Ainu Museum
In Stage 4: Moving Between Cultures, one of the outcomes is: “A student demonstrates knowledge of key features of the culture of Japanese speaking communities”. Students learn about “the importance of tradition to a sense of cultural identity and diversity within the culture” and students learn to “identify and explain features of traditional and contemporary lifestyle, e.g. generational and regional differences, gender roles, origins and place of festivals, routines of family and school life”.
It would be possible to teach about the Ainu and their culture as a part of this outcome. Students may not be aware of the existence of Indigenous Japanese people, and even if they are, they are probably not knowledgeable about Ainu history and culture. It would certainly be interesting to compare some of the Indigenous cultures of Australia with those of Japan. The materials on the Ainu Museum website could be used to introduce students to Ainu culture. It may also be possible to contact the museum to ask for supplementary teaching materials, such as photos, music, or contacts within your local community with people of Ainu background.
American Association of Teachers of Japanese
Article about Whaling
In Stage 4: Moving Between Cultures, one of the outcomes is: “A student demonstrates knowledge of key features of the culture of Japanese speaking communities”. Students learn about “representations of the culture of Japanese speaking
communities in text, film and mass media” and students learn to “identify generalisations about people and culture, e.g. questioning stereotypes”.
Japan and Australia have clashed on the issue of whaling. The following is an article that gives an opinion about why Japan should dismantle its whaling industry. This would be an interesting topic to bring up during a class that discusses how Japan is represented in the mass media. I would guess that many Australian children have an opinion about the ethics involved in the whaling issue. It would be interesting to see how that opinion has coloured the students’ views about Japan and led them to make (potentially incorrect) generalisations about Japanese people and culture.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Its-time-to-hang-up-the-harpoons-30211505.html
Billboard Japan Hot 100
Learning about pop music in another language can motivate students to want to learn more about that language. The Billboard site lists the latest top 100 songs in Japan, which could serve as a starting point for a research project on J-pop or a teacher could use it to keep students up-do-date with the latest music in Japan.
http://www.billboard.com/charts/japan-hot-100
Bonjinsha
Bonjinsha is one of the best places to shop for Japanese teaching materials, including textbooks, flashcards, and test materials. There is a store in Kojimachi that every Japanese language teacher should make a trek to at least once in his/her life! It is one thing to read about Japanese materials online, and it is quite another to have all of the materials in front of you for inspection.
Embassy of Japan in the UK
Japanese embassies around the world often have useful resources on their websites. They also have maps, brochures, posters, and pamphlets that can be used in the classroom. It is a good idea to make contact with the embassy or consulate closest to you in order to be kept aware of the resources that they have in stock and any events that you might want to attend (or promote amongst your students). In addition, the embassy may be able to connect you with former JET Program participants who can come to your class and give talks about their experiences in Japan.
https://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/resources.html
Erin’s Challenge
Erin’s Challenge is a comprehensive resource designed by the Japan Foundation. There are a collection of videos that cover a wide range of situations in Japan and there are many resources to go with the videos. Four different kinds of subtitles can be shown for each video (normal Japanese, hiragana, romaji, English). The videos could be used to explain vocabulary or grammar points or to demonstrate cultural issues.
Hiragana Times
Hiragana Times is a magazine that is designed for students of Japanese. The articles are written in Japanese, but the text has been modified to be slightly easier for students to read. The kanji characters are all given furigana so students can look up the meaning of the words easily. The magazine covers topics that are relevant to life in Japan, so they could potentially be used in the classroom when talking about Japanese culture.
Hiroshima Panorama Project
This website offers three photos of Hiroshima after it had been bombed with a nuclear weapon. The website shows sections of panoramic photos of the city, and you can also order print versions for $25. These would be very valuable resources to use in a class about Hiroshima and the Second World War.
http://sun.iwu.edu/~rwilson/hiroshima/
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
This site could be used in a class that talks about the history of the war from the Japanese perspective (as a part of the “moving between cultures” outcomes).
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html
Japanese Language Proficiency Test
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is the most well-known test of Japanese proficiency for non-native speakers. There are five test levels (N5, the lowest, to N1, the highest). Once students have a basic understanding of Japanese, it can be very rewarding for them to take a test like this to prove their level of proficiency.
JapanesePod101.com
JapanesePod101.com offers a wide range of podcasts and videos that can help students review what they have learned in class or learn new material independently. The site offers some content for free, but some can only be accessed by paying a membership fee. Teachers could also make use of the media on this site when teaching about grammar or culture.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php#
Japanese Teachers’ Association of New South Wales
Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC
Dictionaries are an important tool when learning any language, but Japanese dictionaries can be extremely difficult for novices to use. Jim Breen has creating a number of dictionaries that are particularly useful to non-native learners of Japanese. They allow access to words through romaji (important when learners don’t have a way to type in kana) and let learners look up kanji characters in a variety of different ways.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C
Kanji Learner’s Dictionary
This dictionary can be used by Japanese learners of any level to look up kanji characters. The dictionary offers a special system for looking up characters that can be used by novices. It can be paired with the Kanji Proficiency Test materials to allow students to learn characters independently or with the assistance of a teacher.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Kodansha-Kanji-Learners-Dictionary/dp/1568364075/
Kanji Proficiency Test
Kanji are inherently interesting and the Kanji Proficiency Test is a good way to motivate students to learn the characters. This test is designed for native speakers of Japanese, but the workbooks can be used to teach non-native speakers.
NHK World
This site broadcasts news about Japan in English. Students can read, listen to, or watch the news. This site could be used in a variety of ways to help students familiarize themselves with issues in Japan. Japanese news (in Japanese) would be too difficult for most students to understand, so this make it more accessible to non-native Japanese learners.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html
The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language
(日本語教育学会)
This organization promotes the learning of Japanese as a foreign language. It offers materials, research, lectures, journals, tests, and networking opportunities.
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