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Have
you used skits in your Japanese class?
Skits are an effective teaching tool, as it is not always easy to
create a natural setting for students to interact with each other
in Japanese. Not only can skits provide an opportunity for students
to interact in a variety of situations in Japanese; they can also
enable students to meaningfully use the language they have learnt
in the classroom. Moreover, through skits, students of various levels
can learn cooperatively in an enjoyable, non-threatening environment,
and can showcase their learning to a wide audience. In recent years,
we have produced two kinds of skit collections, one based on Japanese
stories and one on Western stories.
Activity Resources :
- Special Edition 1-Skits
(stories included the Big Turnip, Cinderella)
- Special Edition 5-Japanese
Skits 2 (stories included The Story of the Zodiac, Ninja)
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These Activity Resources
are now available on line at http://www.jpf.org.au/slc/index.html.
You may decide which type of skit to use depending on your purpose.
If your intention is to introduce Japanese culture, you may choose
a Japanese story; but if you would like to use a skit as a presentation
for a school event, you may choose to use a well-known non-Japanese
children's story which can easily be understood by an audience with
or without knowledge of Japanese.
However, only a limited number of stories is available in skit form,
and ready-made skits are not all suited to every class situation
(numbers of students, language levels, etc). Moreover, some of the
skits are too long or involve too much preparation, and you may
want something short and simple to fit into a lesson. In those cases,
it is better for you to write your own skits to suit your students'
needs. You may think writing skits is time consuming, but in fact
it can be done quite quickly and easily. In this issue, I would
like to show you a simple way to write your own skits.
Having decided to make your own skit, you will need to ask yourself
the following questions. The answers to these questions will be
the basis for deciding what story to use, how many characters to
create, and what sentence structure and vocabulary to use.
- Is there any story
related to the topic/theme you are teaching? eg. たなばた
- How many students
are in the class? eg. 20 students
- Which functions, vocabulary
and sentence patterns have you taught? eg. greetings, likes/dislikes,
weather, months...
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Below are 4 simple steps
to creating skits. I will apply them to the story of たなばた.
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Step
1: Write a summary of the story in English
Step 2: Divide the English story into sections
Step 3: Write a conversation in Japanese for each section
Step 4: Write the acting instructions in English. |
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 For
the first step, I have written the たなばた story
in English as shown below. This will become the narrator's script.
There are two reasons for writing the narrator's script in English:
it is easier for the performing students to grasp the whole story
in a limited time frame, and it helps an audience with no Japanese
knowledge to understand the plot. However, you may choose to have
bilingual narration for the presentation. For the second step, I have
divided the story into different sections, as marked with //. |
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| This
story comes from a Chinese folk legend about two stars,
the Weaver Star, Vega, and the Cowherd Star, Altair. Once
upon a time, there was a weaver girl, Orihime, whose job
it was to weave kimono for the gods. One day, Orihime
met the cowherd, Hikoboshi, and they fell in love. Orihime
saw Hikoboshi every day. // The gods became angry when
they saw that Orihime was not working. They ordered Orihime
and Hikoboshi to live separately on opposite sides of
the Milky Way, allowing them to meet only once a year
on 7th July. // If it rains on 7th July they cannot meet,
so Orihime cries, and it rains even harder with Orihime's
tears. // It is said that if the night sky on the 7th
July is clear and you can see the Milky Way in the sky,
Orihime can meet her beloved Hikoboshi. // |
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From
the story, you will decide on the characters (who and how many) and
create dialogues in Japanese for each situation. The numbers of characters
depend on how many students you have in your class.
In this example, I have 20 students in the class so I have created
the following characters:
Narrator (2), Orihime (1), Hikoboshi (1), Gods (2), January ~December
(12), Sun (1), Rain (1)
The example dialogue is very basic, but you can create/extend the
dialogue to suit your students' language level. This example can be
extended by Hikoboshi and Orihime introducing themselves more fully
(age, birthdays, likes/dislikes). However, the dialogue should not
be too long or complicated. It is actually better to make it short
and simple, so that students can say the lines by heart when acting.
It is also a good idea to repeat the same words or patterns if possible.
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| [Section
1] |
| Narrator: |
This
story comes from a Chinese folk legend about two
stars, the Weaver Star, Vega, and the Cowherd Star,
Altair. Once upon a time, there was a weaver girl,
Orihime, whose job it was to weave kimono for the
gods. One day, Orihime met Hikoboshi and they fell
in love. |
| Hikoboshi: |
こんにちは、ひこぼしです。 |
| Orihime:
|
こんにちは、おりひめです。 |
| Hikoboshi: |
すきです。 |
| Orihime: |
すきです。 |
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The
last step is to write the acting instructions in English. When you
are writing the instructions for Japanese skits, it is important to
include body language appropriate to Japanese culture. For example,
bowing, not hugging, and so on. The acting instructions are highlighted
below. |
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| [Section
1] |
| Orihime
is weaving |
| Narrator:
|
This
story comes from a Chinese folk legend.................
............. saw
Hikoboshi everyday.
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| Hikoboshi
meets Orihime. |
| Hikoboshi: |
こんにちは、ひこぼしです。Bows
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| Orihime:
|
こんにちは、おりひめです。Bows |
| Hikoboshi: |
すきです。 Holds
Orihime's hands |
| Orihime:
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すきです。
Orihime smiles |
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I have created the following
たなばた skit according
to the steps outlined above. Please use it as an example for creating
your own skits.
Here are some books on Japanese folktales. You may also use the
Internet to search for the stories you like.
- JAPANESE FOLKTALES
IN ENGLISH,(Asunaro shobo) : stories include The Snow Woman, the
White Crane...
BILINGUAL BOOK-
ONCE UPON A TIME IN JAPAN, (Kodansha International) : stories
include Issunboushi, Momotarou, Hanasaka jiisan, Kaguya hime...
- PEACH BOY AND OTHER
JAPANESE CHILDREN'S STORIES, (Tuttle) : stories include Peach
Boy, the Magic Teakettle, Monkey Dance and Sparrow Dance
- http://www.storyanime.com/Links.htm
: This site is a link page for various sites.
- http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html
: This site is a collection of various Japanese folktales.
- http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search010literaturejapanesea.asp0
: This site is called 'Digital Book Index'. It provides links
to commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities and
various private sites. Some books, texts and documents are available
for free, while others are available for a modest cost.
- http://web-jpn.org/kidsweb/folk.html
: FOLK LEGENDS OF JAPAN is a site on Kids Web Japan. The site
includes stories 'that every Japanese kid grows up listening to.
It will bring you to a fairy-tale world of boy heroes, terrible
ogres, animal antics, and more'. The stories are shown in Kamishibai
style (with illustrations).
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| Cast:
Orihime / Hikoboshi / Gods / 12 months / Sun / Rain /
Narrator |
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| Orihime
is weaving |
Narrator:
|
This
story comes from a Chinese folk legend about two stars, the
Weaver Star, Vega, and the Cowherd Star, Altair. Once upon a
time, there was a weaver girl, Orihime, whose job it was to
weave kimono for the gods. One day Orihime met the cowherd,
Hikoboshi, and they fell in love. Orihime saw Hikoboshi every
day. |
| Hikoboshi
meets Orihime |
| Hikoboshi: |
こんにちは、ひこぼしです。Bows |
 |
| Orihime: |
こんにちは、おりひめです。Bows |
| Hikoboshi: |
すきです。 Holds
Orihime's hands |
| Orihime: |
すきです。 Orihime
smiles |
Narrator:
|
The gods became angry when they saw that Orihime was not working.
They ordered Orihime and Hikoboshi to live separately on opposite
sides of Amanogawa (the Milky Way), allowing them to meet only
once a year on 7th July. |
| Gods: |
だめです。God
separates Hikoboshi and Orihime |
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| Orihime: |
さようなら。Waves
hand |
| Hikoboshi: |
さようなら。Waves
hand |
| Narrator: |
If it rains on 7th July they cannot meet, so it is said that
Orihime cries and it rains even harder with Orihime's tears |
| July
and Rain hold up flashcards and announce themselves |
| July: |
７がつです。 |
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| Rain: |
あめです。 |
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| Narrator: |
It is said that if the night sky on the 7th July is clear and
you can see the Milky Way in the sky, Orihime can meet her beloved
Hikoboshi. |
| The
12 months (August - July) and Sun hold up flashcards and announce
themselves |
| August: |
８がつです。 |
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| September: |
９がつです。 |
| October: |
１０がつです。 |
| November: |
１１がつです。 |
| December: |
１２がつです。 |
| January: |
１がつです。 |
| February:
|
２がつです。 |
| March: |
３がつです。 |
| April: |
４がつです。 |
| May: |
５がつです。 |
| June: |
６がつです。 |
| July: |
７がつです。 |
| Sun: |
はれです。 |
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Orihime
and Hikoboshi approach each other and hold hands. |
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This
section written by Himiko Negishi-Wood |
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There
are many Japanese folktales you could use to make skits. Here are
some famous folktales. Match the Japanese and English titles! |
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1.
Princess Kaguya 2. The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom 3. Little One-Inch
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4.
Peach Boy 5. The Struggle between the Monkey and the Crab 6. Straw
Hats for Jizo |
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7.
Urashima Taro 8. The Miraculous Teakettle |
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Here
are some words you can use when speaking about dramatic (or comic!)
performance. 配役is
the word for 'cast', and the hero or heroine of a play is
主人公.
The supporting players are脇役, and
sometimes there is a ナレーター.
The play has a plot, あらすじ,
and the performers, 役者,
must learn their lines, せりふ.
To stage a play you use 衣装,
costumes and
小道具,
props. When 役者 perform,
they 演技する.
If they perform well, we say 演技が上手;
if not, 演技が下手.
And if the play is really successful, they アンコールを受ける,
get an encore! |
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Here are some words and
expressions often heard in Japanese folktales. The narrator of a
skit can use them in a Japanese narration, or include them as keywords
in an English narration. In Issue 38 we mentioned an expression
frequently used to begin a folktale:
むかし、むかし、(place)
に (person) がいました。'Once
upon a time in.... there was ....'
Some characters that typically appear in folktales are:
- やさしいおじいさん／おばあさん kind old man/woman
- いじわるなおじいさん／おばあさん mean old man/woman
- しょうじきなおじいさん／おばあさん honest old man/woman
- よくばりじいさん／よくばりばあさんgreedy old man/woman
- おひめさま princess, maiden
- とのさま lord
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So
narrators can begin a skit with a sentence such as: むかし、むかし、あるむらにやさしいおじいさんがいました。
And if the story ends happily,
they can say: めでたし、めでたし 'And
they all lived happily ever after.'! |
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 As
the kanji shows, the Milky Way in Japanese is referred to as the 'River
of Heaven'. 天の川is
made up of millions of 星,
stars. Our solar system is made up of the sun, 太陽,
and the planets, 惑星.
Below are the planets in order from the 太陽.
Do you know which planets they are?
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When the Chinese folk legend about the Weaver Star and
the Cowherd Star was introduced to Japan, it merged with
native legends about a celestial weaving maiden (たなばたつめ)
who fashioned clothing for the gods to wear at おぼん, the
festival of the souls of the dead, which was celebrated
around that date. As it also coincided with native agricultural
rites, this festival, called たなばたafter the maiden, became
one of the annual events (年中行事)
observed by the imperial court from around 750. たなばたbecame
more broadly popular during the Edo period after it became
a せっく, one of the seasonal festivals, and was celebrated
much like it is today.
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| Answers |
1.(e) |
2.(d) |
3.(f) |
4.(c) |
5.(g) |
6.(b) |
7.(h) |
8.(a) |
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This
section written by Cathy Jonak |
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