We’re going to be studying Japan next week in my Geography class for English Language Learners. One of our art teachers is going to come in and show students how to use origami as part of our unit, so it should be an engaging few days.
I’ll be adding this to A Beginning List Of The Best Geography Sites For Learning About Asia & The Middle East.
Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About Japan (additional suggestions are welcome):
The Best Resources For Learning About The Atomic Bombings Of Japan
The Best Sites For Learning About The Japan Earthquake & Tsunami
The Best Sites For Learning About The Japan Earthquake & Tsunami, Part Two
The Best Resources On The One Year Anniversary Of Japan’s Earthquake & Tsunami
National Geographic Kids – Japan
How Japanese Paper Cranes Become Popular Around The World
Watch this video about origami.
You list of resources has really intrigued me. While all the facts your students will learn from those sites are certainly accurate, I’m not sure they’ll get a feel for what it’s like to actually live here like an average, everyday person. I’m going to ask my students–elementary age through senior citizens–what they think kids overseas should know about Japan.
If your students have any questions about Japan they’d like to have answered, my 16 year old son Tony and I would be more than happy to make a few short videos. A while back we used to make podcasts & vlogs regularly, but we got out of the habit. Lately Tony has been badgering me to get back into it again.
https://www.youtube.com/user/richpav/videos
I’m interested the most in what kinds of crazy stories they’ve heard about Japan and whether or not they believe they’re true.
Here’s a site about current events that’s interesting because it translates a few example online comments from Japanese to English.
http://www.japancrush.com/
This site is fairly popular with foreigners living in Japan. It provides a good overview of current events and recently popular human interest stories.
http://www.japanprobe.com/
Here’s the website for the supermarket down the street from our house. Everyone who comes to Japan is always curious to see what products are on sale.
http://www.kasumi.co.jp/tenpo/kensei/koga.html
Rich