Grade 7 - Communicating

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:

ask and respond to simple questions using common sentence patterns (desu )
respond to and give simple instructions
express preferences and interests
demonstrate a willingness to experiment with hiragana and katakana to communicate basic information
participate in classroom activities

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

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

At this level, students are capable of using some learned Japanese words and phrases to form complete messages or participate in short interactions.

Ask students to complete a questionnaire related to their likes, dislikes, and interests. Have students work in pairs to report their findings to the class.
Suggest that students role-play shopping trips using familiar vocabulary related to the items for sale. Ask them to include expressions such as Toire-e itte mo ii desuka and Wakarimasen . Invite students to make posters showing some of these expressions for display in the classroom.
Have students in pairs count the numbers for 100 consecutive school days, keeping track of the count in their Japanese calendars. For the 100th day, ask them to plan counting activities for a celebration or to display 100 small objects such as paper cranes.
Organize a "treasure hunt" in which students follow a series of oral instructions directing them to different locations. Ask students to take turns giving the directions.
Ask students to write words or phrases in hiragana and katakana for objects and daily routines. Encourage them to use these words and phrases as often as possible in daily school life. Invite students to use graphics software to create signs for the classroom and school (e.g., for washrooms, classroom numbers, teachers' lounge).
To give students practice in recognizing kana, ask them to select their own name cards from several written in katakana . Then have them take turns calling attendance from the katakana name cards.
Invite students to view a kana -writing demonstration. Students could then practise stroke order by writing kana in the air with their index fingers or by creating kana using a medium such as Plasticine or flour dough.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Assessment focusses on students' abilities to interact with increasing fluency, using words and structures they have practised. They continue to gain confidence by participating in a range of activities and interactions.

Watch for evidence that students are increasingly able to:
- understand the teacher and other students
- make themselves better understood
- participate independently in simple, short interactions
- use formal gestures appropriate to the context
- take risks to use Japanese in class and group activities
- use simple, familiar vocabulary and structures (e.g., short statements, brief answers, simple questions formed with the five question words)
As students practise vocabulary related to themes they are studying, note the extent to which:
- pronunciation is a close approximation
- stress from syllable to syllable is equal
- sounds are reproduced with decreasing variation over time
Periodically review students' personal dictionaries, journals, and written work to assess and support their efforts to:
- match labels and pictures
- combine words and pictures to convey meaning
- form an increasing number of recognizable letters in hiragana and words in katakana
- form phrases and simple sentences by sequencing words appropriately
At the beginning of a class, have students set personal goals for interacting or responding to questions. Provide them with sample goal statements such as:
- In this class, I will respond to _____________questions.
- I will participate in _____________ interactions. At the end of the class, have students review their goals and respond as follows:
- I met my goal today when I _____________ .
- _____________ helped me meet my goal today by _____________ .
- Next class I will focus on _____________ .