Japanese Language and Culture Program at Nishimachi International School

Posted: 09 November 2020

Overview

We believe that learning another language provides the opportunity to grow beyond one’s native tongue(s) and the Japanese program is an integral part of Nishimachi International School. Our goal is to stretch all the students’ linguistic skills in Japanese as far as possible during their time here: non-native children to become functional, native-children to maintain the level of their heritage language, and everyone else in between.

The goal of Japanese education at Nishimachi is to develop the capability in each student to communicate in Japanese: reading, writing, listening, and speaking, while having a solid understanding of Japanese culture.

Details

Established in 1949, Nishimachi’s Japanese Language and Culture Program has continuously supported our learners for the past 70 years.

Native speakers continue to learn Japanese using the grade-level Monbukagaku-sho (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) approved Kokugo (Japanese) textbooks with the Monbukagaku-sho based Nishimachi curriculum. Today’s program uses the latest pedagogies and teaching strategies, with a student-centered classroom rather than the more traditional teacher-centered classroom.

Approach to Learning: We use a project-based, active learning approach in our Japanese classes at all levels.

Our teachers design their instruction with a focus on collaborative learning and student engagement. Instructional approaches include critical and creative thinking routines, research-based instructional strategies, cross-grade activities, and ‘Total Physical Response’ (TPR) for students in lower grades and non-native Japanese speakers.

TPR is a method of teaching vocabulary and phrases by using physical movement to react to verbal input. It’s often used with our younger students. For example, in order to teach action verbs, we have students act out the verbs we’re trying to teach.

We want our students to learn language by using it in as real a way as possible. We also use role play, show and tell, reporting, interviews, etc.

Our quality teaching staff stay up-to-date in current pedagogical practices, and therefore their strategies incorporate the characteristics of the 21st Century International Education.

These characteristics include:

Our Japanese teachers take advantage of different professional development opportunities just as homeroom and other subject teachers do. They learn and implement the latest researched pedagogical strategies in their units and lessons to maximize student learning.

Japanese Language Curriculum: The Nishimachi-developed Japanese language curriculum references the Monbukagaku-sho Kokugo curriculum for Levels 1 to 4. For Levels 5 to 9, we use the Japan Foundation Standard for Japanese-Language Education and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

From Kindergarten to Grade 5, students have a Japanese language class every day.

From Grade 6 to Grade 9, they have Japanese four times a week and Japanese Social Studies twice a week. Grade 9 students are required to write a graduation thesis/essay to demonstrate their experience and language skills acquired with our Japanese Language and Culture Program as part of their evaluation. Followed by formal presentations in front of judges and an audience.

The Continuum Of Japanese Language Learners: Learning Japanese – and any language – occurs on a continuum. There are nine levels in the Japanese Language Program at Nishimachi to help guarantee our students are being challenged in a rigorous yet reasonable way.

For appropriate level placement, we use the results of various assessments. This ensures that students learn Japanese most efficiently and effectively.

As students make progress in their linguistic skills, they are able to move levels.

Japanese Social Studies: Taught in Middle School, Japanese Social Studies (JSS) provides an extended opportunity for students to engage with Japanese geography, history, and culture. Depending on the student’s language level, they are placed in different JSS classes where either Japanese or English are used.

For example, the students in levels 1 to 4 conduct research and present their work in Japanese, while the students in levels 5 to 9 research in English and present in English and/or Japanese.

Materials for these classes – workbooks, movies, maps, online and supplementary resources, etc. – are in Japanese. Translation activities, where Japanese texts are changed to English, take place in the levels 5 to 9 classes.

Through the JSS program, students develop an understanding of the political, economic, and social systems of our host country.

Culture and the Japanese Language Program: Students learn the traditional aspects of each celebration and discover how to enjoy the cultural history behind them. Through activities, events, and celebrations, our aim is to help students develop a sense of appreciation towards not only other cultures of different countries, but also their own.

The culture part of the program is run by the Library Media Center with the help of Tomo no Kai (TNK).

Nishimachi celebrates most of the Japanese cultural events including:

Impact

Becoming fluent in a second language improves children’s’ cognitive functions, boosts their confidence, provides them the opportunity to grow beyond a single culture, strengthens their resumes, and opens more opportunities for them in career choices and advancement.

Though Nishimachi is not a bilingual school, our strong Japanese program supports families who have set a language goal for their children to be bilingual. Our Japanese Language and Culture Program is highly valued among our board, administration, homeroom and subject teachers, non-teaching staff, and the community.

In addition to the support from the school community, our students are also enthusiastic about learning the language as well as a deep understanding of the cultural aspects of Japan.

Our Japanese program not only helps students develop their linguistic skills, it also provides opportunities for students to develop a sense of appreciation and affection for Japan, her people, language and culture.

Advice

To make sure they are getting enough input in their second language each day, you need to set goals, plan, and immerse students in the language – be it in sports, day camps, or playdates. You can also plan activities for students where they are using their second language. With this strategy, not only does your child learn a second language, they get to do it in a fun way and you can get involved as well:

Author: Stephanie Hanamura, RS Rep, Nishimachi International School

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