Ideas for teaching Japanese WRITING

Ideas for teaching Japanese writing including hiragana, katakana and kanji in the classroom, useful websites and free downloadable worksheets.

Board games

Genkouyoushi 原稿用紙　げんこうようし

In-Class activities

Air aerobics   K Hutchinson
Tt stands at the front of the class and instructs Ss to write certain things in the air with their arms and legs. Eg. ‘Using your left hand write .  Now use your right foot and draw . etc.

Around the world  A Suzuki  
Ss sit in a horseshoe shape. The first Ss on the left of the horseshoe shape stands behind the Ss to his/her left. These two Ss are asked a question related to the target language. Eg. “What does this word/kanji mean?” The first Ss to answer continues left around the horseshoe shape (imagine going around the world). This Ss continues moving around the world until another Ss is faster than him/her.  The Ss who is the slowest sits down and the Ss who is faster takes his/her place. Once one of the Ss has reached the end of the horseshoe shape they then have a final 3 questions together with the last person in the horseshoe shape.  The Ss who wins the final 3 questions competes against the person who moved the most around the horseshoe shape. The two Ss then compete with a final 3 questions.  The winner is the Ss who answers the most questions correctly and the quickest. Extra: hiragana/katakana.

Back writing Adapted from www.eslprintables.com
Each pupil uses his/her finger as a pencil and writes a word, hiragana, katakana or kanji on his/her classmate’s back. This classmate tries to guess the word (or letter). If he or she guesses it before the “writer” finishes, he/she get three points. If he or she guesses it after the word has been written once, both children get two points.  If the word has to be written a second time, they only get one point.

Eight page book A Suzuki      
Fold a piece of paper into 4, then in half (creating 8 squares). Tear along the middle of the second and third square (creating a hole). Fold the paper into a star shape. Now fold up into a book form. (This book can be used for practicing writing: eg. days of the week, daily routine, family members, likes and dislikes, a short story etc.)

Fan tastic 
To review vocabulary (or hiragana or kanji) put the word you want Ss to learn onto a piece of A4 paper.  Fold the paper in a fan shape.  Slowly reveal the word fan section by fan section.  Ss have to guess what the word is before the fan is completely opened.

Guess what   A Suzuki
Fold a piece of paper in four. Write a sentence about something on each section of paper. Eg. Fold one – I am tall and skinny. Eg. Fold two – I like hamburgers. Eg. Fold three – I like wearing red and yellow. Eg. Fold four – I work in a restaurant. Eg. (The answer is Ronald McDonald). Ss read each section while the other Ss listen and try to guess what the object is. The final fold should reviel what was being described. (This could be used to describe animals, places, famous people, careers etc.)

Hiragana jumble Adapted from www.eslprintables.com
The class is divided into pair or groups.The teacher writes some words about a topic on the blackboard and gives each group a set of small cards where children write each hiragana of the words on the blackboard. Then they have to mix the hiragana and then recompose each word. The teacher walks around checking the words and asking the children to read out the words.   For older students, the teacher can write sentences rather than words and pupils have to recompose the sentence word by word.

Hiragana Massage  L Brandis 
Divide the Ss into pairs.  One Ss writes Hiragana letters on the back of the other who tries to guess which letter it is.

Hiragana Ninja L Brandis       
Tt faces his/her back towards the Ss and draws above his/her head a hiragana letter in the air.  The Ss guess the letter.  Ss replace the Tt.

Hiragana spell Adapted from www.eslprintables.com
Divide the class into teams and give each team a set of hiragana letters. Get them to spread out the letters on the table so they’re all facing up. Then give clues for words you want to test them on, e.g. ‘the day before Suiyoubi すいようび’, students write kayoubi かようび on the table by selecting the hiragana letters. ‘Kore wa nan desu ka?’ – point to things in the classroom, draw on the board etc. Once students get the idea, ask one of them to lead the game and give the clues instead of you.

Hiragana Stomp   L Brandis  
Put a few sets of hiragana  (ie ha family and ma family) scattered on the floor at the front of the classroom.  Select two Ss.  Say a hiragana.  The first Ss to stomp on it with their foot and shouts the hiragana is the winner.  This person may now select the next Ss to come and play. (Or the Ss continue a few times.  The Ss with the most flashcards at the end is the winner).  Can also be done for vocabulary revision.

Hiragana Taisou   L Brandis   
Ss choose a body part and then use it to write a letter in Japanese.

Kanji Rebuild A Suzuki
Tt shows a kanji  on a A3 piece of paper which has been broken up into each stroke (they can be out of stroke order). The Ss have to put the strokes back together and guess what the kanji is. (This can be done in pairs). Extra: can use this with hiragana, katakana or spelling of words

Memory
One set of cards with the word or kanji, another with a picture or hiragana.  All cards face down and the Ss have to find the matching pairs.

Michikusa   A Suzuki
Use a grid (about 8 by 10). Write 3 stroke Kanji from one side of the grid to the other (randomly but still making sure that students can make a line of 3 stroke Kanji from the start to the goal). Label where the first 3 stroke kanji is with ‘Start’ and on the other where the last 3 stroke kanji is with the ‘Goal’. Complete the grid with other Kanji such as 2 or 4 stroke Kanji. Ss draw a line from the start to the goal finding all the 3 stroke Kanji. Extra: hiragana vs katakana, numbers vs kanji, travel vocabulary vs other vocabulary etc.

Mystery object  L Brandis
Fold a piece of paper into ½ vertically then fold into 4.  Unfold the paper keeping the paper folded in ½ vertically.  At the third crease cut a circle shape.  Unfold the paper completely.  Then fold it in half horizontally.  One side of the paper will have a hole in the middle of it.  The other side will not.  Ss open the folded paper and draw an object underneath where the hole is.  Then fold the paper up again and write four sentences around the hole.  The Ss exchange their papers.  By reading the description and seeing only the small portion of the object under the hole the Ss has to guess what the object is. 

OHT memory   A Suzuki
Put up an OHT with  words, phrases, Kanji or other script. Ss have one minute to remember the words. Tt removes the OHT and Ss write down all the words that were on the OHT. The Ss who remembers the most words wins.

Run and write
Divide the class into two teams.  Allocate a runner for each team.  Tt shows a flashcard in English the Ss then run to the board and write the word in the target language.  The person to first do this gets a point.  The team with the most points at the end is the winner.

Word tree Adapted from www.eslprintables.com
To practice hiragana sounds. Divide the students into groups. For each hiragana being studied provide a cut-out of a large tree. Write or paint the sound/letter on the trunk of the tree.  Ask the students to “hang” words on slips of paper containing the sound from the branches of the tree.  Display the accumulated trees on the classroom wall as the term progresses.Use them for periodic pronunciation review. 

PowerPoints for teaching Japanese WRITING

Videos

Websites for teaching Japanese WRITING

Worksheets