Past Events

Nine schools participated in the second Annual Hiragana Competition on Wednesday 13th September, 2017 at Redeemer Lutheran School, Nuriootpa. (One Tree Hill Primary, Hewett Primary, Sandy Creek Primary, Kapunda Primary, Gawler Primary, Tanunda Primary, Swan Reach Primary, Freeling Primary and Redeemer Lutheran) It was a fantastic afternoon filled with passion and enthusiasm for sharing Japanese culture and language. The competition consisted of a range of technologies and resources to encourage sharing of Hiragana knowledge in various ways. The rounds included a Futaba Classroom challenge; a Kahoot Jumble online quiz which required students to order mixed Hiragana according to the Hiragana chart; formal Powerpoint rounds with students saying the Hiragana they see first to gain points. All the points from these scored rounds were then tallied and the top 4 schools then battled it out with two formal Powerpoint rounds recognising basic words in Hiragana. Fun was had by all, with physical activities interspersed into the afternoon. Such events included giant Karuta run challenge; chopstick relays and Jan Ken Pon Trains. All students were awarded with a little prize and a participation certificate to take away with them and trophies for the top 3 schools. The teachers all worked diligently, with many…

On Wednesday August 10th Year 7 students from Hallett Cove South PS, Thiele PS, Calvary PS, Sheidow Park PS, Woodend PS, Hawthorndene PS and Woodcroft PS battled it out for the annual hiragana champion’s title. This is our 13th year running the very successful event which is open to all schools in the area through our Southern Japanese teachers hub group held at Hallett Cove South PS twice a term. This year Woodend Primary School defended their title placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd! Students thoroughly enjoyed the day allowing them to showcase their skills in reading Hiragana and hopefully boosting engagement in to high school.  

Joy in Japanese learning at Primary school was on display at EDC on May 30. The JLTASA Year 6/7 Quiz was again a reminder that the language learning programs in South Australian primary schools are successful and in full force! With 16 schools from all three sectors attending, 156 SA kids enjoyed teaming up with different schools and sharing in a fun Japanese Quiz. This year’s quiz introduced some new material with greater emphasis on the current Australian Curriculum for Japanese along with some new activities such as team captain selection with hachimaki prizes and kendama. The traditional favourites were again popular such as entertaining you tube clips, heads and tails true or false games and the ever so popular Jan Ken Pon warm up game. Quiz categories varied from Hiragana, Kanji and Vocab to Modern Culture, Traditional Culture, Geography and a Listening Section prerecorded by committee member and native Japanese speaker Keiko. The quiz questions were mostly new this year and pleasingly the score results showed amazing skill and knowledge by contestants as well as some challenges which allowed for new experiences and further learning. The staff attending provided great enthusiasm and support which helped keep the positive atmosphere for all the kids. The prizes from Japan were yet again a big hit! This event is now run over two sessions to cater…

It seems that the Year 10 Movie Making Day was a great success. We had 4 schools, 32 students, 4 teachers and 2 student teachers. The students enjoyed the warm up games and quickly broke down the barriers working together really well to produce authentic Japanese commercials. In just a couple of hours they planned, wrote, designed, choreographed and produced commercials of a high standard showing authentic use of language and an high level of understanding of features of a Japanese commercial. Our tatami room, Asian garden, and every yukata, sumo suit, Totoro and Japanese item at our school were put to good use. I am seeking permission from students to put the final products on the website so I can share them with you. There was a really positive atmosphere and lots of Japanese being used. However there were also lots of individual successes with students connecting positively with language learning. Several students came up to me at the end of the day to say thank you and some of the comments made my day! One boy said that he had had the best day and just wanted to do it all over again. Another girl said that she had made new friends and would love to come to any other…