Grade 11 - Acquiring Information

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

use relevant information from a variety of age-appropriate Japanese-language resources to complete authentic tasks
convey acquired information in oral and visual forms, and in writing using hiragana , katakana , and some kanji (see Appendix A)

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Acquiring Information in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

At this level, many students are able to research specific topics and apply their growing Japanese language skills to use the information they collect for a purpose. Resources and tasks should be interesting and relevant to students of this age group. This will encourage them to interact in Japanese with greater confidence.

Invite students to examine the entertainment pages in Japanese newspapers and decide which films, concerts, or theatre productions they would like to attend, determining times and locations. Have them work with partners to exchange this information, then describe to the class their plans for attending the events.
Suggest that students study the help-wanted sections of Japanese or local newspapers to identify available employment opportunities requiring a knowledge of Japanese. Ask each student to select a job and apply for it by composing a simple rÈsumÈ on paper or using a computer. Students then create their own help-wanted advertisements for summer jobs.
Have students use a variety of resources to obtain information on healthy lifestyles. Ask them to use this information to set personal lifestyle goals and monitor their progress on a weekly basis, making regular entries in journals. Invite students to present their plans to the class at the end of each month, including summaries of their results in written, visual, or graphic form. Challenge them to create their own flyers outlining the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Students need a variety of opportunities to practise and apply their language skills in order to acquire and use information. Assessment may focus on both the skills and strategies they have developed and the degree of success they demonstrate in assigned tasks. Discussions about assessment criteria for various activities can help focus students' learning and enhance their performances.

When students make plans for attending films, concerts, or theatre productions, look for evidence that they can find the information they need and use vocabulary associated with time and location.
Work with students to develop criteria for their rÈsumÈs and profiles such as:
- provides clear and accurate information
- offers information that is relevant to the selected job advertisement
- uses appropriate expressions and patterns
- uses hiragana , katakana , and some kanji with accuracy
- follows appropriate forms and conventions
Ask students to present summaries of a simplified Japanese article. Look for evidence that they are able to:
- identify key information about the topic
- explain what they have learned clearly and in their own words
- include an increasing amount of supporting detail
Have students work in pairs to develop challenges that test their classmates' abilities to use Japanese resources (e.g., advertisements, dictionaries, menus). Look for evidence that they are able to:
- devise appropriate questions or tasks
- locate information in response to challenges from others
- recognize patterns in text features and organization
- persist in looking for answers, even when they do not understand most of the information
- make inferences based on familiar words and patterns

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

Print Materials

Active Japanese 5 and 6
Basic Japanese-English Dictionary
Collins Shubun English Japanese Dictionary (New - First Edition)
Everyday Japanese
Japan: An International Travel Map
Japanese - An Appetizer
Japanese for Everyone
Kenkyusha's Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary
Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide
Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics
Martin's Concise Japanese Dictionary
Merriam Webster's Japanese-English Learner's Dictionary
Nihongo Notes 1
NTC's Basic Japanese

Multimedia

101 Japanese Idioms
Japanese Language and People
Kimono
Moshi Moshi

CD-ROM

Exotic Japan
Multimedia Kanji Learning System

Revised: January 26, 1999

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