Activity: A Day with Kentaro

Compiled by Katherine Donaghy, Japan 21

Desired Learning Objectives:

Geography (Key Stage Two)

1a: children will ask geographical questions, such as ‘What is this area of Tokyo like?’
2a: children will use appropriate geographical vocabulary such as detached house, transport etc
2f: children will use secondary sources of information such as the Internet and photographs
3d: children will explain what Japan is like based on the photos

Modern Foreign Languages (Key Stage Two)

1c: children will learn correct pronunciation and intonation for some basic Japanese greetings
2a: children will work with authentic ICT based sources: http://www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/kentaro/index_e.html to create an authentic experience
2b: children will consider their own culture and compare it to that of Japan
2c: children will consider the experiences of other people (Japanese school children)

Starter

Print out the main 18 pictures from ‘A Day with Kentaro’, or alternatively use sets of photos from the picture panel set, if you have one. Hand out mixed sets of the pictures to the children.
Children work in pairs to first of all examine what each picture depicts and then to order them in the way they think events occurred. Children must be able to justify their reasoning.
Once an order has been decided upon, children could then be encouraged to write a caption to go with each picture to try and summarise what it is showing.

Main

Gather the class together and have one pair blu-tack their photos to the board in the order they have chosen. Do the rest of the class agree, or disagree? Why?
Discuss the captions. Are there any photos that the children are unsure of? If so, what? Are they able to make any educated guesses?
Go over the correct order by using the website as a guide: http://www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/kentaro/index_e.html
Also look at the captions the website uses to describe the photos. Do children have any idea what the Japanese means?
If time permits, why not teach the children some basic Japanese greetings? Try the following:
  ohayo おはよう good morning (said up until about 11am)
  konnichiwa こんにちは hello (said from 11am onwards)
  sayonara さようなら goodbye
(note, the letters in bold type, represent a long vowel sound).
If you are interested in doing further spoken language study with your class, why not try ‘Ready Steady NihonGO! - a new 10 lesson course in basic Japanese, designed for Key Stage Two children. The course can be downloaded for free from: www.japan21.org.uk and comes complete with a wealth of resources including comprehensive lesson plans, worksheets, culture notes, presentations and flashcards amongst others.
How similar are your children’s days to Kentaro’s? Discuss. What activities/ routines are the same? What are different? Is there anything that Kentaro does that surprises them?
Children could keep a diary for a day, listing everything they do from getting up, to going to school, to washing and going to bed. These can then be used to make a comparison with Kentaro’s day.

Plenary

One of the photos depicts Japanese children cleaning their school. You could also show them the additional cleaning pictures, by clicking on the following link: http://www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/6-1/donna/ichinichi/i07_e.htm
Ask your pupils why they think Japanese schools don’t employ cleaners. Is it a good or bad thing to make children clear up their own mess? Why? You could have a debate and write up the different opinions on the board. At the end, a vote could be taken and depending on the results, your class could be encouraged to take full responsibility for looking after their classroom for a day (or longer!)