Japanese Shodo Class

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!

Chinese Calligraphy

What a treat!  Today in GATE, 4th graders had the opportunity to learn about Chinese writing.  Mrs. Yu wore a beautiful Chinese dress with intricate metallic embroidery.  She looked beautiful!  A few years ago, Mrs. Yu brought me back a Chinese dress as a gift.  I decided to wear mine today, too!

Mrs. Yu showed the students how to properly hold the Chinese brush to create the characters.  She shared a video from Discovery Education that told about this history of Chinese calligraphy.   She brought ink, brushes, and papers with Chinese characters for the students to use for practice.

The neatest thing Mrs. Yu shared with us was her "chop."  This is a type of stamp that acts as an official signature on documents (like at a bank) or on art work.  To make the emblem, you press the chop into "1,000 year old ink." (Mrs. Yu has had hers for 26 years and it has not dried out!)  Then press the chop onto Chinese paper for the official mark.

The image above says, "Yu Lakur" with Mrs. Yu's initials at the top.  So neat!

My students and I learned many things today about Chinese calligraphy, the Chinese culture, and writing!   Mrs. Yu plans to come back again to answer questions that we previously sent her about China.  AES is so fortunate to have Mrs. Yu teaching our students about Chinese and opening their eyes, minds, and hearts to appreciate cultural similarities and differences.

Thank you, Mrs. Yu!   Mrs. Yu left us with two gorgeous banners that we will hang on either side of our door that say, "Happy Family" and "Smooth Sailing."  I like to think of our GATE class as a "Happy Family" and I wish us all "Smooth Sailing" for 2014!