Welcome to Arii

Origami Club Begins!

This week, I was excited to start the Japanese Origami Club!

Origami is a traditional Japanese game of paper folding. With just one piece of paper without using scissors or glue you can create many different shapes and designs. It encourages creativity, develops fine motor skills, and is lots of fun!

The club was held twice this week. As the students had recently learned about the Star Festival (Tanabata) in their Japanese lessons, I taught them how to make an origami star. I was also grateful to the Year 5 and 6 students who volunteered to help the younger students.

I was amazed by how talented some of the students were. Many of them already knew different origami models and had wonderful folding ideas to share. It made me so happy to see so many students visit the Japanese classroom to enjoy origami together.

I hope to continue running the Origami Club throughout the term. If you’re interested, please feel free to visit the Japanese classroom and join us. Everyone is welcome!

Learning Colours in Japanese

This week, I prepared a fun lesson for Prep students to learn colours in Japanese.

We learned colour words by singing songs and using actions to help us remember them. For example, midori (green) is the colour of a frog, so the students made a little frog with their hand and made it hop while saying“Midori”. We also guessed different colours together:

Aka (red) – the colour of a heart ❤️
Ao (blue) – the colour of the ocean 🌊
Kiiro (yellow) – the colour of the stars ⭐
Murasaki (purple) – the colour of grapes 🍇
Orenji (orange) – the colour of an orange 🍊
Pinku (pink) – the colour of our cheeks 😊

The students looked like they really enjoyed learning Japanese with songs and actions.

I’m a university student in Japan, but I’m currently taking a leave of absence to study English in Australia.

I’m excited to share Japanese language and culture with everyone here.

My First Host Family Experience

My first host family is Giorgio’s family. Giorgio is in Prep, and they have given me so many wonderful opportunities to experience different cultures. His mother, Misuzu, is Japanese, and his father, Marco, is Italian. Giorgio speaks each parent’s language depending on who he is talking to, and we communicate in English together. It is such an interesting and unique environment that I have never experienced before.

Giorgio enjoys running, playing with cars, making paper airplanes, building pillow houses, and playing Minecraft. We made a Switch controller using origami together, and I was amazed at how good he was at folding origami! I was also lucky enough to join Giorgio’s birthday party. I had never been to a big birthday party like this in Japan because we usually celebrate birthdays in a smaller way with family or close friends. It was a wonderful opportunity to experience a different culture.

Misuzu is a great cook, especially when it comes to curry. I love curry, so I am always happy when she makes it! She also plays the saxophone and is a member of a music band. She invited me to join the band, and we play music together every Wednesday night. She also enjoys stretching and running, and she inspired me to start exercising more. She recommended a beautiful running track near our house, and I really enjoy running there.

Marco is also a wonderful cook. Since I started living with them, he has made taralli many times. Taralli is a traditional Italian crunchy snack, and it is delicious! He also shared his secret bolognese recipe with me, and it was amazing. Marco has a lot of knowledge about science, music, and history, and he loves sharing them with me. I really enjoy listening to him talking about his passions and learning new things from him.

Every Thursday, they have a movie night, and I enjoy joining them. They have given me many opportunities to try new things, such as Iranian cuisine, pandan, japchae, and almond croissants. They also sometimes invite their friends over for meals.

I love spending time together and making many wonderful memories with them. I am truly grateful for all the experiences and opportunities they have given me!!

☕️Giorgio runs a small café called “Shirokuma Café,” which means “Polar Bear Café” in Japanese and he makes coffee for me. His café isn’t open on weekdays or weekends. In fact, it only opens whenever he feels like it! I’ve had his coffee about three times in the past three weeks, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. He even makes creative latte art for me, and every cup is delicious!

Host Family Needed

I am looking for my next host family from 24 August.

If you are interested in welcoming me into your family and sharing your culture with me, please let Ms White know. I would be very happy to share Japanese culture with you and spend time together. I don’t have any food allergies or foods I cannot eat. I would love to enjoy your usual family meals and experience your daily life.

I’m looking forward to meeting a new family and making wonderful memories together.

Thank you very much!