Nihonjin to Romaji
 

(Holy crud, one of my ranting threads is on the top page! So embarassing!!)

Nihon-jin ha romaji wo (ga?) yomemasuka?

Can Japanese people read romaji like the sentence above? I'm asking because I'm teaching elementary kids Japanese. I cant teach them hiragana in the 18weeks (18 hours of class) I have with them while trying to teach them to speak it, and I play games with them for memorizing vocab. On the last day I see them, I want to have had them write little letters with the Japanese they know, tie them on balloons and let them go outside. I want to know if the letters that mae it to Japan will be readable by the Japanese?

Help/opinion s much appreciated!! :pinkbow:

Are you sure you can't teach them hiragana with mnemonics?? I mean if you are using games, you could... just a thought anyway...

Surely as a "Japanese teacher" you should know the answer to this already. Plus I'd be surprised if any of the balloons even make it out of your area code.

Umm, unless they are under 9-10 years old. Yes, they can.

Do Japanese elementary school students learn romaji before hiragana?

They learn hiragana in first grade, if not kindergarten. I believe romaji is taught in 3-4th grade.

That would require learning a completely new alphabet as well. Wouldn't that be a bit too much? Or is that preparation for when they learn English?

:confused: By 9 or 10 they`re already well into kanji - hiragana is learned during kindergarten, and most kids have katakana out of the way by the time they enter 1st grade too.

Romaji is learned in 4th grade. The main reasoning for it isn`t English, but for the ability to read and write in situations where romaji is used. Building names, plane tickets, product names, etc etc.

Most kids learn the alphabet a bit after hiragana and katakana. It`s on the back burner, but there is enough exposure that while they can`t read, they can usually recognize most letters.

Then I don't understand this statement:

Kids that age have the ability to learn hiragana. You have -just- enough time to introduce 3 hiragana per session, and do a quick recap of the previous ones, but expect them to forget them easily if you don't give them full words to practice writing (maybe set 'homework'?). A quick flashcard recap at the start of every lesson can help. I've got 7 y.o's who can write their numbers in kanji (albeit wonkily, but hey, it's there.) and read the days of the week so it's not impossible, but it will eat into your time. Also if you only do hiragana, they can't really write their names accurately. You can combine it too- show them the vocab your teaching written down (after the verbal drill) and get them to point out the characters they know :) Ours love stuff like that.

Second; and this might be my personal opinion but I loathe the idea of the balloon release. Love the idea of letters but really, why not get them to write on old coke cans and sling them out on the street? I know it's cute and fun sounding, but those balloons end up somewhere and someone else is going to have to clean up your mess. They might even end up in areas with livestock. Animals die eating balloons and chinese lanterns. Not something you want to be teaching your kids IMO.

Also, it's highly unlikely they'd ever get to Japan. Go online, find somewhere to do an exchange with; another school in your area/country that also has a japanese class would do! High schools; community clubs, look around and ask around. Plus that means the added excitement that then everyone can get a response, hopefully, not just one, or nobody. They'll love that theres a real purpose and a reward to all their hard work.