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PLC students have been exploring a variety of language learning opportunities on the topic of body parts. Students have been practicing two songs during Japanese class: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Japanese. In Term 3, we are looking forward to performing these two songs at assembly.
The topic SLC students are exploring is Sea Animals. Students learnt the names of 6 animals and have been practicing to describe these animals in Japanese. Students have been practicing to sing and dance a song called Ebi Kani Dance.
CLC students have been practicing to ask questions and respond in Japanese. For the speaking practice, students have been enjoying working in a pair to ask a question and answer to the question in Japanese. Students are incredibly excited to be experimenting with asking questions in Japanese!
The topic YYLC students are covering this Term is on taking a ‘Virtual Trip to Japan’.
Students did some research about three Japanese cities in Term 1 as a cultural learning, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo. In this Term, students learnt how to make past tense sentences to say which city they went in Japanese. In the last a few weeks, students have been creating a virtual photo album that shows students went to Japan virtually.  PLC students have worked hard to remember five key words in Japanese throughout the Term. As a summary of the unit, each student demonstrated their speaking skills by saying Konnichiwa (Hello) and Sayounara (Goodbye) with a bow, and counting Ichi (One), Ni (Two) and San (Three). As a part of cultural learning, students were introduced to a Japanese folktale called 'The Rolling Rice Ball'. After watching the video of the Japanese folktale, students shared their favourite parts of the story, and talked about the cultural aspects they found.
SLC students have learned about Sakura (Cherry blossom) and developed their appreciation towards the fragility and beauty of the nature. In this unit, students investigated the relationship between Sakura and the Japanese culture. Firstly, students explored the Japanese Flower Viewing culture called Hanami. Then, students read the Japanese children's book called Sakura's Cherry Blossom to enrich their understanding about Sakura and the Japanese culture. As a summary of the unit, all SLC students contributed to make a big Sakura tree in the learning community. I hope this Sakura tree reminds students to continue doing their best.
CLC students have worked hard to be able to introduce themselves in Japanese. As a summary of the unit, students did a roleplay with their partners using self-introduction sentences in Japanese. It was amazing to see that everyone joined in this activity and performed well. Students also practiced writing their names in various ways such as creating Japanese name tags for their lockers and self-portrait posters. At the end of the term, students explored the Setsubun which is a bean throwing festival to get rid of a bad luck and welcome a good luck for the household. Students made the Oni display as a part of the Setsubun celebration.
YYLC explored the map of Japan, learned about the three major Japanese cities: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Students worked in a pair to do some research about these cities and found places they would like to visit one day! Next term, students will begin learning the language needed to say where they will go and what activities they will do on their 'virtual trip' to Japan.
PLC students have learnt a lot about Japan and Japanese language in the past 7 weeks. Students have been building their communication skills with respectful Japanese manners, and developing their intercultural understanding. In every lesson, we practice how to say Konnichiwa (Hello) and Sayounara (Goodbye) with a bow, and count Ichi (One), Ni (Two) and San (Three). I am very proud of the preppies adjusting to the new learning environment and showing great enthusiasm finding out about Japan and Japanese language.
SLC 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 learnt the six positive Japanese words and are encouraged to use them anytime, anywhere. Students made the colourful band with a choice of Positive Japanese words and placed it on their school bag to take home. I hope your child has shared with you and family what they wrote in the band. Another new thing students are learning is to sing "If you are happy and you know it" in Japanese. I cannot wait to share their beautiful singing in Japanese once they learn the whole song! It has been an amazing first 2 weeks having students who are ready to learn more Japanese this year! The table below shows the plan for Term 1 Japanese learning for each community. The pictures below are the displays we have in our classrooms. 
PLC students discovered a Japanese folk tale called Momotaro: The Peach Boy. Students were exposed to the story of Momotaro and how to write and say names of each character. After a few lessons students were able to re-tell the story using some Japanese key words. At the end of the unit, students played the role of the story characters and were able to introduce the characters' names in Japanese. As a culture and craft activity, students created the Momotaro headband as shown in one of the pictures. In Japan, this type of headband is worn on multiple occasions as it generally represents perseverance, courage and effort.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLC students learned about Days of the Week with the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Japanese. Students learned a Days of the Week song in Japanese, and sang the song at the start of every lesson as a warm up. Students learnt the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Japanese by watching the story video. Students were able to identify some key words in Japanese while watching. As the end of the topic activity, students created an Origami mini book. In the mini book, students wrote 7 Days of the Week in Japanese and the iconic scenes from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was great to see some excellent Japanese writing and creative work during the mini book making sessions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLC students explored one of the Japanese phonetic lettering systems called Hiragana. Students have almost learnt all of the 46 Hiragana characters along with memory clues. Each lesson students learn 5 Hiragana characters and practice their recognition, reading and writing skills. Students had a different variety of activities each week to enhance these skills including Matching cards, Play Dough Activity, Bingo and more. Apart from learning our main topic: Hiragana Character, students have been practicing to sing Jingle Bells in Japanese. CLC students have been showing great dedication to learning the song and have built their confidence of singing in Japanese. This will be performed at the School Concert on Wednesday, 7 December.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YYLC students have learnt how to use the two sentence patterns to say there is/are in Japanese. Firstly, students start this topic by understanding the meaning of Animate things and Inanimate things. Then students learned two sentence structures along with 5 animal words and 6 stationery words. Students practiced using them by working on some writing, reading, and listening activities. Grade 4 and 5 students made a video of themselves saying these sentences. In Week 9, students made some Origami Christmas Ornaments to decorate the school. Grade 4 students made Love Hearts. Grade 5 students made Christmas Trees. Grade 6 students made Ninja Stars.
It has been great to see students back to school. PLC and CLC students had Japanese lessons today and last Monday. I cannot wait to have Japanese lessons with SLC and YYLC students this Wednesday. Below are the topics each LC is going to explore during Japanese this Term. 
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