• About Me
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Disclosure
  • Frugal Living
    • Giveaways
    • Living a Frugal Life
    • Freebies
    • Homeschool Printables
    • Recycling
  • Inspiration
    • Inspiration & Quotes
    • Charity

Castle View Academy

Curiosity + Creativity = Learning

  • Home
  • Learning
    • Home Education
    • Homeschool Art
    • Field Trips
    • Homeschool Geography
    • Health
    • Homeschool History
    • Homeschool Language Arts
      • Books
        • Book Activities
    • Life Skills
    • Homeschool Math
    • Music
    • Homeschool Science
    • Sports
  • Creativity
    • Book Activities
    • Craft
    • Culture
      • Africa
      • Asian Cultures
      • Europe
      • North America
      • South America
      • Oceania
    • Nature
    • Outdoors
    • Playtime
  • Holidays & Seasons
    • Holidays
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Canada Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
      • New Year
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Autumn
      • Winter
  • Recipes
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Snacks
    • Fun Food
    • Fun Recipes for Play
  • Family
    • Family Life
    • Parenting
  • Reviews
Home » Culture » Asian Cultures » Learning Japanese Kanji as a Beginner

Learning Japanese Kanji as a Beginner

November 6, 2018 by Crystal McClean

Learning Japanese Kanji as a beginner at any age at Castle View Academy homeschool

Japanese Kanji are fascinating to the ‘outside’ world; how can anyone remember them all?  After all, there are thousands and thousands of them!  And when you add in the additional three alphabets used in Japanese (Hiragana, katakana, and Romanji), and perhaps all used within the same sentence- wow!  The kids and I are learning to ‘crack the code’ with two fun products from Tuttle Publishing: My First Japanese Kanji Book and Beginning Japanese Kanji Language Practice Pad.

Learning Japanese Kanji as a beginner at any age at Castle View Academy

This post may contain affiliate links through which I may receive a small commission.

Did you know that in Japan, children are expected to know 1,000 kanji by the end of grade 6?  And we thought 26 English letters were difficult back then.  I thought it would be fun for the children to learn some kanji at the same time as me.  Thanks to Tuttle Publishing who provided us with our study books.

Learning how each kanji came to originate is interesting, and these books don’t specifically teach that, but you can certainly intuit how some kanji came to be formed; it makes for a fun game!

My First Japanese Kanji Book

My First Japanese Kanji Book assumes you already know hiragana and katakana, so it was a little more challenging for my children, and I’ve become a little rusty at it, but it’s coming back (there are charts in the back of the book for this, too).  However, Tristan likes to think of Japanese as ‘cracking the code’ for the kanji characters, and this is a good way to approach it!

My First Japanese Kanji Book sample

There are 36 lessons in this book, which is enough to really keep your children learning.  Most of the lessons are two pages long, so quite reasonable and not too intimidating.  There are 2-3 kanji to learn in each lesson.  There are practice squares on the page, but I printed out some Japanese-style squared paper so Tristan and Kallista could practice as many times as they needed/wanted, and I could practice along with them, too.

READ MORE:   7 Things We Learned From Our First Camping Experience

Each kanji gives the English meanings and pronunciations, as well as a couple of other words that use the kanji within them, which expands the vocabulary and allows children to see them in more than one way.  The hiragana is also provided above the new kanji words to help pronunciation.

Each kanji character must be drawn in a particular order, and these are shown with numbers and red stroke lines in the practice area.

Castle View Academy using My First Japanese Kanji Book

Now that you’re familiar with the new kanji of the day, it’s time for a little fun and kanji in situ.  Each lesson comes with a dual-language poem.  The Japanese is written mostly in hiragana, with the target kanji in – well – kanji, of course.  There is a CD included with mp3 tracks so you can practice the kanji vocabulary and listen to the poems, practice, and repeat.

Although by grade 6, children in Japan will know 1,000 kanji, by the time you finish this book, you will be familiar with 109; that’s pretty cool for one book!

I have used a few phrases from My First Japanese Kanji Book in a letter I sent to a friend in Japan, and she replied saying that her children were impressed!  Perhaps they might not be so impressed if they found out it was from a children’s book – but everyone has to start somewhere, isn’t that right?

Beginning Japanese Kanji Language Practice Pad

Now that the kids are learning some kanji, it’s time for me to get into it, too!  I’ve been practicing with the Beginning Japanese Kanji Language Practice Pad.  In this compact pad, there are 334 kanji to learn, as well as 1,000 frequently used words that contain those characters.

READ MORE:   Disney Art Therapy Books For Kids

I went to a Japanese calligraphy workshop in August and realised just how poor my calligraphy is.  Each character must be formed in an exact way with rules to the stroke order and direction – you can tell if it’s been done wrong!  Kanji are formed in a different order than English letters and it really is like learning a new skill in addition to the language itself.

Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Beginning Japanese Kanji at Castle View Academy

Rather than carry the pad with me, I tended to take a few sheets out of the block and pop them in my backpack so they’d be handy.  I often used them/practiced while I was at the dojo while Tristan and Kallista were at their Ju-Jitsu training…it seemed appropriate that we both immersed ourselves in Japanese culture at the same time.

You can, of course, leave them all tidy on the block, but I have also hung them up on the kitchen wall to help me with retention.

Learning Japanese Kanji with Tuttle at Castle View Academy

On the front of the sheets it shows the target kanji as well as the (several) meanings and pronunciation.  Then there are compound words or short phrases given that use the target character as well.  Helpfully, the radical is also given.  The instructions are given on how to construct the kanji and there is room to practice.

The new kanji character is finally used in a full sentence as well, and on the back of the sheet is more space to practice the kanji on its own, as well as room to write the sentence in full a few times, too, as you can see it the page at the top of the wall.

I would have loved this while I was living and working in Japan; it would have been perfect for me to start my day off with a new kanji character and then practice it during lunch!  However, it is never too late to learn a new skill, and it’s even more fun when you can learn alongside your children!

READ MORE:   September Detustabox Revealed

If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Tuttle Publishing, you can connect  with them through their website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest (and you can see our other Tuttle reviews here).

CVA Disclaimer

Filed Under: Asian Cultures, Books, Homeschool Language Arts, Homeschool Reviews Tagged With: Elementary, foreign language, High School, Japan, Japanese, Middle School, Parents, Poetry, Primary, Tuttle Publishing

About Crystal McClean

I am a Mom, Wife, Home Educator, and Virtual Assistant. We love to have fun together while learning and exploring our environment.

« Bailey Jacobs and the Disappearing Dogs
The Importance of Homeschool Electives: Let Student Choose! »
 
LoveCrafts
Free Language Arts Lessons
Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Popular Posts

Evan-Moor flashcards and worbooks
TOTS100 - UK Parent Blogs
TOTS100
”Top

Terms of Use

Please use our ideas in your home or school. If you wish to share a post, you may share one photo with a link to the original post; however, please do not share any photos of children, adults, or animals without prior written permission which may be obtained via an email to info@CastleViewAcademy.com

Please do not copy or duplicate a post’s instructions or recipe without written permission.

All content on this site is copyrighted and belongs to Castle View Academy/Crystal McClean 2011-2020.

· Copyright © 2015 · Castle View Academy · Site Design by: Fantastique Designs ·