students who know Kanji and that is they have to make it so difficult.It is unfair that this is why she has to make it difficult.There should be a separate section for Chinese and Korean students.Noriko san fails to recognize this problem.Also, she needs to stay calm.

1.0
5.0
JAPN100
Dec 18, 2010

I like her notes but I am so disappointed that the way she used was totally wasting our time. Ironically that her TA uses the notes in a much better way than she does. If you don't have any previous knowledge in Japanese, don't take it.

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Dec 21, 2010

i was in her class (fall 2010)she didn't even come to the class for a month. she marks really hard. Her final exam note is useless. u need to know everything.

3.0
3.0
JAP100
Jan 8, 2011

Tough marker on the writing!! Speaks very fast on the orals, if you don't have previous background it is probably better off doing distance.

3.0
4.0
JAPN300
Dec 16, 2012

A little bit abrasive sometimes, but she's got it where it counts. She's very sharp, and her background in linguistics makes her feedback very nuanced. Put in the effort (attend all classes, put lots of work into assignments/projects/kanji etc.) and you will do well. She's been teaching since the early 80s, so laziness and winging it won't do.

3.0
5.0
JAPN100
Dec 18, 2012

I've gotta say, she's one terrible prof. She doesn't have hard copy of the book and asks you to print it off from a bunch of scanned pdf files (tiff). It's a pain in.. You can bring laptop to class, but she said she hates it so there that. If you are taking her class, good luck finding the instructions. It's always not clear, so there you have it.

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Nov 19, 2013

One terrible prof with bad temper and bad teaching. stay away from her at all costs. You will suffer. Also,the only way to get A in this course is to suck it up to her.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Dec 8, 2013

Finally the format of the class is set up to have students fail. Midterms are oral exams, while the final exam is 3 hours of written work with zero oral content, which leaves students ill prepared and forced to scramble to memorize hundreds of disjointed vocabulary rather than focus of strengthening skills.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Dec 8, 2013

The textbook itself is laden typos and errors, and heavy in grammatically jargon ignoring the work of modern to simplify textbook formats such as those by Genki.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Dec 8, 2013

Instruction time resorts to pushing students through fill-in-the-blank workbooks and partner oral work following strict guideline both of which discourages students to develop tangible skill. Instruction time all but ignores the grammar component which students are told to self-study outside of the class.

1.0
5.0
JAPN101
Grade: Not_Sure_Yet
Dec 8, 2013

The trend of instructors is to use a unpublished textbook written by an instructor at school. The PDF book is divided into grammar and lessons; lessons are seemingly random in content, focused on Canadian oriented vocabulary. Because of the sheer volume of vocabulary and disjointed content the lessons often resort to fill-in-the blank work.

1.0
5.0
JAPN100
Grade: A
May 7, 2014

Don't take her class unless you have learned Japanese before. If you are a beginner who want to get good mark in her class, I suggest you find a tutor. Omae uses a textbook written by herself.It is terrible and has lots of mistake in it. She didn't teach grammar and explain vocabulary,you have to memorize everything in her textbook.

1.0
5.0
JAPN100
May 15, 2014

She is the worst prof i have ever taken.

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Jul 20, 2014

Despite the fact that I got a decent grade, I view this professor as highly unprofessional and arrogant. She is using two textbooks, each 300-400 pages long and expect you to know a fair amount of it. Two first oral tests are jokers, but the final is "mission impossible" without any jokes. Take out lesson from it is "AVOID HER IF POSSIBLE".

1.0
5.0
JAP100
Jul 22, 2014

Horrible...

1.0
3.0
ECON101
Nov 27, 2014

Incredibly hard to understand and very unhelpful. Every one of her examples in class are nearly straight out of the textbook and her lessons are the same as the textbook just with less detail and way less clear language. Ontop of this she holds random pop quizez to ensure that you attend class and sit through her unless lectures. Not recommended.

3.0
1.0
JAPN300
Apr 21, 2015

She is enthusiastic and is there to help if you ask. However, I feel like I didn't learn much from the class. Having taken preceding JAPN classes here, I feel like I learned more in the previous class than this one.. Seems easy enough to get a good grade. She grades by effort not so much 'ability' Textbook is used in class, but not examinable

5.0
4.0
JALANG101
Grade: A
Nov 23, 2015

Beautiful and inspiring with integrity

3.0
5.0
JAP100
Aug 24, 2016
Wouldn't take again

awesome

2.0
3.0
JAP100
Grade: B+
Jun 22, 2017
Wouldn't take again

She uses her own textbooks that are filled with typos. And while she focuses more on practical Japanese over grammar, making it a bit easier, that won't fly once you advance to JAPN101 with another instructor. She pretty much left out 30-50% of the fundamental material you should've learned at a 100 level.

Participation matters
Skip class? You won't pass.
1.0
3.0
JAP100
Nov 29, 2017
Wouldn't take again

Rude, unhelpful, and inappropriate in her behaviour. It takes no time to see how unprofessional she is... avoid her at all costs.

3.0
2.0
JAP101
Grade: A+
Dec 7, 2017
Wouldn't take again

The way she taught was awesome, inspiring. You could actually improve your Japanese listening skills since she spoke basic Japanese phrases quite often. However, her textbooks were too much and not useful for learning grammar. So you would end up learning nothing from her course.

Tough Grader
Amazing lectures
Tests are tough
1.0
4.0
JAP101
Jan 30, 2018
Wouldn't take again

Terribly AWFUL

1.0
5.0
JAP101
Apr 11, 2019
Wouldn't take again

This was the most difficult language course I've ever taken, and that's including Latin. She is very knowledgeable in Japanese, but her teaching skills and organization are weak. Class time barely focused on grammar. There were many in-class assignments that just didn't help if you couldn't understand the readings... Also, her book had many typos.

Skip class? You won't pass.
Tough grader
1.0
3.0
JAP201
Grade: B-
Apr 19, 2022

Low knowledge level of Japanese language. Makes kanji writing mistakes on blackboard. Oral exams can be graded based on non-academic reasons.

Graded by few things
Class Info

Online Classes

100%

Attendance Mandatory

67%

Textbook Required

84%

Grade Predictor

Your expected effort level

LowHigh

Predicted Grade

A-

65% confidence
Based on 5 grades
Most common grades:
A (2)
Not_Sure_Yet (1)
B+ (1)
Grade Distribution
A(3)B(1)C(0)D(0)F(0)A-/B+(1)
Based on 6 reported grades
A: 2
Not_Sure_Yet: 1
B+: 1
A+: 1
Common Tags
Skip class? You won't pass. (2)
Participation matters (1)
Tough Grader (1)
Amazing lectures (1)
Tests are tough (1)
Tough grader (1)
Graded by few things (1)
Rating Trend

Declining

-0.46 avg change
Jun
Nov
Dec
Jan
Apr
Apr
Last 6 months
Ratings by Course

JAP100101

5.0

(1)

JAPA101

5.0

(1)

JAPJAP

5.0

(1)

JALANG101

5.0

(1)

JAP200

4.0

(1)
+16 more courses
Difficulty by Course

JAPNXXX

5.0

JAPN200

5.0

JAPN102

5.0

JPAN100

5.0

JAP

4.5

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