Language - Japanese

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.

LANGUAGE - JAPANESE (日本語)

Konnichi wa!

This year all Year 7 students learned about Japanese language and culture. For most, it was their first experience with learning a language other than English. Some loved learning Japanese, others didn’t. All, however, gained some understanding of a culture different to their own and developed learning skills which can be applied to the study of other languages and other subjects in the future.

Our Year 12 Japanese Beginners students have now completed their HSC examinations. I wish them all a very bright and prosperous future.

All students studying Japanese were fortunate to have the opportunity to try out their new language skills each fortnight this year with our FGHS Japanese Assistants, Eri MacAskill and Yumi Pullman. Students enjoyed participating in the small group speaking and listening activities.

I was fortunate to spend some time in Japan recently. I discovered some new games for our students to enjoy. This game of Tsutsuken can be played individually or in pairs. It was a hit with Year 7 students.

Moon Viewing (otsukimi) Festival

The Autumn moon in Japan is quite spectacular and moon viewing activities are enjoyed all over Japan. Students enjoyed making tsukimi dango which are made from rice flour. They are formed into balls about the size of a ping pong ball then arranged in a pyramid shape and put on display. Our students ate them with cinnamon sugar and chocolate powder. oishii desu ne! (Delicious!)

Technology GO!!

Congratulations to the students who are consistently arriving to lessons with charged devices, ready for learning. It is important that devices are charged each evening so students have access to their Google Classroom and other language learning sites. If students are absent from a lesson, they are able to access the work on their Google Classroom.

All students learning Japanese at FGHS have access to Japanese content on Education Perfect. This learning tool is used in the classroom but is also a great tool that students can access anytime if they want to reinforce and/or extend language learned in class.