Rainy Season

Rainy Season　梅雨

If anyone out there in the great wide U.S. knows Japanese seasons and how they are painted in Japan, you would know that June is known as the rainy season. What that means for the little lovely island of Japan is that it rains, and rains, and rains, and rains. I've been told that the number of umbrellas that are sold in Japan this time of year sky rockets and it's common for people to lose their umbrellas and have to buy new ones quite often.

When I introduced tsuyu to the children last year, I used my Japanese Traditions book that uses kittens as characters and to illustrate Japanese customs and times of the year. (Kittens. How can anyone not want to learn when there are kittens involved? :3 )

After reading the introduction for June, I began sharing with the children what children their age might do during days and days of intense rain. What I really wanted them to realize was that even though this magical and "foreign" place exists outside of their little worlds, the people who live in that world really aren't that much different from them overall. Children their age an entire sea away laugh, play, and enjoy games just as they do.

Photo Credit: Photozou.jp

For our art activity last year we made weather dolls known as teruteru bozu てるてる坊主 in Japanese. These homemade dolls are to wish away ill weather and bring fair weather forth instead.

This year, and although I used the same book, I did couple of different rain-themed activities with my kids for tsuyu and to mark the end of the month:

Rainsticks

This craft is very common among teachers and children when discussing weather and the sounds of rain. And although this activity was not as "Japanese" as you would expect--it was just as fun. We discussed last year's crafts and also watched a video or two discussing various words the describe the season. Using popcorn seeds, aluminum foil, saran wrap, and paper towel rolls, we created and decorated rain sticks. Classic activity for any classroom, really.

Ame-Art 

Ame is the Japanese word for rain. I began the lesson introducing a different topic but also embedded the beginning to learning Japanese characters such as (a). I was proud of this activity for several reasons. One of the boys had stated to me prior to class day, "I have an idea for Japanese class. What if we made rain clouds?" I asked him how we could make it look Japanese and he quickly answered, "We could paint some Japanese stuff around the clouds. The clouds could be cotton balls!" (Side-note,I LOVE my kids and I love them even more when they offer awesome ideas like this that make my heart sing.)
Prior to teaching the children the word for rain (ame) in Japanese, I taught them the hiragana character for a（あ) which, if you do not know, is one of the "vowels" of the language. Above is how their versions turned our based on my example (pictured far right). I was extremely proud of my children! They were super creative with their art and did such a great job following along.

My goal is to work in other simple characters such as え (e)、い (i)、お (o)、and う (u) as I blend them into the current theme of the lesson. I hope they can get as creative in future projects as they have with the rain project.

Until Next Time　じゃまった,

茶先生