Japanese

こんにちは！

Konnichi wa!

What a great start to the year we have been having with all the students in Prep – Grade 4 who learn Japanese!

This year we celebrate the Year of the Tiger as part of the animal zodiac traditions. People born in 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 and 2010 are tigers!

Students learnt that the word for tiger in Japanese is とら(tora). Students also set up some Japanese goals and completed some craft activities as part of our Setting Up for Success program at the beginning of the term.

Preps

Students in Prep have been learning lots of simple Japanese greetings and instructions, including:

おはよう(ohayou) Good Morning
こんにちは (konnichi wa) Good Afternoon
さようなら (sayounara) Goodbye
たって (tatte) Stand Up
すわって (suwatte) Sit Down
はい (hai) Yes
いいえ (iie) No

Students in Prep have also been learning how to introduce themselves in Japanese:

Girls say わたし　は　＿＿＿＿　です。(watashi wa ____ desu). My name is _____

Boys say ぼく　は　＿＿＿＿　です。(boku wa ____ desu). My name is _____

At the end of this term, students in Prep have also been learning to count from 1-10 in Japanese:

一いち (ichI)
二に (ni)
三さん (san)
四よん (yon)
五ご (go)
六ろく (roku)
七なな (nana)
八はち (hachi)
九きゅう (kyuu)
十じゅう (juu)

Grade One

Students in Grade One have been revising over one-stroke hiragana, which is one of the writing systems in Japan:

く(ku)、し(shi)、そ(so)、つ(tsu)、て(te)、の(no)、ひ(hi)、へ(he)、る(ru)、ろ(ro) and ん(n)

They also been starting to learn some two-stroke hiragana:

い (i)、う(u)、え (e)、こ(ko)、す(su)、ち(chi)、と(to)、ぬ(nu)、ね(ne)、み(mi)、め(me) and ゆ(yu)

Grade Two

This term, students in Grade Two have been revising over two-stroke hiragana:

い(i)、う(u)、え(e)、こ(ko)、す(su)、ち(chi)、と(to)、ぬ(nu)、ね(ne)、み(mi)、め(me)、ゆ(yu)、よ(yo)、ら(ra)、り(ri)、れ(re) and わ(wa)

They have also been starting to learn some three-stroke hiragana:

あ (a)、お (o)、か (ka)、け (ke)、さ (sa)、せ (se)、に (ni) 、は (ha) 、ま(ma)、む(mu) and も(mo)

Grade Three

Students in Grade Three have been looking at the story of the ‘Enormous Turnip’ (おおきいかぶ ookii kabu) in Japanese. Students have been given an opportunity to read along with the story in Japanese, as well as learn the 8 key words from the story:

おじいさん　ojiisan (grandfather)

おおばあさん　oobaasan (grandmother)

まりこちゃん　mariko chan

ねこ　neko (cat)

いぬ　inu (dog)

ねずみ　nezumi (mouse)

おおきい　ookii (big)

かぶ　kabu (turnip)

Students have used Chromebooks this term to play online games to assist with remembering each of these key words.

Grade Four

Students in Grade Four this term have been looking at the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ (三びきの子ぶた sanbiki no kobuta) in Japanese. Students have been learning the 7 key words from the story:

ぶた　buta (pig)

子ぶた　kobuta (little pig)

うち　uchi (house)

おおかみ　ookami (wolf)

わら　wara (straw)

き　ki (wood)

れんが　renga (brick)

We have also been looking at ordinal numbers in Japanese to state the order of the pigs:

一ばんめの子ぶた ichi ban me no kobuta (1st little pig)

二ばんめの子ぶた ni ban me no kobuta (2nd little pig)

三ばんめの子ぶた san ban me no kobuta (3rd little pig)

Students in Grade Four have also been using their Chromebooks to play some online games to assist them with learning the key words from the story.