Japanese

The below units are available for Senior School students interested in studying Japanese.

Japanese Course Map
Level A
Level B
Level C
Level D
Level E

Level A

LOA10: Konnichiwa

This unit introduces the Japanese language and basic Japanese language skills through the study of Life in Japan and Australia. Topics covered include Greetings, Dining out and Friends. Emphasis is placed on developing clear and accurate pronunciation in spoken Japanese and consolidation of reading and writing of the hiragana script. Aspects of Japanese culture are introduced in relation to the theme being studied and compared to Australian culture. Thus, students continue to enrich their understanding of Japanese society.

LOA20: Genki

This unit continues to develop basic Japanese language skills through the study of Life in Japan and Australia. Topics covered include Family, My town and My weekend. Emphasis is placed on developing clear and accurate pronunciation in spoken Japanese, and upon consolidating reading and writing of the hiragana script and kanji. Aspects of Japanese culture are introduced in relation to the theme being studied and compared to Australian culture, thus students continue to enrich their understanding of Japanese society.

Level B

LOB10: Kazoku

In this unit students aim to become fluent in reading and writing hiragana as well as learning some Kanji. Katakana, the counterpart to Hiragana, is introduced. Students build confidence in speaking Japanese within a limited range of topics. Topics covered include Daily routine, School and events. They study grammatical structures and vocabulary which enables them to communicate on topics such as daily routine and school life. Essay writing is introduced via reading and writing of short passages.

LOB15: Baiku

This unit is the first in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOB15 must receive an offer during Unit Selection process and they will have already demonstrated excellent achievement in Level A Japanese studies. Students focus on the same language skills, scripts (hiragana / katakana / kanji) through the same topics covered in LOB10. Throughout this unit, though, they study in faster pace and hence cover more kanji and vocabulary. Wider aspects of Japanese culture are introduced in relation to the theme being studied, thus students continue to enrich their understanding of Japanese culture and society.

LOB20: Tomodachi

In this unit students continue to improve language skills introduced so far. They keep building on their knowledge of kanji and katakana while establishing hiragana. Emphasis is placed on oral and written interaction in a variety of situations to aid the development of confidence in communication and pronunciation. Students write short descriptions of their daily life. They are required to read a variety of material and recognize important details in written and spoken Japanese, including tense and grammatical sentence patterns. Topics covered include Holiday, Hobbies, Festivals and events.

LOB25: Kuruma

This unit is the second in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOB25 must have completed LOB15 in a satisfactory manner, or, have received a recommendation by their Japanese classroom teacher to move into the accelerated stream.

Students focus on the same language skills, scripts (hiragana / katakana / kanji) through the same topics covered in LOB20. Throughout this unit, though, they study in faster pace and hence cover more kanji, vocabulary and some grammatical aspects of Japanese language. Wider aspects of Japanese culture are also introduced where possible, in relation to the theme being studied, thus students continue to enrich their understanding of Japanese culture and society.

Level C

LOC10: Omoshiroi

Students undertaking this unit extend the skills developed in earlier units. They enhance their ability to talk about themselves and their surroundings. Students build on their knowledge of Kanji scripts and consolidate Katakana. Participation in rehearsed and unrehearsed oral situations helps students to build confidence in their speaking and listening skills. Students are introduced to grammatical concepts and vocabulary which enables them to use dates and follow written instructions. Topics covered include; Milestone, Nationality and Foods.

LOC15: Nozomi

This unit is the third in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOC15 must have completed previous accelerated units in a satisfactory manner, or, have received a recommendation by their Japanese classroom teacher to move into the accelerated stream. In this accelerated unit, students basically follow LOC10 curriculum, while extend their usage of Japanese beyond LOC10 where possible. They also learn contents in faster pace in order to cover more kanji and vocabulary.

LOC20: Tanoshii

Students continue to learn more complex forms of grammar and increase their ability to communicate in Japanese. Especially, students learn to communicate in more detail about time, arrangements and giving directions. They participate in rehearsed / unrehearsed dialogues, performing in structured conversational and transactional role-plays. More kanji are studied and students are expected to use them often in writing tasks. Students are required to write lengthier passages for both informational and social purposes.

LOC26: Shinkansen

This unit is the fourth in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOC26 must have completed previous accelerated units in a satisfactory manner, or, have received a recommendation by their Japanese classroom teacher to move into the accelerated stream. In this accelerated unit, students basically follow LOC20 curriculum. Students develop their Japanese language by extending their intercultural understanding and learning to communicate their interests and what they do in their leisure time. Students are expected to accelerate their skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. They learn LOC20 content faster to cover more kanji and vocabulary. Usage of adjectives, verbs and particles are extended, too.

Level D

LOD10: Dekiru

Students learn to communicate in more detail about making arrangements for travel, school activities, and part-time work. The grammar structures studied in this and the next unit will lay the foundation for successful studies in VCE / IB Japanese. Unrehearsed oral situations are practised and assessed; listening, reading and writing skills are developed through regular practice. Students are introduced to many kanji characters while further developing fluency with the katakana script.

LOD20: Kantan

In this unit, students develop their Japanese language skills. The emphasis of this unit is on students learning to recognise the plain form of verbs, how to talk about their future aspirations and make intercultural observations in the Japanese. They also learn about our sister school, Gotemba Nishi High School, and Gotemba city. Memorisation of an increasing range of vocabulary and kanji, and careful completion of homework tasks are essential aspects of this pre-VCE / IB program.

Level E

LOE15: Hikouki

This unit is the fifth in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOE15 must have completed previous accelerated units in a satisfactory manner, or, have received a recommendation by their Japanese classroom teacher to move into the accelerated stream. Using LOD10 curriculum as a basis for themes, topics and grammar, students begin to experience a full Japanese language classroom. Students are expected to accelerate their skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Particularly, they learn more kanji in faster pace to be ready for IB Japanese. They also extend their knowledge of Japanese life and culture by going through additional visual stimulus.

LOE25: Roketto

This unit is the sixth and last in a series of accelerated units in Japanese. Students wishing to do LOE25 must have completed previous accelerated units in a satisfactory manner, or, have received a recommendation by their Japanese classroom teacher to move into the accelerated stream. This unit is designed as a preparatory unit for IB Japanese. The emphasis is on building an extensive vocabulary bank with kanji and on developing reading and writing kanji skills. Students continue to develop language skills in fast pace. They develop their understanding of life in Japan past and present. Students learn to recognise and use a wide range of text types.