I am working in a school with two English kids who don’t speak any Japanese. They can read Hiragana and Katakana but that is it. The school want me to help them learn Japanese. Are there any materials that you can suggest that are free and that kids could do? One kid is 6 years old and the other is 10. Thank you in advance.
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Im not really sure where to source the materials for that but I would like to share how my son learned japanese (no knowledge of hiragana or katakana even) when he was 7 and starting 1st grade at a japanese public school.
The teacher assigned to help him did all the lessons in japanese. I was present in all the lessons and no english was to be spoken (except for the end of the lesson where the teacher will explain to me my son’s progress).
She made the lessons fun to learn thru:
-songs (days of the week, days of the month)
-games (speed writing for hiragana and katakana every week then check his progress, memory games using flashcards, simple board game, to name a few)
-walking tours inside the school and the teacher pointed out the names of the rooms (ie library, gym, pool, music room) and the staff (ie nurse, principal, science teacher, pe teacher)
Overall it was a really amazing thing to witness. My son was always excited learning the lessons and in just 3months he can already converse with his classmates and teachers.
Good luck to you, OP. And I hope what I shared was helpful for you
I’d definitely recommend Japanese cartoons aimed at young kids like Crayon Shinchan, Doraemon and Anpanman. Even if they don’t understand anything right away, they’ll start to pick up stuff here and there due to context clues, repetition, and the like.
This program seems pretty good from what I’ve seen so far, for basic level material:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bunpo-learn-japanese/id1279720052
I don’t know how it would work for online-type things or programs if you’re working on devices, but it seems pretty straightforward and comprehensive, as well as more complete than some similar learning apps.
For book material, “Japanese Made Easy” is a pretty comprehensive, if particular, read that may be found in PDF format and downloaded or printed out (https://books.google.com/books/about/Japanese_Made_Easy.html?id=NhUTAAAAYAAJ).