Japanese

Week 9

Year 3-6

Students have been focusing on the “Weather” and “Seasons”. They have been learning how to describe weather e.g. “Today is sunny”, with a conversation partner. They have also been adding some more vocabulary such as hot, warm, cool, cold and the names of the 4 seasons. Students have had a closer look at each season and its major events in Japan. 

In the Japanese language we use polite form and casual form, and we normally use the polite form in the classroom. However, a new song “Nani ga suki (What do you like?”) taught students how to respond with casual form in situations when they are talking with family members and friends. This song is a hit!

Year 1&2

Students continued to learn some more names of animals such as cow, horse, sheep, chicken, monkey, elephant, tiger and giraffe. They are getting good at indicating their likes and dislikes using these animals. We talked about Japanese native monkeys coming to soak themselves into hot spring in Nagano in Winter. We all enjoyed watching a video about this unique place in Japan!

Foundation

Foundation students have been learning enthusiastically. All of them greet me individually at the start of each lesson in Japanese. Students can sing some Japanese songs such as Ohayo song (greeting song), Kobuta (animals) and Atama kata (Head, Shoulders), count 1-10 and beyond, indicate likes and dislikes as a whole class and introduce themselves saying “I am…”. We have started to use an interactive online program called ELLA (Early Learning Languages Australia). Through this program, students learn the language effectively while having fun! Please ask your child/ren about it.

Have a good week and thank you for a wonderful term of learning.

Ayako Mizushima (Mizu Sensei)