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Talking Contemporary Japan - Exploring Japan through Short Stories

26th June, 2008

June's 'Talking Contemporary Japan' course saw 20 advanced adult learners of Japanese spend four 2-hour sessions focussing on short stories written by popular Japanese authors. In the first session participants studied "真っ赤な芥子" (Makkana Keshi) by Haruki Murakami, before moving on to "肩の上の秘書" (Kata no ue no Hisho) by Shinichi Hoshi in the second session. In the third week they studied a short story from "つめたいよるに" (Tsumetai yoru ni) by Kaori Ekuni. In the final session participants studied a short story from "夢十夜" (Yumejyuya) by Soseki Natsume.

In each class there were activities such as voice projection, vocabulary and kanji pair work, small discussions using words from the stories, reading aloud, acting out scenes and discussion of interpretations. In the last session the participants creatively acted out scenes from 'The Fourth Night' by Soseki.

The course proved very popular with all participants, like Rachel Yokoo-Laurence, who had the following comments:
"The course was excellent. Middleton-sensei is a great teacher - very engaging and friendly".

Course leader Shoko Middleton also enjoyed the course, saying:
"Thanks to the enthusiastic and highly-motivated participants. I learnt a lot through the course and it was most fulfilling for me".

Click here for more information about Talking Contemporary Japan on the Japan Foundation London Language Centre website, including information on past courses.

Talking Contemporary Japan participants acting out scenes from short stories, watched by course leader Shoko Middleton

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Archives of Mado

The archives of Mado (April 1999- September 2006) may be particularly useful in the following ways:

• For ideas, texts and activities to use in the classroom see the Teacher’s pages. To see what is included in the Teacher’s pages of each edition click here.
  
  
• To find out what other schools have done to introduce and develop Japanese language education in their schools.

Mado News
News, views, teaching ideas and course information designed for everyone involved in teaching Japanese in the UK. Volume 26 September 2006 Nihongo Cup attracts record number of entries Setting up a network for Stepping Out Japanese Works Teacher's Pages: Lafcadio Hearn: A love of Old Japan Undergraduates compete in new Japanese speech contest Download Download ZIP version

Mado is now available to you online!   To make the most of this interactive online only version simply download as usual and then save a copy to your desktop. From the saved copy you will be able to access the sound files with ease. Volume 25 April 2006 Undergraduates compete in new Japanese speech contest Head start inspires action in japanese Expanding the Japan-related Network Teacher's Pages: Waste not want not: Mottanai! Download Download ZIP version Volume 24 January 2006- Interactive version! The Launch of Ready Steady NihonGO! Why Practice Pronunciation? Japanese Clubs - 35 Years of Gonenkai Teacher?fs Pages: Japanese Pronunciation Download Download ZIP version Volume 23 September 2005 Setting standards for Japanese Manga and anime in your classroom The power of speech Teachers Page: Dealing with dilemmas Download Volume 22 April 2005 15 years of Urawa Higher Education Focus New Library books GCSE Reading Resource Download Volume 21 January 2005 Ready Steady NihonGO: Moving forward in 2005 Q & A: WJEC Level 1 Certificate in Japanese Resources: Using ICT in the Classroom Teachers Page: CV for the Future Download Volume 20 September 2004 Speech Contest; Finals Day report Annual Support Programmes Resources: Tobu reviewed Teachers Page: Kanji Mix and Match Download Volume 19 April 2004 Working together with other Japan-related organisations Standards in Japanese :The Languages Ladder Head Start 2004 reviewed Stretching Out reviewed Teachers Page: Reading for A Level Download Volume 18 January 2004 JLC Re-launches Speech Contest for Schools Stepping Out reviewed Ready Steady NihonGO Reports from the Primary Conference Teachers Page: Laughter Brings Good luck (Fukuwarai) Download Volume 17 September 2003 Refresher course at new centre Ready Steady NihonGO British Council Education and Training What’s New in the Library British Council Education and Training Teachers Page: Plan your Dream Trip to Japan with Dragons, Snakes and Ladders Download Volume 16 April 2003 Japan Foundation on the move Biggest ever Head Start The National Languages Strategy: Languages for all, Languages for life Top-ten online resources Teachers Page: Using ICT to keep up with current issues Download Volume 15 January 2003 Celebrating Japanese Teaching in the UK Taking Control – event review Japanese for Everyday Communication – event review Primary Japanese Jle-uk Tobu wins award Teachers Page: Haiku for the New Year Download Volume 14 September 2002 Starting Younger Getting to grips with Grammar The Green Paper Urawa Nikki Teacher Page: A Place Near Me Download Volume 13 April 2002 Japanese Degree Course Report Update Japan 2001: Education reviewed Teachers Page: Teaching Japanese through Mathematics Download Volume 12 January 2002 Class Acts: Success Stories from the UK Japanese Classroom Q & A: AS exam Resources: CD-ROMS reviewed Teachers Page: Writing a Diary Download Volume 11 September 2001 Symposium on Bridging the sectorial divide Flights of Fancy Resources: Preview of Mirai stages 3 & 4 Teachers Page: Making a Speech in Japanese Download Volume 10 April 2001 WJEC Teachers Page: Motivating through Manga, Download Volume 9 January 2001 Tobu Japan 2001 Special inc. Class Acts, Homestay UK, Higher Education seminar Resources: Ima reviewed… Teachers Page: Kanji Families Download Volume 8 September 2000 Homestay UK Teachers Page: Talking about Careers… Download (Part 1) Download (Part 2) Volume 7 May 2000 Starting Young Japanese A Level set texts… Teachers Page: Let’s Recycle Download Volume 6 January 2000 Staffing Japanese A level update Focus on A Level Resources… Teachers Page: Omikuji Download Volume 5 September 1999 Refresher Course reviewed Annual Support Programmes Exchanges with Japan Teachers Page: Talking Timetables, Download Volume 4 April 1999 Head Start reviewed The new A level Japanese ALL launches Japanese Language Committee… Teachers Page: Food, Fitness and Health Download

To view Mado online you need Adobe Acrobat Reader ®. This is FREE software, which will enable you to download Mado, view it from your computer screen and print it out. To obtain a copy, follow the step by step instructions below. Downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader® 1. Go to www.adobe.com 2. On the Adobe home page, click on the Adobe Acrobat icon on the left hand side 3. Scroll down the page to the free acrobat reader 4. Select a language 5. Select a Platform (the operating system that your computer uses, i.e., Windows XP) NB; If you work on a Macintosh computer, indicate here mac_.bin or mac_.hqx - the majority of Mac's will run from mac_.bin 6. Select your nearest location 7. Check the PDF option box 8. Click the download button 9. Adobe Acrobat will then be installed onto the hard disk of your computer To Open Mado: 1. Once you have downloaded Adobe Acrobat Reader ®, it will be saved on your computer and you won't have to repeat this process. 2. Click on the issue that you want to download. 3. Depending on your computer, this will either open in a new browser or it will be saved to your desktop. 4. If it is saved to your desktop, open Adobe Acrobat Reader ® and open the file. You can then save it to wherever you want. Problems If you have difficulties downloading Adobe Acrobat please refer to; Adobe Acrobat Reader ® support