Year 8 SyllabusTest
Year 8 Syllabus
Year Level Description
Year 8 Japanese: Second Language builds on the skills, knowledge and understanding required of students to communicate in Japanese developed in Year 7 and focuses on extending their oral and written communication skills and their understandings of the Japanese language and culture. Students may need encouragement to take risks in learning a language at this stage in their social development and to consider issues of how the experience impacts on the norms associated with their first language and culture.
Students communicate in Japanese, maintaining interactions with peers and known adults to exchange information and discuss aspects of home, school and social life, compare routines, interests and leisure activities. They engage in individual and collaborative tasks that involve making arrangements, or organising events or outings. Students identify key information and supporting details from texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, and use the information in new ways. They convey information and ideas from texts, using different modes of presentation to suit audience and context. Students respond to imaginative texts, describing and discussing aspects, such as characters, events and/or ideas. They create imaginative texts by experimenting with different modes and formats, and creating moods and effects suitable for different audiences.
Students become more familiar with the systems of the Japanese language when encountered in simple spoken and written texts. They use features of the Japanese sound system, engaging with authentic spoken language, recognising how words blend and pronouncing all the sounds in the kana chart. Students understand the relationship between the character-based scripts of hiragana, katakana and kanji, apply the basic principles of stroke order to read and write words and phrases using both kana and kanji, and use furigana to support the reading of unfamiliar kanji. They generate language for a range of purposes in spoken and written texts by using context-related vocabulary and applying elements of the Japanese grammatical system, including vocabulary that relates to familiar environments, such as the classroom, school and personal world, basic time expressions, particles to perform different functions, and a range of verbs related to daily activities. They continue to build a metalanguage in Japanese to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts. Students engage with Japanese speakers and texts, reflecting on how interaction involves culture as well as language.
In Year 8, students are widening their social networks, experiences and communication repertoires in Japanese. The practice of reviewing and consolidating prior learning is balanced against the provision of engaging and relevant new experiences and connections. Students are supported to develop increasing autonomy as language learners and users, to self-monitor and peer-monitor, and to adjust language in response to their experiences in different contexts.
Communicating
Socialising
Maintain interactions with peers and known adults orally and in writing to exchange information and discuss aspects of home, school and social life, and compare routines, interests and leisure activities, for example, 何年生ですか。; 八年生です。;
すうがくが好きです。九時に おきます。;
それから、あさごはんを たべます。えいがに行きます。; すしが好き です。でも、さしみが 好きじゃない です。すしが好き です。でも、さしみが 好きじゃない です。スポーツが 好き です。; スポーツが 好き です。; サッカー を しますか。; 何時に しますか。; 四時 に サッカー を します。サッカー が 好き ですか。; ぼく も 好き です。; 日本のレストラン に 行きましょう。
Engage in individual and collaborative tasks, such as making arrangements to cater for events, celebrations or outings, for example, an excursion to a Japanese restaurant or organising a class event
Participate in classroom routines and interactions by asking and answering questions, requesting information, expressing personal preferences and responding to others’ contributions, for example, Tia さん は いません。; はい、います。; おやすみ です。; おくれて すみません。; じょうず ですね。; いい ですね。; よく できました。; すごい ですね。; もうちょっと です。; がんばりましょう。
Informing
Identify key information and supporting details from a range of spoken and written texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, and use the information in new ways
Convey information and ideas from a range of texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, using different modes of presentation that take account of context and audience
Creating
Respond to imaginative texts by describing and discussing aspects, such as characters, events and/or ideas
Create own or shared imaginative texts by experimenting with different modes and formats, and creating moods and effects suitable for different audiences
Translating
Translate and interpret short texts from Japanese to English and vice versa, comparing different versions of a text and suggesting reasons for differences and mistranslations
Reflecting
Engage with Japanese speakers and texts, reflecting on how interaction involves culture as well as language
Reflect on own identity, including identity as a user and learner of Japanese, through connecting observations made about experiences or in attitudes to culture and intercultural communication
Understanding
Systems of language
Engage with authentic spoken language, recognising how words blend
Pronounce all the sounds in the kana chart, including voiced and unvoiced sounds てんてん and まる, combined and long vowel sounds and double consonants, for example, サッカー and ジョギング
Understand the relationship between the character-based scripts of hiragana, katakana and kanji
Apply the basic principles of stroke order to read and write words and phrases using both kana and kanji, for example, 私は十三才です。
Understand the use of basic Japanese punctuation marks, such asまる (。) 、 てん (、) and katakana long vowel mark (ー), for example, in a student’s name, such as サリー
Read and write all katakana, including voiced, unvoiced, contracted and blended sounds, combined and long vowel sounds and double consonants, using the kana chart
Use furigana to support the reading of unfamiliar kanji
Generate language for a range of purposes in simple spoken and written texts, by using context-related vocabulary and applying elements of the Japanese grammatical system, including:
- using the rule that Japanese sentences end with a predicate and that there are three types of predicates; noun plus copula, adjective plus copula, and verb, for example,
- subject は noun です。
- subject は adjective です。
- subject は object を verb ます。
- understanding that pronouns are used far less frequently in Japanese than in English
- understanding and using a range of particles to perform different functions, for example,
- は (subject, topic marker)
- が (subject, topic marker: ～が好きです、～がいます)
- を (object)
- に (time, destination)
- で (transport)
- の (possession)
- と (and, with)
- も (also)
- using basic time expressions, such as clock times, months, for example, 一時、二月
- building vocabulary that relates to familiar environments, such as the classroom, school and personal world
- understanding the rules of verb conjugation, for example, ます、 ～ましょう、 ～ました、～ません、 ～ませんでした
- understanding different question words, such as 何、 どこ、 何時、 なにで、 どんな、いつ、だれ、 いくら
- using a range of verbs related to daily activities, for example, 行きます、 見ます、たべます、 かきます、よみます、ききます、 はなします、 します
Continue to build metalanguage to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts
Identify, analyse and use text structures and language features of common spoken, written and multimodal texts, and explain how different types of texts are structured and use particular language features to suit different contexts, purposes and audiences
Language variation and change
Examine linguistic features in texts to understand that Japanese, like all languages, varies according to participants, roles and relationships, situations and cultures
Understand the dynamic nature of Japanese, and how it influences and is influenced by other languages and cultures
Role of language and culture
Explore the relationship between language and significant cultural values or practices in Japanese, English and other languages
Achievement Standard
At standard, students use mostly familiar language when participating in spoken and written interactions to exchange information in Japanese about their home, school and social life, and in classroom tasks and routines. They identify and use most key information and some supporting ideas and detail in Japanese texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, and convey these in a variety of ways. They describe aspects of Japanese imaginative texts and use modelled language to adapt and create simple imaginative texts. Students translate short texts with a satisfactory level of accuracy, identifying some variations across different translations of a text. They reflect on aspects of language, culture, personal identity and experiences of learning a language, and how these may influence communication.
Students apply most features of the Japanese sound and writing systems, pronouncing all sounds in the kana chart, and use familiar vocabulary and expressions about home, school and social life with a satisfactory level of accuracy. Students use elements of grammar, spelling and basic punctuation with a satisfactory level of accuracy. They use a kana chart and simple kanji to write short texts in Japanese. Students use some metalanguage when discussing aspects of learning. They use most structures and some language features associated with familiar text types. They identify some features of Japanese that may need to be adjusted to suit different situations and relationships, and examples of how languages change and are influenced by each other.
Year Level Description
Year 8 Japanese: Second Language builds on the skills, knowledge and understanding required of students to communicate in Japanese developed in Year 7 and focuses on extending their oral and written communication skills and their understandings of the Japanese language and culture. Students may need encouragement to take risks in learning a language at this stage in their social development and to consider issues of how the experience impacts on the norms associated with their first language and culture.
Students communicate in Japanese, maintaining interactions with peers and known adults to exchange information and discuss aspects of home, school and social life, compare routines, interests and leisure activities. They engage in individual and collaborative tasks that involve making arrangements, or organising events or outings. Students identify key information and supporting details from texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, and use the information in new ways. They convey information and ideas from texts, using different modes of presentation to suit audience and context. Students respond to imaginative texts, describing and discussing aspects, such as characters, events and/or ideas. They create imaginative texts by experimenting with different modes and formats, and creating moods and effects suitable for different audiences.
Students become more familiar with the systems of the Japanese language when encountered in simple spoken and written texts. They use features of the Japanese sound system, engaging with authentic spoken language, recognising how words blend and pronouncing all the sounds in the kana chart. Students understand the relationship between the character-based scripts of hiragana, katakana and kanji, apply the basic principles of stroke order to read and write words and phrases using both kana and kanji, and use furigana to support the reading of unfamiliar kanji. They generate language for a range of purposes in spoken and written texts by using context-related vocabulary and applying elements of the Japanese grammatical system, including vocabulary that relates to familiar environments, such as the classroom, school and personal world, basic time expressions, particles to perform different functions, and a range of verbs related to daily activities. They continue to build a metalanguage in Japanese to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts. Students engage with Japanese speakers and texts, reflecting on how interaction involves culture as well as language.
In Year 8, students are widening their social networks, experiences and communication repertoires in Japanese. The practice of reviewing and consolidating prior learning is balanced against the provision of engaging and relevant new experiences and connections. Students are supported to develop increasing autonomy as language learners and users, to self-monitor and peer-monitor, and to adjust language in response to their experiences in different contexts.