A lecture for volunteer teachers of AIRA Japanese Language Course was held. This was the second lecture this year following the first one “Easy Japanese in View of Vocabulary”, which was held in July. (No.17-20)

Date and Time : Saturday, December 9, 2017 2:00 p.m. ~ 4:20 p.m.
Venue : Civic Plaza Hall
Instructor : Ms. Chiaki Tenbo (A member of Nihongo-no-Kai and instructor at Japanese Course for Foreigners Living in Suginami)
Audience : 30 people ( 24 AIRA teachers, 4 people from Matsudo International Relations Association and 2 graduates from AIRA Japanese-Teacher Training Course 2016.

Since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (1995), increasing attention has been focused on “Easy Japanese for foreigners”. AIRA Japanese teachers invited Ms. Tenbo, who is the author of “Ippo Nihongo Sanpo” (a textbook series for beginners), as the instructor.
The lecture was emceed by Mr. Kawashima, one of the AIRA teachers, and it started with the opening words by Mr. Hesaki, chief of the volunteer department of AIRA.
On the morning of that day Ms. Tenbo visited AIRA Saturday Class and saw how the class was going.
In her lecture she explained how to teach beginners using the textbook “Ippo Nihongo Sanpo”. She also commented on the class she saw in the morning, emphasizing the importance of visual teaching materials.
Other important points in teaching:
1. Try to let students speak as much as possible instead of one-sided teaching
2. There are set phrases students should learn in their early stages. Try to make them memorize those expressions. You don’t have to explain each word.
3. For foreigners who find Chinese characters difficult, begin with pictographs and make them interested in Chinese characters.

At the end of the lecture there was a question-and –answer session.

Q1. What’s the difference between “Ippo Nihongo Sanpo” and “Minna no Nihongo” (The textbook series that is used in AIRA Class)
A1. “Minna no Nihongo” is useful because all the grammatically important sentence patterns are dealt with. In “Ippo Nihongo Sanpo” sentence patterns are picked out for using in volunteer classes which are held once a week. It is also targeted at expressions necessary in learners’ daily life.

Q2. What’s the merit of writing ruby characters in “Romaji” (Roman letters)?
A2. English is now all over the world. We think it’s convenient for learners.

The lecture passed the scheduled time with the lively questions and answers between the lecturer and the audience.　

　(Translated by Chizu Yamaguchi)