Japanese Holidays

Since I began teaching Japanese to the kiddies, I've been trying to also figure out the best ways to teach them about the holidays in which we as Americans don't celebrate. Even  so, some of the holidays that we do sort of share aren't quite celebrated in the same way or even for the same reasons. (For example: Christmas does not have the same origin in Japan as it does in the U.S.)

For the holidays that are exclusively of Japan, I've tried to do as many hands-on crafts paired with visuals from the books in my little Japanese library to get the ideas across. What really sucks, though, is that they don't always remember the Japanese terms I teach them. Sakura alone was hard to teach, however, they at least remember "cherry blossom" if not the desired word "sakura". (Getting ahead of myself here.)

Given the current season, I thought it was the perfect time to introduce the kids to one of Japan's most treasured jewels, obviously sakura--the Japanese cherry blossom. To do so, I threw mini Hanami party filled with sweets, lots of pink, and filled with little ladies.

I started off the little session by making them aware of the season and what is traditionally expected with it's arrival: flowers, growth, nicer weather, outdoor activities, etc. I then pulled out my Japanese Traditions book and read to them the little segment on Hanami and showed them the cute little pictures of the Japanese kitties (which they loved since it was ironically all girls).

Then the first fun part: JAPANESE TREATS! I brought in Koala March cookies, Pandas, Chocoshrooms (THE BEST), senbei, various flavored Pocky, and even some Yan Yan (bought on a whim). I got lots of interesting faces as they tired the different flavors, mainly the Green Tea flavored pocky. It was pretty entertaining.

We finished with some art: lightweight paper with trees painted on them (by me) and several tissue paper flower petals I took a week to cut out. It was a great session that day! What was key was teaching about the holiday, what people do for the season, introducing some sort of Japanese food, and doing activities that will really stick in their minds to be recalled later. Additionally, prior to the day, I created "falling" sakura using hand-made tissue paper flowers, fish wire, and tape for us to gather under. (My boss loved 'em!)

Now, if you are working with children and decide to introduce this season/holiday to them, you can honestly did it any way you prefer. I'm no pro, but I am most definitely proud of this little session in particular--the kids still ask me about bringing more treats for them to this day!

More on holidays soon...

Until next time　じゃまった,

茶色

Japanese Arts & Crafts

こんばんは、

Lately, I've been thinking of many great ideas (as well as finding amazing ideas) for Japanese crafts for my little class. Because the age group that I work with can get so easily distracted, I thought it was best to include as many hands on activities as possible. I only get to teach Japanese once a week (which is NOT enough to teach a language/cultural concepts to ANY age group), it can be a challenge to be sure that your lessons have stuck. To counter that, I've make it a goal to end every session with an art activity.

In my last lesson, I actually didn't have an art activity planned and got called on it by one of the kids. "Are we doing some art today?" What I've learned with kids is that once you start something you're pretty much entitled to keep it up. Plus, I really do think that the kids like to take home their art projects and show it to their parents and share what they learned that day in Japanese Learning Adventures (JLA). Here why I find art important for Japanese language exploration:

1. The kids will most likely be super excited to do it--whatever it is. 
2. It will help re-enforce what you are teaching.
3. The kids will show their parents annnd... 
4. It will challenge them to repeat what they have heard (Japanese words, phrases, etc.) to their parents when they are asked.
5. It will help the kids have something to reference to as they dive deeper into the language and it sets a foundation to expand on for other topics. 
6. It's fun! 

Here are some of the art activities I've done with the kiddies so far.

Ninja Masks

One of my very first activities I had the kids do. It was a hit!

Most kids have heard of ninjas by this age. Thanks to Power Rangers and other Japanese-influened or orginating cartoons in the US, kids are more exposed to Japanese concepts maybe more so now than ever before. I know I was introduced to a lot from Japanese-y things broadcasted or released for kids when I was growing up.

Animal Origami

There were so many uses for these little kitty friends I had the kiddies make! 

I wanted an easy origami craft for the kids to learn, as well as myself. I haven't done much origami surprisingly and still cannot make a crane to this day, but this was easy for all of us.

Cherry Blossom Art 

Very easy, but very fun to do. 

Snacks optional. But it was for a very special day!

I was so excited to do this art project with the kids. I had been cutting out Sakura petals for over a week to make sure I had enough for all the kids who participated that day. 

Lateran Making 

This activity was tied to the second cherry blossom activity pictured above.

This activity was a week before a very special even that we had recently in spirit of Sakura season in Japan. I will be happy to talk more about this awesome day very soon. 

I have much more to share, but consider this a preview of some of my lessons and the arts and crafts that reinforce them!

じゃまった、

茶色

Introducing Japanese: Pre-School & Pre-K

こんにちは！　やっと春が来た！

Hello! Spring has finally come! 

I am very happy about the weather and the sun we've been getting--even some of the fantastic thunderstorms I've seen in my areas are great. Currently, to go along with the season, my job as encouraged me to promote spring in Japanese Class. I have been making sakura flowers and petals for weeks now. I get so excited when I plan these things! 

Geekin' out during Hanami decorating.

For now, though, I wanted to touch on simply introducing the world of Japan to young children. Prior to my employment, the early childhood education center in which I work at did not have such a program included in their tutoring and small-group learning courses. After working solely in Pre-school for a few months, I was offered a chance to teach Japanese to the children enrolled at the center. Wowza. I was very excited and said yes almost immediately, but then thought: "Oh my gosh. How am I going to teach Japanese to children so young? Wait, how am I gonna teach at all?!"

Introducing Japan(ese)

At this age, children don't even know where they live let a lone a little island across the world. So to start off, I stole a spare globe (I mean, borrowed) from a classroom and asked the children what they did know about our world. It helped that the kids had just finished learning about this subject a little in a unit called "My World" so I had something for them to reference them to. I asked questions such as:

1. What do I have in my hands? (They would answer "globe" of course, then I'd ask more.) What is on a globe?
2. Where do we live? 
3. What is the name of our country? 
4. What other countries do you know? 
5. Do you know what an island is?

The beginnings of a mini Japanese library.

Questions like these helped open the door to talking about Japan as well as open their minds a little. It led to a discussion about smaller parts of the world, the proximity of places, the surroundings, flags, etc. For more of a visual aid, I read a story called Kids Meet Japan. I wasn't a fan of the illustration style but the point was just to get some basic concepts across. (Besides, I have the books to the right and more coming as well...)

After our chat, I had the kids make mini Japanese flags to show off around the center and at home. But mostly, I just really wanted them to remember what the heck we talked about that day. I'm pretty new at this somewhat formal teaching, but the thing about this opportunity is that I get to make it my own and learn what does and does not work. And that's pretty すごい (great).

じゃまった,

茶色