Japanese
LANGUAGES FACULTY
| 🎓 Course Type | Elective |
|---|---|
| 🧩 Units | 2 or 4 |
| 🗓 Timing | Units 1 and 2 in Year 9, Units 3 and 4 in Year 10 |
| ⏱ Hours per week | 3 |
| 📚 Prior Experience | Year 8 Japanese |
| ✏️ Selection | Possible to commence study with the above course or any other similar experience (after consultation with the Head of Languages) |
| 🧭 Future Pathways | TCE Level 3, or Language B for IBDP |
The Year 9 and Year 10 Japanese programs follow a sequential pathway building on the foundations established in Year 8 Japanese. These courses develop the written and oral skills of students beyond the simple question and answer level to basic conversation and lengthier written communication. The pace of each student’s learning is monitored to ensure that they develop at a level appropriate to their individual linguistic skills, with opportunities for extension provided as students become increasingly confident in their use of Japanese.
Year 9 Japanese
The basic skills established in Year 8 are extended by an increase in vocabulary and language patterns, supported by further Kanji characters and consolidation of the Katakana script.
The focus in written work is the development of more complex language patterns aimed at reading and writing tasks dealing with common topics. Oral skills continue to be developed with the introduction of common question and answer combinations aiming at longer simple conversations and short role plays. Students are encouraged to work at their best pace at all times and extension opportunities, such as speech competitions continue to be available.
Year 10 Japanese
This course continues to expand grammatical skills and vocabulary to the level where students are able to deal with more complex conversation topics and lengthier passages in Japanese using the three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Students are encouraged to develop their own strategies to develop increased vocabulary and repertoires to absorb more advanced sentence patterns. Students develop a firm foundation for deciding whether to undertake a pre-tertiary study of Japanese, whilst those who do not continue are equipped to the level where they can undertake travel in Japan and interact with Japanese families. Students in Year 10 may have the opportunity to visit one of our affiliated schools in Japan as part of a short-term exchange. If they are not continuing, school trips would not be an option.
Alternatively, Years 9 and 10 students may have the opportunity to host and work with visiting students from our sister schools – Kochi Kokusai Senior High School and Tokyo Friends School.