The Japanese Continuers class attended the festival on November 17.
The movie shown to school students this year was called Chihayafuru and featured the traditional Japanese card game Kyogi Karuta (see picture of set). Chihayafuru is a line from one of the 100 Japanese poems featured in the game. Playing karuta requires a knowledge of these 100 poems and a fast hand to be the first to choose the relevant card. Choosing the card involves a 'sweeping' of the card away from your opponent and is therefore very physically demanding. A player also needs to concentrate considerably well to listen to the clues from the poems being sung out by a professional caller.
Year 12 students enjoyed learning about this traditional Japanese game, as well as the evolving story of the forming of a high school team of karuta players. Students' language skills were enhanced through the viewing of the film as they recognised language structures and vocabulary they had learned.
Both of the College's sister schools, Takayamamura Junior High School and Fukuroi Senior High School, gifted the LOTE department with sets of karuta and Year 12 students are looking forward to putting their newly acquired knowledge of the game to the test.
