Japanese
At Ascot State School, students in Years 1 to 6 learn Japanese. Students in Years 1-4 study Japanese for 30 minutes per week and students in Year 5-6 study Japanese for 1 hour 30 minutes per week. They listen and respond to their teacher, share ideas, make stories, play games, learn songs and participate in plays and conversations. Students are encouraged to interact in Japanese and are exposed to a variety of texts, spoken, visual and written.
Rationale
Second language study promotes a child's understanding of diverse cultures and different points of view, and enriches learners intellectually, educationally, and socially. Language learning enhances literacy skills through increased knowledge of language structures and participation in discussion about language. It encourages students to think analytically, reason logically and solve problems.
Japanese is the official language of Japan, Australia's northern neighbour in the Asian region. It is also widely used by communities of speakers in Hawaii, Peru and Brazil, and learnt as an additional language by large numbers of students in the Republic of Korea, China, Indonesia and Australia. Japanese culture influences many areas of contemporary Australian society, including the arts, design, technology, fashion, popular culture, and cuisine. Japan has been a close strategic and economic partner of Australia's for over 50 years. The content learnt in class is based on Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) materials.
Content structure
The Australian Languages Curriculum (Version 8) is organised into two strands and several sub strands.
The two strands are:
• Communicating: socialising, obtaining information, creating, translating, reflecting on language use.
• Understanding: systems of language, language variation and change, the role of language and culture.