Hougang Japanese Language School

> What is a lesson like?


Would you like to know what's going on during a lesson? Let's peek at our very first lesson.

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Hello, everyone! Welcome to Hougang Japanese Language School. I hope you can enjoy studying Japanese with us.

First of all, please let me introduce myself for a while. My name is Kitahara and I am a principal of this school. You can call me 'Kitahara sensei' or 'Kitahara-san'.

'sensei' means 'teacher' and 'san' is like an English 'Mr, Mrs or Miss'.

I came from Fukuoka (one of forty seven prefectures in Japan) in 1975, studied Mandarin in Nanyang Technological University for three years , and started my career as a Japanese teacher right after graduation.

I started to run this school in 1983 and have been teaching the Japanese language since then.

Now, let's begin to study the Japanese language. Before studying Lesson-1, I would like to explain "Pronunciation" and "Writing System" of the Japanese language since it is very important when you study Japanese for the first time.

First of all, we study Japanese syllables. "Syllable" means "A unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound formed by a vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant alone, or by any of these sounds preceded, followed, or surrounded by one or more consonants. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/]"

You can skip this part if you know what "vowel", "diphthong" and "consonant" are.

("Vowel" means "A speech sound, such as (ē) or (ī), created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity, usually forming the most prominent and central sound of a syllable. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/])")

("Diphthong" means "A complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable, as (oi) in boil or (ī) in fine. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/]")
("Consonant" means "A speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h). [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/])")

By learning Japanese syllables, you can pronounce all Japanese sentences properly.

Please look at the handout which I gave you just now. Then, I read the handout.


Please look at the Japanese syllables chart.

I read first, and please repeat after me after listening to my pronunciation carefully.

(You can see the chart here.)
Japanese syllables chart with Hiragana

Well, we combine the Japanese syllables to make any Japanese word and sentence such as:
'a' plus 'me' is 'a-me' which means "rain",
'yu' plus 'ki' is 'yu-ki which means "snow" and
'wa' plus 'ta' plus 'shi' plus 'wa' plus 'i' plus 'sha' plus 'de' plus 'su' is 'wa-ta-shi wa i-sha de-su" which means "I am a doctor."

And whenever you pronounce the Japanese syllables, Japanese words or Japanese sentences which are expressed in the English alphabets, please pronounce it in the Japanese way.

If you are not sure how to pronounce, please ask me.

Next, let me explain about "Long Vowels and Double Consonants." I read the handout.


So, whenever you see the words which have the long vowels and double consonants, please pronounce them properly.

Let's practice to pronounce the words on the whiteboard.


Well, I am going to explain about the Japanese writing system. Please look at the handout.


Let me summarize what we read just now.

When we write English sentences, we use English alphabets. When we write Chinese sentences, we use Chinese characters or use Han Yi Pin Yin once in a while.

Regarding Japanese, we normally mix there characters which are Hiraganna, Katakana and Kanji to write sentences. Which character to use depends on the word in the sentence.

I give you example. Look at the whiteboard, please.


Among these three characters, Hiragana is the most important because all Japanese sentences can be written in Hiragana as follows.


So, it is very important to master Hiragana as soon possible.

In this Elementary-1 course, we do not study Katakana and Kanji, so please concentrate on memorizing Hiragana.

It is a bit tough to memorize Hiragana, however, if you memorize 46 basic Hiragana, you can read the complete Japanese Syllables Chart in Hiragana instead of reading in Roumaji.

We made Hiragana Picture Association Chart for you so that you can memorize Hiragana without any difficulties. So, please download here.

Hiragana Picture Association Chart

Next, let's study the Japanese greetings which are very useful for our daily life. I read first and then you follow me, please.



I would like to greet you, so please reply me.

{Q and A sessions}

Now, let's study Lesson 1. Look at page 4 of your textbook. This is the list of the new vocabularies which we use in Lesson 1. So, please repeat after me and learn the proper pronunciation of the word.

{Read the textbook page 4.}

In Lesson 1, we study how to identify a person.

In other words, we study how to say "I am Mr Tanaka.", "œHe is a student.", "œShe is a Japanese.", etc in Japanese.

And also, we study what a particle is. So, I would like to read the handout.


Well, let's practice using what we studied just now.

B-san, please translate the English sentences on the whiteboard in Japanese, please.

{Mr B translates the Japanese sentences below in English.}


Yoku dekimashita! (Well done!)

Well, we translate some more Japanese into English.


Yoku dekimashita. Well, we go to the next grammar. Please go back to the handout.


{practice sessions}


{practice sessions}


{practice sessions}


Well, that's all for our first lesson.

If you would like to study more, please contact us during registration hours. Our receptionist will help you to enroll in the class. We hope to see you soon! (*^-^*). FYI, We summarise what we are going to study at each lesson below.


We are looking forwrd to seeing you in the class (*^-^*).

> What is a lesson like?