Japanese

Konnichiwa, Monty Community!

Year 5 students have started an exciting new topic called Kobanashi, a traditional style of Japanese storytelling featuring short, humorous stories. Kobanashi performers use simple gestures and only two props: a sensu (folding fan) and a tenugui (hand towel), to represent many different objects and characters.

To begin the unit, students played a gesture game using the sensu and tenugui, challenging their classmates to guess what each prop was being used as. They came up with many imaginative and creative ideas, and there was lots of laughter throughout the lesson.

The following week, students chose a Kobanashi story to memorise and perform. Although it was only their first week of practice, they showed excellent participation, embraced the challenge with enthusiasm, and were already beginning to perform with confidence. I look forward to seeing their storytelling skills continue to grow over the coming weeks! 

Ayako Kumakura,

Japanese Language Teacher