Teachers Resources

Japanese School of Detroit

The Japanese School of Detroit is a K-12 heritage language school focusing on Japanese language and culture for area students. Please see their website for useful resources on teaching and learning.

Japanese Resources for Educators

The following resources provide background reading and lessons for teaching students about different aspects of Japan.  See also the links found on the Student Resources page.

• About Japan: A Teacher's Resource provides lessons, essays, and a discussion board that enable teachers to gain the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively teach about Japan.
• Trends in Japan is a resource of Web Japan that provides articles on various aspects of Japanese life and society, including street fashion, food and travel, and popular culture.
• Arts of Japan - A Reader's Guide gives 450 of the best articles available in English. Most come from three journals for non-specialists: Arts of Asia, Asian Art, and Orientations.
• Asian Educational Media Service at the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
• Ask Asia gives teaching resources from the Asia Society (New York), including comparison tables.
• Asia in the Curriculum provides information on conferences, professional development workshops and provides educators with lessons on Asia.
• Bridge to Japan annotates Japan-related Internet resources.
• Freer Gallery of Asian Art has an Educational Programs Page for teachers.
• Images from Japan is a collection of various photographs of Japanese sights and scenes.
• ImaginAsia - a free family program for children ages 6-12 (Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.).
• J GUIDE has links to practically all Japan subjects. 
• Maps from National Geographic Society in PDF (the Zoom-in feature of Acrobat Reader is handy for PDF display).
• Teaching (and Learning) about Japan, an annotated collection of Web pages on Japan at Cleveland State University.
• Japan Society provides an Annotated Filmography that aides K-14 educators in using anime to teach about different aspects of Japan.
• Japan-Related Book List, compiled from past participation at the Ann Arbor Book Festival
• The Women Online Media Project provides a list of resources for Japanese women, as well as foreign women living in Japan.
• Feminism in Japan provides an extensive list of books on Japanese gender relations.
• Education about Asia provides online resources and links to select articles.  Subscriptions start at $30/year.

 

Units, lessons, and resources specific to Japanese history, culture, arts, and language can be found at the following organizations: 

• Teaching about Japan is a publication of the National Clearinghouse for United States-Japan Studies and provides lessons and resources about Japan.  
• Japan Society provides lessons and resources for teachers which focus on the use of media and interesting topics to explore history and culture. 
• Outreach World allows educators to search for lessons according to country, time period, grade level, and more.
• The Japan Project connects teachers with different topics in Japanese studies.
• Traditional Japanese Music & Dance introduces teachers to traditional Japanese music and provides links for further exploration.
• OSU: Institute for Japanese Studies has lessons and units available for teachers on various subjects, including heritage, contemporary culture, and Japan's place in the world.
• Visualizing Cultures provides educators with visual images and interactive units for teaching about Japan.
• Imaging Japanese History, an initiative of the University of Colorado, offers lesson modules specifically designed for high school teachers.
  
• Bridging World History: Early Belief Systems (see video on Shinto)
• Florida State University: Music Cultures of the World (see East Asia and Japan)
• Expanding East Asian Studies provides lessons on  East Asia categorized by core subjects.
• Japan Past and Present provides links to various lessons, categorized by subject.
  
• Kids Web Japan is an interactive site for learning about various topics in Japanese cultural studies.
• ABC Teach and Enchanted Learning both provide elementary teachers with arts & crafts ideas, worksheets, and handouts.
• Drawing Anime Style provides a lesson exploring how cultural difference affects cartoon style.
• Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese provides information on textbooks, workshops, conferences, programs, and teaching materials.
• Association of Teachers of Japanese provides lessons on Japanese language and culture, job postings, and scholarships for language study abroad.
• Keiko Schneider's Bookmarks is a website created and maintained by a language teacher in the U.S., and provides links to Japanese language and culture resources.
• Japanese Teachers Association of Michigan provides members with a bi-weekly online on issues in Japanese language teaching and an online discussion board.  
• Concordia Language Villages is a K-12 Japanese immersion program
• Channel J is an internet TV and movie news website.  Available in Japanese and English.
• Nihongo Web is an interactive, online Japanese language and culture program from the University of Alabama, available for high school and/or college credit, or for those who just want to learn Japanese on their own.
• Learn the Kana provides an introduction to Hiragana and Katakana characters, as well as specific mnemonic methods for learning these scripts.
• Japanese Traditional Songs are available online, and include words (romaji and nihongo), sheet music, and MP3s.
• J-pop videos can be accessed free-of-charge by visiting You Tube.
  
• Japanese Student Life: these culture and language units provide a platform for teaching about Elementary and High School life in Japan while simultaneously teaching the Japanese language.
• Mononoke Hime: this Japanese-English Script may be useful in teaching listening comprehension and word/phrase recognition skills.
• Japanese Literature and Folk Tales: This page provides excerpts from Japanese literature and folk tales in the original Japanese.