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How to read a Japanese clock.

The Japanese clock works exactly the same as any other western clock, so the only thing that needs to be learnt is how to pronounce the words. 

The reason why 4 and 9 are red is because these times have a slightly different pronunciation from what you would have expected.

The first bit is actually quite straight forward. It is a direct translation into Japanese. One has the choice to write the word in numbers with hiragana, or with kanji and hiragana. These days one can even find clocks that have the hour digits in kanji, just like the clock below. It’s a gimmick.

The second part of the clock reading skill is the minutes reading. At this stage we have only added the five-minute lots.

The only other mention would have to be that there is no word for quarter of an hour, only the word for ’15 minutes’. One could also describe the quarter of an hour time span before the whole hour as ‘so many minutes before’ the whole hour – just like in English. Don’t forget the word 前 まえ mae meaning before. 

Here are all the clock times in five-minute lots:

Particle Train Teaching Resource

This is a teacher resource you may use for explaining Japanese particles and Japanese sentence structure. 

It can be a mission to explain to students that the Japanese language uses a system of particles to show meaning. Other languages use different systems. 

The next step is to explain to students how many particles there are and what each particle means within a sentence.

Link to list of particles.

A particle in a Japanese sentence has the function of showing “the purpose” of that part of the sentence. Therefore if you swap parts within a sentence, the particle moves with the noun.

We use the following way to demonstrate what the pattern of a Japanese sentence is by comparing each sentence with an extended train. Each noun or each part of speech is like a train carriage. Each carriage has a main purpose and each carriage has a sign on the outside to mark that purpose to the boarding passengers. You move the carriage, you move the sign on the outside.

On one carriage it would have the sign dining car, on another first class seating, on another baggage, on another sleeping compartments. 

Next, we explain that there is a natural order in a train setup. For instance, luggage is not between the seating and the dining cars, because passengers would be clambering over luggage etc.

In order to demonstrate this sentence pattern idea, we made the following props for our classroom; here are the display parts you need to make:

Cut about seven plastic display folders up, so you end up with seven rectangular sheets. At the end you need to glue enough magnets to the back of each sheet to hold it onto a metallic whiteboard for display.

Cut a rectangular square in each sheet as shown below, so that you have the idea of an empty picture frame.

Glue a magnet on the right-hand side of the frame. Use double-sided tape for that purpose. 

(One could also use Velcro dots, if magnets are not available).  We chose the black dot magnet on the right-hand side, because the particle follows the noun. Our train travels to the left and the engine is a PUSH engine (=verb is at the end).

Next, print off the particle buttons below, which would give a good colour and usage spread for your resource. 

A good idea is to laminate each page before cutting out and gluing on the magnets, or the Velcro dots. As the large frames are already plastic, you don’t need to laminate those ones.

Here are the basic frame patterns: 

If you would like to be more sophisticated, you could add two more buttons to the frames: one could be a grammatical label, or you could also add rōmaji buttons, if your students need these.

Next, you need to cut out the buttons after you laminated them, then you stick on another magnet, or perhaps a piece of metal. No idea where you would find that, but have a deep think.

We have found in the past that advertising fridge magnets were quite suitable. Of course you don’t have to make it all so sturdy, but if it is sturdy you can use the resource many times. These plastic covers are very sturdy and colourful, so easy to see for students. 

If you don’t want to use these materials, please feel free to change according to your own requirements. 

Here is an example:

The clearer the label on the outside of the carriage, the quicker the passengers can get on, the less hassle there is. 

がんばって！Enjoy!

We are still on the look-out for plastic that is less transparent. We find the advertisement magnets annoying (though they are cheap). We just need a better plastic frame.

Now we look at the photos it suddenly has begun to annoy us. The transparent red frame is distracting. So we set out to change it. Here is the updated version.

One could call it a cottage industry…

If you use rōmaji, probably a good idea to use the same colours for the same meaning.

We already have a box full of pictures with Japanese words underneath. Lining them up on the whiteboard means, that students can participate in sentence construction. They focus on the picture and the pattern and not on the actual writing.

When your students are ready, you can take the pictures out and write in the rectangular space. Like so. Now you can make as many sentences as you like, but more importantly, your students can make almost any sentence they want. It is interactive and creative.

Beautiful colours きれいないろ

Koi colour こいの いろ koi no iro

Big, large 大きい おおきい

modified Wikipedia pictures

311 Do, did, don’t, didn’t ます、ました、ません、ませんでした

305 Colours II 色 いろ

In Japanese you place the colour adjective in front of the noun. As you can see from the following chart, there are two groups. Half take の  and half don’t.

 Yours for the asking:

That was a beautiful and colourful experience!

310 Time 時間 じかん

   

310 Clocks 時計 とけい

いちじ ごふん

ichiji-gofun

いちじ よんじゅうごふん

ichiji-jūgofun

いちじ ごじゅっぷん

ichiji-gojuppun

いちじ ごじゅうごふん

ichiji-gojūgofun

さんじ はん

sanji-han

にじ よんじゅっぷん

niji-yonjuppun

さんじ にじゅっぷん まえ

sanji-nijuppun–mae

にじ ごじゅっぷん

niji-gojuppun

よじ じゅうごふん

yoji-jūgofun

よじ さんじゅうごふん

yoji-sanjūgofun

よじ ごじゅっぷん

yoji-gojuppun

ろくじ さんじゅうごふん

rokuji-sanjūgofun

はちじ

hachiji

The saddest clock in Japan – the Hiroshima Watch

はちじ じゅうごふん

hachiji-jūgofun

はちじ にじゅっぷん

hachiji-nijuppun

はちじ はん

hachiji-han

はちじ よんじゅうごふん

hachiji-yonjūgofun

くじ よんじゅっぷん

kuji-yonjuppun

じゅうじ きゅうふん

jūji-kyūfun

じゅうじ じゅっぷん

jūji-juppun

じゅうじ じゅうはちふん

jūji–jūhachifun

じゅういちじ さんじゅうごふん

jūichiji-sanjūgofun

じゅういちじ よんじゅうごふん

jūichiji-yonjūgofun

じゅういちじ ごじゅうごふん

jūichiji-gojūgofun

じゅうにじ

jūniji

じゅうにじ にじゅっぷん

jūniji-nijuppun
 

じゅうにじ にじゅうごふん

jūniji-nijūgofun

じゅうにじ よんじゅっぷん

jūniji-yonjuppun

 

いちじ にじゅっぷんまえ

ichiji-nijuppun–mae

にじ じゅうごふん

niji-jūgofun

にじ にじゅうごふん

niji-ni jūgofun 

ろくじ ごじゅうごふん

rokuji-gojūgofun

くじ

kuji

くじ じゅうごふん

kuji-jūgofun