I'm very enthusiastic about learning the language. I believe that knowledge of vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of fluency. Grammatical structure facilitates understanding and vocabulary expands communicative frontiers. Even though, the course covers the most basic elementary material, I started learning the vocabulary on my own because I would like to be proficient in the areas not covered by the textbook.

Exams

Exams put stress on learning since they involve deadlines by which the material needs to be learned. Exams might be efficient in forcing us to memorize vocab lists and practice the writing systems. I wouldn't mind having more exams, although, I'm responsible for my own knowledge and can do the same work by myself without the strict deadlines.

Presentations

Presentations might be helpful. It depends on whether they cover the cultural aspects or introduce new vocabulary words. Since we are limited in the class time, I don't think we should spend too much time speaking English. Even though we don't know enough to communicate with each other in Japanese, we should still practice the phrases we have just learned.

Better solution:

I think, a more efficient way to learn the cultural aspects of Japan would be to post links to online materials, which could be read in a spare time. That way more information could be shared and we could discuss the most interesting ideas for a short period of time in class.