Course Overview

Stage 5

The Stage 5 Year 9 and 10 Course is Nihongo Hyakka, a course originally produced for distance education and adapted to meet the demands of the new syllabus. The course consists of 45 weekly packages, 25 of which are completed in Year 9 and 20 in Year 10. Students also undertake two projects each year. Students are expected to phone their teacher on a weekly/fortnightly basis to complete the oral component of the course.

Stage 6

Japanese Beginners

The Japanese Beginners’ Course is Nihongo no Benkyo, a course originally produced for distance education. 2007 is the first year of a new syllabus and the course has been adapted to meet the requirements of the new syllabus. The Preliminary Course consists of six booklets containing a total of 24 units of work. The HSC Course consists of four booklets containing a total of 14 units. As with all other courses, phone lessons are organised to ensure that the oral component of the course is delivered interactively on a weekly basis.

Japanese Continuers

The Japanese Continuers’ Course consists of weekly units of work to be used in conjunction with the textbook Mirai 5 and 6. The Higher School Certificate Course has recently been rewritten to fit in with the revised edition of the textbook. Phone lessons are conducted weekly to ensure that students’ conversational oral skills are developed fully.

Japanese Extension

The Japanese Extension Course is comprised of 20 units of work and uses the prescribed text, Gotaifumanzoku (Noone’s Perfect) The course aims to introduce students to a more advanced level of language, enabling them to discuss various issues both in written and oral tasks.

Japanese for Background Speakers

The Japanese Background Speakers’ Course is supplied by Open High School and consists of 24 units of work in the Preliminary Course and 14 units in the Higher School Certificate Course. Students read and listen to a range of text types in Japanese relevant to the prescribed themes and contemporary issues. Students not only develop skills in listening, reading and writing, but also develop skills in critical literacy by reflecting on their own and other cultures. All prescribed texts are linked to a theme and a contemporary issue.

Stage 6 Syllabi (From Board of Studies)

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National Anthem

National Emblem

Country Map

Country Overview

Japan is located in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Asian continent. Japan comprises the four main islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, in addition to numerous smaller islands. The Japanese call their country Nihon or Nippon, which means ?origin of the sun.? The name arose from Japan?s position east of the great Chinese empires that held sway over Asia throughout most of its history. Japan is sometimes referred to in English as the ?land of the rising sun.? Tokyo is the country?s capital and largest city.

Official Language Of

Japan

Total Number of Speakers

More than 130 million

Language Family

Japonic

Writing System

Japanese logographs and syllabaries

Language Overview

Japanese is a language spoken by over 130 million people. It is an agglutinative language and is distinguished by a complex system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society. The sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small, and has a lexically distinct pitch-accent system. The earliest attestation of Japanese is in a Chinese document from 252 C.E. The Japanese language is written with a combination of three different types of glyphs: Chinese characters, kanji, and two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Japanese vocabulary has been heavily influenced by loans from other languages.