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Kindergarten Japanese Update: Bought a thing!


Slache
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My 3rd and 5th are learning Japanese and he feels left out. He can't read in English yet and is not ready for a curriculum, I just need fun fillers. I got some first grade workbooks I can do with him that are all official looking, and a picture dictionary. I would like a youtube series? I think? As a family we're supplementing with Rapid Japanese and J-Pop, so he's getting that.

Update is I bought Kana From Zero. Now he'll have a big, thick, official looking book like his siblings and it will go extremely slow and easy and cost me $15. If he persists I can do Kanji From Zero, which is not a decent Kanji study, but will also be big and official and fancy and slow. I cancelled the workbooks because they're faster than this and this is perfect because it looks just like what we're doing.

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18 minutes ago, Slache said:

My 3rd and 5th are learning Japanese and he feels left out. He can't read in English yet and is not ready for a curriculum, I just need fun fillers. I got some first grade workbooks I can do with him that are all official looking, and a picture dictionary. I would like a youtube series? I think? As a family we're supplementing with Rapid Japanese and J-Pop, so he's getting that.

No help, but what are you using to teach Japanese?

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40 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

No help, but what are you using to teach Japanese?

The big one is using Minna no Nihongo which is very challenging, and the medium one and I are using Japanese From Zero which is very beginner friendly. It has a main text, supporting videos and online games. It's about half the speed of Minna no Nihongo, with less vocabulary and Kanji.

We are all doing Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course on the side with an app called Japanese Kanji Study. This means text, workbook, readers, and app.

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5 minutes ago, Slache said:

The big one is using Minno no Nihongo which is very challenging, and the medium one and I are using Japanese From Zero which is very beginner friendly. It has a main text, supporting videos and online games. It's about half the speed of Minno no Nihongo, with less vocabulary and Kanji.

We are all doing Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course on the side with an app called Japanese Kanji Study. This means text, workbook, readers, and app.

Thank you. My oldest is into all things Japan. He does duo lingo, but I’m not thrilled. I will look into this.

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12 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Thank you. My oldest is into all things Japan. He does duo lingo, but I’m not thrilled. I will look into this.

How old is oldest? Most people would recommend Genki over Minna no Nihongo. My preference would be the new Tobira but it's brand new and the workbook isn't out yet.

Japanese From Zero, Genki and Minna all have youtube videos to compliment them and premade anki decks.

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The last time I studied Japanese was several years ago with my oldest, and we used Teach Me Japanese, singing the songs and looking at the words in the accompanying book when she was young. I don't think it exists like that any more.

This site lists some age-appropriate cartoons that may be available on YouTube: https://bestlivingjapan.com/top-10-japanese-cartoons-children-0-6-years-old/

I don't think this is a series, but may be a start for learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYvfeacJZcU . It isn't immersion though; they give the word in English, then in Japanese.

If you are open to a FB group, Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children is a large group with a variety of languages spoken. Asking there would get you a lot of responses. Also, go back through some of the old posts of Chocolate Sushi Mom; I remember her having a lot of suggestions. She started when her kids were really young - they are still young, actually. Her oldest is younger than your oldest.

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1 hour ago, Slache said:

How old is oldest? Most people would recommend Genki over Minna no Nihongo. My preference would be the new Tobira but it's brand new and the workbook isn't out yet.

Japanese From Zero, Genki and Minna all have youtube videos to compliment them and premade anki decks.

He’s 10.

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15 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

He’s 10.

At 10 I would let him look at samples and videos of all 3 and have him pick. 10 is a good age to start. Mine is 11, but has a background which is why he's jumping into such a hard beginner text. His goal is to be fluent and pass the JLPT 1 (top level international Japanese test) before he graduates.

Genki has more classroom activities, JFZ is the easiest. There's also the free class from Georgia Public Broadcasting which I've never looked at.

https://www.gpb.org/irasshai

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