Japan Diary - My Double Journey

Stage of Schooling: Middle Secondary

Learning Focus: Writing (Asia Scope and Sequence for English, p 27)

Students write imaginative texts such as short stories, anecdotes, plays, poetry, personal letters and advertisements that deal with ideas and issues that link their own experiences with the experiences of individuals and groups in Asian contexts. They:

• develop texts that contain personal, social and cultural ideas and issues related to their own lives and communities and their views of their expanding world.
  Students understand that as writers they aim to position readers through the choices they make about content and language, and that they can express views and values other than their own and move beyond cultural stereotypes and expectations. They:
• write a commentary identifying how subject matter, visual imagery and language are used by others to position readers and viewers.

Texts/Resources

• Japan Diary (Curriculum Corporation, 2005)
• Paper to create journals
• Art materials for illustrating journals

Overview

Japan Diary is the story of an Australian girl's time in Japan, and a Japanese boy's time in Australia. A very engaging read for middle secondary students, this is a wonderful resource that explores two students' personal journeys and cultural discoveries. During this unit students themselves keep a reading journal, which is like the text itself: a journal based on one story that is then turned upside down and back to front to become a journal based on another story. Japan Diary is a very special book, imaginatively conceived and beautifully illustrated, and students are encouraged to make their own journals special too. Ultimately, however, the aim of the journals is to help students create a critical commentary on the text while reflecting on their own responses and changing views of the world.

Duration

This unit requires students to read the whole novella, and can be adapted according to the reading pace of any middle secondary class.