Dec.14th & 15th

Konnichiwa Mina-san!

To make up for having to cancel Japanese club last week, we are having two special club meetings this week to watch an amazing movie: "Memoirs of a Geisha".

It is a fantastic movie based on a book that describes the life of a young geisha and everything she goes through. It gives an amazing insight into the beauty of this traditional, and soon-to-be lost art. Please be in my room by 3:05pm on Wednesday and Thursday so we can get started right away! We will watch the first half of the movie on Wednesday and then finish the movie on Thursday. I'll bring the ocha (green tea) and senbei (Japanese crackers)!

Eiga wo miru koto ga tanoshimi ni shiteimasu!
(I'm looking forward to watching this movie!)

See you on Wednesday!

Mata ne!

Dec.6th NOT 7th

Konnichiwa!

Hi everyone, I just wrote out a nice, long,detailed and well-formatted message regarding this week and somehow it didn't save. I lost everything. Unfortunately I don't have time to rewrite it all now so I'll just put the facts in point form. I apologize!!

• Club is canceled Wed. Dec.7th (I have a doctor's appointment)
• We will meet only briefly instead on Tues. Dec.6th after school to vote on days to meet next week
• We will vote on which days to meet next to watch a movie: Dec.13th & 14th  or 14th and 15th. Majority rules. I will bring green tea and maybe some snacks. Please be there to vote on the 6th or send me an e-mail.
• Pauline, Erica, Trevor and Mumui, eat your lunch quickly tomorrow (Mon. Dec.5th) and be in my room at 12:25pm SHARP to meet our Japanese guests!! DO NOT BE LATE!! It is considered VERY RUDE in Japanese culture to be late, so if you want, bring your lunch down to my room at the bell and eat there so you can't be late! :) Practice introducing yourselves in Nihongo! ;) 

Hope to see you on Tuesday Dec.6th to vote!!


Mata ne.

Nov.30th Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san!

This week we will of course continue with Hiragana....many of you are really starting to get the hang of Hiragana so I don't want to stop practicing now.

I also want to review and teach you some basic phrases, especially for those who are going to be meeting our Japanese guests on December 5th!

If there is time remaining, I can show you some more videos from Japan!

I also think we should talk about watching a movie for the last two meetings before the break!

Mata Suiyobi!! (See you on Wednesday!)

November 23rd Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san!

This week we will practice reviewing hiragana again, possibly using the computers or my real flash cards as well.

I also have more videos to show you about life in Japan, that I haven't shown anyone yet.

Also, I have a special announcement about our Japanese visitors and will need your help with something! You'll have to come to our club meeting though to find out!

Hope to see you on Wednesday!

Mata ne :)
-Ms.Sundin

November 16th Meeting

Konnichiwa!

We will have a short meeting this coming Wednesday November 16th. I actually can't stay all that long this week either, but I didn't want to cancel another meeting. We will review some Hiragana on the computer and using flashcards. I will also show you some videos from Japan as promised, which will be a nice break from studying the Japanese syllabary! :)

See you this week!

Nov. 9th Club Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san!

I regret to inform you that I unfortunately have to cancel the next club meeting: Wednesday Nov.9th. I have to get home right after school on this day, so cannot stay for club. I really am sorry because I enjoy our meetings so much! The rest of November is looking good though, so I don't foresee any other cancellations this month.

Use this time to review and memorize your Hiragana chart!! I encourage you to go out to the dollar store like I suggested and buy some recipe cards to make your own flash cards. There are also links to online games/quizzes on the right-hand side of my webpage! Please try them! They are fun and a great way to practice! You should also take this time to review the handouts I gave you on numbers and counting.

When we meet again on Nov. 16th I have some videos from my time in Japan to show you. I also think we should talk about watching a Japanese movie in the near future!

Again, honto ni gomen nasai (I'm really sorry) for having to cancel on you, but sometimes life and schedules get in the way.

Until next time, Nihongo wo benkyo shite ganbatte!(Good luck studying Japanese!)

Mata ne!

Fifth Club Meeting- Nov. 2

Konnichiwa Mina-san (Hello Everyone),

This week's meeting will have to be a little shorter than usual I'm afraid so I'd like to get started right away after school. Let's try to start 3:00pm so our meeting will be 3-3:45pm. I'm very sorry, but I need to get home a little sooner this week.

Last week we finished learning the basic Hiragana syllabary. We will review and have another quiz on this. Be prepared, I'm going to ask you write them on command without looking at anything as well so please spend sometime reviewing.

I haven't entirely decided what we will do after that. I think looking at some pictures and watching a little video might be a fun break from studying 'Nihongo' (Japanese). We'll see!


Suiyobi ni mata ne! (See you on Wednesday!)

Fourth Club Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san!

This week we will have our club meeting as usual after school in my classroom.

Last week you had a little impromptu quiz on the 1st-3rd lines of the syllabary chart I gave you:
a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko
sa shi su se so

We also went over the writings for:

ta chi tsu te to

na ni nu ne no

ha hi fu he ho

Be prepared for a little quiz on these as well before we move on to the rest of the syllabary:

ma mi mu me mo

ya - yu- yo

wa- - wo

n

We are almost done Hiragana! Ganbatte!!! (You can do it!!)

We then started learning how to count in Japanese, using a textbook CD. We will review this, move on with some more numbers and counting.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Mata ne!

Third Club Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san! O-genki desu ka
Hello Everyone! How are you?

Tsugi no Nihon no kurabu no aukoto ga konshu no suiyobi desu! 
Our next Japanese club meeting is this Wednesday (Oct.19th)

I hope you've been practicing your Hiragana, because I may have a little quiz for you!

By now you should know:
a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko
sa shi su se so

You should continue learning the next few lines of the syllabary chart I gave you:
ta chi tsu te to
na ni ne ne no
ha hi fu he ho

We will not spend the entire meeting practicing hiragana. We will review some of the key expressions we went over in class last week and move on to a textbook unit, learning numbers!

Konshu anatatachi ni aukoto wo tanoshimi ni shimasu!
I look forward to seeing you this week!

Mata ne!
See you!

Second Club Meeting

Konnichiwa!
O-genki desu ka    ( How are you?)

  


Our second club meeting will be this Wednesday, Oct. 12th at our usual time.

We will review what we learned last week, learn and review some key greetings/expressions, review the hiragana characters we learned last week and continue practicing some more.

The phrases you learned last week include:

Konnichiwa
Watashi no name wa ____________ desu. 
Hajimemashite. 
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

We also went over the hiragana writings for: a   i   u   e   o

If you want to get ahead, start studying: ka   ki   ku   ke   ko

Sui-yobi ni mina san wo au ni tanoshimini shiteimasu!
(I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!)

First Club Meeting

Konnichiwa Mina-san!! (Hello Everyone)!

Our first club meeting will be Wednesday October 5th in my room at 3:15 pm. Please be on time so we can get started right away, and if you are unable to attend, please let me know in advance! This courtesy would be greatly appreciated.

Our first meeting we will go over Japanese greetings and Self-Introductions (in "Nihongo" or "Japanese" of course) which will be new for our new club members, and a good review for our returning members! Following that we will be focusing on learning how to read and write Hiragana, the basic Japanese syllabary (and my personal favorite to write in). If you want to get a head start, print the Syllabary charts I've posted under "Useful Links" and try writing the characters as best you can. If you feel ready, check out some of the links of quizzes and flashcards I've posted. Ganbatte!! (Try your best!)


Hope to see you on the 5th!

Mata ne... (See you later)

Yokoso

Yokoso (Welcome)



Welcome to our club site. What is the Japanese Club all about you ask? Well here are the facts:
 

What: Learn to read, write, and speak in Japanese

Who: Lead by Ms.Sundin (me) + all of you who signed up on September 14th

Where: Rm C125

When: Weekly on Wednesdays from about 3:15-4:15pm

Why: Because you are interested in the language and the culture!

This will be an informally led club where we will focus on language study, but also discuss Japanese culture, traditions, food, lifestyle, pop culture, you name it! We will learn how to read and write hiragana, katakana, some kanji, as well as practice speaking functional and conversational Japanese. We can look at and discuss pictures, manga (comics), & Japanese anime (animated movies) among other things. 

I will put announcements for our club's starting date on the school announcements as well as post updates for meetings or cancellations here on my website!