Nogami sensei has very high expectations for her students. As a result, we're expected to do all we can to research the readings/prepare for lectures beforehand. That means understanding the foreign language material before coming to class.

Unfortunately, those who do not completely understand the material (which is entirely in Japanese) before coming to class will be subject to embarrassment. Nogami sensei uses the socratic method---it's very effective at making sure students are actually doing the reading, but at the same time, it can be debilitating for those who did their best to understand these new readings in their non-native tongue but need more guidance from the teacher to understand it 100%. Those who do not completely understand the material before coming to class will stutter when their name is called on, and instead of helping the student understand the reading/grammar, sensei will often just ask a different student to answer instead. As a result, those who are already good at Japanese will benefit/improve, while those who aren't as good will quickly start to fall behind.

That being said, once you get over the embarrassment of not always knowing the answer/knowing the proper grammar required to answer the question, you end up learning a lot. Like an insane amount. After the first couple weeks in this class, I think I started to understand why sensei always says, "This is an advanced level class. That means it's a class where you study independently, and only come to me when you've exhausted all your options." It's not that she doesn't care about her students: her expectations are just that high. It just has the negative side effect of deterring students from reaching out to her for help sometimes.

Also: most foreign language teachers (in my experience) will overlook grammar/vocabulary errors in your speech/writing as long as they understand what it is that you want to say. Nogami sensei, on the other hand, will correct a student right away. While getting lectured by her on what grammar to use or what vocabulary is appropriate can be embarrassing (especially during class/in front of your peers), if you take her corrections to heart, then your Japanese skills will only improve.

Nogami sensei is a strict teacher with high expectations. Before taking her class, I thought my Japanese was pretty good. But in her class, you never feel like "I'm really good at Japanese, I'm good enough." It's a constant feeling of, "I need to work hard," "I need to get better at Japanese." At first, I was haunted by this feeling of not being good enough, and I thought that sensei must've hated me, but after a couple weeks, I got over that fear and focused only on getting better at Japanese. Only then was I able to fully reap the benefits of Nogami sensei's strict tutelage.

I'm not sure if I would take this class again in the fall (Japan 101A with Nogami sensei). Compared to other classes, it is much harder to get an A. I might spend 20 hours outside of class per week studying the material, but walk out of the class with only a B+ or A-. Compared to other classes where putting in 10-12 hours of hard work per week outside of class is more than enough to earn an A, the grade aspect of this class is not very rewarding. Only if your Japanese is at the native-speaker level will you be able to get an A.

Extremely scrutinous grading, long homework assignments, plays favorites with students

Difficult readings, fast paced lectures, long homework assignments.