Japanese

Recently, two Japanese teachers spent the day at our school, enjoying several classes with students in Prep, Year 1, Year 5 and Year 6. Haruna Mogi is a teacher at our Japanese sister school, Shinjo Elementary, and was excited to meet some of our students in person following video meetings earlier this year. Setsuko Nishiyama is a Year 6 teacher in Japan who previously lived and worked in Melbourne.

Mogi-sensei had made a quiz about Japan for the Year 5 and 6 students. They had a lot of fun finding out how much they know about Japan. The Year 6 students benefited from the Japanese teachers checking their work and giving them feedback. The Year 5 students had almost finished the quiz when the class was interrupted by an evacuation drill. Mogi-sensei said they also have evacuation drills in Japan, including earthquake drills.

Prep and Year 1 students have been doing a simple shopping role play in Japanese class. After introducing themselves to our visitors in Japanese, the students were excited to go to the shops where Mogi-sensei and Nishiyama-sensei were the shopkeepers.

After lunch, some Year 4 and Year 6 students showed our visitors what they are learning in Maths. Mogi-sensei and Nishiyama-sensei were interested to see how our students learn to use a variety of different strategies to solve problems. They were intrigued by the extensive wall displays in the Year 4 classrooms that give students access to information about everything they have been learning.

At the end of the day, our two visitors attended our school assembly and were interviewed by two Year 6 students. When asked ‘What’s your advice for learning Japanese?’, Mogi-sensei replied ‘Just to have fun and enjoy it.’

Josie Briggs

Japanese Teacher