What’s the weather in Japan?

This term, Kindergarten students learning Japanese have been asking "donna tenki?" ("how is the weather?").

Want to know about the weather in Japan? Just ask Kindy.

This term students learned all about the weather, learning how to ask about and explain the weather, interpret the weekly weather forecast and identify different seasons.

Two young boys in school uniforms sit at a classroom table, shaping yellow playdough as they chat about the Japan weather. Playdough pieces are arranged in front of them, with red chairs and bags in the background.

During the term, the children engaged in a variety of language games and activities including craft activities and yoga to acquire new vocabulary and language structures and improve their language skills.

Two children sit in a classroom holding up colourful drawings of teru teru bozu, with weather in Japan and Japanese writing projected on the screen behind them.

According to their teacher Machiko Ohta, they particularly enjoyed making Hiragana scripts using playdough and learning about the Japanese rainy season as well as teru teru bōzu, a talisman that is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent rainy days.

In one class children created their own teru teru bōzu using origami paper, hopefully a good omen for a warm and dry summer holidays.

A group of young children in school uniforms stand in a classroom, spaced apart and posing as if practising a dance or exercise routine. Colourful decorations brighten the room as they prepare, perhaps inspired by today’s weather in Japan.

Students demonstrated their new vocabulary and skills when they confidently performed the song Donna Tenki? (meaning “how is the weather?”) on stage at assembly in front of the school.

Their teacher Machiko Ohta beamed with pride following the performance, exclaiming, “I am so proud of their achievements in the language class during their first year of Primary School!”