Konnichiwa! こんにちは
We had a wonderful week celebrating all things Japanese during this year’s Arts Week
Taiga (Year 6) introduced the school to Japan in the Monday morning assembly, and showed the children how the Japanese write in 3 different ways. So much more complicated than English!
All through the week the school heard Japanese being spoken and have learnt about the geography of the country. Projects undertaken have included creating Manga comic strips with iPads (with all text translated into Japanese) whilst other classes learnt how to draw Manga faces; building beautiful colourful Japanese fans; learning about the importance of Cherry Blossom and then creating stunning paintings using broccoli, and everywhere classes have been making origami.
In the Art Room classes have learnt to paint in the Sumi-E style of ink painting, whilst others have constructed Samurai helmets and painted delicate textiles using Japanese kimono motifs. The Sports department have taught karate, but also played baseball (as it’s the most popular sport in Japan). In music the children have learnt about different styles of music played and on Wednesday the whole school shook whilst every child learnt how to play the big drums of Japan. Huge thanks to Mark from Taiko Meantime for running the most amazing drumming workshops. We’ve also had trips to study Japanese artefacts in the Victoria Museum and studied the Japanese Garden in Kew Gardens.
Click on the following Youtube link to watch Year 6 playing the drums: Year 6 playing the big drums of Japan
