Breakdown of Japan Elementary grades

Ooh well I could pretend that I'm already the seasoned expert but I've only been working a few weeks...you do learn fast however. Anyway here's my breakdown of the different grades in my Japanese elementary school. Important to know as you don't want to kick off a 6th grade lesson singing the ABC song...

6th graders, 11 years old and going through that "I don't want to be embarassed in front of my friends" stage so can be tricky but they are a sweet bunch, just takes more time to get them going. Don't expect them to clap or jump up and copy your gestures. However incorporate it into a game and they will. Introduce a scoring system and you'll have them do anything! I created a face race track on the board last week giving each team a name according to their mode of transport (a rickshaw, a funny looking bus, a racing car etc) They got soo competitive with the game and got so into it I think they almost forgot they were practicing English language!

5th graders, 9-10 yrs, similar to the 6th graders but a teeny bit more genki (you might be able to get a 5th grader to clap for example but forget it with a 6th grader)

4th graders, 8-9 yrs, cuter, a bit more genki, will definately clap and sing.

3rd graders, 8 yrs, soo cute, play a song and they'll be up standing on the chairs going wild. The kids went crazy during my ball game (hot potato) with an inflatable ball (just make sure you use an inflatable)

I've just had a class of 2nd graders this week (7 yrs) Oh so genky. I wanted to smuggle some of them home they were that cute!

Chu-hi, you what?

I meant to write this post a while back to explain what Chu hi actually is! In fact I think it's written chu-hi Romaji or チューハイ. Anyway, I was introduced to Chu hi at an Hamani (cherry blossom viewing picnic type event) in Kanazawa a few weeks back. It's basically a Japanese equivalent of an alcopop, like Bacardi Breezer or Wicked Blue that underage chavs love to drink back in blighty. I don't think it quite has that chav-status quo here though (give me more time to work that one out), they're really popular. The traditional chuhai is lemon flavored with a shōchū base (shochu=Japanese distilled drink), although some now have vodka instead of shochu. Flavours include lime, grapefruit, apple, orange pineapple, grape, ume (plum), yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) and peach. My fave so far is grapefruit, woo hoo.

I found out quickly that if you're not a sake lover or beer drinker then there aren't that many other options (although give me a bottle of cab sav any day...!)

The above chu-hi (picture of innocent looking pastel green can) is Suntory's Horoyoi, a mild semi-sparkler with reduced alcohol content, thank the lord as the seven percenters ruin you. Personally I pick this one as it looks classier and more adult than the others, it must be the pastels!

Super chu-hi (see pic of brash & laddish silver can) is one of the 7% alcohol content varieties which I think I'll stay clear of until people know me a bit better, I might scare them off : )

Learning Japanese: The Japanese Writing System

I was advised by a teacher at the International Exchange Lounge (another story but the first Japanese lady I've met who I was actually scared of) to learn Katakana and Hiragana (two of the four types of Japanese scripts) To be honest, back in England I avoided even looking at the writing system and thought it was reserved for the highly intellectual (not me) Well, I can honestly say, with Kanji as the exception, it's not THAT hard! and this is someone who got a D in French..(more tips for learning below)

So to the basics, Japanese uses four types of scripts: hiragana, katakana, kanji and romanji.

Hiragana- expresses all the sounds of Japanese. Looks squiggly compared to the others. hirigana in hiragana ; ) ひらがな

Katakana- used for writing foreign/imported words such as "coffee", less squiggly and straighter edges, here you go カタカナ

Kanji- ancient Chinese origin characters that represent ideas & sounds. I'm still avoiding this one at the moment. Looks like this 漢字

Romaji- used for the thickos like me who can't read hiragana & katakana properly yet. So instead of putting コーヒ for coffee the language books will put kōhī.

There's a huge bookshop at ground level of the Rifare building in Kanazawa (about a 5 min walk from the train station) that stocks hundreds of "teach yourself Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana" books, the first romaji books I've seen since I've been here, PHEW.

So here are my recommendations so far:

1) For learning basic Japanese (and if you're English) the BBC Active "Talk Japanese" It will get

you through your intros, ordering food (ok only a cheese sandwich which isn't that helpful in Japan), finding out about trains & reserving hotels (I won't be using them anymore being the lowly ALT that I am). it also comes with an audio CD which REALLY helps with the pronounciation. Honestly if you don't pronounce a word the exact way they will NOT understand you!

2) For learning Katakana and Hiragana I would recommend the "Japanese Hiragana/Katakana for Beginners' books by Timothy Stout. OK a warning, they're not huge textbooks with grammatical explanations if that's what you're looking for however I think they are a refreshing and great way of getting your head around the characters. Well the books worked for me. Why?

Because they have these really childish "cheat" flashcards in the back of each book that turn each Japanese character into some kind of picture.

Check these out and you'll see what I mean. This was is "fu" and the picture is of Mount Fuji and it kind of looks like a mountain! The next one is "tsu" and he's used a tsunami. I mean how can you forget that!

Ok for us Brits some of these American choreographed flashcards are a bit difficult to get your head around. One is "hockey stick" Now they would say "ha-kee" which is great if you're describing the Japanese sound "ha" but we would say "ho". Anyway its nothing too drastic and is still the best way I think you can learn Hiragana and Katakana easily.

I've just ordered the next BBC audio/book programme so I'll keep you posted on that one.

I just need to learn some vocab now....

Learning Japanese at Rifare, Kanazawa

My 6 week intro course in Bristol didn't get me very far in conversing with locals unsurprisingly. In fact I bought the BBC book and CD with me, that has helped far more, just listening to it on my daily commute (admittedly it has sent me to sleep a few times...)
However holidaymaker Japanese "When does the next train to Tokyo leave?" I realised was not going to help me with the staff room gossip after the weekend. So today I signed up to Japanese classes, 2 per week at the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange, aka Rifare (ree-far-ay). It cost 5000 Yen per month (about £35) so works out around £4 per lesson, bloody excellent!
There was a class on as I enquired so I joined it straight away. The teacher was pretty genki and the class small enough to create a nice, friendly atmosphere. I really enjoyed it. Now I can say "Sono wain, misete kudasai" (please show me this wine) Now that's more like it!

Japanese Supermarket Experience Part 1: Veggie Section

Hopefully one day I'll be able to write fluently about the weird and wonderful foods that you find in a Japanese supermarket, explain what they are, how they should be prepared and cooked and what they taste like. But as a newbie to Japan I know none of these things so am buying blind & testing things out at home. One thing you'll notice straight away is the cost of everything. Some things just astound me. They're growing rice right outside my front door but charge about £23 for a 10KG bag, is it just me or is that just expensive!

So I'll start with the first section of the supermarket, veggies (same as Morrisons at home, weird). Some veggies are obvious, or so I thought. Cucumber here is smaller and thinner than a courgette, in fact about the same size as a teaspoon so beware if you think you're stocking up on veggies.




Melons are also expensive here, about a tenner each. Now I was told this by our Japanese teacher during our intro course in Bristol. Yubari melons, those ones with the veins on the outside can fetch up to 15,000-100,000 Yen (up to £1000 each)

Anyway, here are the £10 variety., I'm sure they're about £2 in England? Maybe I've got that totally wrong.








And these bad boys, I'm going to have to check with Karen what these are. Turnips? They looked impressive anyway and were huge. I'll get back to you on that one.




Then there are the ominous looking pre-packaged vegetables, these ones below i have just found out are bamboo shoots or takenoko (see my post about takenoko picking), a real spring vegetable so in season. I added to a stir fry the other day and found it really crunchy, maybe it was only par cooked?!






Next comes this jellified liquid in packs. I'm still not sure what this is so will have to report back!