Kana Games/Teaching Aides

[Michael Joe Red Mask]

Hey guys,

I will be a Teaching Assistant this summer for a Japanese class through my university. I was wondering if any of you guys know an easy way to learn Hiragana and Katakana through mnemonics and/or games. Other teaching methods are acceptable as well (such as flash cards, jeopardy, etc.)

The syllabus is VERY EXTENSIVE. Pretty much due to time constraints, my students ("gifted" high school) have to learn both Kanas in a two days span each. Everyday, I will be presenting an hour's worth of teaching time.

Thanks again,

MJRM

 

[Zensouken]

Well I can tell you how I learned Hira and Kata. I drilled myself like we learn script handwriting in school. Just keep writing "ka" like 100x and then get tested on it, you won't forget it. Katakana took me under a week, Hiragana took me about 3 days.

It's rough to do but it works.

 

[kyo28]

I would strongly adives at taking more than just 2 days to master kana. Sure, it's the 'easiest' character set in Japanese, but I've noticed people often write small mistakes without noticing it if they didn't study them properly.

 

[Michael Joe Red Mask]

I would strongly adives at taking more than just 2 days to master kana. Sure, it's the 'easiest' character set in Japanese, but I've noticed people often write small mistakes without noticing it if they didn't study them properly.

I totally agree with that but with the time span that we have, it is merely impossible. My professor said that we are pretty much cramming a semester of Japanese into three weeks. Our schedule is from 9AM to 5PM, Monday thru Friday. It will last only three weeks.

I'll list our schedule later once I am done with tutoring.

 

[Bueno]

Pretty harsh to get some students started on Kana and expect them to get it in 2 days. You said these kids are "gifted" so does that mean they can pick up stuff rather quickly or does it mean somethin' else?

Given the time constraints, the only thing that you can do is give em' the Kana charts and tell em' to study those for homework. Especially writing the characters. They should be able to imprint em' in their heads if they write em' enough times.

 

[Michael Joe Red Mask]

Pretty harsh to get some students started on Kana and expect them to get it in 2 days. You said these kids are "gifted" so does that mean they can pick up stuff rather quickly or does it mean somethin' else?

Yeah I agree. It took me a week to master each Kana myself. The program consists of advanced summer classes designed especially for gifted high school students, where they can earn 3 college credits per course as well as high school enrichment credit.

Here's what the schedule that my professor gave me.

Day 1 - 7/24 - General expectations/course introduction, group activity/team building/ Hiragana あーの and はーん (Basic 46 characters), Introducing yourself, Everyday greeting, Culture: Japanese characters, How to greet in Japan.

Day 2 - 7/25 - Quiz 1 on Hiragana, Hiragana がーば、きゅーぴゃ and Hiragana rules (double vowel/consonants), Introducing yourself (continuation), Classroom items/Expressions, Numbers 1-20, Phone numbers, Culture: Making your 名詞. How to make a phone call. Speech fillers (ええと、etc.)

 

[Igadevil]

Man, I don't even remember when I first learned those now. :laugh:

From experience, continuous drilling usually works the best, if you follow the whole あ-い-う-え-お order. One of my teachers had a whole picture association thing set up for absolute zero-level students, but I find those can just get too confusing trying to remember what ゆ or something　is supposed to look like. Anyways, if you can then apply all that to writing to actual words, it really helps to reinforce the kana and teach easy vocabulary.

One thing to watch out for: I notice a lot of students in my classes seemed to have trouble grasping Katakana, and even those in third and fourth year Japanese who knew Hiragana inside out still trip over that (for some messed up reason, I think I actually learned that one first, most likely through self-teaching to read the names of Kamen Rider monsters!) It could just be how they learned it though.

Really, I think the best advice is tell them to practice on their own as much as they can, because that's just such a really short amount of time. Good luck!