When teaching the Japanese lessons, it is a good idea to use some standard Japanese phrases with the children. They don’t need to be able to reproduce the sentences, just recognise their meaning and respond accordingly. This helps create a more authentic atmosphere in the classroom. Here is a selection of the most common classroom phrases you may need:
Instructions:
| tatte kudasai | 立ってください | stand up please |
| suwatte kudasai | 座ってください | sit down please |
| te o agete kudasai | 手を上げてください | put your hand up please |
| shizuka ni (shitekudasai) | 静かに（してください） | quieten down please! |
| kite kudasai | 聞いてください | listen please |
| mite kudasai | 見てください | look please |
| itte kudasai | 言ってください | say please |
| mo ichi do | もう一度 | one more time |
| isshoni | いっしょに | all together |
Praise
| yoku dekimashita | よくできました | well done |
| jozu desu ne | 上手ですね | very good |
| subarashi | 素晴らしい | wonderful |
| hai, so desu | はい、そうです | yes, that’s right |
| sugoi desu | すごいです | great |
| sono tori | その通り | that’s right |
Questions
| nan desu ka | 何ですか | what is this/ that? |
| wakarimasu ka | 分かりますか | do you understand? |
General Names
A teacher should be referred to as ‘surname + sensei’, so Mr/s
Brown would be ‘Brown sensei’.
It is considered polite to attach the suffix ‘san’ after people’s names (regardless of whether it is the first name or surname), so Nicola would be ‘Nicola san’.
As more affectionate terms, children can attach ‘kun’ or 'chan' to other children's names. Generally, kun is used for boys and chan for girls, so Matt would be ‘Matt kun’ and Nadiya would be 'Nadiya chan'.
Note: you would never apply these suffixes when talking about yourself – you can only use them to refer to other people as it shows respect to them.