Jan-Ken-Pon: Japanese for Kids to Play (JKP)
by Hiroko Kataoka (California State University, Long Beach)
JKP applies the theory that language is acquired through real-life, natural communication, where language is used in social interaction. Language learning, like all learning, is facilitated when the language used is meaningful, contextualized, and student-centered.
GOALS AND STANDARDS
Standards for Japanese Language Learning: Jan-Ken-Pon is based on the National Standards. The materials cover all the five C's: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. Each of the eleven standards is addressed at least once in each unit of 8 to 12 lessons.
Development of all four skills: All four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are included from the beginning. The materials place greatest emphasis on the oral/aural skills. However, the materials are based on the idea that young language learners should be surrounded with written materials as well, just as native-speaker children in English or Japanese have ample opportunities to see the written language as soon as they are born.
Selection of themes: Nine themes were chosen for each stage of the curriculum, and topics assigned to each theme, to make reviewing and recycling of material easier for teachers.
ORAL/AURAL COMMUNICATION
Real-life situations: The curricular materials include only what children are likely to say in real-life situations: what Japanese children are likely to encounter in Japan, and what American children are likely to encounter in the U. S. with Japanese-speaking children and adults or among themselves.
Purposeful activities: All JKP activities have purposes. For instance, children say numbers in order to count something, and name colors in order to (for example) survey what color eyes their classmates have.
Input-output order: Second-language acquisition research has shown that it is important for children to be allowed to respond non-verbally or in English and understand the meaning of what they hear or see before they can comfortably produce the new language. JKP activities often start with listening, looking at, and thinking; the children are not forced to produce any Japanese during those activities, but are asked to react to the language cues and show their understanding of the meaning. Such activities are called "input activities," and they are different from, and precede, "presentation activities" which introduce new information, or "output activities," in which children are required to produce the language.
Inclusion of formulaic utterances: Formulaic utterances make it possible for children to "say something in Japanese." It is not possible for young children to carry on conversations in Japanese after a short period of time. However, children ought to be able to use short phrases spontaneously and with autonomy, if they know what the phrases mean and are provided with opportunities. Such phrases include, for example, "wakaranai," "issho," "soo, soo," "dame," "ii yo," "dekita!" and "sensei, mite!"
Recycling: Nine themes are repeated at all three stages of the JKP curriculum, with new material introduced at each stage along with recyling of some vocabulary, phrases, and other contents. The cyclical approach is key to proficiency building.
READING AND WRITING
Visual Japanese environment: Kana and kanji are presented from the beginning, not to be learned then and there, but so that the children will become accustomed to seeing written Japanese.
Simultaneous introduction of hiragana and katakana: Hiragana and katakana are introduced at the same time, and a few kanji are also introduced from the beginning, so that the children understand the writing system of Japanese. Japanese children have opportunities to see all three types of writing in their everyday life, but American children, who do not live in such an environment, can benefit from seeing all three from the beginning. American children can handle the two kana systems at the same time in much the same way as they learn to handle the upper and lower cases of the Roman.
Recognition and copying: Children are not expected to be able to "read" and "write" from the beginning. Rather, they learn to "recognize" and "copy" letters as well as entire words. True "reading" and "writing" are introduced after the children are able to "decode" and "encode" letters.
CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE
Content-oriented: A large portion of the teaching materials in Stages II and III, as well as Stage I, is "content-oriented": students gain new information through the Japanese language.
Age appropriateness: The developmental level of children is taken into consideration in activities and content. For instance, children at the K-1 level may not have developed a sense of the months of the year, with the possible exception of their own birth month, so they learn are required to learn only their own birth month in Japanese.
Community-based: Because the United States is an immense country both geographically and culturally, some parts of the JKP curriculum are organized as "suggestions" which can be adjusted to local activities or community resources. For instance, in learning about animals, the prototype situation is going to a zoo, but alternative suggestions are made for learning the names of farm animals or circus animals. In learning about people at work or special festivals, the text suggests considering local situations.
JKP is available from the Center for Applied Japanese Language Studies, 1246 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1246, Phone (541)346-5699, Fax (541)346-0802. Stage I is $25, Stage II $35, and Stage III $35, plus shipping.