GATE students had some special guests visit our class on Wednesday, February 17th. Makiko Jones, Nami Hamai, Sanae Mikawa, and Kayoko Yamanouchi returned to teach us more about Japan. The class they prepared this year was about Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo. The ladies explained that Japanese characters came from the Chinese form of writing which has over 50,000 characters! Hiragana and Katakana are different forms of Japanese characters.
The ladies brought textbooks used in Japan. Some books were Western style which means the books are read left to right and top to bottom like we do where other books read from back to front and the characters are read in lines top to bottom. In Japan, people list their last names first then their first names. They even told us that to call for an emergency (911 here) would be 119 in Japan!
To use Shodo, there are certain tools you need: an ink stick (made from soot and animal bones and muscles), an ink stone, special paper, a paper weight, a cloth for underneath the paper, and a brush.
All of our students were able to write their name and at least one Japanese word/character. I even tried it myself! We are so thankful to have Newman Technologies and TS Tech in our area which have brought so many wonderful families to Albertville! These ladies are so gracious to volunteer their time and prepare fantastic lessons for our students. I enjoy them as much as the students!
Please enjoy this video of 4th grade GATE students creating Shodo!
