MJLEC-Monash Japanese Language Education Centre

✨ Only 2 Spots Left! ✨

Join us for the first session of our 日本の心（Nihon no Kokoro） Workshop Series: Modern Kintsugi 🇯🇵

This hands-on workshop offers a unique opportunity to experience authentic Japanese language and culture while learning the beautiful art of Kintsugi. All instruction will be in Japanese, with support provided for all participants.

🗓 Date: Friday, 17 July
🕓 Time: 4:45 pm – 7:00 pm (4:30 pm meet in lobby)
📍 Venue: St Kilda Towers, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne
💰 Fee: $135 (all materials included)

Whether you’re a native or non-native Japanese speaker, you’re warmly welcome.

👉 Secure one of the last remaining spots here:
https://shop.monash.edu/nihon-no-kokoro-workshop-1-modern-kintsugi.html
Don’t miss this enriching cultural experience—register now before it’s full!

*Image is for illustrative purposes only.

🌟 A Wonderful Visit to Warradale Primary School! 🌟

We recently had the absolute pleasure of visiting Warradale Primary School, and it was a fantastic experience! From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by a lovely Japanese teacher and a group of enthusiastic, engaged students.

It was so inspiring to see the learning in action across year levels. The Year 3 & 4 students were busy practising how to count people in Japanese and confidently speaking about their families—what a great foundation they’re building! Meanwhile, the Year 5 & 6 classes were hard at work preparing for their upcoming exchange program with a school in Japan. It’s wonderful to see the return of the “good old-fashioned” pen pal experience, with students practising how to introduce themselves and write about their interests in Japanese.

We were especially impressed by how many students came up to us to proudly show off their Japanese sentences—such confidence and enthusiasm! 👏

It’s clear that Japanese language and culture are truly valued at Warradale PS. The principal regularly pops into the Japanese classroom, and we even heard the school choir next door singing a Japanese song—such a vibrant and supportive environment for language learning! 🎶

A huge thank you to Mel Sensei for your dedication and hard work in creating such a rich and engaging Japanese program. You are doing an amazing job inspiring your students!

🌟 NAJLTA Online PD #2 – Thank You! 🌟

A big thank you to Joel Sensei for leading such an engaging and insightful session on AI + Japanese and for generously sharing your classroom practice with us. We are incredibly grateful for your time, expertise, and generosity! 🙏

It was wonderful to see such strong registration—clearly showing the growing interest among educators in this area.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the PD! If you haven’t already, please take a moment to complete the feedback form—we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Looking forward to seeing you at future NAJLTA events! ✨

JLTASA Annual Conference 2026 - 目的＆情熱

Congratulations to everyone involved in the fabulous JLTASA Conference last week! What an inspiring and energising event—it truly had such a warm and positive vibe from start to finish.

A heartfelt thank you to Dr Susan Ogurao for her thoughtful and engaging presentation on sustaining passion and purpose in Japanese language teaching. Her exploration of how teachers can use Japanese not just to deliver curriculum, but to communicate authentically in everyday classroom interactions, was so valuable.

Thank you as well to all the presenters who generously shared their ideas and classroom practices—you’ve truly inspired colleagues across the community!

And a huge thank you to Mel Watt, Tom Dawson, and the hardworking JLTASA committee members for organising such an amazing conference. Your dedication and effort made this event so memorable.

ありがとうございました! 🙏✨

🚨 Don’t miss out! Registration for our NAJLTA PD #2 session closes at 11:59pm TONIGHT — secure your spot before it’s gone! ⏳✨

Zoom details will be sent on Tuesday, May 26. If you don’t see the email, please check your spam/junk folder.

Everyone is welcome!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Japan and Australia. To celebrate 50 years of partnership, Japan Foundation, JFF Theater, the Consulate-General of Japan Melbourne and Monash University are screening an outstanding Japanese film "THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE" 『小学校～それは小さな社会～』 (2023) (Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki), which is currently popular in Japan and around the world. The broad target audience is students and other interested members of the public, with the hope of further broadening understanding of Japanese culture, society, and especially the education system.

Date: Wednesday 27 May 2026, 4:45 pm - 7:00 pm
Venue: Campus Center Cinema, Monash Clayton Campus
Registration:

Japanese Film Screening Join us for a screening of The Making of a Japanese 小学校〜それは小さな社会〜

✨ NAJLTA Online PD #2 – Free Online PD ✨

We’re excited to invite Japanese teachers to NAJLTA PD #2: AI + Japanese 🤖🇯🇵

📅 Tuesday, May 26
🕓 4:00pm WA | 5:30pm SA & NT | 6:00pm QLD, NSW, VIC & TAS
🎤 Presenter: Joel Reitze

A huge thank you to Joel sensei for generously presenting for our second online PD this year!

These free NAJLTA online PDs are only possible thanks to the continued support and generosity of all the JLTAs. Without you, these sessions would not happen. The Japanese teachers’ community is truly incredible, and we are so grateful to be part of it 💙

📩 Registration details:
Your local JLTA will has sent out an email soon with the registration information!

Not a member yet? Why not join the JLTA in your state or territory and be part of this amazing professional community!

We look forward to seeing many teachers join us for this exciting session!

We had a wonderful online session yesterday on VCAA resources for Japanese language teachers. ✨

It was an incredibly informative session, filled with practical tips for planning and implementing the Victorian Curriculum Version 2. We also explored a range of valuable resources that we can utilise in our teaching.

A heartfelt thank you to Kathleen Duquemin and Frances Hall for their thoughtful and engaging presentation, packed with clear explanations and useful strategies. We all gained so much from the session—it was truly a fantastic professional learning opportunity!

We had such a wonderful day with the enthusiastic teachers in Ballarat! ✨

We explored easy and fun activities that can be used in the classroom, along with some amazing work put together by Tracy Ge—thank you, Tracy! We also looked at ways to incorporate art into our Japanese classes, bringing creativity and culture together in meaningful ways.

It was a day full of new learning, collaboration, and sharing ideas—and the atmosphere in the room was phenomenal!

Thank you to all the teachers who attended and brought such positive energy and thoughtfulness. It made the day so special!

We had a wonderful visit to The Japanese School of Melbourne recently. It was a fantastic opportunity to observe several classes in action, and we were truly impressed by the level of engagement and enthusiasm shown by the students.

A big thank you to the staff and students for welcoming us so warmly and for taking the time to show us around your school. We really appreciated the experience!

The Japanese School of Melbourne is currently looking for partner schools to share learning experiences. They offer opportunities to host your students so they can experience a Japanese school environment, or they can visit your school to co-learn with your students. They can also introduce Japanese cultural activities at your school.

If you are interested, please contact the school:
https://jsm.vic.edu.au/