In Prep the focus is on making use of this time when little children can absorb language. Rather than trying to teach language through sets of rules, they play games in Japanese, learn Japanese songs that children in Japan learn at this age and they listen to very exciting, traditional Japanese stories. The aim is to get their ears used to new sounds and to make them interested in a new culture. Term 1 is a general introduction with greetings and basic sentence patterns. The focus of Term 2 is on Body Parts, Health and Fitness. This includes the kanji for body parts, playing recognition games and reinforcing the message of 'Healthy Body Healthy Mind'. The focus of Term 3 is animals and the sounds they make. I am very excited about this because I love animals (we have several at home) and I know many students have pets too. I will also be showing students the kanji (Japanese script) for some of the animals. In Term 4 we will be learning about the Festivals and the New Year Celebration. The Christmas season is celebrated in a different way in Japan with different foods and customs. Students will learn how to visit a temple correctly and how to make some of the traditional foods.
I will be adding some hiragana as it is something that the students are incredibly good at recognising (compared to adults!) Why not try and learn what they have learned? Ask them how they have remembered each character and you might be surprised at the detail in their answers.
I will be adding some hiragana as it is something that the students are incredibly good at recognising (compared to adults!) Why not try and learn what they have learned? Ask them how they have remembered each character and you might be surprised at the detail in their answers.
Festivals in Japan
Japan has festivals in every season, in every region and for many different reasons.
Song: Tokyo Bon
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Calligraphy: Hiragana
Song: Kobuta Tanuki Kitsune Neko
This is one of many well known children songs in Japan. There are two versions here. It is about four animals and the sounds they make in Japanese. It is an easy song to sing as there is a lot of repetition and comes with gestures. The animals are a piglet (ko for child and buta for pig), a racoon (tanuki), a fox (kitsune) and a cat (neko).
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Story: Here Comes Tarzan
In this story animals are introduced along with their kanji and the sound they make. What sound do you think a Rooster makes in Japanese? Tarzan is feeling shiawase (happy) as he swings through the jungle.
Song:
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Story:
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Song: Ohayo Ohayo
This song teaches various greeting words. They are:
Verse 1: good morning (ohayo), hello (konnichiwa), goodbye (sayonara), see you tomorrow (mata ashita ne).
Verse 2: hello (mocha mocha, for answering the phone only), good evening (konbawa), good night (oyasuminasai), see you later (jya mata ne).
Your child should be able to sing this song with gestures.
Verse 1: good morning (ohayo), hello (konnichiwa), goodbye (sayonara), see you tomorrow (mata ashita ne).
Verse 2: hello (mocha mocha, for answering the phone only), good evening (konbawa), good night (oyasuminasai), see you later (jya mata ne).
Your child should be able to sing this song with gestures.
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ohayou_ohayou_oh_ha_yo__2.mp3 | |
File Size: | 1923 kb |
File Type: | mp3 |
Song: Ogenki desu ka
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ogenki desu ka - How are you?/Are you well?
Hai genki desu - I'm fine/ Yes I am well |
Song: Tate kudasai
This song includes useful classroom instructions. In the song they come in the following order: stand up, sit down, look, listen, read, write, say, one more time. The final word of the song means 'Let's finish'. The reason the song is called kudasai, even though this word does not feature in the lyrics, is because if you add it to the words it makes them more polite by adding 'please'. For example: tate kudasai means stand up please.
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classroom_language_song_1.mp3 | |
File Size: | 1132 kb |
File Type: | mp3 |
Song: The Robot Song
We call this song the 'Robot Song' as that is the style of dance the students do when we sing it in class (the song is actually called 1,2,3 Let's Dance). The main focus of the song is numbers. It is a fantastic way for students to learn the numbers 1-10 as they are repeated throughout the song. I do not teach the meaning of the other sentences explicitly but rather through the actions of the dance. The lyrics are:
Put your hands in front Put your hands above Put your hands in front Put your hands below 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Let's walk....forwards...backwards 1,2,3 turn around, jump Chorus: 1,2,3 everyone, let's dance together |
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Song: Numbers 1-10
This song sings the numbers up from one to ten, and then back down to one. The numbers are:
ichi, ni, san, yon(or shi), go, roku, nana, hachi, kyu, jyu |
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Culture Videos
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What a child's bedroom looks like in Japan |
A typical school lunch in a Japanese primary school |
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