Japanese

Week 5

Welcome to Japanese class!

We have had a smooth start to our Japanese program. Students in all year levels are bringing their enthusiasm to the classroom, and we are having a very enjoyable time learning together.  

Year 5&6

We have started our program to learn about and understand the celebration of the New Year in Japan. Japanese New Year is on January 1st and is the biggest celebration of the year. Students made a wooden plaque called EMA with the drawing of this year’s zodiac, the snake, and some writings in Japanese to wish for a good year.

Students have been learning the topic of “Weather” for the last few weeks. They have learnt how to describe weather such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, hot and cold and have been using these terms in sentences.

EMA 

Year 3&4

Students have had a very good start of learning about both Japanese language and culture. They learnt and reinforced their knowledge about the biggest celebration of the year in Japan, New Years Day on January the 1st.  We talked about the current cold weather in Japan and learnt some weather-related words and sentences. Origami continues to be a very popular activity.

Year 1&2

We have been having a lot of smiley and keen faces as we learn new things every week in our Japanese classes.

Students learnt about New Year’s celebrations and talked about the zodiac for 2025, snake-hebi. One of our hits in the class is our new song “How to count small animals-frog song”! They are also learning some names of animals such as cow, horse, sheep, tiger etc. and have been practicing indicating their likes and dislikes.

Foundation

All Foundation students have settled into our Japanese class and are enjoying learning new things every week. Students are beginning to study the key areas of speaking, listening, reading, writing and culture. They participate in a variety of activities, and we have had many smiling faces in our Japanese class.  Our routine is to start the class with greeting in Japanese altogether and individually, sing some songs in Japanese, learn some new words, write the word of the day and finish with Origami (paper folding). You might have heard your child/ren singing “Ohayo” or “Kobuta, tanuki....”! Please look for the lovely Origami work in their school bag.

I’m looking forward to the fun filled learning year with your child/ren.

Ayako Mizushima (Mizu Sensei)