The 新学期 (shin-gakki, new school term) is well underway at this point in September — the 二学期 (nigakki, second term), to be specific. I’ve always found it funny that, even in adulthood, I associate September with the end of summer because of the 夏休み (natsu yasumi, summer vacation) I had in my 学生時代 (gakusei jidai, school days).

This week, Bilingual would like to take you back to school — a Japanese 小学校 (shōgakkō, elementary school).

まず、日常生活で使える、小学校で学ぶ言葉をおさらいしましょう (Mazu, nichijō-seikatsu de tsukaeru, shōgakkō de manabu kotoba o osarai shimashō, First, let’s review the words learned at elementary school that can be used in [our] daily lives). Note here that the noun おさらい (osarai, review) is used as a verb with the versatile word する (suru, to do), just like 復習 (fukushū) and 復習する (fukushū suru) work to express “review” as both a noun and a verb.

Starting the day, students have either a 朝礼 (chōrei) or an 朝の会 (asa no kai), the latter of which means “morning meeting” but can be as simple as a look at the day’s 時間割 (jikanwari, time table). If it is your 日直 (nicchoku, one’s class help day), then you will need to make sure the 黒板 (kokuban, blackboard) is clean. Japanese schools assign their students many such 当番 (tōban, person on duty) roles, like 給食当番 (kyūshoku tōban, lunchtime helper) and 掃除当番 (sōji tōban, cleaning helper) to foster a sense of responsibility.

Let’s say, 一時間目 (ichi-jikan-me, the first class of the day) is 国語 (kokugo, Japanese). 小学校で習う漢字は、常用漢字の中でも画数が少なく身近なものです (Shōgakkō de narau kanji wa, jōyō-kanji no naka demo kakusū ga sukunaku mijikana mono desu, The kanji learned in elementary school have few strokes and are frequently encountered among the commonly used kanji). These basic characters also make 部首 (bushu, radicals), the key elemental parts of kanji that work like building blocks.

For instance, the kanji 人 (nin, jin, hito), which suggests “person,” is written like a katakana イ (i) and placed on the left-hand side of any kanji it is a part of. As a 部首, it is called にんべん (ninben), and it is used to create kanji including 化 (ka, ke, ba[keru], ba[kasu], change) and 仏 (butsu, hotoke, buddha). This is the kind of thing 小学生 (shōgakusei, elementary school students) will learn.

What other 部首 do they learn? It would be impossible to introduce all 214 radicals here, but let’s go over the three most common ones: くさかんむり (kusakanmuri), さんずい (sanzui) and きへん (kihen).

As the word 冠 (kanmuri) translates to “crown,” くさかんむり acts as a bushy grass top on the kanji 草 (sō, kusa) and 葉 (yō, ha), which mean grass and leaves, respectively. Meanwhile, さんずい, which has three splashing strokes, can be found in the watery characters 汁 (jū, shiru, soup) and 汗 (kan, ase, sweat). Then comes きへん, the tree-looking part that makes 机 (ki, tsukue, desk) and 村 (son, mura, village).

There’s a class called 書写 (shosha, transcription), in which children copy one letter at a time to make sure they follow the right order of strokes and pay attention to each movement of their writing: とめ (tome, stopping), はね (hane, upward jumping) and はらい (harai, sweeping) are important moves even when using a pencil.

Take the letter 永 (ei, naga[i]), which means “eternity” and has all of these elements. You would learn to stop the first stroke on the top, make sure the second downward line ends with a jumping move, and sweep at the end of the third and fifth strokes that spread like the kanji letter 八 (hachi, ya, ya[tsu], ya[ttsu], yō, eight).

Shall we take a short 休み時間 (yasumi jikan, recess [break time]) and have 給食 (kyūshoku, school lunch)? Lunchtime is also a learning opportunity in Japan because the country has taken 食育 (shokuiku, food education) seriously since the 食育基本法 (shokuiku kihon-hō, Basic Act on Food and Nutrition Education) was enacted in 2005. According to polls, however, children’s all-time favorite 給食 dish is 揚げパン (agepan), a deep-fried and sugar-sprinkled oval loaf of bread.

With your stomach full, let’s move on to the next class: 算数 (sansū, math). Elementary school students learn 足し算 (tashizan, addition) and 引き算 (hikizan, subtraction) early on before taking on 掛け算 (kakezan, multiplication) and 割り算 (warizan, division).

The key to explaining these 数式 (sūshiki, numerical formulas) in Japanese is the equal sign, =, which reads as は (wa). Looking at some basic equations, 1+1 = 2 reads as: ichi tasu ichi wa ni. Likewise, 1–1 = 0 reads as: ichi hiku ichi wa rei. The number 0 can be read either rei or zero, but teachers usually use “rei” in math class. Additionally, 1x1 (ichi kakeru ichi) and 1÷1 (ichi waru ichi) both end with =1 (wa ichi).

小学生 also take courses in 理科 (rika, science) and 社会 (shakai, social studies), though these subjects officially start from the third grade. Younger children are introduced to science and society themes through the subject 生活 (seikatsu, life environment studies).

Japan’s Education Ministry defines this subject’s scope as, “生活科では、具体的な活動や体験を通じて、児童の生活圏に存在する身近な人々、社会及び自然を学習の対象として扱う (Seikatsuka dewa, gutai-tekina katsudō ya taiken o tsūjite, jidō no seikatsuken ni sonzai suru mijikana hito-bito, shakai oyobi shizen o gakushū no taishō to shite atsukau, In life environment studies, [it] focuses on teaching students about the people, society and nature that exist in their everyday lives through specific activities and experiences). This includes activities such as 朝顔の観察 (asagao no kansatsu, observation of morning glories) and 芋掘り(imo hori, potato harvesting).

Before leaving school, students gather for a 帰りの会 (kaeri no kai, end-of-the-day meeting). At many schools, particularly as the students get older, this leads into the start of 部活 (bukatsu, club activities), which are an equally important part of student life.

The lessons learned at a 小学校 aren’t just for kids, you may want to plan your own 遠足 (ensoku, field trip) to do some 芋掘り or 果物狩り (kudamonogari, fruit picking) on your weekend. We may no longer be students, but we never really stop learning.