Rationale
The blog roll on the Home page was written by a fictitious Japanese girl called Kumiko Hashimoto. The site could be used by teachers planning or running a unit of work on Japan or by students researching different aspects of Japanese life and customs. The activities on this site are targeted at Stage 2 but could be tailored to suit any stage.
The posts on the Home page relate to topics that could be included in the unit and are designed to promote interest and discussion in the classroom about key topics.
On the subsequent blog pages there is more information for teachers and students on the various topics with links to other resources, key activities and information.
It is anticipated that as the unit progresses the pages would be added to with more activities, resources and student work samples.
Culture is one of the strands required for study in the HSIE Syllabus in NSW. The importance of intercultural understand is to ensure that future citizens of the world are able to live together with understanding and empathy. In Australia it is essential that HSIE studies teach students about Aboriginal Australians and that students appreciate and respect the customs and values of these members of our society (Reynolds, 2009).
As a member of the Pacific region Australians also need to engage and understand the cultures and customs of our Asian neighbours (Ministerial Council on Education, 2008). Studying Asian cultures not only promotes understanding and empathy it also encourages students to look at our own culture and practices. By comparing and contrasting our culture with others students are able to question and explain behaviours and traditions that they may previously have taken for granted (Board of Studies New South Wales, 1998).
A unit of work on Japan is a very popular choice in many Australia schools. There is an abundance of material available on the internet, in libraries and in specialty shops in our main cities. There is an organisation called the Japan Foundation that was established to assist education in Australia on Japanese culture and language. There are also many Japanese people and students living in Australia who could be approached to be part of a unit of work on Japanese culture.
Teaching Strategies
The NSW Quality teaching model recommends that all learning be of intellectual quality, taught in a quality learning environment and have true significance to the students. In order to ensure that learning experiences meet these criteria and provide the deeper learning and understanding being recommended a teaching strategies need to be designed accordingly.
There are a number of teaching models that can be used to allow students to work towards higher order thinking, these include MI/Bloom and De Bono's Thinking Hats (Reynolds, 2009). It is critical that study incorporate ICT and Web 2.0 tools, students need to be technology aware and literate in order to meet the demands of working and living in our modern society (Ministerial Council on Education, 2008).
Integration
In a crowded curriculum it is critical that HSIE units of work be integrated as much as possible into other key learning areas (Reynolds, 2009). This needs to be done in a meaningful way through authentic learning activities. Through careful planning English, Mathematics and Creative Arts units can easily be written alongside the HSIE theme for a term.
Some suggestions of activities that could be integrated into other key learning areas:
English:
HaikuChildren love poetry and Haiku are very easy to write. Because these poems have a structure based on syllables they are also a good way for children to recognise syllables in words, this can help students having difficulties with spelling.
Here is a worksheet that can be used to introduce the structure of Haiku.
Haiku worksheet
Useful websites
News for kids
Teaching Kids News
This site has great newspaper articles on current events written to be suitable for children.
Between the News
This is an ABC website that has a variety of current and topical news video clips to show in the classroom. These can be used as discussion starters or as part of a unit of work.
Time for Kids
This is a website adaptation tailored for kids of Time magazine.
Websites on Japan
Kids Web Japan
The Japan Foundation
Kids National Geographic
Web 2.0 Tools
There are many free Web 2.0 tools that can be used effectively in the classroom and a number of them are designed especially for kids. They are usually intuitive and run easily on Interactive White Boards.
Dipity - for creating timelines
Wordle - for brainstorming, reflecting
BUbbl.us - used for mind mapping
Edublogs - this is one of many blogging websites that a class could use to set up a blog
Wikispaces - for setting up a class Wiki
Lino it - a post it canvas - used for notes, reminders, ideas, brainstorming
Storybird - collaborative storytelling website
