JLTASA goes “WILD”
A chance meeting between Jarrod Hoare and Jen Gilbert at Monarto Safari Park in August 2020 sparked an idea that finally came together in May 2021: A Japanese language immersion tour of Monarto. Most members of the JLTASA are familiar with Jarrod’s wonderful Japanese/English bi-lingual performances of Rakugo and kyogen, but he is a man of many talents: Jarrod is also an experienced tour guide at Monarto. With his customary enthusiasm for promoting Japanese language and cultural exchange, Jarrod readily agreed to conduct a Japanese language tour of Monarto for JLTASA members. The logistics were complicated – a big enough bus to go through the lion enclosure, getting the required minimum number of attendees for a private tour and making sure that Jarrod was on the roster for the day of the tour – to name a few. Immanuel College supported the event by providing access to car parking and the departure point for those taking the bus from the city. It was a unique opportunity for all the members who came on the tour and it really was a fabulous day. We had 20 members, including native speakers of Japanese and second language learners of varying levels of fluency….
2020 Yuru-kyara Competition
Thank you to all the schools and students who submitted their entries for the 2020 Yura-kyara competition. The entries were all very high level. Our guest manga artist judge was very impressed with the talent and creativity from all entries. Based on the criteria of connection to the yura kyara theme, artistic style, creativity and language, the list of winners is as follows. Year 3/4 1st Blackwood Primary School, 2nd Blackwood Primary School, 3rd Blackwood Primary School Year 5/6 1st Blackwood Primary School, 2nd St Peter’s Woodlands, 3rd Blackwood Primary School & St Peter’s Woodlands Year 7/8 1st Nazareth College, 2nd Blackwood Primary School, 3rd Gleeson College Year 9/10 1st Nazareth College
JLTASA Year 9 Quiz Day 2020 Report
The 10th Annual JLTASA Year 9 Quiz Day was enjoyed more than ever by the students and teachers this year, as it was probably the only excursions many students have had. To cater for the COVID safe distancing we ran 2 sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both sessions were well attended and students positively engaged in Japanese language and culture as well as competing in the world championship for ‘Junken’ and ‘Kendama’. We encouraged students to connect to Japan and find their passion and place for language and cultural understanding into their future. For many this seemed easy, and although our sister school visits and trips are postponed the interest and passion is defiantly still there. The results showed good all-round knowledge and the afternoon session brought in the closest results ever, with a draw for 1st and 2nd and 1 point difference to 3rd place. Students took home new learning and new connections to Japanese language and culture as well as some cool Japanese prizes. Thank you to the teachers and students from Immanuel College, St John’s Grammar School, Tatachilla Lutheran College, Roma Mitchell Secondary College, Parafield Gardens High School, Nazareth Catholic Community and…
15th Annual Hiragana Reading Competition 2018
Our Southern Area Hub Group’s Annual Hiragana Reading Competition was held for the 15th year running on Friday August 17th. This year saw 2 new schools entering for the first time, providing a great level of competition for all. This year we had 23 teams of 4 entered which is a total of 92 students! We started by dividing into 2 groups in a round robin playoff. Teams played off, competing in 3 rounds each. This round had students reading the single 46 hiragana characters. From here the top 4 teams from both groups went on to take part in the finals. The top 8 teams had to read words consisting of 2 characters in the first final round, then 3 character words and then for the 1st through to 4th place positions teams had to read 4 character words. The competition was fierce! It came down to the wire in many cases and the judges had a very difficult job. It goes to show that our students are working really hard and enjoying the challenge of their Japanese learning. Woodend took out 1st and 2nd place followed by Blackwood in 3rd. Schools participating this year were Blackwood, Hallett Cove…
2017 JLTASA Innovative Association Award Nomination
JLTASA nomimated for CEASA Innovative Association Award. Cindy Pitkin was presented with a Certificate of Nomination at the CEASA World Teachers Day event held at the National Wine Centre on Friday 27 October 2017. Congratulations!
2017 Year 4/5 Obento Masterchef
The JLTASA Year 4/5 Obento Masterchef was held on Friday 10th November 2017 at Westminster School. 72 students from 9 schools across all three sectors participated in making an obento (Japanese lunch box). This year the theme of obento was Family (Kazoku). Students were paired up and together they planned and designed their obento in line with the theme. Some included the word “kazoku” in hiragana or kanji using nori sheet in their obento. They also had a challenge to use as many ingredients as possible to create a visually appealing obento. There were so many creative obento made by the students and the judge had a hard time. The fun part was students got to eat their obento at the end! Thank you to all the teachers and parents for transporting and supervising students. Thank you to Sun Kim and Home Economic staff at Westminster who hosted this event again.
2017 Year 10 Movie Making Day
Each year for the last three years the JLTASA has held a Year 10 Movie Making Day to give Year 10 students studying Japanese across the state a chance to meet other like-minded students studying Japanese, use social learning, be creative and innovative, use Japanese language in authentic ways, and challenge themselves. The students do some warm up games, and get to know each other to start the day and then watch some for the year’s best Japanese commercials in order to start developing an understanding of the common ideas, themes, messages and music. There are good discussions around analysing culture, comparing Australian and Japanese commercials and thinking about what this teachers us about Japanese people, culture and society. From here in groups of four from different schools, students select one of the Japanese items and create their own commercial for it using Japanese props, and locations around the school such as the Japanese garden and わしつ at St John’s Grammar School. Key vocab and helpful grammar is discussed and teachers support students throughout the day. In this time-frame, students create, write, direct, act and edit their commercial ready to show to the group where they are presented and judged…
2017 Year 6/7 Japanese Quiz Day Report
The JLTASA Year 6/7 Quiz Day was held on Tuesday 20th June 2017 at the Education Development Centre, Hindmarsh. 182 students from 16 schools across all three sectors participated in Japanese learning. The quiz categories included: numbers, geography, Hiragana, listening, Kanji, modern culture, traditional culture and vocabulary and grammar. Between rounds we played the traditional Japanese games; Jan Ken Pon and Kendama as well as a game of True or False based on questions about the Japanese culture. Students wore happi coats and hachimaki to get into the spirit of the day. It was great to see students smiling and confidently sharing their answers with their team. Overall, participating in the quiz gave students a great opportunity to meet other Year 6/7 students also learning Japanese, share their Japanese learning and most importantly have fun! There were some really cool Japanese prizes on offer with the famous Japanese snack Pocky being the most popular. Thank you to all the teachers and parents for transporting and supervising students. Thank you to committee members Christina Challinger, Alysha Milani and Kate Satomura for all their behind the scenes work in organising the event and making sure the day ran smoothly and thank you…
2017 14th Annual Southern Hub Group Hiragana Competition
Our Southern Area Hub Group’s Annual Hiragana Reading Competition was held for the 14th year running. This year saw new schools entering for the first time, providing a great level of competition for all. With 22 teams of 4 entered, we started with 2 groups of 11 teams in a round robin playoff. From here we took the top 4 teams from both groups and had the top 8 play off for a place in the finals. The round robin part involved students reading the single Hiragana characters. The top 8 teams had to read words and then to decided 1st, 2nd and 3rd place students had to make up words using Hiragana characters. The competition was fierce! The top 2 teams played a best of 3 round with the first being a tie, proving it was a tight competition. Woodend took out 1st place followed by Blackwood in 2nd. Hawthorndene and Woodend played of for 3rd, with Woodend just getting over the line. Schools participating this year were Blackwood, Hallett Cove South, Hawthorndene, Reynella East, Sheidow Park, Thiele, Woodcroft and Woodend. Congratulations to all students involved for great sportsmanship and efforts on the day. Congratulations to all teachers for…
2017 South Australia Japanese Speech Contest
Ten contestants participated in the 2017 South Australia Japanese Speech Contest on Saturday 9th September at the Education Development Centre. This is the second year since the competition opened to not only senior secondary school students but also university students as well as members of the general public who satisfied the category in each division. In 2017 Mr Ray Chang of Norwood Morialta High School won the High School Senior Division (left), Mr Jerry Jiang of The University of Adelaide won the Open Beginner Division (center) and Ms Emma Simmons graduate of The University of Adelaide won the Open Division (right). These three winners will compete in the National Speech Contest on 7th October 2017 in Sydney. The JLTASA would like to advise to teachers that the contents of speech could be an extension of Investigative task or In-Depth study and we are happy to help teachers whose students intend to join the contest, but have a little difficulty to check their speech grammatically. Special thanks to the Japan Foundation Sydney who supported this event financially and the organising committee of the JLTASA.