Languages - Japanese

Japan is an exciting country and culture, and students at Faith Lutheran College Redlands develop Japanese language and inter-cultural skills from Year 5.

The students gain an insight into the everyday life of Japanese children, through study of school life, family and housing, food, transport, leisure time, holiday activities, and traditional sports and games. The focus of study in the Junior School is on developing basic communication skills, and the students combine language form and functions with cultural activities. Sushi making, origami, wearing kimono and yukata, and trying traditional Japanese games such as kendama, kamifuusen and jan-ken-pon are activities enjoyed by the students during their study.

Speakers of English as a second language probably outnumber those who speak it as a first language, it is estimated that 750 million people speak English as a second or subsequent language and only 375 million speak it as a first language. This means that speaking English is no longer an advantage in travel or employment - multi linguists have the advantage as global citizens.

Languages Education is ‘a global passport’… (Excerpt from a speech by Minister Pyne, May 16, 2014)

There are many reasons for learning another language but one of the greatest reasons is the personal benefit and enjoyment gained by students. Another benefit of learning a subsequent language is enhanced cognitive performance, which has been established in the literature. Early introduction to other languages has also been shown to lead to better progress in first language literacy. The Languages Education community is promoting multilingualism rather than bilingualism in order to meet the demand for global interaction and a secure future for Australian students.