Japanese

Year 4, 5 and 6 in Senior Japanese have had a very exciting focus this term as we have linked the Japanese language with literacy. I have been so pleased with how much interest and enjoyment that the students have shown with these Japanese texts. In Year 4, we are learning to read a Japanese text called, “Ekiben Shinkansen.” ‘Eki’ means train and ‘ben’ refers to a bento box, therefore it refers to a bento box meal that we eat on a train.
We have learnt the word for ‘bullet train’ which is a ‘shinkansen’ and we are learning to write this word in hiragana (しんかんせん). All students loved seeing Miller Sensei’s videos of the five shinkansen’s that she travelled on in the recent school holidays within Japan!

In Years 5 and 6, we are learning to read an old Japanese folk tale called, “Omusubi Kororin.” ‘Omosubi’ is an old fashioned Japanese word for onigiri. ‘Kororin’ means rolling so it is translated as, “The Rolling Rice Ball.” Our learning intention is to retell the story with Japanese words, phrases and Japanese sign language. Students have been encouraged to read and write the title of our story in hiragana. They are also learning how to read and write three kanji characters representing three keywords from our story. They include tree (ki), river (kawa) and mountain (yama). Please see examples of the Japanese writing forms below –
“Omusubi Kororin” (おむすび ころりん) tree 木 river 川 mountain 山
Please notice the link above with the Year 3 Junior students learning the kanji for Thursday (木) and the Senior students learning ‘ki’ for tree (木). This is purposeful as the Senior Japanese program compliments and builds upon prior learning in the Junior Japanese program at St. Paul’s. Walker Sensei and I are meeting on Monday, Week 3 to ensure that seamless planning and programming occurs for all students in 2020.

“Onigiri Action” is a social justice action program that attempts to ‘change the world with onigiri.’ It is a wonderful initiative that the students and are supporting from the 7th October – 20th November 2019. Senior students are encouraged to bring in an ‘omusubi’ rice ball every Thursday to Senior Japanese Club. Miller Sensei will then take a photo of the omusubi (food photos only) and upload it to the website. For every photo posted with the hashtag #OnigiriAction, their partner organisations will provide 5 school meals to children in need (Africa and South East Asia). Let’s make ‘onigiri with love’ for children in need all around the world! A $1.00 colouring competition has also begun to raise much needed funds for this great cause. Prizes will be awarded to each year level from Prep – Year 6. Please donate $1.00 and receive your colouring entry outside the Japanese classroom for the first 10 minutes of every lunchtime for the next three weeks.
Ganbatte kudasai, (Good luck)
Miller Sensei J

This Term in Japanese, the Year 3 students are learning how to say and write the ‘days of the week’ and use these words in a basic sentence. Every day ends with the word 曜日 (youbi), which means “day of the week”. The only difference lies in the first character.
• 月 (getsu) means moon, so Monday is the day of moon.
• 火 (ka) means fire, so Tuesday is the day of fire.
• 水 (sui) means water, so Wednesday is the day of water.
• 木 (moku) means tree/wood, so Thursday is the day of wood.
• 金 (kin) means gold, so Friday is the day of gold.
• 土 (do) means soil/earth, so Saturday is the day of earth.
• 日 (nichi) means sun, so Sunday is the day of sun.
The students really enjoyed creating small ‘days of the week’ works of art using the kanji symbols and water colours. The artworks are on display in the Japanese classroom and we invite you to come in and view them.
Arigatou gozaimasu,
Walker Sensei J

This week in Junior Japanese the Year 1 students have been learning weather vocabulary.  Our focus for the week was on the word ‘hare’ which means sunny.  We also learnt how to ask the question, “Tenki wa dou desu ka”, which means, “How is the weather?” Students enjoyed making a ‘hare’ craft to help remind them of their new vocabulary.

In Senior Japanese this term we have been focusing on learning ‘jiko shoukai’ which means how to introduce ourselves in Japanese. We practise having a conversation in Japanese with a partner every week. Here is an example of what we are practising to say currently:

*Hajimemashite (Hi. How do you do?) + Rei (Bow)

*Konnichiwa (Hello / Good afternoon)

*Watashi wa (name) desu – girls OR Boku wa (name) desu – boys

*(Grade) nensei desu (I am in grade _______ )

*(Item) ga suki desu (I like _______ )

*(Suburb) ni sunde imasu (I live in _______ )

*Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu (Nice to meet you)

*Arigatou gozaimashita (Thank you very much) + Rei (bow)

We have also made tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs) in Year 4 and koinobori (carp kite streamers) for the Children’s Day Festival in Years 5 and 6.

They look fabulous in the Japanese classroom!

Thank you to everyone who has entered the Japanese Festival’s Art competition too. Final entries are due this Thursday, 1^st August 2019. Ganbarou – Good luck!

Arigatou gozaimasu,

Walker Sensei and Miller Sensei

This week in Junior Japanese we have been learning about the sakura (cherry blossom) festival, hanami. Cherry blossom festivals are an important custom and are held all over Japan during the spring. The students designed and decorated their own sakura trees. These are displayed in the Japanese classroom. I invite you to come and see our beautiful display.
Arigatou,
Walker Sensei

Last week in Senior Japanese class we learnt about the Hanami festival in Japan. We watched a very interesting video that taught us many Japanese keywords in which the Japanese people use to describe the sakura (cherry blossom) trees. We drew our own sakura tree and wrote the Japanese keywords on the branches of the tree. They look Sugoi (amazing)! We are also learning eight classroom instructions which help us to understand classroom directions from Miller Sensei.
These include: *Mou ichido kudasai (One more time please);
*Shizuki ni shite kudasai (Please be quiet);
*Mite kudasai (Please look);
*Kaite kudasai (Please write);
*Akete kudasai (Please open);
*Te o agete kudasai (Please raise your hand);
*Yonde kudasai (Please read);
*Kiite kudasai (Please listen).

We have also been studying an enquiry unit about the geography of Japan.
These are our key questions:
a) Where is Japan?
b) What does Japan look like?
c) What are some customs of Japan?
It would be great if you could please have a conversation with your child about the wonderful things that we are learning in Senior Japanese class each week. For example, ask them to sing for you the ‘Japanese Classroom Instruction song’ this Thursday, which is to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
Arigatou Gozaimasu (thank you very much),
Miller Sensei.