Language and Literacy Activity

When teachers offer the experiences of learning Japanese letters, “kanji”, for children, it should be play for them. The reason is because people who try to learn a second language need to know and figure out that learning a second language is very interesting and enjoyable for them. For young American children, they are still English learners, so the teachers need to consider that the activity is appropriately based on the child’s age, abilities, and knowledge. (Kan) According to National Association for the Education of Young Children, “Teachers need to respect the child’s home language and culture and use it as base on which to build and extend children’s language and literacy experiences.” (NAEYC)

The Japanese characters (kanji) are based on the images of real objects. For example, the word “river” is written as “?” (kawa). The letter will be familiar to your image of a river. Can you make an image of a mountain? The mountain is written as “?” (yama) in Japanese kanji. Don’t you think the structure of the ? seems like a mountain? What kind of images of a fire do you have? The word “fire” is written as “?” (hi).

When teachers offer this activity, they might first let children draw their image of the words they are going to teach. Then, they can show them the Japanese characters (kanji). Afterward, the teachers and children will compare and talk about their art and the letters. (Higashinakagawa) Using the children’s ideas is for them to develop and experience learning a specific topic.

To expand these experiences to connect to other activities, the art the children made and the Japanese characters they printed can be displayed in the classroom, so the children can acquire an appreciation of the letters through comparing theirs and the printed letters daily. Furthermore, displaying the Japanese letters in the classroom will encourage them to learn and understand more Japanese characters (kanji). Teachers may also offer playing-card experiences. Each card has a printed Japanese character (kanji) on it and the cards are spread out and displayed. Then, the teacher describes randomly the principle meaning of a card without saying what it is. Afterward, children try to find the card the teacher described. This kind of card game is also one of the Japanese traditional games.

Traditional Activity

Teachers and caregivers are required to offer experiences which are based on meaningful and multicultural understandings in to the curriculum (“multicultural”). In United States education, teachers and child care professionals focus on providing culturally appropriate holiday activities. The activities can be related to anti-bias curriculum because children can feel close to the culture through the different cultural holiday experiences (NAEYC). Teachers can encourage the children by sharing feelings and information about the holiday activities. There is a variety of Japanese traditional activities that are even nowadays maintained and used at homes, schools and communities.

The Star Festival, which is called “Tanabata”, on July seventh, is the day of making a wish to the stars. The reason why people make a wish is because Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) who love each other are separated by god. They can meet each other on just one day each year through the Milky Way. A million stars, which create the road of the Milky Way, enable Orihime and Hikoboshi to meet. People nowadays write down their wish on paper and tie the paper to a bamboo tree. (“Tanabata”)

In the activities, teachers will be able to explain the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi and tell children that we can also make a wish to the stars to make their dreams come true. Children will need to know the procedure to make a wish to the stars.

The teachers will explain the procedure and let them write down their wishes on paper and tie their wishes to the bamboo tree. If the children hesitate to make a wish, the teachers can support the children to figure out their dreams by conversations (asking what the children want to be in their future and what they want to get). I hope that children will have an experience to wear “Yukata” (Japanese clothes) at the same time.

The influences of these activities on children are that the children experience and learn not only different cultures, but they may also be able to understand Japanese cultural values and become aware that there are a lot of interesting things around this world. The learning experiences inhibit the children from believing stereotypes and being ethnocentrists.

According to NAEYC, “Learning about cultural holidays can broaden children’s awareness of their own and other culture’s experiences.” (NAEYC) The children who experience a lot of cultural values will also be able to have more flexibility and creativity in other activities. Furthermore, they will be willing to interact and create relationships with people from other cultures.

Visual Art Activity

As you may know, creating origami is one of the traditional Japanese activities. Ninety-nine percent of Japanese children and adults can create the crane origami appropriately. The famous principle of the crane origami transcends the tragedy of the World War in Hiroshima. There is a famous Japanese true story about a girl who had Leukemia caused by the influence of the atomic bomb’s radiation. Until she died, she continued to create crane origami to better her health. People who create a thousand of the crane origami will have their dreams come true. Japanese people nowadays create the origami as a symbol of world peace, to wish and convey to the world that this kind of tragedy must never happens again. (Origami)

In the activity, a teacher can offer a book about the story of the girl. Then, the teacher also explains about the one thousand crane origami. When the children are interested in creating crane origami, teachers can let the children make them with an explanation of how to create the origami. Not only the explanation, but the teacher can create and demonstrate the crane origami to the children. In doing so, the teacher give them a direction of how to create it.

The influence of this activity on children is that the children will learn Japanese culture and how to create the crane origami. However, they will also come to appreciate what real world peace is. The reason is because young children have very sensitive emotions about everything they experience. Alison Levy said, “The key to the future lies in helping the next generation to respect and embrace diversity rather than fear and reject differences. By exposing a child to culture in the classroom, teachers can influence the child’s future and make it brighter and more peaceful one.” (Levy 5)

Kensei Ikeda
April 2006