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Prep students have been learning about body parts in Japanese through song, tracing, and games! At the start of each lesson, students warm up by singing the classic children’s song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” — in Japanese! Not only does this catchy tune help students remember key vocabulary (like atama for "head" and kuchi for "mouth"), but the accompanying actions get everyone moving and laughing. The faster the tempo, the more exciting it gets — and the more they want to keep singing! Students also practiced tracing the Japanese words for each body part, carefully copying characters like かた (kata – shoulder) and ひざ (hiza – knee). This activity helps build their familiarity with the hiragana writing system and reinforces the connection between spoken and written language. To reinforce their learning, students played a fun memory card game using picture and word cards. This engaging activity encourages them to match each body part with its Japanese name, helping to strengthen vocabulary recall through play. It's been a fantastic and interactive way to learn — with lots of smiles and singing along the way!
To celebrate World Environment Day on 6 June, SLC and CLC students took part in a special Japanese lesson exploring the Japanese cultural concept of Mottainai (もったいない), which means “What a waste!”. It encourages us to appreciate what we have, avoid waste, and take care of our environment. The lesson began with a story about a young boy learning Mottainai from his grandmother, showing how everyday actions—like reusing and recycling items —can help protect the planet. To put their learning into action, students also headed outside to pick up litter in the school yard. Working together, they helped make our school cleaner and learned how even small efforts make a big difference. We’re proud of how our students embraced the spirit of Mottainai—showing respect for the planet and responsibility in their actions. Let’s all try to waste less and reuse more, at school and at home.
CLCCLC students showed great enthusiasm working on the Birthday unit throughout the term. At the start of the unit, CLC students learned about 12 months of the year in Japanese. Then students worked on a wide variety of activities such as finding classmates' birth month in Japanese, performing a role play with their partner in Japanese, and learning about the Japanese wrapping cloth called Furoshiki. Students explored the history of Furoshiki, and how to use them. Since Furoshiki is reusable, we discussed about being eco-friendly and reducing paper wrapping waste.
YYLCAt the start of the term, YYLC students expanded their Japanese language skills by revising self-introductions and learning a couple of new self-introduction sentences. Students designed their own Anime character and introduced them in Japanese. For the second half of the unit, students learned to write longer sentences by using multiple adjectives in one sentence to describe themselves and the Anime characters. As a summary of the unit, students created their own Pokemon or Sanrio Card with the character descriptions written in Japanese. 
PLCPLC students are off to a wonderful start in their first year of learning Japanese. In the past few weeks, students learned greetings in Japanese: こんにちは (Konnichiwa: Hello) and さようなら (Sayounara: Goodbye). To get familiar with Japanese writing, students traced Japanese letters with playdough and did a great job!
SLCSLC students started a new unit focusing on positivity for the last 3 weeks. In this unit, students explored the power of using Positive Self-Talk. Students learned the six positive Japanese words and are encouraged to use them anytime, anywhere. Students made the badge with a choice of Positive Japanese words. I hope your child has shared with you and family what they wrote in the badge. Another new thing students are learning is to sing "If you are happy and you know it" in Japanese.
PLCPLC students explored a Japanese folklore called Momotaro. This story is one of Japan's most beloved traditional tales. Students made a Momotaro headband to be the main character from the story!  SLCSLC students learned the days of the week in Japanese. Students made a mini Origami book with the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Students also revisited how to count and write up to 20 in Japanese. Students made the beautiful festival lights craft with Japanese numbers.
CLCCLC students learned about a Japanese artist called Yayoi Kusama in Japanese and Visual Arts. In Japanese, students explored the life story of Yayoi Kusama and made a mini Origami book about her.
YYLCYYLC students finished off the Term 4 by playing chopsticks games. There were two types of chopsticks including training chopsticks. Some students did not know how to use chopsticks but they got better at using them by the end of the lesson.  PLCPrep students are learning about fruits in Japanese. Students have done a variety of activities related to fruits, including:
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PLC
Prep students learned about face and body parts this term and performed 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in Japanese with an amazing energy at the assembly. They also learned the Japanese traditional game called Fukuwarai. Fukuwarai (福笑い), literally means “lucky laugh. and the game is similar to pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Prep students helped their blindfolded partner to place cutouts of eyes, nose, and mouth on an outline of a face.
Prep students learned about face and body parts this term and performed 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in Japanese with an amazing energy at the assembly. They also learned the Japanese traditional game called Fukuwarai. Fukuwarai (福笑い), literally means “lucky laugh. and the game is similar to pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Prep students helped their blindfolded partner to place cutouts of eyes, nose, and mouth on an outline of a face.
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SLC
The first topic SLC students learned about was the Olympics and Paralympics. Students explored the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics mascots and sports. They reviewed some colours to describe the Olympic Rings and Paralympic symbol.
The second topic was Zoo Animals. SLC students learned to describe eight animals.
The first topic SLC students learned about was the Olympics and Paralympics. Students explored the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics mascots and sports. They reviewed some colours to describe the Olympic Rings and Paralympic symbol.
The second topic was Zoo Animals. SLC students learned to describe eight animals.
CLC
The term topic was My Community. Students learned some direction words and location words such as station, bus stop and park. As a summary of the topic, students played a board game using directional words in Japanese to move their game pieces across the board.
The term topic was My Community. Students learned some direction words and location words such as station, bus stop and park. As a summary of the topic, students played a board game using directional words in Japanese to move their game pieces across the board.
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YYLC
Students have explored the topic of Japanese convenience stores as a part of Japan Tour Project. In Term 4, students will continue learning about essential Japanese travel information such as popular cities, Japanese currency and public transport systems.
Last week students learned about Otsukimi or Tsukimi (月見) literally means “Moon Viewing” and is a festival in Japan celebrating the Harvest Moon.
Students have explored the topic of Japanese convenience stores as a part of Japan Tour Project. In Term 4, students will continue learning about essential Japanese travel information such as popular cities, Japanese currency and public transport systems.
Last week students learned about Otsukimi or Tsukimi (月見) literally means “Moon Viewing” and is a festival in Japan celebrating the Harvest Moon.
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SLC students experienced the Japanese tea ceremony in Week 9.
In this lesson, students participated in the guided tea tasting, including how to make tea and sit respectfully in the Japanese traditional way. After the tea ceremony, students recorded the unique aromas and tastes of Japanese green tea. Some students shared with their classmates how to say tea in another language. We found that the word "tea" in some other languages sound very similar to "tea" in Japanese.
Japanese: Cha or Ocha
Arabic: Chai
Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin): Cha
Hindi: Chai
Persian: Chay (pronounced chai in most areas)
Vietnamese: Tra (sometimes pronounced cha or ja)
In this lesson, students participated in the guided tea tasting, including how to make tea and sit respectfully in the Japanese traditional way. After the tea ceremony, students recorded the unique aromas and tastes of Japanese green tea. Some students shared with their classmates how to say tea in another language. We found that the word "tea" in some other languages sound very similar to "tea" in Japanese.
Japanese: Cha or Ocha
Arabic: Chai
Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin): Cha
Hindi: Chai
Persian: Chay (pronounced chai in most areas)
Vietnamese: Tra (sometimes pronounced cha or ja)
In Week 1 Japanese, students explored the history and culture of the Japanese indigenous people called the Ainu.
PLC learned about the Ainu dog.
SLC learned about the Ainu flag.
CLC and YYLC learned about the Ainu patterns and designs.
PLC learned about the Ainu dog.
SLC learned about the Ainu flag.
CLC and YYLC learned about the Ainu patterns and designs.
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CLC
In this term, CLC students explored Japanese fashion and shopping culture. Students were introduced to the history of Japanese clothing, the uniqueness of Japanese fashion, and Japanese currency. As a summary activity, students worked on a shopping role play using Japanese play money.
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YYLC
YYLC students learned new vocabulary and grammar to describe their daily routine in Japanese. For the last 3 weeks, students worked on an iPad with the Book Creator Project app, to make a digital book about a day of an anime/cartoon character in Japanese and English. Students collaborated well with their partners to make the book including planning, typing Romaji, finding pictures online and recording voice overs.
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