Junko Fujimoto

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Activity 1 : レンタルビデオ･ランキング

This activity provides students katakana scanning activity with authentic materials from the Internet. Reading movie titles and people's name in katakana is not easy, but utilizing students' background knowledge, in this case their knowledge about movies, helps them comprehend the text. This activity is a good practice for top-down language processing.

1) Theme: Hobbies

2) Grammar: カタカナ reading

3) Activity: Find out a video ranking chart from the Internet and print it out. Make some questions about the chart in English. In class, I give each student a chart. I read the questions and have students find the answers from the text.

4) Useful Websites:
a. http://www.tsutaya.co.jp
Click on "VIDEO & DVD," and you will see "今週のランキング" at the bottom of the page. Click on "▼レンタルVIDEO[洋画] more."

b. http://www.hakuyo.net
Click on "書籍・CD・DVD・ビデオ・ゲームソフトのランキングと新作情報など," and you will see a chart. Choose "レンタルＶＩＤＥＯ."

5) ATJ Standard: 1.2 and 4.1

6) Handout: Sample questions WORD PDF

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Activity 2 : 日本と世界の天気

This activity allows students to practice reading geographical terms written in either katakana or kanji and answer questions related to weather.

1) Theme: Weather

2) Grammar: 一番暑い(涼しい); 晴れ(雨, くもり, etc), 曜日; 何日; 何日間.

3) Activity: Find weather reports from the Internet and print them out. Make some questions either in English or Japanese depending on the purpose of the activity. If you want to have students practice reading geographical terms written in katakana, English questions are fine. If you want to have students practice vocabulary or expressions related to weather, Japanese questions would be more appropriate.

4) Useful Website:
http://www.yahoo.co.jp
Click "天気" in "速報" and choose your favorite areas.

5) Handout: Sample questions WORD PDF

6) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, and 4.1

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Activity 3 : ハンバーガー屋さんのメニューを読もう！

This is a katakana scanning activity using a menu of a hamburger shop. The menu is from the Internet and students can get visual images as well as product names written in katakana. All this information helps students comprehend the Japanese text.

1) Theme: Food

2) Grammar: カタカナ reading

3) Activity: Scanning. Directions are on the handout.

4) Useful Website:
Wenco Japan: http://www.wenco-japan.co.jp/wendys/index.html
Click on "Menu." You will see various menus.

5) ATJ Standard: 1.2 and 4.1

6) Handout: Sample Questions WORD PDF

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Activity 4 : ハンバーガー屋さんに行こう！

Ordering food is one of the most interesting activities for students. Even though we are in class, we can create a hamburger shop atmosphere using some menus from the Internet. This group activity allows students to practice useful expressions in ordering. In addition, it allows students to understand and confirm what they hear while taking orders: that is, students can experience real interaction. Using various menus, students can practice ordering in a hamburger shop

1) Theme: Food

2) Grammar: ＿＿＿をお願いします; ＿＿＿にしてください; ＿＿＿でございます, etc.

3) Activity: The directions are on the handout.

4) Useful Website:
Wenco Japan: http://www.wenco-japan.co.jp/wendys/index.html
Click on "Menu." You will see various menus.

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1 and 1.2

6) Handout: Directions, sample dialogue, sample menu check list, etc. WORD PDF

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Activity 5 : World Flags

Flag pictures are useful to practice vocabulary related to country names, nationalities, language names, etc. You can create world flag cards by downloading pictures from the Internet and printed them onto thick cards.

1) Theme: Miscellaneous

2) Grammar: 日本人(語)です; 日本人(語)の＿＿＿です.

3) Activity: The instructor can use world flags to introduce the vocabulary such as, 国名, ～人 or ～語.

4) Useful Website:
世界の国旗: http://www.p-alpha.co.jp
Click on "world flag" at the bottom of the page.

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1

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Activity 6 : 町の標識・図記号

1) Theme: My Town

2) Grammar: Location words: ex. ガソリンスタンドは喫茶店のとなりにあります

3) Activity:	1. Students will read a map and write the answers to the questions on the handout.
	2. In groups, students will make a town while practicing the vocabulary and asking questions about locations.

4) Useful Website:
: http://www.ecomo.or.jp/
Click on to download the pictures. You can find various free downloadable symbols, such as the following:

5) Handout:	1. Sample map and questions WORD PDF
	2. Group work sheet WORD PDF

6) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 5.1, 5.2

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Activity 7 : ここでタバコをすってはいけません

1) Theme: My Town

2) Grammar: ～てもいいですか and ～てはいけません／だめです

3) Activity: Download the pictures for prohibition from the Internet and create the
flashcards.

4) Useful Website:
: http://www.ecomo.or.jp/
Click on to download the pictures. You can find various free downloadable symbols for prohibition, such as the following:

5) Handout: Worksheet WORD PDF

6) ATJ Standard: 1.1

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Activity 8 : 歌: 春が来た

1) Theme: Daily Life

2) Grammar: どこに来た; どこでなく

3) Activity: Sing in the class.

4) Handout: Music and words WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1

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Activity 9: ○×ゲーム

○ means はい and × means いいえ in Japanese. When new structures are introduced to students, they need to get enough input to understand the language and get used to the structures. This simple ○×game allows students to examine structures and enables them to utilize them in communication in class. The samples include comparisons and もう & まだ sentences. Both are structurally complicated, but by the end of the activity students can learn to use them well.

1) Theme: Myself, Family, and Friends

2) Grammar: 1) Comparisons and 2) もう & まだ

3) Activity: Create ○×カード with ○ on one side of the card and × on the other side of the card. Bring the cards to the class and give a card to each student. Present the target sentences one by one and students choose ○ or × based on whether or not each sentence is relevant to students or not. When the sentences are all presented, we start to ask yes-no questions using the same sentences. Now students ask and answer questions using the target sentences.
1. Comparison.
ex. 犬より猫の方が好きですか。

　 ○: はい、犬より猫の方が好きです。

　
×:

いいえ、猫より犬の方が好きです。
いいえ、犬も猫も好きです。
いいえ、犬も猫もあまり好きじゃありません。

After this session, students will practice:
A: 犬と猫と、どちらの方が好きですか。
B: 犬のほうが好きです。

2. もう & まだ sentences.
ex. もう昼ご飯を食べましたか。

　 ○: はい、もう食べました。

　
×:

いいえ、まだ食べていません。

　　もうアルバイトをしていませんか。

　 ○: はい、もうしていません。

　
×:

いいえ、まだしています。

　　まだ寝ていますか。

　 ○: はい、まだ寝ています。

　
×:

いいえ、もう寝ていません(起きています)。

　　まだ春休みの計画をたてていませんか。

　 ○: はい、まだたてていません。

　
×:

いいえ、もうたてました。

4) Handout:
1. Comparison WORD PDF
2. もう & まだ sentences WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1

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Activity 10: Linguistic analysis of Japanese verbs

Mastering verb conjugation is one of the challenges which students need to get through. In the activity students will have verb conjugation data and induce the conjugation rules of Japanese verbs.

1) Theme: Miscellaneous

2) Grammar: Verb conjugation

3) Activity: Students will examine the data of verbs which they have learned and analyze the verb conjugation system. They can easily induce the conjugation rules from the data. The verb data on the handout is from なかま１＆２.

4) Handout:
1. Plain affirmative forms (なかま１ Ch7L2) WORD PDF
2. Plain negative forms (なかま１ Ch7L5) WORD PDF
3. てforms (なかま１ Ch8L1) WORD PDF
4. Potential forms (なかま１ Ch12L1) WORD PDF
5. Volitional forms (なかま２ Ch2L1) WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1

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Activity 11: ひらがな＆カタカナ Concentration Game

1) Theme: Miscellaneous

2) Grammar: Reading and writing

3) Activity: The direction is in the first page of each activity.
あ・ア～そ・ソ　｜　た・タ～ほ・ホ　｜　ま・マ～ん・ン　｜　あ・ア～ん・ン　

4) Useful Website:
The templates for the activities are developed by Dennie Hoopingarner of CLEAR at Michigan State University .
Flash Player is required to play the games. Click here to download Flash Player.

5) ATJ Standard: 4.1

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Activity 12: Sound-hiragana Matching Game

1) Theme: Miscellaneous

2) Grammar: Vocabulary

3) Activity: The direction is in the first page of each activity.
あ～そ 1 | あ～そ 2 | た～ほ 1 | た～ほ 2 | ま～ん 1 | ま～ん 2 | が～ぽ 1 | が～ぽ 2

Long Vowels 1 | Long Vowels 2 | Long Vowels 3 | Small つ 1 | Small つ 2

きゃ～ぴょ 1 | きゃ～ぴょ 2 | きゃ～ぴょ 3

5) ATJ Standard: 4.1

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Activity 13: Days of the Month

1) Theme: Daily Life

2) Grammar: ついたち、ふつか、みっか,,,

3) Activity: Students will practice days of the month simply by connecting the dots from ついたち to さんじゅういちにち. The vocabulary will be reinforced by singing "今日は何日？" to the tune of "きらきら星." After singing the song, the instructor can ask the students, "今日は何月何日ですか."

4) Handout: PDF
だるま connect the dots was created based on the Daruma image drawn by Trish Babbit.

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 5.1

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Activity 14: Group Work Scrambled Sentences

1) Theme: Daily Life

2) Grammar:	1. Expressing frequency and extent of actions
	2. Noun-modifying clauses

3) Activity: : The directions are on the handout
	Handout:	1. WORD PDF
		2. WORD PDF

4) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 5.1

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Activity 15: 自己診断チェック：あなたは何才まで生きられる？

1) Theme: Daily Life　

2) Activity: Reading

3) Handout: WORD PDF

4) ATJ Standard: 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1

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Activity 16: 一枚の写真～FUJI FILM: TV-CMより

1) Theme: Myself, Family, and Friends

2) Activity: Listening and Speaking

3) Useful Website: FUJI FILM TV-CM: http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/tvcm/index.html

4) Handout: WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

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Activity 17: 映画評論

1) Theme: Hobbies　

2) Activity: Read and write a movie review (Click to see the directions.)

3) Useful Website:	Amazon.co.jp: http://www.amazon.co.jp
	Rikai.com: http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl

4) Handout: WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2

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Activity 18: Narrating a story in group

1) Theme: Culture　

2) Activity: Narrating a story (Click to see the directions.)

3) Useful Website: 民話・昔話: http://www33.ocn.ne.jp/~maty/

4) Handout: WORD PDF

5) ATJ Standard: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2