(See below for Detailed ACARA Achievement Standards) 
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These readers have been written to support students who are learning Japanese in Australian or New Zealand primary schools or who are beginning their Japanese studies in Year 7 and 8. The content is aligned with the Australian Curriculum and the topics have been chosen to appeal to this particular age group. Readers support what is learned at school by reinforcing or introducing key language. ​


Younger students enjoy stories that suit their particular age and interests. Reading authentic Japanese stories is one excellent way to increase target language input in the classroom, however, at home, primary students have largely been unable to reinforce their Japanese learning through reading. Teachers can purchase Japanese story books, but, for most primary school students, these will be too difficult to independently read at home. This similarly applies to students beginning their Japanese studies in Year 7 and 8.

It is for this reason that I embarked on this project. In this series of readers, students are given audio support, a hiragana and/or katakana chart bookmark to decode as they go, or they can turn to the support page that matches each hiragana only page, if they need to.

Teachers can use these readers in their classes and also have them available in the school library so that students can borrow and read at home. This is an easy way for Japanese teachers to promote their subject because parents will also be in the position to understand the bilingual books. 

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Method

To allow for learner autonomy, these readers provide students with a number of ways in which they can read. They are able to choose as much, or as little, assistance with reading as they need and this will change as they increase their ability to read hiragana. Students can;

Listen first: 

Scan the bar code on the back of each book or access the downloadable audio file on this website to hear the free audio book. Students can listen and follow along with the story, which is read in both Japanese and English and follow the sentences in the book with their finger. This also provides ‘listen and repeat’ opportunities if the students chooses. A slow version is available for students who prefer that. 

Teachers can also introduce each story in class first, so that students learn about the different options that they have in the library. 
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Decode using a hiragana and/or katakana bookmark​
bookmark.pdf
File Size: 1750 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Each full set of books comes with matching, commercially printed, hard cardboard bookmark. 
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Students and teachers may also choose to use the freely downloadable and printable hiragana and/or katakana bookmark which allows students to decode as they go. In this option, the student reads the hiragana-only page. They can turn the page to check their reading and comprehension if they wish.

Read with the assistance of the bilingual reader version.

Students may find that reading the hiragana only is too daunting, in which case they can turn the page and read using the decoded hiragana script, where the English translation is also provided. Students can attempt to read hiragana while covering up the decoded answer with their bookmark. Please note that this is not just reading romaji words and sentences, it is still reinforcing hiragana because the romaji is broken up above each individual hiragana character, thus allowing students to recognise and learn hiragana as they go. 
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Differentiation

​Allowing students a variety of ways to access this material provides opportunities for differentiation within the classroom as well. Students can work with their peers on different books and in different ways, depending on their ability. The decoded/ English version of the page is kept throughout the levels because of the many instances when new students arrive at a school and they have no Japanese yet. This allows immediate inclusive practice without too much extra effort.

Research into hiragana instruction for young, beginner language learners has found that providing a variety of methods to access hiragana will facilitate learning. Allowing students to use both top down and bottom up cognitive processes provides ‘a range of ‘hooks’ to facilitate item decoding’, Bartlett, Roger J. (2001). Allowing romaji, for those students who feel they need it, is one of these hooks.

Two recent studies support the use of audio use in reading programs for Japanese. In a recent study where kanji was included into an L1 English context (as is the case in ‘Plastic’s Journey’), students were found to have a higher retention rate of vocabulary when learning meaning at the same time as pronunciation through audio. This is why it is suggested that students start out by listening to the story before reading it themselves, to provide the overall context of the story, increasing the chances of recognising the meaning when they start reading the stories independently.

Aoyama, Kazumasa, "Using A Diglot Reader to Teach Kanji: The Effects of Audio and Romaji on the Acquisition of Kanji Vocabulary" (2005)

Okuyama, Yoshiko. “CALL Vocabulary Learning in Japanese: Does Romaji Help Beginners Learn More Words?” CALICO Journal, vol. 24, no. 2, 2007, pp. 355–379. JSTOR, 
Language Levels

These stories have been written to align with the Australian Curriculum for Japanese. Some stories also touch on Cross Curricular Priorities such as sustainability and cyber safety.


Many Australian Primary schools introduce Japanese from different year levels and also with different time allocations. For this reason, the levels reflect the language (rather than the age) indicated in the curriculum for Foundation to Year 2, Year 3 to 4 and Year 5 and 6. So starter books can be used for students beginning Japanese in Year 4, for example, because they will be using beginner level language. 

The Ninja Levels are used to motivate students to want to move up the levels. The hiragana use does not increase in difficulty as the levels increase and combination sounds etc, are used from the beginning. This is to maximise students’ exposure to hiragana, with support, so that over time they learn these more complex patterns. 

The goal is to encourage students to read as much as possible, without it being overly stressful, so that reading hiragana is a fun, and not overly challenging experience.

ACARA Aligned Reading Levels

These stories have been written to align with the Australian Curriculum for Japanese. Some stories also touch on Cross Curricular Priorities such as Sustainability.

Many Australian Primary schools introduce Japanese from different year levels and also with different time allocations. For this reason, these levels reflect the language (rather than the age) indicated in the curriculum for Foundation to Year 2, Year 3 to 4,  Year 5 and 6 and Entry Level 7-8.. So starter books can be used for students beginning Japanese in Year 4, for example, because they will be using beginner level language. 

The Ninja Levels are used to motivate students to want to move up the levels. The hiragana use does not increase in difficulty as the levels increase and combination sounds etc, are used from the beginning. This is to maximise students’ exposure to hiragana, with support, so that over time they learn these more complex patterns. Each sentence has spaces between words and particles. This is not necessarily authentic, however, it is similar to cutting up spaghetti for children so that they don't choke! Presenting the words in 'bite size chunks' allows students to differentiate between words and also enables them to point to the words and particles more easily when they are reading, in the same way they do in learning to read in their first language.

The goal is to encourage students to read as much as possible, without it being overly stressful, so that reading hiragana is a fun, and not overly challenging experience.

Copy and paste relevant Achievement Standards and Content Descriptions into your programs. (Content descriptions can be found under each reader in the Shop section.
Highlighted sections below indicate language covered in each level by this reading series. Each book additionally has the relevant Content Descriptor Information underneath the product for teachers to copy and paste into their unit plans. Please click on the book to access book specific Content Description information.

Achievement Standard:  

Ninja Levels 1, 2 and 3
Foundation to Year 2 ACARA

By the end of Year 2, students interact with the teacher and peers through play- and action-related language. They use formulaic expressions and appropriate gestures in everyday interactions such as exchanging greetings and farewells, for example, おはようございます、おはよう、こんにちは、さようなら、また、あした, thanking and apologising, and giving and receiving, for example, どうぞ、どうも. They use visual, non-verbal and contextual support such as pictures, gestures, facial expressions and props to make meaning of simple texts. When listening to simple repetitive spoken texts, they identify key words such as names or numbers of objects or people, and demonstrate comprehension by actions, drawing or labelling. They respond to instructions through actions, for example, きいて　ください。みて　ください 。, and respond to questions, for example, だれなに どこ with single words and set phrases and by selecting images or objects, for example, いぬ　です　か。ねこ　です　か 。. They present information about themselves, their family, friends and favourite things at word and simple sentence level, using formulaic and modelled language. They describe people and objects using adjectives to indicate colour, shape and size, for example, あかい　りんご、おおきい、まるい. They indicate ownership by using, for example, だれ　の　ですか。わたし/ぼく　の　です。 They mimic Japanese pronunciation, intonation and rhythm through shared reading and singing. Students recognise and begin to write single kanji, such as 人, 木, 山、川、月、日、一、ニ、三, the 46 hiragana symbols, and some hiragana words such as くち、ねこ、あお、しかく. They demonstrate understanding of hiragana as well as kanji by actions such as matching, labelling and sorting. They translate and interpret examples of everyday Japanese language use and cultural behaviours such as the exchange of greetings or thanks, terms of address and some formulaic expressions and behaviours.
Students identify the three different scripts in Japanese, hiragana, kanji and katakana. They understand that hiragana represents the basic units of Japanese sound and apply that knowledge in their communication. They know that kanji represents meaning as well as sounds, and that katakana is used for borrowed words. They know that stroke order in writing characters is important. Students identify patterns in Japanese words and phrases and make comparisons between Japanese and English, for example, the word order in greetings, such as Smith せんせい、and in simple sentences, such as おりがみ　が　すきです。ぞう　は　おおきい　です。. They provide examples of different ways of addressing friends, family and teachers or other adults. They use pronouns, such as わたし/ぼく, and titles/suffixes, such as ～せんせい/～さん/～くん, to address different people. They identify Japanese words that are often used in English-speaking contexts, for example, ‘sushi’, ‘origami’ and ‘karate’. They give examples of Japanese words and phrases that have been borrowed from other languages, such as ピンク、テレビ、パン. They identify similarities and differences between Japanese and their own languages and cultures.

Ninja Levels 4 and 5
Year 3 to 4 ACARA

By the end of Year 4, students interact with the teacher and peers in regular classroom routines and structured interactions. They understand and respond to instructions related to classroom organisation and activities, for example, ペア　に　なって　ください。大きい　こえ　で　いって　ください。. They use formulaic and rehearsed language to exchange information about their personal worlds and in familiar interactions such as praising or encouraging one another, for example, 
がんばって. They use language spontaneously in simple familiar communicative exchanges, for example, やったー！だいじょうぶ？. They respond to simple questions using short spoken statements, for example, いつ　です　か。なに　が　すき　です　か。. They use counter classifiers in response to questions such as なん人にん、なん月がつ、なんじ、なんさい. Students identify specific items of information, such as facts about or key characteristics of people, when listening to or viewing texts such as short stories, weather reports or video clips. They use cues such as context, visual images and familiar vocabulary to assist comprehension. They create short spoken informative and descriptive texts related to their personal world with the support of modelled language, scaffolded examples and resources such as word lists. They describe people and events using adjectives, time-related vocabulary and appropriate verbforms, such as ます、ましょう、ました and ません. They read and write the 46 hiragana, including long vowels (for example, おとうさん、おおきい), voiced sounds (for example, かぞく、たべます), and blended sounds as formulaic language (for example, きょう、でしょう), as well as high-frequency kanji such as 月、日、先生. They apply word order (subject–object–verb) in simple sentences. They comprehend short written texts such as captions, labels, signs and stories that use familiar and repetitive language. They translate simple texts using classroom resources such as charts or word lists, noticing that some words and expressions do not translate easily. Students identify examples of cultural differences between ways of communicating in Japanese and in their own language(s). 
Students identify both vowel and vowel–consonant sounds of hiragana, recognising that vowel sounds can be elongated and that this can change meaning. They identify ways in which rhythm is used to chunk phrases within a sentence. Students use the hiragana chart to support their reading and writing, recognising its systematic nature. They demonstrate awareness of the predictable nature of pronunciation. They know the role of particles, for example, は、を、と、も、に; the rules for simple verb tense conjugations; and how to create questions using the sentence-ending particle か. They understand and use the rules and phonetic changes that apply to counter classifiers, for example, はっさい、ひとり、ふたり. They identify languagevariations that occur according to the age and relationship of participants, and according to the situation, for example, なまえ/ おなまえ、はし/ おはし. They demonstrate their understanding of the importance in Japanese of non-verbal communication such as the use of gestures, for example, bowing to replace words and to communicate meaning. Students identify ways in which Japanese language reflects ways of behaving and thinking.

Ninja Level 6
Year 5 to 6 ACARA

By the end of Year 6, students use formulaic and modelled language in classroom interactions to carry out transactions and to share or convey information about daily routines, activities and events, using time expressions such as まい日、ときどき. They ask and respond to questions in familiar contexts using complete sentences and appropriate pronunciation, rhythm and intonation. They ask for clarification and assistance, negotiate turn-taking and follow instructions. They extend their answers by using conjunctions such as そして、それから. They show concern for and interest in others by making enquiries such as だいじょうぶ？, and apologise and express thanks using appropriate gestures. They read and write all hiragana, including voiced sounds, long vowel sounds, double consonants and blends, and high-frequency kanji, for example, 犬いぬ, 小さい、雨あめ. Students locate specific information and some supporting details in a range of spoken, written and multimodal texts on familiar topics. They express reactions to imaginative texts, such as by describing qualities of characters, for example, やさしい　人　です。. They create connected texts of a few sentences, such as descriptions, dialogues or skits. They structure sentences using particles, for example, へ、で、を、がand prepositions, for example, の上うえに, and apply the rules of punctuation when writing. They describe and recount events and experiences in time, for example, adjective です。noun です/でした。 and present/past/negative verb forms, for example, のみます、たべます、見みました、いきません. They use counter classifiers in response to questions such as いくら　です　か。なんびき？なんこ？. Students translate familiar texts, recognising formulaic expressions and culturally specific textual features and language use. They comment on similarities and differences in ways of expressing values such as politeness, consideration and respect in Japanese compared to other languages and cultures.

Students understand and use the hiragana chart to pronounce contracted and blended sounds and exceptions to phonetic rules, such as を、へ、は, and です. They understand and apply the rules and phonetic changes related to counter classifiers, such as さんぜんえん、いっこ、はっぴき. They apply their knowledge of stroke order to form characters. They give examples of ways in which languages both change over time and are influenced by other languages and cultures. They identify words from other languages used in Japanese, such as パソコン、メール、パスタ, and how the pronunciation, form and meaning of borrowed words can change when used in Japanese. Students identify behaviours and values associated with Japanese society and incorporate these into their own language use, such as ways of deflecting praise, for example, じょうず　です　ね。いいえ。.
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2009 to present, unless otherwise indicated. This material was downloaded from the ACARA website (www.acara.edu.au)  (accessed [November 2020]) and was modified. The material is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ACARA does not endorse any product that uses ACARA material or make any representations as to the quality of such products. Any product that uses material published on this website should not be taken to be affiliated with ACARA or have the sponsorship or approval of ACARA. It is up to each person to make their own assessment of the product.