Over 30 teachers of Japanese language from across the UK attended the Japan Foundation’s most recent Japanese Language Teachers’ Seminar on Friday, July 13^th, which focussed on Motto Yomu Chikara - a brand new resource designed to complement the Japan Foundation's successful Chikara resources for GCSE Japanese.

Now in its trial phase, Motto Yomu Chikara is funded by the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Local Project Support Programme and aims to help students bridge the gap between GCSE and AS level Japanese. The workshop, held at the Japan Foundation London, gave participants the chance not only to discuss the best way to utilise Motto Yomu Chikara in the classroom, but also to meet face-to-face with the authors of this resource: Michiyo Kato, Shoko Middleton and Sachiko Yamaguchi.

The workshop opened with an introduction to the original Chikara resource by Seiji Fukushima, Chief Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London. This was followed by a series of presentations by the authors of Motto Yomu Chikara, explaining how the new resource works and how it can be used to improve the transition from GCSE to AS and A2 Japanese. This included demonstrations of practical and enjoyable activities to hold in the classroom to boost language learning. Finally, all the participants discussed in groups how they could best use Motto Yomu Chikara within their own teaching environment, and shared ideas for best teaching practice.

Overall, Motto Yomu Chikara was well received by all participants, and many attendees commented that they found the workshop very useful, both in terms of learning more about Motto Yomu Chikara and as a chance to exchange opinions and knowledge with fellow teachers of Japanese.

We would like to thank all teachers, including Kato-sensei, Middleton-sensei and Yamaguchi-sensei, who took the time out of their busy teaching schedules to attend and contribute their valuable insight to this workshop.

Click here to download the trial version of Motto Yomu Chikara from the Greenford High School website.

Click here to read more about our original Chikara series and download a free electronic version of the original Chikara.