Ohisama Connect! Sunbeams

Curriculum Unit Review: Ohisama Connect-Sunbeams Part 1
Isabel Espino de Valdivia
Subject: Japanese and Spanish
Grades: 9-12
Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Ohisama Connect-Sunbeam is part of a series of Australian textbooks to teach Japanese to students from ages 4 to 14. The books are the Core, the Sunbeam and the Clouds.
Ohisama Connect, Sunbeam Part 1 introduces six topics: Tomodachi ( My friends), Kazoku (Family Life), Kaimono (Shopping Day), Moshi Moshi (Keep in touch), Norimono (All Aboard) and Kimono (Dressing up). Each unit has a language focus, activities, procedure and a dialogue guide. Some of the activities include card games, songs, finger puppets, origami games like fortune-teller, etc. The Sunbeam book includes all the materials necessary to do the activities like the finger puppets prints, the origami patterns, the pictures, all the signs to play “store,” all directions to make the colored cards, the wrapping boxes, a happi and a hachimaki patter, and many more.
This book is full of ideas to try in an energetic elementary classroom. Some games like the karuta game and the nan desho or doko desho game may also be adapted to the high school classroom.