kodomo No Ie

Saturday Japanese Class News

June 2014

1: Beginner Class 1 - Ms. Ozeki
2: Beginner Class 2 - Ms. Takakura
3: Intermediate Level Class - Ms. Sakamoto
4: Advanced Level Class - Ms. Oota
5: AP Preparation Class - Ms. Miyajima


September 2013 through June 2014

KNI provides a Japanese supplemental education for students ranging from kindergartners to adolescents by weaving various annual events – a class presentation, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Japanese New Year, Setsu-bun, Girl’s/Children’s Day as well as the introduction to a Japanese custom (flower arrangements this school year; tea ceremony last year) into the study materials designed to improve the students’ Japanese skills.
Our goal is to help maintain and develop the language skills of the children who are being raised in America; our hope is that someday both the parents and children would say in retrospect, “We are glad we have studied Japanese.” Because we consider it valuable for your child(ren) to participate in various activities after entering secondary schools here in America, our focus is to provide a foundation for Japanese reading and writing along with mastering 440 kanji characters (learned during 1st-3rd grades in Japan) by age twelve. Although the number is less than half of what a student in Japan learns in elementary school, we believe it is the adequate amount as additional sets of characters (grade 4: 200, grade 5: 185 and grade 6: 181) could be overwhelming and create students’ negative attitude toward learning Japanese. We also would like to note that those 440 characters are comparable to 410 that are in the AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam for which we offer our original study materials. Please visit http://jasakura.com/apj/ for details.
For those who might be wondering about the annual Candy House, please take a look at each of the class descriptions with the star symbol and use it as a reference for next year’s activities. When the registration period is over, the class determinations will be made for the next school year. If you have not renewed your registration, you will be placed on a waiting list. Thank you for your understanding.


Beginner Class 1 - Ms. Ozeki

One of the most important lesson goals for this class's students was to learn to stay focus on listening until the end of sentences since Japanese has the different structure of grammar, compared with the one of English. This is imperative especially to learn Japanese in a big group and follow instructions form teachers.
- Learn how to write one's own name with proper pressure.
- Get familiar with Japanese words including words with dakuon characters through hiragana card game
- Understand instructions in Japanese; this is imperative for safety control
★ Participate in various Japanese events to understand Japanese culture


Beginner Class 2 - Ms. Takakura

- Observe the growth of daikon and learn about life cycles
- Make a presentation about takuan making
- Learn how to read and write words with ° or ¨, or small characters such asっ,ゃ,ゅ,ょ
- Learn how to write 80 1st grade kanji with the right stroke order
- Write picture diary
★ Learn how to engage conversation for shopping


Intermediate Level Class - Ms. Sakamoto

- Read out loud clearly without breaking meaning blocks (the reading must be free from “th” or English “R” sounds).
- Listen short sentences (around 15 letters) that include Kanji characters from Japanese 1st (80 characters) and 2nd (160 characters) grades, and write them down on paper with grids. (This will eventually help them type Japanese and its conversion to the Kanji characters).
★ Participate in the Candy House project by composing solicitation and thank-you letters.
- Keep a journal (without drawing), describing one’s experiences coherently.


Advanced Level Class - Ms. Oota

- Grasp meaning of phrases or sentences from the punctuation symbols.
- Draw the meaning of certain Kanji characters from their parts.
- Listen short sentences (around 20 letters) that include Kanji characters from Japanese 1st (80 characters), 2nd (160 characters) and 3rd (200 characters) grades and write them down on paper with grids. (This practice will enable students to type Japanese from their dictation skills).
★ Write letters appropriate for different purposes such as solicitation or expressing gratitude. Lead the Candy House project as the students in the highest grade, working with the lower grades’ students.


AP Preparation Class - Ms. Miyajima

We provide Japanese Language and Culture class when there are enough students who are interested in continuing their Japanese study while they manage their school activities. ( When students complete the advanced level class, they should be able to to manage all kinds of Japanese tests conducted in America.)
You can see this class's yearly summary at http://jasakura.com/k/2013/



The last class for this school year will be on the 21st of June.
Please note that we don't have class on the 14th of June due to the preschool graduation ceremony.
We would like to thank the students for all their hard work as well as their parents and families for supporting them. Please have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you all on September 6th. Thank you!


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