Konnichiwa (Hello), Parents and Caregivers.
Genki?(How are you?)
In June we learned shapes and the weather in Japanese. The children learned the basic shapes such as Maru (Circle), Sankaku (Triangle), Shikaku (Square), Hoshi (Star) and Hartoh (Heart). We found lots of different shapes in the class room and we played “the matching game” using shapes cards and played “the dice game” too. Some children were confused between shapes and colours at the beginning of the month, but in the end most of the children recognised both shapes and colours. We also sang a song called “Kirakiraboshi” which is Twinkle Twinkle little star in Japanese. This song is one of the children’s favourite songs. Most of the children can sing it very well.
I also introduced the weather through hand gestures and the weather song. The children love this song, too. When I asked “Otenki wa nani? (How is the weather?)”, they answered “Hare (Sunny), Kumori (Cloudy), Ame (Rainy) or Yuki (Snowy)” depending on the day’s weather. When I asked “Hare suki? (Do you like sunny weather?” they answered “Hare Suki!” (I like sunny weather!). We will continue this conversation through the next Unit including “I don’t like…”. For preschool children I will expand their vocabulary such as “Samui (Cold)”, “Atsui (Hot)”, “Niji (Rainbow)”, “Umi (Sea)”, “Nami (wave)” and “Yama (Mountain)”.
To practice retention – we read some Japanese stories such as “A grumpy chef” and “Inai inai ba (peekaboo)”. The toddler and Junior Kindy children love “Inai inai ba (peekaboo)” book and they did inai inai ba (peekaboo) together with the story.
Miss Hiromi had the Children’s day (Kodomonohi) event at Mermaid Waters, Isle of Capri and Clear Island Waters. Thank you very much for joining our Japanese festival. It was fun and successful. And we hope everybody enjoyed OKONOMIYAKI (Japanese vegie pancakes).
We continued the Skype exchange lessons with our sister school in Japan. The Japanese children asked us “Otenki wa nani? (How is the weather?). And our children answered “Hare! (Sunny)” in Japanese. And then we asked the Japanese children how the weather is over there in English. They answered “It is sunny!” in English. Our children said, “That’s same as ours.” We sang a song together in English and Japanese. We did “the quiz” about body parts. They asked us in Japanese and we answered in Japanese. Also we asked in English and they answered in English. They showed us some of their craft work, one of which is “a Teruteru Bouzu” which is a paper doll to which Japanese children pray for fine weather. Also they showed us their gymnastic skills and we showed them aboriginal arts. The Japanese children asked us “how did you make the dot painting?” and one of the children answered “I used cotton buds.” and the other children answered “I did brush painting.” We are getting used to communicating with each other.
In July I am going to teach Unit 6 which is Food and I like… / I don’t like… and I will introduce a song called “curry rice song”.
Also in July we are going to start Genki Japanese lesson for our new friends at Helensvale Centre. I am going to teach Unit 1 which is Greetings and verbs of movement. I am looking forward to meeting you all soon.
Event in July
In July we are going to hold a Japanese event called “Tanabata Festival (Star Festival)”. Prior to the event we are going to write down the children’s wishes on a piece of coloured paper. During the event we are going to decorate some bamboo trees with their wishes and some pretty ornaments. Japanese people believe the wishes will come true. Parents and Caregivers are welcome to come. Please join us to make your wish with your child/children. The date and the time can be found at each Kool Kids centre.
I would really appreciate your involvement and your understanding with our Genki Japanese lessons.
Have a great month and see you in the festival.
Arigato~. (Thank you.)