Curriculum Project: Learning Japanese Numbers 0-10
Content Areas: World Languages - 9th grade
Instructional Days: 3
Objectives
Students will analyze the importance of communication in a foreign country. Students will learn the proper pronunciations and character formations (Kanji) of numerals 0-10 in Japanese.
zero - 0
ichi - 1
ni - 2
san - 3
shi/yon - 4
go - 5
roku - 6
shichi - 7
hachi - 8
ku - 9
ju - 10
Standards/Key Concepts or Skills/Enduring Understandings
Common Core Standards
CCSS RL.9-10.7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
CCSS SL.9-10.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS SL.9-10.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS W.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
CCSS W.9-10.6 Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
Materials:
- Whiteboards, markers, and erasers
- Journals/paper
- Pencils/pens
- Projector
- Computer/laptop
- Internet access
Activities:
Day 1:
- Begin lesson by having students respond in their journals to, “Why would it be important to know how to say numbers 0-10 if you are in a foreign country?”
- Have students share out their responses with their elbow partners, then pick a few to share out with the class.
Teacher orally introduces numbers 0-2 slowly and repeatedly going forwards and backwards using hand gestures.
Students repeat after teacher.
Teacher orally introduces numbers 3-5 slowly and repeatedly going forwards and backwards using hand gestures.
Students repeat after teacher.
Teacher checks for understanding by holding up fingers and students must call out number in Japanese.
Students test each other in pairs.
Exit Ticket: Each student must count numbers 0-5.
Day 2:
- Teacher reviews previous day’s learning of numbers 0-5.
Checks for understanding by randomly calling students to respond.
Teacher orally introduces numbers 6-8 slowly and repeatedly going forwards and backwards using hand gestures.
Students repeat after teacher.
Teacher checks for understanding by holding up fingers and students must call out number in Japanese.
Students test each other in pairs.
Teacher orally introduces numbers 9-10 slowly and repeatedly going forwards and backwards using hand gestures.
Students repeat after teacher.
Teacher checks for understanding by holding up fingers and students must call out number in Japanese.
Students test each other in pairs.
Teacher plays “Number Song in Japanese” on YouTube.
- 1st viewing: students listen
2nd viewing: students participate
3rd viewing: divide class in half and each sings a portion of the song
4th viewing: alternate - other half sings the other part now.
Exit Ticket: Each student must count numbers 0-10.
Day 3:
- Teacher reviews previous day’s learning of numbers 0-10.
Teacher writes a phone number on the board and using whiteboards students must decipher it based on the knowledge they have acquired thus far.
Students share their responses with their elbow partners.
Teacher calls for a volunteer to provide response and writes it on board.
Teacher plays “Counting in Japanese” on YouTube to demonstrate proper character formations for numbers 0-10.
Students will copy characters onto their journals as they are presented along with the appropriate English pronunciation.
Teachers practices character formation with students and checks for understanding by writing a number word in Japanese on the board and having students write the character on their whiteboards.
Students test each other in pairs.
Exit Ticket: Each student will write his/her phone number in Japanese characters (Kanji).
Suggested Resources:
YouTube video http://youtu.be/1CGUhPisa4U - Counting in Japanese
YouTube video http://youtu.be/zqNotzty3kE - Number Song in Japanese
Learning Japanese Numbers is a great lesson for all grade levels with modifications for younger grades. I can use this lesson with my kindergarteners and modify it by having my students learn how to say the numbers first for about a week then introducing them to write the numbers in Japanese characters. This lesson is great because it taps into our kindergarten CCSS math standards. In kindergarten, the students need to write numbers to 20 and count to 100. This will give them a global understanding numbers in a different language.
You could probably even make this a year-long activity by having students learn the numbers of every civilization/country they learn about. At the end of the year, you could have a friendly competition to see what they remember.
On Kids Web Japan at http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/language/index.html there is greeting language in writing and sound to expand students' Japanese language.