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Saturday Japanese Class News

March 2009

Class I

Children in my class love flash card activities. Every time I flip a card, they read aloud. Once, children read hiragana on the cards, the second time, they tell the class words starting with the hiragana on the card. When I ask the class what starts with such and such hiragana, children raise their hands all at once and give lots of words. On the blackboard I write down all the words that children have come up with and we read them together. When children find the hiragana used in their name, students say with a smile, "Such and such hiragana is for my name!" While it is important for children to memorize hiragana by writing, I believe their initial goal is to increase their vocabulary by reading aloud hiragana one by one. I also would like to encourage children to use vocabulary learned in the class.
(Ms. Nakatake)

Class II

Children have been learning katakana since last month. Playing games has provided opportunities for children to learn as to which words they use katakana and to enjoy finding katakana words around them. Every time children play games, they get so excited finding many katakana words including their friends' names and names of the foods. The goal in this class is to be able to read short sentences that include both hiragana and katakana. The fact that Katakana is less frequently used compared to hiragana makes more difficult for children to master katakana. That is why I would like children to practice katakana over and over. I also would like to have children familiarize themselves with the Japanese culture through hinamatsuri (or the Japanese Doll Festival). By doing so, I would like to enrich children's Japanese vocabulary.
(Ms. Ozeki)

Class III

Children finished Hinamatsuri (or the Japanese Doll Festival) after making origami hina-ningyo (spcial dolls for Hinamatsuri) and learning Hinamatsuri related vocabulary. Children have also been working hard and challenging themselves to master katakana. Children also started writing sentences. Children enjoy sentence making games by following the basic sentence pattern of "when, who, where and what." This course will be the last course for the children who will go to Asahi Gakuen this coming April. I wish that children will have precious experiences in this class.
(Ms. Umehata)

JFL

We learned names of food and how to order with restaurant in our theme in February. In restaurant setting, there are many words with Katakana, so this made a good practice of Katakana.
We will continue to learn Katakana in March.
Not only foreign origin Japanese words, but also sounds and animal noises also use a lot of Katakana.
These prominently show the difference between Japanese and American ways of listening, so it is very interesting and fun lesson for me.
(Ms. Yamada)

Lower Grade

Starting February we learned "Wo" and "Ha" (the ones that follow subjects of the sentence). These students don't even have first language established (like learning Japanese as a second language in high school and later), so children have much hard time understanding the concept.
Every family hopes to reach different level of Japanese, so I would consider requests from each family individually. If you have questions, please call 626-723-4187.
The details of the lessons are on the blog.
http://sakamotosanchi.spaces.live.com
This year's performance day in March has been canceled, so we will instead have an open house. March school days are all open to observations. Please sign in at the entrance of the class room by writing down the date, your name, and email address.
(Ms. Sakamoto)

Middle Grade

In the beginning of February we studied tools to eat, and from the middle of February and on, we have been working on bread making project.
We rehearsed one day with all the hands movements and words, and practiced measuring and calculating ingredients.
On the day of the project, we made groups with different ages and everyone got to knead their bread. The homework was to bake at home. I wonder how it tasted.
After the project, we wrote an essay about making bread, and we use that essay to practice read-aloud.
By the way everyone's read-aloud of the letter regarding to "American dinner table" (we worked on from January to February) improved very much, and now many children would read aloud without any mistake. Thank you very much for your cooperation in read aloud.
Please continue to help your children by practicing their read aloud about bread project.

Lastly I have notice about homework.
Upon your request, I can assign exchange journal (with me), and/or reading and reporting a book in addition to our already assigned homework. These arrangements will be made individually. If you are interested, please talk to me.
(Ms. Shrecker)

Higher Grade

Last month we worked on the activity from "Hungry planet", which was the bread making project with middle grade and middle school classes. The bread children chose was "Eesh" from Egypt.
Children were divided into 4 groups and made it without teacher's help.
They knead together the flour, salt, and yeast that is soaked in warm water, and then let it rise for a while. They took the dough home, and baked them.
I don't know the taste of it as of today, but I am sure it was delicious.
This year's performance day was canceled, but I would like to do something else to show our progress.
Many of the students in this class lost chances to use Japanese in their everyday life. I hope to make these classes chances to practice their "talk".
(Ms. Miyajima)

Middle school

1: Class I
2: Class II
3: Class III
4: JFL
5: Middle Grade
6: Higher Grade

What do you think are $79.31, $2.62, 20-30%, and 45%.
The first 2 are the average food expense in Japan and Bhutan. The next 2 are the percentage of people who feel "very happy".
Through the study of Hungry planet, we learned that in Japan where the food is abundant, people do not necessarily feel happy, and in Bhutan where the food is very limited in contrast, many people feel very happy.
We also learned that in Japan more high school students compared to America and other countries, consider "money is most important".
We will think about "what is prosperity" by using various statistics.
(Ms. Douglas)

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