As new Japanese words are learned, students could illustrate them in their dictionaries with drawings or magazine clippings. Have students use pre-framed models of sentence patterns to greet and introduce one another. Provide opportunities for students to follow routine classroom directions and instructions in Japanese. Encourage them to use gestures to clarify meaning. Their confidence is enhanced when the classroom environment is supportive and interactive, and when making errors is viewed as an accepted part of learning a new language.
Constructive feedback encourages students to communicate in the language and take further risks.
As students develop and practise language skills, have them keep track of what they know by recording in their personal picture dictionaries and learning logs observations and reflections about how they are learning. Next Page Copyright 1997 All Rights Reserved. BC MOE Curriculum Branch .