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!

2022 Upwey South PS Term 4 Week 11 Newsletter

‘YOUKOSO’ (Welcome) to the Japanese Room!

On December 1st, we had our 2022 Japanese Day to celebrate our learning of the Japanese language and culture. The following are what we enjoyed on the day:

Japanese Day Ceremony

First thing in the morning, we had a Webex assembly run by our fantastic Japanese captains. We also had a special costume parade. It was great to see everyone dressed up in their special costumes. There were so many creative costumes!

Karate Performance

We welcomed our special guests, Jaicob-sensei and his Dojo members from his Karate Dojo. The students learned that they are only to perform Karate inside the Dojo to stay safe. The Karate masters demonstrated a lot of ‘KATA (forms)’ and taught our students the basic forms and discipline as they all counted in Japanese. It was great to see our students showing an excellent manner and respecting the performers throughout the performance. 

Onigiri (Rice ball)

Inspired by ‘ONIGIRI ACTION’ movement which is to raise awareness of global food-related issues and to promote ‘World Food Day’, our students made ‘ONIGIRI (rice balls)’. For most of the students, it was eye-opening that Onigiri is not the same as sushi. It is much simpler and everyday food like sandwiches and wraps for them. To my surprise, they enjoyed the authentic Japanese rice ‘Koshihikari’ (not ‘sushi rice’). The students enjoyed shaping their Onigiri into a variety of characters and animals. 

Pillow Dodge

On the call of ‘Sensei is coming!’, all players pretended to be asleep… Our students enjoyed this fun game with great enthusiasm. ‘Makura-nage’ (pillow doge) which is a combination of chess and dodge ball recently became an official sport in Japan. It was fantastic to see senior students looking after junior students and adjusting their strength when they throw the pillows. 

Key-holder craft

The students chose a Japan-related design and drew it on their plastic sheet as well as their Japanese names to create their keyholders. Some students remembered their Japanese names in Katakana script, so did not even have to look at their Japanese folders!

Class Karaoke

At the end of this exciting day, our students had a chance to sing in front of the class or listen to each other sing to learn about the original Japanese ‘Karaoke (‘kara’: empty or void,  'oke' comes from the word 'ookesutora' =r orchestra)’ culture. It was lovely to listen to lovely singing voices all around the school!

Thank you to the Upwey South PS community; staff, students and families for your kind support and for making this year’s Japanese day really special! I will certainly miss your happy smiles…!

Arigatou!

Masae-sensei