Japanese in the Primary

As 2023 draws to an end, it is a delight to share with everyone some of the activities the students have been experiencing.

In Year 6, students have been comparing the act of gift giving in Australia and Japan. For the Japanese, giving a gift is more than buying a souvenir for the receiver to keep. Gifts include: 

In Year 5, students wrote a book about a daily routine.  The sentences included information about time, who did the activity and what activity the person did. Once the book was written the students read their book in Japanese. 

A similar activity of writing, reading and speaking was completed in Year 4.  The focus was writing about the months of the year and the season in either Australia or Japan.

In Year 3, the students worked in pairs and wrote a Weather Report. The sentences included questions and answers about days of the week and different types of weather.  Each Report was recorded.  It is wonderful to see the students communicating with each other in Japanese. 

In Year 1 and 2, students have focused on vocabulary used during class time. These include words such as: Please look, Please listen, May I go to the toilet? Sit in a circle please. They learnt a song with actions to help them learn.

On November 15, students who were aged 7, 5 and 3 years old in Japan celebrated an annual festival known as ‘shichi - go - san’. On this day, prayers are offered for the healthy and happy lives of children. Various activities were completed in Kindergarten and Prep  to learn about this day in Japan. They included making an origami turtle (kame). In Japan the turtle symbolises a long life. Small turtles are often seen sunning themselves on the rocks in the ponds of temple grounds. Try making one yourself by starting with a square sheet of paper and following the instructions below: