Year 8 Japanese Program – Taiko, Manga and Kendo

Year 8 Japanese program -“ Taiko drumming, Manga drawing and Kendo

As part of our year 8 Japanese program, the year 8 students of Japanese are learning about traditional Japanese arts, hobbies and sports. In April, our students had the chance to learn taiko drumming from Kiyomi Calwell, the owner of the Tyke-Oh company. She stressed the importance of discipline in Japanese arts, while teaching them the drumming technique. The boys were able to play a number of well-constructed pieces of music.

In May, they were able to learn the Japanese art of manga (comic) drawing. Kenny Chan, a renown manga artist, taught the nuances of each line in perfecting the drawing of manga as well as the use of manga in daily Japanese life.

To round off the performances, in June, Gary Oliver visited to teach the boys the art of Kendo, a martial arts used to train samurai. Some classes were able to try kendo out for themselves while other watched the masters in frantic battle for points.

It has been a fantastic hands-on learning experience for our year 8 Japanese students this semester.