Low-Cost Charitable Online Japanese Lessons for Children in 2020
When the stay home order was issued, I wondered, "What can I do for my community in this challenging time?"
I thought, “As an educator and as a language teacher, I can offer online Japanese lessons for children who are staying home due to school closure.”
I used to host Japanese Keiki (means kids in Hawaiian language) Circles for young children. I thought I could replicate it online. Of course, it will be different from an in-person experience, and I do not want to encourage children to be on screen too much, but my hope is to provide some fun learning experience for them.
I hope that this experience gives children impetus to be curious about other cultures (not just Japanese), which will then hopefully grow empathy toward the fellow citizens of the world.
- The target age is group is 3 to 9 years old.
- It is not mandatory to attend all 4 lessons.
- It is $5 ($4.80 plus tax) per class per household regardless of the number of children you have.
If you are interested, please send me an email at info@akaritranslations.com with your child’s name, age, and your phone number. I will send you a video that shows how to write your child’s name in Japanese.
We will sing songs, learn to count, learn some greetings, a couple of Hiragana, a couple of vocabulary, and read Japanese stories together.
A portion of your payment will be donated to a cause that is helping our community’s well-being. See below for whom and how much we have donated so far, and whom we are going to donate this week.
See you!
Ms. Akari (More about my bio, please visit here.)
P.S. The first 4 lessons’ videos are available below. Please feel free to watch.
The causes we have donated:
Materials used in lessons:
Hiragana:
Songs:
Stories:
Others:
Lesson Videos:
Hiragana:
- About Strokes - Please scroll down for explanation
- Dr. Moku’s Hiragana Mnemonics
- Kumon Hiragana Cards
- All 46 Hiragana Chart
- Hiragana Cards (you could print out and cut to use)
- Hiragana coloring sheets for younger children
- Hiragana practice sheets (2 hiragana per sheet)
- Hiragana from Zero (workbook for children ages 7 and above)
Songs:
- “Hajimaruyo” song composer unknown
- “Days of the Week” composed by Myu Papa
- “Hiragana Song” composed by Myu Papa
- “Ton Ton Ton Ton” composed by Hidemitsu Tamayama
- “Ookina Taiko” song written by Junichi Kobayashi and composed by Yoshinao Nakata
- ”Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in Japanese
- “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” in Japanese
- “Hittsuki Mottsuki” song written by Akikko Hirata and composed by Yuko Masuda
- “Musunde Hiraite” song composer unknown
- “Donguri Korokoro” song written by Nagayoshi Aoki and composed by Tadashi Yanada
- “Ookina Kurino Kino Shitade” song composer unknown
- “Kaoru no Uta” song written by Toshiaki Okamoto and composer unknown
- “Gu Choki Pah” song
- “Noraneko (Stray Cat)” written and composed by Kunihiro Tanigushi
- “Panda Usagi Koala” written by Hiroo Takada and composed by Yuki Kan
Stories:
- “Hats for the Jizos” published by Kamishibai for Kids (New York City, USA)
- “Nezumi no Yomeiri - Mouse’s Wedding” published by Kamishibai for Kids (New York City, USA)
- “Issun-Boshi” published by Kamishibai for Kids (New York City, USA)
- “The Story of Tanabata” published by Kamishibai for Kids (New York City, USA)
- “Konete Nobashite” by Shinsuke Yoshitake
- “Kasa Kashite Ageru” by Yasuko Koide
- “Chiisana Inu” by Naoko Machida
- “Yuki no hino Yubinyasan” by Tan Koide
Others:
- Greeting illustrations were from Genki 1 - An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese
- Digit illustrations from the Measured Mom Tools for Teaching
- Body Parts
- Days of the Week
- Numbers
- Colors
Lesson Videos:
- Lesson #01 (03/23/2020) - https://youtu.be/sgAGPVL6SQA
- Lesson #02 (03/24/2020) - https://youtu.be/JGW6aXR5Ki0
- Lesson #03 (03/26/2020) - https://youtu.be/alOu0Hy5eXU
- Lesson #04 (03/27/2020) - https://youtu.be/m55mCMiZ5Dg
When you write hiragana characters with a pencil, you do not need to copy the brush strokes precisely.
Japanese/Chinese writing is particular about strokes. For instance, Kanji characters are organized by the number of strokes. Ideally, children want to follow the order of strokes, although we don't want to be too strict to a point that discourages them.
What is a stroke?
A stroke happens from the moment you put your writing device down on the surface of paper and until you let it come off the paper.
Why are brush strokes everywhere?
Traditionally, Japanese was written with brushes. Almost any book or practice sheet that teaches Japanese writing uses the brush-written style for the Japanese characters. The brush-written style best represents how the characters should be written.
What is a stroke?
A stroke happens from the moment you put your writing device down on the surface of paper and until you let it come off the paper.
Why are brush strokes everywhere?
Traditionally, Japanese was written with brushes. Almost any book or practice sheet that teaches Japanese writing uses the brush-written style for the Japanese characters. The brush-written style best represents how the characters should be written.
Refund Policy for Group Lessons:
We rely on accurate attendance to prepare teaching materials and to plan lessons for our group lessons. If you need to withdraw from a course, you must inform us in writing via email.
We rely on accurate attendance to prepare teaching materials and to plan lessons for our group lessons. If you need to withdraw from a course, you must inform us in writing via email.
- You will be refunded 80% of the course fee for cancellations made more than 15 days prior to the start of a course.
- You will be refunded 50% of the course fee for cancellations made between 8 and 14 days prior to the start of a course.
- No refunds will be administered for cancellations within 7 days of the start of a course.
