LANGUAGES - JAPANESE
Learning Japanese at Warranwood offers students the opportunity to develop skills, confidence and the enjoyment of speaking, reading, writing and listening to Japanese by exploring cultural aspects of Japan and its people. Students are provided with learning experiences that are child centered and in the target language as much as possible. Learning Japanese offers students the opportunity to:
Some highlights of our Languages program at Warranwood include:
ASSISTANT TEACHER PROGRAM
All students at Warranwood Primary School experience Japanese culture through weekly 1 hour Japanese lessons. We also have an Assistant Teacher program that involves Japanese university graduates/teachers staying in our community for 6-12 months. Our Assistant Teachers are hosted by families at Warranwood for 1 term at a time. The teachers exchange culture with us and pay their own way to Australia while working as a volunteer at school. Its a great program that promotes cultural exchange and language learning!
Our school offers students the rare opportunity to be part of a Japanese Taiko (drumming group). We currently have 2 Senior School taiko groups, 1 Middle School group and a Tiny Taiko team of Junior school drummers. Our taiko groups represent the school at many events throughout the year.
BRANCH OUT SISTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
Warranwood also has a shared Japanese Sister School with Kalinda Primary school. Our Sister School relationship began in 2014 with Lilyvale Primary School from Mito, Ibaraki Japan. Every second year our Senior School students are given an opportunity to visit Japan on a 10 day trip including a unique 4 day stay with a host family from Lilyvale Primary School. Our Japanese trips in 2014 and 2016 were highly successful and we are currently planning a future trip in 2020. Lilyvale Primary School visited Warranwood and Kalinda for the first time in 2017. This exchange is a highly enriching experience for our student and develops greater intercultural understanding in our school community.