Japanese
Japanese lessons at Chelsea Heights Primary
April and May have so far been a busy time in Japan with lots of exciting events happening. In the Level 3 and 4 classes we learned about the Golden Week holiday, Greenery Day and Children’s Day, and also the celebration of a new Emperor. We learned to recognise and write the kanji characters for April and May, being 四月 and 五月, pronounced shigatsu and gogatsu respectively.
In Foundation we learned about colours using a Japanese song about tulips - maybe ask your child to sing it for you? We made tulip flowers out of origami paper, and used あか aka for red しろ shiro for white and きいろ kiiro for yellow.
Level 1 built on our learning of shapes and adjectives to construct simple phrases such as おおきいまる ookii maru for big circle or ちいさいまる chiisai maru for little circle.
Level 2 reviewed our words for face and practised describing features of a face in phrases such as ちいさい目 chiisai me or little eyes, and おおきい耳 ookii mimi or big ears.
In level 5 we practised language used to ask for something, say in a shop, with the words …..をください …… o kudasai and …..をおねがいします …. o onegai shimasu - the last being considered a more polite form for asking for something. Students have also been learning and sharing ability to count in large numbers, using ひゃく hyaku for hundreds,せん sen for thousands and まん man for units of ten thousand - these are very useful to understanding money in Japan as 1 Australian dollar can be worth as many as 80 Japanese Yen.
A final comment on one event mentioned above, kodomo no hi, の日, or Childrens’ Day, is celebrated on the 5th of May each year. We discussed in some classes the significance of the carp decorations displayed outside homes of children. Carp are strong, persevering to swim upstream against strong currents and jumping over waterfalls, and Japanese parents desire these values for their children. These are values we also try to encourage here at Chelsea Heights Primary.
The seasons – opposite to those here in Melbourne – and the many interesting festivals will give us plenty more material for teaching the rest of this year.
Ms Deanna Wegman, Specialist Teacher - Japanese