Plastic's Journey: HIRAGANA ONLY VERSION
Follow the journey of a plastic bag as it unfortunately floats past, through and into nature. This story exposes young primary-aged readers to both hiragana and kanji words for nature in a story that will encourage discussion about the environment, recycling and plastic use.
Key Language
Nature Kanji; 山, 木, 田んぼ, 土, 花,海
Kanji numbers up to 20
Sustainability (soft plastics reaching the ocean)
With free access to a bilingual and a Japanese-only audiobook and hiragana chart bookmark, this picture book has been written for primary aged beginners of Japanese, (ideally Foundation to Year 2 Strand of the Australian Curriculum but can also be used for beginners in Year 3 and 4). (See Content Descriptions below).
Each colourful page is presented in hiragana only until the end of the story. Once the story is complete, there are easily identifiable white pages with the English meaning, clearly linked to the matching kanji page number, so that children are able to refer to this page when they are unsure of meaning as they go.
The book is generously sized at 20.6cm by 20.6 cm making it easy to hold and images and words clear and easy to see. Printed locally in Australia on quality paper, this book has been made to last in a classroom, library or home with long term use in mind.
COMMUNICATING
Creating
Participate in shared listening to, viewing and reading of imaginative texts, and respond through singing, chanting, miming, play-acting, drawing, action and movement
[Key concepts: imagination, response, expression; Key processes: responding, performing, sharing, expressing] (ACLJAC114)
Participate in shared performances and presentations of stories, songs, chants and rhymes
[Key concepts: performance, narration, image, rhythm; Key processes: acting, creating, composing, expressing] (ACLJAC115)
ReflectingNotice and describe some ways in which Japanese language and communicative behaviour are similar or different to own language(s) and cultural forms of expression
[Key concepts: language, culture, similarity and difference, respect; Key processes: noticing, comparing, considering] (ACLJAC118)
(reflect about onomatopoeic words in English. How does wind sound in English?)
UNDERSTANDING
Systems of languageRecognise sounds and rhythms of spoken Japanese, and learn how sounds are produced and represented in the three different scripts
[Key concepts: mora, rhythm, intonation; Key processes: listening, distinguishing, recognising] (ACLJAU120 )
Recognise and copy some hiragana and a few high-frequency kanji
[Key concepts: script, kana, kanji, phonemic awareness, meaning; Key processes: recognising, tracing, copying] (ACLJAU121 )
CROSS CURRICULAR PRIORITIES
SUSTAINABILITY
© 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.