Activity: Our Town

Geography (Key Stage Two)

1a: children will ask geographical questions, such as ‘What is this area of Tokyo like?’
2c: children will use maps at a range of scales to identify Tokyo and areas within the city
2f: children will use secondary sources of information such as the Internet and books to aid their research

ICT (Key Stage Two)

1c: children will learn to interpret information from the Internet – check that the information is relevant and reasonable and whether there may be any omissions or errors

EN3 (Key Stage Two)

1a: children will use the correct form for writing a Japan brochure
1c: pupils will use language and form appropriate to the reader
2: children will work collaboratively to plan, draft and revise their work before presenting it in its final form

Show children the picture of ‘Our Town’ in the Grade 6 Class 1 presentation:
http://www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/6-1/tegami/town_e.htm
Read the description that accompanies the picture and discuss – does your town have any similar features to this one? If so, what? Where are they located? (Perhaps point out on a map, and look at a picture). Discuss the photo – what can children identify? How can they tell this picture is not of a UK town (height of buildings, road signs, and traffic lights, etc.).
Show children other photos of Tokyo. What interesting features do they notice? Is there anything they can’t recognise? How could they find out what it is? A useful site for images is:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Japan/Kanto/Tokyo/
Point out the location of Tokyo on a map. For a good map and area description, look at the Kid’s Web Japan site:
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/japan/map.html
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/japan/regions/kanto.html
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/japan/regions/q12.html

Explain to children that they are going to be doing an area study of Tokyo.
Organise children into groups of 3 or 4 children and assign each group with a particular place/region within the city. Using books, maps and the Internet, children are to investigate their destination and produce a travel guide to advertise it.
Areas/ places you may wish to include: Roppongi Hills, Odaiba, Ginza, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, The Diet, Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo Disney Land, Narita airport etc.
Discuss with children how to research – ie, how to use search engines on the Internet, how to identify useful sites and select appropriate information and to always bear in mind WHAT it is they are trying to investigate – in this case, the following questions may be of use: ‘Where is the place we are investigating?’ ‘What is it famous for?’ ‘Are there any other points or features of interest in the area?’
When using the Internet, always be sure to point out how to use the Internet safely.
Once information has been gathered, children should work together to edit and hi-light key words and phrases that may be useful in their own brochures.
Ask children what they think the main features of a tourist brochure may be? List the features on the board – such as appealing layout, pictures with captions, emotive language and questions, contact details. Remember, they are trying to sell the destination. Look at example brochures from other places.
Children work together to produce their pamphlets – perhaps on a folded piece of A4. They should plan it in rough first, revise and edit as appropriate and produce a final version. Remind children that it is important to use their own words and to not simply lift text from the Internet/books etc. Setting children a word limit will also encourage the children to think carefully about the language they are using.

The groups of children should take it in turns to present their findings. First of all, they should point out the location on the map and then discuss all the features of the area. Are they able to sell the area as a tourist destination?