Languages- Japanese
Communicating with the Specialist Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input:
Sensei Masae Uekusa (Japanese) Masae.Uekusa@education.vic.gov.au
Konnichiwa, minasan! (Hello, everyone!)
‘YOUKOSO’ (Welcome) to the Upwey South Japanese Room!
Let’s look into what is happening in the Japanese classroom in the past few weeks.
Foundation: ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’
Foundation students have been practising fruits, days of the week and phrases through the famous story book ‘HARAPEKO AOMUSHI (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)’, by Eric Carle. They are learning to connect the Kanji characters for days of the week with the sounds and meaning. The Foundation students love the funny ‘days of the week’ song!
Year 1 and 2: ‘MOTTAINAI BAASAN’ (‘Mottainai’ grandma) & ‘Treasure Hunt in 3 worlds’
Year 1/2 students have been working had to complete their ‘Mottainai baasan’ book as their portfolio task. To consolidate the vocabulary, the students have been learning to say ‘I like (animals)’ entirely in Japanese. This involves addressing the animals of their choice correctly and add ‘and’ in between the animals. They have also been developing their Hiragana writing skills by copying the modelled writing. Keep up the good work!
Year 3 and 4: Hiragana Black Belt Challenge (Continued)
Year 3/4 students have been focussing on their Hiragana reading skills through the Hiragana Black Belt Challenge. They are developing strategies such as ‘trigger stories’ to remember the sound and shape of each Hiragana. The students are independently working on the belt challenge at their pace. Great effort!
Year 5 and 6: ‘MOTTAINAI BAASAN’ (‘Mottainai’ grandma) & Japan Guidebook
Year 5/6 students have been working on their portfolio task, ‘Mottainai baasan (Mottainai grandma)’ poster. They selected a Japanese sentence to promote the concept of ‘Mottainai’ (message to ‘stop wasting and respect the nature’). To make the poster more appealing to the audience, they devised the visuals. Very well done!
Arigatou
Masae-sensei
EVENT INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES: School-Wide Japanese and Cultural Awareness Celebration- Thursday 1st December 2022
We are writing to provide you with details of our school's Cultural Awareness/ Japanese Day Celebration, which is scheduled to occur on Thursday 1st December 2022.
The details for our Cultural Awareness/ Japanese Day Celebration are detailed below:
When: Thursday 1st December 2022
Where: On-site
What is involved?Students are invited to come to school dressed in Japanese-themed attire, or to come to school dressed in attire that represents a culture reflecting their own family's connections.
This connection may be the cultures of origin for your own family, a culture in which your child has an interest, or a culture/country which represents a memorable family experience- such as s family holiday. In previous years, students have gained immense levels of enjoyment from learning about and seeing the different cultures represented across our community.
Students are also invited to bring to school an artefact or family-item through which they can share a story with their class. Please do not send valuable family items, as we do not wish for these to be lost or damaged. In the past students have brought to school photos or similar items to represent a cultural experience for their family.
Some Japanese themed ideas from previous years are: wearing red and white (Japanese national flag colours), kimono, karate outfit, Pokemon, Nintendo game characters, Japanese anime characters, ‘Kawaii (cute)’ outfit, etc.Please be aware that dressing-up is optional, although we are encouraging maximum participation.
Throughout the day students will be learning more about Japanese culture through a variety of multi-age group workshops. Planned workshops include special guest performance, cultural games, craft, art, movie and sports.
We look forward to seeing our students become involved in our school's Cultural Awareness/ Japanese Day Celebration by joining together as a community.