YOKOSO- MEANS 'WELCOME'- Cool Japan

GREAT VIDEO- WATCH HOW AN O BENTO (JAPANESE LUNCH) IS MADE- TURN VOLUME UP

NEW RELEASE VIDEO AND SONG- PARTICULARLY FOR PREPS BY KENNY KOALA

Kendo - The Way Of The Sword For Older Students- Years 4-6. Video about Japanese Martial Art

親子で英語 / Mummy and Me Japanese - よくできました/Good job!

TALK TO ME ABOUT CREATING A VIDEO FOR THIS COMPETITION

Only five (5) entries allowed per school. Film your speech you did for assessment or make up a new one!!! Use a song or a script as inspiration. Make a cartoon or video. Best 5 ENTRIES GIVEN TO ME BY SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 WILL BE ENTERED. PRIZES TO BE WON!!! SEE SOME OF LAST YEAR'S WINNERS FOR INSPIRATION IN THE LINKS ON RIGHT-HAND SIDE UNDER 'VIDEO MATSURI (Festival). ASK ME FOR MORE DETAILS, Mr Mackenzie-Smith

 

2010 JAPANESE VIDEO FESTIVAL

2010
Japanese Video
Festival Contest
Create your own short film, animation,
claymation or digital story using Japanese.
Get your works in by 30th September, for your chance to win!
http://video-matsuri.jpf-sydney.net/
ビデオまつり

SUMO IN JAPAN

GREETINGS SONG- Japanese lesson song-Aisatsu no uta

LISTEN TO THE SONG AND TRY TO PICK THE WORDS YOU KNOW

HIRAGANA IN 48 Minutes. Design for Educational purposes. Do not share or embed please.

MY CHILD DOESN'T KNOW HIS/HER HIRAGANA: Start from the beginning

Some parents say to me that their child is struggling with the script (particularly in Year1). Reading Hiragana is just like learning to read all over again in another language, it takes time and not everyone is going to pick it up straight away. Children are still learning their letters and sounds in English. Don't worry, this will not confuse them with their English reading!!! So many studies have shown that children are very adept at categorising and distinguishing between languages in their heads.In Prep and Year 1 we are merely exposing children to these letters.

WHAT DO I DO???
What I suggest to do is the following:
I teach the students about Hiragana using the 'Hiragana in 48 Minutes'(Quackenbush, Curriculum Corporation) methodology. Students are taught that there is a picture and a story for each character e.g. the Hiragana 'U' ぅ(ooh) is an old lady who gets hit in the back from something falling from the sky and says ' Ooh'.
Watch my video(on the Hiragana pages of this blog- right-hand side) to hear all of the stories and go through them with your child. Then there are step by step lessons on the Hiragana page for the reading and writing of the Hiragana. Watch the Hiragana Alphabet video as well and then follow the lessons through say, one video every week. They are very comprehensive videos.

The alphabet is based on the 5 vowel sounds of A I U E and O

A as in 'AH', I as in 'EE', U as in 'OOH', E as in 'EH' and O as in O for 'Orange'
Each subsequent line of the alphabet loosely follow this rule. Fore example the nexy line is the 'K' line or 'Kagyo' in Japanese goes 'KA KI KU KE KO'

Confusing, hey? Imagine what it must be like for Year 1s...However, in Japan, children from about 3 years old start learning this script.
Have a go yourself and work with your child when you can and maybe you too can learn to read and write a bit of Japanese, Mr Mackenzie-Smith :)

ASSESSMENT IN JAPANESE

Assessing students takes time and is not done in one single assessment for one single mark. While it is true that student speeches and formal Hiragana (script) tests are significant, they are not the most accurate indication of a child's ability. I have found that in formal testing conditions children freeze or cannot produce language that they can ordinarily produce in more relaxed circumstances. I always refer to a brilliant writer named Stephen Krashen who coined the term 'affective filter'. He argued that we we are relaxed and free from extra-sensory stimuli that we produce better language and our brains don't become cloudy. As adults. we might be able to relate to that feeling when we become 'tongue-tied' when speaking in public or in tense situations.
When I do administer formal testing ,especially speaking tests, they take time as they are individual or paired assessments.That is why I give a window of assessment time say, "between May 17-21" ,not just on a single day.I cannot feasibly test 30 children in a thirty minute session and so testing sessions are spread out. I always try to give students the same assessment questions and use the same criteria sheets for each student. The location of the test doesn't matter for the speaking assessment as long as it is relatively quiet and relaxed. So..if I test a student on the 17th in one classroom and another on the 18th in another classroom, the difference in conditions is negligible as long as I make sure that students are not impeded by interruptions or other students.I do, however, take into consideration the length of time that students have to prepare for tasks for example, a child who does his assessment on the 21st should be arguably more prepared for an assessment than a child who was first 'cab off the rank' on the 17th. This, however is only a small influence. I prefer to look at the preparation that a child has made, whether they have been conscientious in class and have above all, done the very best they possibly could have. Not everyone is going to get an 'A' and no child is perfectly fluent in Japanese (even the native speakers). Getting a 'C' in a subject that is in a second language is completely normal. There is alway room for improvement. I am still studying I have been doing this for longer than I care to mention.
Please be assured that assessment is ongoing and a great deal of it is observational/ anecdotal in conjunction with more quantifiable assessment. At the day, I would love to see the love of language instilled in the students not the dread of impending assessment.

*****NEW******LEARN TO SPEAK JAPANESE RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING

WANT TO LEARN TO SPEAK JAPANESE???? MUM?? DAD??? KIDS????? GRANDMA???

HERE IS THE FIRST LESSON!!!!!! THANKS TO JapanesePod101.com






Go to pages on right and look for "Japanese Speaking".

For more details and worksheets, you can go to JapanesePod101.com

SPEAKING TESTS- HOW DO I DETERMINE WHO IS AN 'A' AND WHO IS A 'D'???

A lot of parents wonder how they can help their children in speaking tasks for assessment. I say just be a good listener. Listen to your children's speaking tasks and get them to listen to native speakers to imitate pronunciation and intonation. We have native speaker voices on this website as well as mine. It is this exposure that will help them become more proficient and intonation, pitch and fluency.
Reciting a speech by rote (by heart) is not worthy of an 'A' mark (even if it is said perfectly). There is deeper learning involved in the speaking tasks and that's what I'm looking for - those who can actually comprehend what they've said and what their speaking partner or teacher has said. Comprehension is a key component in the art of conversation because if we can't comprehend then we are not effectively participating in a dialogue or conversation.
At the other end of the spectrum, students who don't study their material, speak in their native language (generally English) and 'um' and 'ahh' their way through speeches without making a concerted effort are not going to receive favourable results. Particularly when they begin the task with 'I didn't study for this' or 'I've had too much on at home and with sport to even think about this'. This is said to me from time to time and is not favourably received. I don't care what academic ability a child has as long as they make a concerted effort and this should apply to everything they do.
Negatives aside, I have been very impressed with the majority of students I with whom I have interacted over the course of this assessment period and 'thank you' to all the parents who tirelessly encourage their children with their studies. The results will pay off, Mr Mackenzie-Smith

LESSON 1 : KUMA CHAN AND YOGI'S FIRST MEETING- DIALOGUE

YOGI and Kumachan meet for the first time:

Vocabulary:

YOGI - こんにち　は。　おなまえ　は。(Konnichi wa. Onamae wa?)　
　　　　　　(Hello. What's your name?)　


KUMACHAN- わたし　は　くま　ちゃん　です。おなまえ　は？
(Watashi wa Kumachan desu. Onamae wa?)
(I am Kuma chan. What's your name?)

YOGI- よぎい　です。はじめまして。 (Yogi desu. Hajimemashite)
(I am Yogi. Nice to meet you)

KUMACHAN - はじめまして。いっしょに　あそびましょう　か？
(Hajimemashite.Isshoni asobimashoo ka.)
　　　　　　 (Nice to meet you. Shall we play together?)

YOGI - はい。あそびましょう。(Hai. Asobimashoo)
　 (Yes. Let's play!)
　　　　　　　

USEFUL INFO FOR PRACTICE TESTS- HOW TO USE QUIZLET

LEARN FAMILY MEMBERS IN JAPANESE かぞく

YEAR 1 SPEECH "CUSTOMER" Press play button to start

Get a Voki now!

What the Year Ones have to do for their assessment is learn the part of the Customer and I (the teacher) play the part of the shopkeeper. Students should also know what the words mean. Some may look at you and say "I don't know" but in context in the Japanese classroom with prompting and gestures, they get on just fine. It is all about playing with the language, learning some vocabulary and having some fun. I try to make the process as relaxed as humanly possible.

Konnichi wa. Banana kudasai.
Chiisai banana kudasai.
Doozo.
Arigatoo.
Sayounara.

'HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE EFFECTIVELY' Short Instructional Video

song of the month. music from okinawa, shima uta (island song) by the boom (click 4 arrows for full screen)

Year 3 Test Dates

Year 3 will be having their speaking test on Wednesday the 12 th of May and their Hiragana test on Tuesday the 18th of May. Students should already have all of their preparation materials and support materials can be accessed on this website under Year 3 materials.

YEAR 2 TEST DATES

Year 2s will have their speaking tests and Hiragana tests soon. Students will be doing their speaking with me as their partner and will do a multiple choice Hiragana Test to try and recognise the different Hiragana. Preparation materials can be found in the links under 'Year 2' and in my blog posting under 'Year 2 Speaking'.

WHERE DO I START????? VITAL INFORMATION FOR PARENTS ABOUT JAPANESE STUDY

Generally, where we have most trouble with students, is with learning the script. Learning Japanese script is like learning the alphabet all over again for our children but 10 times harder!!! There are 3 basic scripts in Japanese- Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. I teach Hiragana first because it is the first script that Japanese children learn and virtually anything Japanese can be written in it. Katakana is used for loan words or foreign words such as most of our names or introduced words such as the German word ' Arbeit' which is pronounced 'Arubaito' in Japanese and means part-time job. My name, Charles, is written in Katakana because it is a foreign word and is pronounced 'Cha-ruzu'. Kanji is the script introduced from China and is more of a pictogram type of writing and while each character can contain many strokes ( try 18 for some) it has been incorporated into Japanese quite seamlessly but still stumps the Japanese themselves. You need to know a ridiculous amount to even read the newspaper!!! So....Hiragana is our primary alphabet and I would love the children to be as familiar with it as possible so that they can progress at a more rapid rate. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of teaching them more than about 50 minutes per week at the most so there has to be a home study elelment.
Students need that exposure to the characters that they take for granted with the English alphabet. Words and letters are all around us in English but obviously this is not the case with Japanese. So... I have spent endless hours looking for free programmes to help with the learning of Hiragana and I have a few very, very good ones to alert you to :


My favourite at the moment is at the 'iKnow' site and it takes you through the Hiragana step by step and assesses your progress. I really advise adults to sign up for this site to enjoy members benefits but it can be used without membership. It is the link entitled 'PARENTS. THIS IS THE ONE' on the right-hand side of the page in the Useful Links section.
There is of course, the WORD CHAMP (see links) homework programme which is in a TRIAL stage for this term and some Years 4-6 are already plodding away.


Then there is the HIRAGANA MASTER DRILL (See links) for more revision and consolidation.
For those of you who are new to the site, welcome and for those of you who are regulars, thanks for your support. Please leave me your feedback (down the bottom) because I need to know a parent's perspective about things. Positive feedback is always welcome.




Kind regards, Charles

YEAR 4 ANSWERS FOR SPEAKING TEST. LISTEN AS THE ROBOT SAYS THE ANSWER NUMBER THEN THE ANSWER.

Get a Voki now!

Year 6 Speech Due 17-21 May. Listen to the student asking the teacher questions. Press the play button

Get a Voki now!