INSIDE... WJEC DAY • JAPANESE CLUBS • PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE

MADOVOLUME 24 • JANUARY 2006

THE JAPAN FOUNDATIONLONDON LANGUAGE CENTRE NEWSLETTER

More than 70 people gathered at theEmbassy of Japan on October 19 tocelebrate the launch of the primary Japanesecourse Ready Steady NihonGO! (RSN) jointlydeveloped by Japan 21 and the JapanFoundation London Language Centre (JFLLC).

After a warm welcome from JICC DirectorMami Mizutori, Dr Lid King, National Directorfor Languages at the DfES, introduced theevening, impressing the audience with hisown Japanese. He described the launch ofRSN as a very important and timely event,coinciding with the publication of the KeyStage 2 (KS2) Framework for Modern ForeignLanguages, which will create a structure forthe UK Government’s target of providing alanguage entitlement to all primary pupilsby 2010. “The production of resourcematerials is absolutely vital in this contextand I am delighted that this is happening inJapanese,” he said.

JFLLC Director Harufumi Murata then spokeabout the background to the RSN project,which was initiated in 2003 with the aim ofdeveloping a strategy to support andencourage primary Japanese in the UK. Afterinvestigating existing primary provisionthrough a nationwide survey and anextensive programme of school visits, threemain curricular models for primary Japanesewere identified. This important groundworkset the stage for the resource developmentwhich followed.

An outline of the course itself was presentedby Katherine Donaghy from Japan 21Education, who also showed video clips frompilot schools which vividly illustrated howpositively pupils responded to Japanese.Consisting of ten units, RSN is designed tointroduce basic Japanese to KS2 pupils andto be team-taught by classroom teachersand Japanese native speakers. Lesson plansare accompanied by a wealth of resourcematerials including sound files, worksheets,cultural notes and flashcards.

Reinforcing the benefit to pupils, Jeff Smith,Headteacher at Anson Primary School inCricklewood - one of 11 schools whichpiloted the course - described RSN as a‘springboard to other opportunities’, adding:“It has been a superb launch-pad for thechildren, who as a result have won a prize ina sushi contest, welcomed Japanese visitorsand set up Internet links with an elementaryschool in Aomori.”

Heidi Potter, Director of Japan 21 Education,then spoke about the long term outlook forRSN, noting that the resource would beavailable both on CD-Rom and via theInternet by the end of 2005, making it “thefirst Japanese language resource tailor-madefor UK primary schools.”

READY STEADY NIHONGO! – NOW AVAILABLE TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS NATIONWIDE

Dr Lid King and Jeff Smith celebrate the launch of Ready Steady NihonGO!

For further information about Ready SteadyNihonGO!, contact Japan 21 on 020 7630 8696 (tel) or by email at:education@japan21.org.uk or visit thewebsite: www.japan21.org.uk.

Derby City Councillaunches KS2 LanguagesJFLLC staff have

been busy overthe last fewmonths, hosting

courses tosupport teachers

and participating inevents to raise the profile

of Japanese teaching and learning in the UK.

On September 23, the Centre organised astand at the ninth annual JET AlumniAssociation Careers Information Day held atthe University of London. JFLLC staff wereon hand to provide information to formerJET participants who were interested inteaching Japanese as a career, as well as toprovide advice about the teacher trainingcourses currently available.

The JFLLC was also present at the Prize-giving Ceremony of the European Award forLanguages 2005, which took place at theForeign & Commonwealth Office in Londonon September 26. The event provided anopportunity to recognise schools for theirinnovative language learning projects. TheEuropean Day of Languages was alsocelebrated by schools around the country. AtGreenford High School, Anu Jain taughtJapanese to all her MFL classes to mark theoccasion, while at Whitgift School, pupilstook part in a multi-cultural food tastingquiz that included Japanese ingredients.

For the second year, the JFLLC set up astand at the Language Show in Olympia

which was generously supported by theJapanese Embassy’s Japan Information andCultural Centre. The event took place fromNovember 4 to 6, attracting a large numberof professionals and members of the generalpublic with an interest in language learning.The stand proved very popular, as visitorsstopped to watch scenes from Class Acts,interact with the online resource Tobu, trytheir hand at origami and ask questionsabout the teaching and learning of Japanesein the UK.

Centre Diary

WJEC Day 2005More than 20 people attended the WJEC Day held at the Centre onOctober 4. The training course for teachers, co-organised by the JFLLCand the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), providedparticipants with an update on the Level 1 Certificate in Japanese,accredited by the WJEC.

The Certificate in Japanese for Everyday Communication was approvedas a Level 1 Certificate in Japanese by the QCA last year. Originallydesigned to provide an introduction to Japanese for sixth-formers, thecourse is increasingly being used at Key Stages 3 and 4 as a steppingstone to GCSE.

Participants were welcomed by Centre Director Harufumi Murata andJean Rawlings, MFL Subject Officer at the WJEC, who noted that thefirst year of the revised exam had proved to be very successful, withfew administrative problems and good results for pupils.

Owen Saer, who took over from Lydia Morey as Chief Examiner lastyear, provided an overview of the course itself, as well as feedback onexam papers submitted in 2005. Illustrating his presentation withboth aural and written assessments, he gave valuable guidance as tohow marking criteria are applied in practice.

Participants then enjoyed a series of four practical skills-basedworkshops.

Classroom ideas for practising speaking and listening were introducedby Shoko Iizuka from King Edward VII School, while Alison Safadi fromJack Hunt School demonstrated activities to improve pupils’ reading.Owen Saer then introduced strategies for teaching and learning writingskills and the fourth session gave participants the opportunity to sharetheir own teaching resources, resulting in a lively exchange of ideas.

Among the participants was Akiko Kubo, who teaches Japanese atDowns College. She has found the Level 1 Certificate to be an idealcourse to use with sixth formers: “It is flexible enough to fit into

their very busy schedules and its emphasis on communicativeJapanese means that what they learn can be used in real situations.The fact that the course is accredited is also a great source ofmotivation for pupils,” she said.

Victoria Massey from Kidbrook School in Greenwich, which is planningto introduce Japanese in the next academic year, felt the course hadgreatly increased her confidence: “It has been fantastic to have directinput from the Exam Board and as a new teacher, I found the practicaldemonstration of resources and teaching ideas very valuable.”

Further information about the Level 1 Certificate in Japanese can befound on the website at www.wjec.co.uk/otherqual.html. If you haveany queries, please contact Jean Rawlings, Subject Officer at the WJECby email at: jean.rawlings@wjec.co.uk or call on 029 2026 5000.

Last November, staff from the JFLLC andJapan 21 participated in a KS2 primarylanguages event organised by DerbyCouncil. Over 100 Primary Language Co-ordinators and Head Teachers, LanguageCollege Directors, Heads of MFL, LocalAuthority Advisors, and other interestedcolleagues attended to learn about and sharegood practice in primary languages teaching.

Gareth Seddon, who attended last year’s HeadStart course and is thinking of introducingJapanese at Noel-Baker Community School inDerby, made Derby City Council aware ofPrimary Japanese. The organisers weredelighted to add a different dimension totheir event by including a Japanese workshopinto their programme. Heidi Potter from Japan21 presented the new Ready Steady NihonGO!Primary Course, and had participants up ontheir feet with a Japanese taster, delivered intandem with Language Advisor Masumi Tanakafrom the JFLLC. Keynote speaker CatherineCheater delivered a lively plenary, introducingthe audience to the KS2 Framework forLanguages which was published in October.Other seminars included French Family Learning,and primary languages in Sheffield LEA.

One of the core messages was that wherelanguages are starting to be well established,feeder primary school colleagues can serve asadvisors to their local secondary schools withregards to languages and transition.

STEPPING OUT

Owen Saer (left) and Jean Rawlings (right) with participants at the WJEC Day

Getting to grips with hiragana at the Language Show

PAGE 2 CENTRE NEWS

How wasGonenkai setup?

It was founded in1970 when I

started teachingJapanese at County

Upper School in Bury StEdmunds and set up pen friend

links between my sixth form students and theSacred Heart Schools where I had worked inJapan. We received our first visit from Japan thatyear, although it was not until 1985 thatGonenkai members were able to reciprocate. Thegroup (which literally means ‘5th Year Club’) wasformally constituted in 1980. Over the years, ourrange of activities and exchanges has expandeddramatically!

What are the club’s main aims andactivities?Gonenkai shares the aims of all youth clubs inempowering young people and providing aprogramme of activities but it also has the aim ofpromoting friendship between young Britons andyoung Japanese. Members are expected todemonstrate a long-term commitment to the cluband to learning Japanese. As well as attendingJapanese classes and other activities, members ofGonenkai host visiting groups from Japan fromtwo days to two weeks several times a year. Clubmembers also visit Japan once a year.

How is Gonenkai structured?The club is basically run by the members whopropose the activities, plan for the incoming visitsand, if their commitment is sound, then they goto Japan on an exchange. Membership is free andall events including the exchanges are funded ona kitty basis. No individual member is expected topay but no event can take place unless funds areavailable which means that fund-raising is a majorclub activity with all members working together.

What links has Gonenkai established withother groups?Gonenkai is a member of the National Associationof Clubs for Young People and Youth Clubs UK.

We use the Youth Clubs UKresidential house in the NewForest for some of ouractivities and theyalso provide theextra insuranceneeded for eventswhich are notstrictly under theschool’sumbrella. Weshare someincomingJapanese groupswith other schoolsso they can havethe chance to visitother parts of the UK.In Japan we have linksand exchanges with bothschool and town-based youthgroups in the towns of Oita, Urawa,Matsumoto, Habikino, Haibara, Yokohama,Fujisawa, Tokyo, Iwaki, Fukushima, Hiroshima,Kashiwazaki and Ebetsu. We also have links withThe Japanese School in London and The KaetsuSchool in Cambridge.

What do you feel Gonenkai has achievedover its long history?The club’s activities have been recognised througha variety of awards, including the Barclays YouthAward, which we received from the Queen Mother,and awards from both the Japan Society and theJapanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I would saythe main achievement has been the way in whichparticipation has changed members’ lives – manyhave gone back to Japan independently andcontinued to study the language. Currently wehave two members who are on the JET Programme,three doing Japan-related MAs, one studying for aJapan-related PhD, two freelance translators, 29who use Japanese in their jobs, three primaryschool teachers who run Japan days, and sixmembers working in universities. Even those whodon’t keep up the link with Japan find that beinga member of Gonenkai gives them experiences thatenrich their future lives, as borne out by numerousstories told at the Birthday Party in September.

How does participation in a clubenrich Japanese language

learning? In the early days Richard Thames

used to say ‘Why study Japanese?’‘Because you can’ when talkingto groups of Japanese teachers.I am therefore tempted toanswer, “Because it does” tothis question. When you gowith your Japanese partner toEdale and he/she is danglingfrom a rope and you’ve got toget him/her somewhere it’s

amazing how this stimulatescommunication! Teenagers, if

thrown into the soup together,swim better than you would think…

Then encourage them to write bilingualreports; lists of ten words that will be

helpful to the next group; lists of ten questionsabout Stonehenge that will test whether the nextgroup really listened to the guide … It’s hard forme to imagine Japanese teaching without a clubbut then I’ve done all my teaching in the ‘club’situation so I’m a bit biased!

What advice would you give to schoolsthinking of setting up a club? Start small and involve the members in theplanning from the outset. If the club is to be setup totally in school, then you could discussfunding with the senior team: youth work andeducation work are funded differently and youmay need to wear two hats! If you go down the‘youth club’ route there is a lot of supportavailable on issues such as how to get membersinvolved but make sure you have the support ofthe school for the free use of the premises formeetings etc. If you want to expand to anexchange make sure you do all the paperwork wellin advance and clarify your ideas beforecontacting the Japanese link.

Mary-Grace would be happy to talk to schools abouther experience of working with Gonenkai andsetting up exchange programmes. You can also findout more about the group online atwww.cusonline.co.uk/gonenkai/.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION PAGE 3Teachers working togetherat the WJEC Day

In September, Gonenkai, a youth group set up by Mary-Grace Browning – an early pioneer of Japanese languageteaching at UK schools who was recently made an MBE for services to UK Japanese relations - celebrated its 35thbirthday with a special dinner attended by all past members. Further celebrations are planned for February,when pupils from one of Gonenkai’s longest-standing link schools, Keio Shonan Fujisawa Campus Junior and

Senior High, will visit the UK for a week of joint activities. We spoke to Mary-Grace aboutGonenkai’s history and how clubs and youth groups can help to inspire and provide a

framework for Japanese language learning. Two other UK club initiatives are presentedin the panels below.

Monkseaton Community High School, Whitley BayMFL teacher James Dixon (who had worked for 2 years on the JETprogramme and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Japanese from DurhamUniversity) set up an after-school club in July 2005 after being approachedby pupils who were interested in studying Japanese. The club meets twice aweek and seven students from years 10 to 13 are currently studying basiclanguage and kana. The club also uses the Internet to do backgroundresearch and homework, exploring different aspects of Japanese culture.Pupils have shown great interest in topics such as Manga/Anime, Festivals,Martial Arts, Religion and Ikebana. They have made green tea and onigiri,and are keen to try more Japanese food. Members are very enthusiasticabout the spoken language and having attended the recent WJEC Day,James Dixon hopes to set up a more structured course in the future so thatpupils can gain credits for their studies.

Anson Primary School, Cricklewood, NW LondonClass teacher Joher Anjari set up a Japan Club after being amazed bythe influence of Japanese pop culture in his school. The club initiallymet once a week at lunchtimes, but is now held for an hour afterschool. In only three years it has gone from a project within the schoolto a catalyst for whole school events. Club members have also been onexcursions such as a visit to the Japanese Embassy’s Club Taishkan, theJapan Centre and Minamoto Kitchoan – a Japanese sweetshop inPiccadilly. Last year, the club was twinned with an English Club atTsutsui Elementary School in Aomori Prefecture. Communication wasinitially through letters and then, thanks to Japan 21, via the Japan UKLIVE! talkboards. The club also welcomed members of the Temari CulturalAssociation of Japan in 2005. There is now talk of an exchange visit toJapan and hosting an Assistant Japanese teacher in future years.

Clubbing TogetherHow extra-curricular activities can support Japanese language learning

PAGE 4 TEACHER’S PAGES

Japanese PronunciationAimsTo recognise and reproduce some commonlyconfused sounds in Japanese

To recognise and reproduce pitch accent inJapanese

To practise speed and accuracy ofpronunciation

Level All

ActivitiesActivity 1 is designed to give pupils practicein listening to and reproducing somecommonly confused sounds in Japanese,namely: long vowels, small small and .

Activity 2 focuses on pitch accent, helpingto show pupils how words that are written inthe same way need to be given a differentaccent to distinguish meaning.

Activity 3 introduces some commonJapanese tongue twisters – these canprovide a good means of practising speedand fluency of pronunciation.

ProcedureThe three activities on pages 5a and 5b canbe used to practise different aspects ofpronunciation with your pupils. Activities aredesigned to be used with specially createdsound files which you can access by simplyclicking on the numbers on the left handside of pages 5a and 5b.

The activities can be used by students forself study if they have access to a computerwith speakers and an Internet connection.The tasks could similarly be used for wholeclass teaching.

Pupils should listen to the modelpronunciation as many times as necessaryuntil they feel confident enough to starteach activity. The answers are written at thebottom of this page.

Once pupils have had plenty of practice withactivities 1 & 2, get them to test each otherusing the pairs of words – if they arepronouncing them correctly, they should getthe correct replies. If they know themeanings of the words, they can guesswhich is which but if this is too difficult,they could simply indicate whether thepronunciation was the same or not.

Once pupils have had time to practiseactivity 3, you could set up a competition tosee who is best at tongue twisters.

ExtensionJapanese has an abundance of ‘loan words’,which originally came from foreign languagessuch as English, French, German andPortuguese and have now become absorbedinto the Japanese language. Recently, it hasbecome very common to write words directlyinto katakana rather than translating them.When these words are pronounced inJapanese, they often sound completelydifferent to the original words.

Encourage your pupils to look at Japanesemagazines and websites to compare thepronunciation of words in katakana withtheir original English pronunciation andthink about how English words change whenthey are written in katakana.

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Happy New Year everyone! Ilook forward to working withyou over the coming year. Thetheme of this issue’s Teacher’sPages is pronunciation. As thisis an online edition, we havecreated sound files to go withthe activities so that yourpupils can practise listeningand pronunciation. I havechosen to concentrate onpractising difficult sounds,pitch accent and tonguetwisters. Teachers wanting amore in-depth guide shouldalso refer to the Library &Resources Page whichintroduces reference andteaching materials.

AnswersActivity 1: 1)bab 2)aab 3)abb 4)bba 5)bab 6) abb 7)baa 8)aab 9)bba 10)cab. Activity 2: 1)aba 2)baa 3)baa 4)aab 5)bba

Let’s Practise Pronunciation!Activity 1

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There are some sounds in Japanese which you need to pay particular attention to. This exercise focuses onlong vowels , small tsu , n and small ya/yu/yo .

Listen carefully to the words and choose whether you think they are (a) or (b) each time you hear them(three times in all).

Japanese English 1st round 2nd round 3rd round

a aunt

b old lady, grandmother

a map

b cheese

a house

b no

a together

b whole life

a opinion

b one (building)

a west

b diary

a freedom

b ten

a hair salon

b hospital

a 1000 yen

b 1000 years

a engagement

b Name of Japanese food

a Please wear it.

b Please listen.

c Please get me a stamp.

Listen to the sound files once more and practise the pronunciation by yourself.

TEACHER’S PAGES PAGE 5A

A B B

Let’s Practise Pronunciation!Activity 2

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Unlike the stress accent in English, Japanese has a ‘pitch’ or ‘high-low’ accent. There are many words which,although they are written the same in hiragana, actually have different meanings depending on the accent.First listen to the sound files and pay attention to how the accent differs. Then listen again and decidewhether the words being said is (a) or (b) each time you hear them (three times in all).

Intonation 1st round 2nd round 3rd round

a b(autumn) (vacancy)

a b(rain) (sweets)

a b(chopsticks) (bridge)

a b(oyster) (persimmon)

a b(S/he’s coming/has come) (S/he wears it/is wearing it)

a b(Please keep a pet) (Please buy it)

Once you have finished the exercise, listen to the sounds again and practise pronouncing them with a partner.

Tongue twistersOne fun way to practise difficult sounds is to repeat tongue-twisters as fast as possible, making sureyou give the right breaks and accents so that they make sense. First listen to the model sound files forthe tongue twisters below and then let’s practise!

Activity 3

There are two chickens in the garden.

Raw barley, raw rice, raw egg.

My neighbour’s guest eats a lot of persimmons.

A frog takes three jumps; another frog takes three jumps - that makes six jumps altogether.

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PAGE 5B EXTRA TEACHER’S PAGE

A A B

The British Association for Teaching Japanese as a ForeignLanguage (BATJ) was set up in 1998 with the aim of encouragingand promoting Japanese language education in the UK,particularly at higher education level. BATJ organises a widerange of activities for teachers of Japanese.

As part of its ongoing programme of events to support teachers ofJapanese, BATJ held a seminar at the University of Birmingham inNovember, together with the JFLLC. Dr Jane Willis gave apresentation on ‘Designing, using and exploring tasks in thelanguage classroom’, in which she provided an overview ofdifferent types of task before demonstrating how a set of taskson one topic could be graded and implemented to maximiselanguage learning in the classroom. A follow-up seminar on ‘Task-based learning’ will be held at Cardiff University on January 14.

BATJ has been busy over the last few months preparing for theSpeech Contest for University Students, launched in conjunctionwith the JFLLC. Finals Day will take place at the School ofOriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of Londonon the afternoon of Saturday January 28, when eight finalistswill give speeches on a topic of their choice. The event is open tothe public and BATJ hopes that many Mado readers will comealong to join the audience and support the speakers.

Forthcoming events include a seminar and workshop which will beheld at the JFLLC on February 18. Led by Chihiro KinoshitaThomson, the session will focus on effective ways to promotestudents’ autonomous learning, especially in a context whereresources are restricted.

To find out more about BATJ’s activities, please visitwww.batj.org.uk or contact the Chair, Kazuki Morimoto, at:Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT; tel: 0113 343 3561; fax: 0113 343 6741; email: K.Morimoto@leeds.ac.uk.

Since its establishment in 2000, theJapanese Language Committee (JLC) ofthe Association for Language Learning(ALL) has become an important voice forsecondary level teachers of Japanese inthe UK.

The main focus for the Committee over the lastfew months has been the organisation of the third national JapaneseSpeech Contest for Secondary Schools (Nihongo Cup), a jointinitiative with the Japanese Embassy and the Japan FoundationLondon Language Centre.

This year, the contest will be held slightly later with Finals Dayscheduled to take place on June 24 at the Embassy in London. Aslast year, there will be three categories: Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 andKey Stage 5. The theme for the first two categories is My World andfor the first time in 2006, Key Stage 5 candidates will be free tochoose their own speech topic.

Thanks to an ongoing collaboration with the Japanese Speech Awards(JSA), the best speaker in KS5 will be invited to participate in theJSA Finals and Cultural Programme in Japan. Last year’s winner, LeeAnderson from Harris City Technology College, described the trip as a‘once in a lifetime experience’, adding “I was able to participate in arange of activities that I would never otherwise have had access to.”

Application forms for the contest are now available so if you wouldlike to enter your pupils, please contact the Project Manager CarolineLewis on 020 7379 3934 or by email at cml@japanesematters.co.uk.You will also find the application form on the JLC website (see belowfor address). The deadline for entries is Friday March 31, so why notsend off for a form today!

For further information about JLC and its activities, log on to thewebsite www.jlcweb.org.uk or contact the Chair David Farrell (email: rdfarrell@aol.com; tel: 028 9332 2610).

JLC NewsBATJ Update

Following a very successful visit to Japanby Headteacher John Duggan in May 2004,Eastcote Primary School decided to hold aJapan Week which was supported by Japan21 and language specialists from a localsecondary school. Throughout the week allpupils from the age of five upwardsreceived basic language tuition, as well asenjoying calligraphy and learning aboutJapanese culture.

In September of the 2004/05 academicyear, Japan 21 offered the school theopportunity to join the pilot phase ofReady Steady NihonGO!. Deputy HeadRoger Power agreed to undertake theproject with his Year 3 class and followinginitial training at the JFLLC, lessonsbegan in the spring of 2005. Providingassistance was native speaker Ryoko Kaldewho had already been involved with theschool during the Japan week. Childrenenthusiastically embarked on the project,which apart from learning the languageinvolved them studying more about theculture of Japan and learning to playJapanese games. Roger and Ryoko workedtogether to prepare and deliver lessonswith Ready Steady NihonGO! adapted tomeet the needs of the younger children.PAGE 6 NEWS UPDATE

Eastcote Primary School

Evaluation of the ten-week schemeindicated that it had been a great success.

Following discussions, it was agreed withRyoko that she would teach years 3, 5 & 6for 10 lessons each in the 2005/06

academic year and sessions have provedvery successful this year too. Filled withenthusiasm John and Roger enrolled forJapanese lessons at a local adulteducation centre on a Saturday morning.

Japan Week at Eastcote Primary School

LIBRARY PAGE PAGE 7

Continuing the theme from the Teacher’s Pages, JapaneseLanguage Advisor Rochelle Matthews has reviewed threeresources from our Library which focus on pronunciation.All are written in Japanese and are accompanied by CDs.Don’t forget to make use of the Teacher’s Pages to accesssound files that have been created specially to supportpronunciation practice.

To find out about closing dates thisterm please refer to the Library Pageon the website or contact theLibrarian, who can also answer anyother questions about the Library (tel: 020 7436 6698; email:library@jpf.org.uk).

The phonetic nature of theJapanese language certainlymakes both pronunciation andthe task of transcribing newwords more straightforward thanin many other MFLs. This mayexplain why relatively littletime is spent on teachingphonetics and phonology in theclassroom. However, given thelarge number of homonyms inJapanese, correct pronunciationand accent can be vital forunderstanding and beingunderstood. Meaning can oftenbe drawn from context of course,but most learners would benefitfrom spending some time onpronunciation, regardless oftheir level of proficiency. Take alook at the examples in thetable on the right to see how acloser understanding ofpronunciation, pitch and tonecan help to convey meaning andintent more concisely.

Pronunciationchangesmeaning

Sentence endintonation canclarifymeaning

Specificpronunciationcharacteristicsgive adifferentimpression

Accent andpausing canconveymeaning

Appeal for opinion

Negation

Surprise

versus

versus(The second variation denotes immaturity, conveying

a child-like impression when used)

Source: Takako Toda, 3A Corporation, 2004, p 6-7.

Why PractisePronunciation?

Introduction to JapanesePronunciation, Theory and Practice.

ISBN4-87424-176-X

This resource is ideal as a self-study aid forteachers wanting to develop theirunderstanding of Japanese pronunciationboth in theory and practice. It couldsimilarly lend itself to classroom use withPGCE students during their teacher training.

The four key areas of vowels and consonants,rhythm, accent and intonation are coveredin this text. In order for the reader to beable to master Japanese pronunciation andvoice, listening practice is providedthroughout each unit with aural tests at theend.

For those prepared to tackle pronunciationand phonology in Japanese, look no furtherthan this comprehensive introduction.

ISBN4-87424-286-3

This book is a practical guide suitable foruse in the classroom. The first unit takeslearners through listening exercises whichintroduce the basics of pronunciationanalysis in Japanese. Four areas areexplored: tonal inflection, intonation, accentand the duration of a given sound. This isaided by Prosody Graphs, which provide avisual guide to correct pronunciation.

In each subsequent unit, learners can focuson developing their auditory skills by usingthe set listening comprehension examples.Prosody Graphs are then used to read alongto while listening and practisingpronunciation, in order to achieve as naturala Japanese pronunciation as possible.Exercises from the book could be used on aregular basis as starter activities to introducepronunciation practice to your classes.

Takako Toda, 3A Corporation, 2004.ISBN4-88319-295-4

The first section of this book exploresJapanese pronunciation from the introductorytopics of outlining the basic sounds andrhythm to more sophisticated approaches suchas conveying emotion and intent. Section 2provides specific pronunciation practice fornative speakers of Chinese, Korean andEnglish, highlighting the particular difficultiesthat each may experience.

Benefits unique to this book include theability to approach your pronunciation studyfrom any point in the book or in a moresystematic way, progressing from themonosyllable through to accent, intonationand pausing. Novel approaches to the studyof pronunciation include activities such asshiritori, a Japanese word chain game, role-play tasks and the fun use of haiku andsenryu (comic haiku).

The primary Japanesecourse Ready SteadyNihonGO!, jointlydeveloped by theJFLLC and Japan21, was rolledout to schoolsnationwide at the end of 2005, after itsofficial launch in autumn (p 1). We hopethis new resource will make a practicalcontribution to the development ofJapanese language teaching at primarylevel in the UK. One way of encouragingpupils’ interest in Japanese is throughclub activities, and the feature on page 3shows the great benefits that participatingin such groups can bring. Taking advantageof this issue’s online format, we havecreated sound files which can be accesseddirectly from the Teacher’s Pages (p 4-5).We hope that these specially designedexercises will help your pupils to practisean often neglected area of learning. TheLibrary and Resources section (p 7) alsofocuses on pronunciation. Finally, whatbetter way to show off newly honedpronunciation skills than to take part inthe Nihongo Cup in June? We also lookforward to seeing many of you at theSpeech Contest for University Studentslater this month.

MADOEditor: Caroline LewisDesign: François Hall

Published byTHE JAPAN FOUNDATION

LONDON LANGUAGE CENTRERussell Square House10-12 Russell Square,

London WC1B 5EHTelephone: 020 7436 6698

Fax: 020 7323 4888Website: www.jpf.org.uk

HEAD START18 – 20 January

An introduction to Japanese for Headsof MFL, Senior Managers in SecondarySchools, Head Teachers and Language

Co-ordinators at Primary level.

1st JAPANESE SPEECH CONTEST FORUNIVERSITY STUDENTSSaturday 28 January

1:00 - 5:00 pmTo be held at the Khalili Lecture Theatre,

School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London.

Email speechcontest@jpf.org.uk forfurther information about this event.

AIMING FOR SUCCESS IN KS3 JAPANESEUSING THE BBC TOBU RESOURCES

Tuesday 28 FebruaryPlease see the Tobu notice on the left

for more information.

THE 10th ANNUAL PRIMARYLANGUAGES SHOW 2006

17-18 MarchWorkshops and seminars on PrimaryLanguages, including Ready Steady

NihonGO! To be held at the ManchesterConference Centre. Visit www.cilt.org.uk

for more information.

BATJ SPRING CONFERENCEMATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

3-4 AprilEmail k.morimoto@leeds.ac.uk for more

information about this event.

ALL CONFERENCE7-8 April

Language World Conference &Exhibition, to be held at the University

of Manchester. Visit www.all-languages.org.uk for more information.

NIHONGO CUPSaturday 24 June

Japanese Speech Contest for SecondarySchools. For further information contact

the project manager:cml@japanesematters.co.uk

Unless otherwise stated, all events take placeat the Japan Foundation London Language

Centre in Russell Square House. Please call uson 020 7436 6698 for further details.

The JFLLC reserves the right to cancel coursesin the event of insufficient take-up.

NIHONGO CUP 2006

Application forms are now available for the

2006 Nihongo Cup (Japanese Speech

Contest for Secondary Schools) co-organised

by the Japanese Language Committee of the

Association for Language Learning, the

Japan Foundation and the Embassy of Japan.

Open to pupils aged between 11 and 19, the

contest is divided into three categories –

Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

Taped speeches on the theme of My World

(KS3 & 4) or on a topic of your choice

(KS5) should be sent in by Friday March 31,

with Finals Day scheduled for Saturday

June 24. For further details see page 6. To

receive application forms, contact the

Project Manager on 020 7379 3934 or by

email: cml@japanesematters.co.uk.

Dear EditorI am writing to let readers know about the verysuccessful Japanese Language AssistantsProgramme, organised by the British Council. Ourassistant Tomoe Sasaki has been an amazing additionto our Japanese team, working with us both inside andoutside the classroom. In lessons, she leads starteractivities and plenaries as well as doing teamteaching. She also takes individuals and small groupsout of classes to conduct oral tutorials. She runslunchtime clinics to support AS and A2 students andher whole school Japanese club has proved extremelypopular. Having a Japanese Language Assistant atHendon School has greatly enhanced our students’experience of learning Japanese and I can’t recommendthe programme highly enough - I hope that moreschools take up this fantastic opportunity next year.The deadline for applications, which can be made vialocal authorities, is March 7 2006, though lateapplications may be accepted.

For more details log on towww.languageassistant.co.uk or contact NeilHerrington by e-mail atneil.herrington@britishcouncil.org.Helen Langsam, Hendon School, London

TOBU

‘Tobu - Learn Japanese’ is a unique KS3 online

resource developed by the BBC with support

from the Japan Foundation. On February 28,

CILT, the National Centre for Languages, is

organising a free one-day conference ‘Aiming

for success in KS3 Japanese – using the BBC

Tobu resources’, with support from the JFLLC,

the BBC and ALL. The course will focus

on strategies for whole class teaching and

independent learning using ICT and the Tobu

materials and the practical application of the

Framework for teaching MFL: Years 7, 8 and 9.

Contact CILT at conferences@cilt.org.uk to

secure a place at this event, to be held at the

JFLLC. See the following website for further

information:

www.cilt.org.uk/cpd/239lo0206jap.htm

For more information about Tobu and to

obtain a password and username for the site

contact info.language@jpf.org.uk

Registration is free.