kodomo No Ie

Saturday Japanese Class News

September 2014 (New School Year)

1: Class 1 (Kindergarten) - Ms. Ozeki
2: Class 2 (Kindergarten) - Ms. Umehata
3: Class 3 (Elementary Lower Grades) - Ms. Yamada
4: Class 4 (Elementary middle grades) - Ms. Sakamoto
5: Class 5 (Elementary Upper Grades) - Ms. Oota
6: Class 6 (SAT AP Preparation) - Ms. Miyajima


Greetings from KNI Japanese School!

KNI provides a Japanese supplemental education for students ranging from kindergarten through high school. KNI also provides Japanese cultural experiences by weaving in various annual events. These events include a class presentation, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Japanese New Year, Setsu-bun, Girl's/Children's Day and other customs such as Ikebana and Japanese tea ceremony.

Our goal is to help maintain and develop the language skills of Japanese children who are being raised in America. Our hope is that someday both the parents and children would say in retrospect, "We are glad we have studied Japanese." We understand the weight of extra curricular activities here in America for students in middle and high schools to participate. Considering their busy schedule, our focus is to provide a foundation for Japanese reading and writing along with mastering 440 kanji characters (learned during 1st-3rd grades in Japan) by age twelve. Although the number is less than half of what a student in Japan learns in elementary school, we believe it is the adequate amount as additional sets of characters (grade 4: 200, grade 5: 185 and grade 6: 181) could be overwhelming and create a negative attitude toward learning Japanese. We also would like to note that those 440 characters are comparable to 410 that are in the AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam for which we offer in our original study materials. Please visit AP Japanese for details.

For those who might be wondering about the annual Candy House, please take a look at each of the class descriptions with the ★ symbol and use it as a reference for new school year's activities.
Please note that each class specifies a certain kind of textbook and materials. Please read handouts from your child(ren)'s teacher for more details.

Class 1 (Kindergarten) - Ms. Ozeki

One of the most important lesson goals for this class's students is to learn to stay focused on listening until the end of sentences since Japanese has a different structure of grammar, compared to English.
Lesson Goals:
- Learn how to write one's own name in neat handwriting with proper pencils to support children's writing pressure.
- Get familiar with Japanese words including words with 'dakuon' characters(" ゜" or " ゛" through hiragana card game.
- Understand instructions in Japanese; this is imperative for classroom safety control.
★ Participate in various Japanese events to deepen understanding of Japanese culture.

Class 2 (Kindergarten) - Ms. Umehata

The amount of Japanese used at home is limited, therefore it's crucial to have communications with a native Japanese speaking teacher outside of home.
Students will receive individualized detailed lessons in this small size class.
Lesson Goals:
- Master the lessons from Class 1:'Seion' of Hiragana and Katakana (ie. あ、い、う、え、お).
- Bridge between Beginner Class 1 and Intermediate Class 3.
★Participate in various Japanese events to deepen understanding of Japanese culture.

Class 3 (Elementary Lower Grades) - Ms. Yamada

Through Daikon radishes' growth, children will observe and experience the joy of growing vegetables and the value of life.
Lesson Goals:
- Present the experiences of Takuan pickles making in front of the classmates.
- Learn how to read and write words with 'dakuon' (" ゜", " ゛", ie: ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ば、び、ぶ).
- Learn how to write 80 1st grade kanji in the collect stroke order and details .
- Make a "えにっき” journal with drawing of what she/he actually experienced.
★ Participate in Candy House to use Japanese that are related to buying and selling of candies.

Class 4 (Elementary middle grades) - Ms. Sakamoto

Lesson Goals:
- Read out loud clearly without breaking meaning blocks (the reading must be free from English pronunciation of 'th' or 'R' sounds)
- Listen to short sentences (around 15 letters) that include Kanji characters from Japanese 1st (80 characters) and 2nd (160 characters) grades, and write them down on notebook with grids. (This will eventually help them type Japanese and its conversion to the Kanji characters).
- - Learn how to write a journal from children's experiences in chronological order.
★ Participate in the Candy House project by composing solicitation and thank-you letters.

Class 5 (Elementary Upper Grades) - Ms. Oota

Lesson Goals:
- Grasp meaning of phrases or sentences from the punctuation symbols.
- Predict the meaning of certain Kanji characters from their parts.
- Listen to short sentences (around 20 letters) that include Kanji characters.
from Japanese 1st (80 characters), 2nd (160 characters) and 3rd (200 characters) grades and write them down on notebook with grids. (This practice will enable students to type Japanese from their dictation skills).
★ Write letters appropriate for different purposes such as solicitation, posters or thank you cards. Lead the Candy House project, and oversee the lower grades students.

Class 6 (SAT AP Preparation) - Ms. Miyajima

Although some high schools may not allow students with Japanese background to take Japanese language credit tests as their second foreign language, if they do allow, students who have completed KNI's Japanese school class 5 should be able to to manage those credit tests without any problems. On the other hand, in AP test, individual student can take test without school's permission, and students are expected to have college level knowledge. Additional 88 kanjis are required beyond 80 characters from Class 3, 160 characters from Class 4, and 200 characters from Class 5. The results will be up to each student's effort, but this class will offer the support and materials needed for those who are focused on this goal!


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