Japanese
In learning a language, students learn to communicate with and understand a different culture. The cultural understandings which are developed while studying any language promote harmony and tolerance in a multi-cultural community. In our rapidly evolving global community, knowing another language will provide a distinct advantage in the competitive global market. Studying a foreign language also enhances students’ understanding on how their own language works, and hence improves their skills in English and general literacy.
Japanese is the LOTE (Language other than English) and focuses on the macro-skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, which are developed through each year level. Language learning is most successfully done with continuous study and skills practice. Constant revision is needed as knowledge is continually being expanded. Students must practice their use of the written and spoken language very regularly. Assessment at all levels is based on all four skills.
YEAR 8
In year 8, students study Japanese at either a conversational level or in preparation for further studies in the language.
YEAR 9 & 10
An elective subject in Years 9 and 10, where students will have the opportunity to develop their skills further if they choose Japanese as an elective.
YEAR 11 & 12 - General Senior Subject
Japanese provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their understanding of the Japanese language and the communities that use it, while also assisting in the effective negotiation of experiences and meaning across cultures and languages. Students participate in a range of interactions of which they exchange meaning, develop intercultural understanding and become active participants in understanding and constructing written, spoken and visual texts.
Students communicate with people from Japanese-speaking communities to understand the purpose and nature of language and to gain understanding of linguistic structures. They acquire language in social and cultural settings and communicate across a range of contexts for a variety of purposes. Students experience and evaluate a range of different text types; recognise their thinking to accommodate other linguistic and intercultural knowledge and textual conventions; and create texts from a range of context, purposes and audiences.
General Information
Since 2011, Forest Lake State High School has worked in a cluster arrangement with Carole Park, Forest Lake and Pallara State Schools to better prepare students for LOTE in high school. LOTE was delivered to year 6 at the primary schools by high school teachers. With the high level of positive feedback form the primary cluster schools, in 2012 Grand Avenue Sate School was included, with their specialist teacher using the same program. One advantage has been the inclusion of high-school-style tasks for primary students, assisting their transition to the secondary environment.
Forest Lake State High School has links with Kinjo and Izumi Chuo High Schools in Japan. Kinjo and Forest Lake students interact in an annual exchange program, with each school visiting the other bi-annually. Students home-stay with Japanese/Australian families and attend school in each country. Izumi Chuo offers one Forest Lake student per year the opportunity to study in Japan for a year.
If you require any further details, please contact:
Rob Parker, Head of Department (Humanities and Social Sciences and Languages)