We hope that you had a relaxing holiday and thank you for your continued support. It is wonderful to see so many teachers interacting with us on Facebook!

Bookings in 2021
Bookings for 2021 have opened. Please contact us to secure your preferred date.

Excursions in Term 4
If you have a tentative booking in Term 4, please email the booking form and the students’ name list.
Due to COVID, morning tea is currently not provided by the Tanken Centre. Visitors are requested to bring their own morning tea and drink. The rice ball making activity is not being offered until further notice. If you do have a booking for Term 4 and are now unable to attend, please let us know at your earliest convenience.

Our talented Tanken Centre team has just released their third activity pack to support teachers of Japanese – Japan!

This activity package introduces students to the culture of Japan through a series of stunning images, as a short video with interactive worksheet. It may be used as a stand-alone activity at the start of a course or embedded into existing units of work.

You can download the resource, with all relevant links, from the Stages 4 and 5 Japanese section of our website – scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll also find the Tanken Centre's other activity packs there too – 'Japanese house' and 'Making onigiri'.

If you would like to contact JTAN with a question or suggestion, please use JTAN's new website's contact form.​

This grant from the Japan Foundation supports schools to purchase online teaching materials for Japanese language programs that specialise in online teaching due to COVID-19.
 
Successful applicants will be eligible for the reimbursement of 100% of the purchase price of approved items up to AU$700.00.
 
Applications will be accepted throughout the application period. Each request will be considered upon submission. Please be mindful that applicants are requested to complete purchasing and should be ready to submit the related documents for the reimbursement by 30 September 2020.

• Application period ends 30 September 2020 and the final date to submit the reimbursement documents is 30 October 2020.

For further details please contact The Japan Foundation.

Video matsuri contest
A reminder to all teachers that entries for the annual short film contest for students close on 1 September 2020. Please find details on the Japan Foundation website.

Online professional learning 
The Japan Foundation will be running online professional learning sessions for Japanese teachers on 29-30 September. Three different sessions (A, B and C) will be held on both days for your convenience. There is no cost to participate in these sessions. Registrations are essential and there is a maximum of 50 participants per session. Registrations open on 7 September at 9pm AEST and close on 22 September at 10am AEST or once session capacity has been reached. 
 
Session A: Let’s apply video learning resources from “Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese.” in class  
Target: Secondary
Presenter: Minako Kadoi, JPF Sydney Language Consultant
 
Session B: Activities for the Australian Curriculum: promoting intercultural understanding with Japanese patterns
Target: Primary/junior secondary
Presenter: Himiko Negishi-Wood, JPF Sydney Language Consultant 
 
Session C: How to have effective writing lessons
Target: Senior secondary
Presenter: Shunsuke Hirakawa, JPF Sydney Language Consultant
 
Dates and times are detailed below.

29 September 2020 (Tuesday)
Session A: 10am-11:10am AEST (70min)
Session B: 11:30am-12:40pm AEST (70min)
Session C: 1:30am-2:40pm AEST (70min)
 
30 September 2020 (Wednesday)
Session B: 10am-11:10am AEST (70min)
Session C: 11:30am-12:40pm AEST (70min)
Session A: 1:30am-2:40pm AEST (70min)
 
Further details and registration are available on the Japan Foundation website. 

Belmont High School, near Lake Macquarie in the Hunter Region, is looking for a Japanese teacher for 3 days/week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The load is mainly Year 8 with elective Stage 5.
​
This position is for an immediate start until the end of term, with a possibility of extension. If you are interested, or know of someone interested please contact head teacher Paige Williams via email or phone.

The recording of this online professional learning session which was held on Friday 7 August by The Japan Foundation, Sydney will be available until 31 October 2020.
To access this video on demand please register at this link.
For further enquiries, please contact The Japan Foundation, Sydney.​

The Tanken Centre has created a video with highlights of Japan, including:
- what Japan is known for
- famous sites
- food in Japan.

The Tanken Centre team is also working on an accompanying activity package in the near future, however we wanted to release the video quickly for subject selection or just as a beautiful classroom resource.

You can view the resource below, or download it from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BfMTUEwoUqeBbjeXTbJ1BAPkC83dNsfc/view?usp=sharing

This term the Tanken Centre is offering online group speaking sessions for Year 11 students.

There are speaking sessions available on the following dates:
 18, 21, 31 August
 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18 September.

The 40 minute online group sessions are to assist students with their speaking practice. Sessions will take place during school hours using Zoom. Students will be divided into 3 breakout rooms and the Tanken Centre staff and class teacher will spend 10 minutes with a set of questions in each room. Staff will rotate through the rooms to ensure students have the opportunity to practise with 3 different speakers.

After the speaking rotations are complete, the groups will come back together in the main room and students will be given feedback.

​These sessions are free of charge. At this stage, sessions are only available to NSW public schools.
​
If you are interested in booking a session for your students, please email the Tanken Centre with the following details:
- the course (Beginners or Continuers)
- preferred dates and times (please provide at least 2 options)
- name list of attending students.
 
Bookings will be made on a first-come first-served basis. As there is a high chance that you will not be able to get your first preference, please send several preferred dates with times. Please note that your session is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email. 

In response to teacher feedback, we have updated our sample speaking questions for Japanese Continuers. The questions we originally published were adapted from the old HSC Online site, and feedback indicated that the types of questions asked during the oral examination have changed since HSC Online was first published.

​You can access the updated questions from our Stage 6 Japanese Continuers page.