Key features of each Jblog 1 textbook

1.Chapter title page with a summary of what is in the chapter – the hook to get them in and a beautiful photograph. Students are much more adept at learning from images than we give them credit for.

2.Jblog – this is a weblog that introduces the cultural background of the chapter. It has a side panel with some focus Japanese words as well. The facts are in specific detail to keep even our most gifted students happy with information they won’t already know.

3.Ski Challenge – This section encourages them to have a go at their ability level based on skiing principles of green, blue and black runs. Each chapter features one differentiated challenge. Our worksheets and listening drills also follow this system.

4.Ask your senpai column – where a problem is posed in the form of an agony aunt column to explain new concepts of the language or culture or language learning experience. Eg how to use a dictionary – what problems you may encounter.

5.Each chapter ends with Lucy's diary. Lucy is the more advanced younger sister in the book who models the language in more contextualised texts.

Chapter 4 :

• Children's day & Tanabata
• Taiko
• Where do you live?
• Where are you from?
• Classroom vocabulary
• Zodiac animals じゅうにし
• Giving a self-introduction speech
• Matching questions to answers & understanding the syntax pattern

Chapter 5 :

• Food
• Dining etiquette
• Telling the time
• Aisatsu for different times
• Casual & polite aisatsu
• Hiroshima & Nagasaki
• Hibakusha stories
• Using print & digital dictionaries
• Interviewing sister school students
• Aizuchi
• Giving opinions re food

Chapter 6 :

• Samurai & ninja
• Making a telephone call
• Particle focus の
• Transport
• Graph study re transport to school
• Setsubun festival
• Japanese currency
• Making simple purchases
• days of the week
• Likes & dislikes
• と and

Chapter 7 :

• School life
• School subjects
• Janken game
• Subject preferences
• Graph study re subjects
• や
• 日本語 vs えい語 vs 国語
• School festivals
• Classroom items
• Numeracy task re budgeting

Chapter 8 :

• Sumo
• Verbs in masu + masen form
• New Year resolutions
• Counters さつ
• Culture reflection re Christmas & New year
• New Year in Japan
• nengajou
• Colours
• Impact of Cultural perception eg colours

Key features of each Jblog 2 textbook

1.Chapter title page with a summary of what is in the chapter – the hook to get them in and a beautiful photograph. Students are much more adept at learning from images than we give them credit for.

2.Jblog – this is a weblog that introduces the cultural background of the chapter. It has a side panel with some focus Japanese words as well. The facts are in specific detail to keep even our most gifted students happy with information they won’t already know.

3.Ski Challenge – This section encourages them to have a go at their ability level based on skiing principles of green, blue and black runs. Each chapter features one differentiated challenge. Our worksheets and listening drills also follow this system.

4.Ask your senpai column – where a problem is posed in the form of an agony aunt column to explain new concepts of the language or culture or language learning experience. Eg how to use a dictionary – what problems you may encounter.

5.Each chapter ends with Lucy's diary. Lucy is the more advanced younger sister in the book who models the language in more contextualised texts.

6.NEW : A Japanese recipe - in Jblog 2 Jake begins Japanese cooking lessons with his mum. The recipes are in Japanese introducing the plain form in a non-threatening way. Students will be too distracted by the food to notice! We recommend cooking these in class if you can.

7.NEW :10 second genius - This is a short grab that allows students to improve their genius ability in 10 seconds. For example suffixes to create new words etc.

What topics are covered in Jblog textbook 2?

Chapter 1 :

• A review of Jblog textbook 1 content
• Introduction to Buddhism
• Katakana - for café items & hobbies
• Links such as しかし、でも、も
• Modern free time activities & hobbies
• Festivals review & ひなまつり
• Numeracy re modern marriages
• Discussing the timing of activities
• Recipe : やきとり
• New Year games
• Texting in Japanese including emoticons

Chapter 2 :

• Intercultural competency
• Humble vs honorific language
• Polite family members vocabulary
• School & year level
• Easy adjectives
• Strengths & weaknesses
• Large numbers
• Linking adjectives
• Haiku poetry
• negating compliments

Chapter 5 :

• Seasons
• Weather vocabulary
• どういたしまして vs とんでもない
• Types of weather reports (snow, local & world)
• Earthquakes & tsunami (including 2011)
• Festival focus : ねぶた & かんとう
• Recipe : やきそば
• Envelopes : wedding, funeral & おとしだま
• Using basic verbs across the 4 tenses
• Using basic adjectives across the 4 tenses
• Diary text type basics

Chapter 7 :

• Around Town - shops & icons
• Features of a Japanese neighbourhood eg こうばん、じんじゃ、せんとう
• Suffixes for shops や & buildings かん
• Particle focus で、に、へ、と
• Recipe : ぎゅうどん
• Length of a journey
• Using hyperdia to budget & plan trips in Japan
• Declining suggestions ましょう、ちょっと
• Vocab & phrases for dining out & purchasing food - convenience stores vs McDonlads vs café
• Tips to mastering kanji stroke order
• Text type focus - using surveys to collect and analyse data

Chapter 8 :

• This unit may be taught as a normal unit or as a CLIL unit
• Sumo wrestling
• Phrases for classroom interactions
• Cultural terms related to sumo eg mawashi
• Discussing height & weight
• Text type - report re health comparison of Australian & Japanese males & sumo wrestlers
• Vocabulary for discussing injury or illness
• Interpreting statistics re health & the impact on life expectancy
• Visiting a doctor role play
• Sumo wrestler daily routines
• Recipe : ちゃんこなべ
• Superstitions related to sumo
• Rules and rankings

Key features of each Jblog 3 textbook

1.Chapter title page with a summary of what is in the chapter – the hook to get them in and a beautiful photograph. Students are much more adept at learning from images than we give them credit for.

2.Jblog – this is a weblog that introduces the cultural background of the chapter. It has a side panel with some focus Japanese words as well. The facts are in specific detail to keep even our most gifted students happy with information they won’t already know.

3.Ski Challenge – This section encourages them to have a go at their ability level based on skiing principles of green, blue and black runs. Each chapter features one differentiated challenge. Our worksheets and listening drills also follow this system.

4.Ask your senpai column – where a problem is posed in the form of an agony aunt column to explain new concepts of the language or culture or language learning experience. Eg how to use a dictionary – what problems you may encounter.

5.Each chapter ends with Lucy's diary. Lucy is the more advanced younger sister in the book who models the language in more contextualised texts.

6.10 second genius - This is a short grab that allows students to improve their genius ability in 10 seconds. For example suffixes to create new words etc.

8.NEW : A new perspective - This sections builds upon their previous learning and reveals to the students a new way of looking at content they have already seen in a different way. For example moving from kunyomi knowledge of kanji to onyomi readings etc.

What topics are covered in Jblog textbook 3?

Chapter 1 :

In this chapter we wanted to look at the traditional 'pets' topic in a more sophisticated way. We begin with Hachiko, the most famous Japanese pet and move through the influence of animals on our lives and learn about native animals to Japan such as tanuki and inoshishi. We look at pet ownership rates in Japan and Australia, consider religious and cultural influences on attitudes towards certain animals and finish up with a look at Ainu culture.

Content includes :

・vocabulary for pets

・animal counters わ、ひき

・making comparisons より

・describing pets and animals of Japan and Australia

・links to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives including ancestral beings, maternal bloodlines and personally significant entities

Chapter 2 :

In this chapter we join Lucy on her school trip to the Kansai region and learn from her mistakes regarding Kansai dialect. We focus on famous attractions such as Kiyomizudera and Nijoujou, as well as exploring the various types of accommodation available in Japan. This would be a good unit to prepare for a school tour to Japan.

Content includes :

• packing lists
• adjectives review
• trip itinerary
• conjunctions & connectives eg が、けど、しかし
• direct and indirect speech quotations
• interviewing tourists
• travel diary
• Kansai dialect

Chapter 3 :

In this chapter we revisit the school topic from the perspective of graduation. It is a good opportunity to revise school related vocabulary and use it in more sophisticated ways to introduce their school life to others. A good unit to do to prepare for Japanese sister school visits.

Content includes :

• Discussing school club activities
• Basic relative clauses using 好きな
• Justifying preferences
• Discussing relative location - ペンはつくえの上にあります。
• Describing school life
• Superstitions regarding blood types
• Graduation ceremonies

Chapter 4 :

In this chapter we join Lucy on her school trip to the Kansai region and learn from her mistakes regarding Kansai dialect. We focus on famous attractions such as Kiyomizudera and Nijoujou, as well as exploring the various types of accommodation available in Japan. This would be a good unit to prepare for a school tour to Japan.

Content includes :

• Golden Week and other national holidays
• Okinawa - past and present
• Discussing sightseeing and local attractions
• Describing the purpose of a visit おしろ を 見 に きました。
• Describing the length of a visit - days, weeks, months, years
• Okinawa dialect
• Writing a quiz
• Posting on line re a holiday

Chapter 5 :

In this chapter we tap into some retail therapy. Lucy has a birthday party and her friend's have issues at Gap when buying her present. Your students will become familiar with where to shop in Tokyo, as well as how observe shopping etiquette eg taking off their shoes in change rooms.

Content includes :

• Katakana abbreviations eg コスプレ
• Shopping customs in Japan including おちゅうげん、おせいぼ
• ほしい versus たい usage
• On-line purchases
• これ versus この
• Locating items in a store
• Uses of the particle の
• Noticing familiar words in new contexts eg か to mean "or"

Chapter 6 :

In this chapter the Yamada family does a houseswap with the Clarke family from Noosa. Jake is sad to lose his best mate, but cheers up with the arrival of the Clarke twins. In this chapter, we increase the amount of text the students are dealing with in preparation for Stage 6. For example the Dear senpai column switches to being written in Japanese.

Content includes :

• Cowra Outbreak, Darwin bombing & the Sydney Harbour submarines
• Writing a profile
• Introduction letters
• Forming the plain form
• Conjugating the て form
• Using the て form as link and to make requests
• Cultural differences between home life in Japan and Australia
• Suggestions for おみやげ

Chapter 7 :

In this chapter we explore issues of the environment, and the positive and negative actions humans can have on their surroundings. We hear about the effects of Fukushima on the local communities and consider how etiquette helps us share our environment with others. Students also focus on learning how to persuade others through language choice.

Content includes :

• environmental issues - solar panel farms, nuclear energy
• Persuasive language structures - ましょう、ませんか、ましょうか
• Organizing positive action - posters re recycling, clean-up events
• Using the て form to grant and deny permission - てもいい・てはだめ
• Signage re local rules eg swim between the flags, send bags via a courier
• peer pressure re smoking

Chapter 8 :

In this chapter we look at future directions for students and for Japan as a nation. We discuss the idea ow "work" vs having a "calling", and relate the long life expectancy of the Okinawans with research on いきがい. We discuss changes in Japanese society including the focus on foreign tourism, the push for women to return to the workforce post-children and the introduction of robots and drones to support child care workers.

Content includes :

• Foreign tourism in Japan especially the Chinese tourism boom
• Women in the workforce and changes to support them
• Discussing employment and occupations
• Meishi etiquette
• Living with robots - a solution for the elderly and the infant
• Discussing future plans and events
• Life beyond school - university, travel
• An interview with Okinawan elderly - my ikigai
• Moral issue - who should pay on a date
• Text type review