Japanese Graded CI Reader Level 1: Sadako's Cat Scaffolded Edition

The stories in this series are for beginning readers of Japanese. They focus on the highest frequency words-specifically what has been identified by Dr Terry Waltz as the 'Super 7 Verbs'.

The targeted language in this story include:

• Question words: どこ・何
• Grammar Structures eg Placeにいます/いません, Noun～は～です
• か　（to formulate questions)
• Geography: 4 main islands and 4 major cities (please note the Extension Edition of Sadako's Cat has these locations in kanji)

PLEASE NOTE:

This literacy approach eliminates the pre-teaching of Japanese characters and focuses on helping students read simple, purpose-written Japanese texts directly, based on their knowledge of the oral language in the texts.

The text is deliberately repetitious yet unpredictable so students have to focus on the meaning they are creating instead of simply memorizing phrases. As Dr Waltz says, in this way " language is presented repeatedly in novel contexts until the brain is able to recognize its meaning automatically."

The Scaffolded Edition of the Sadako's Cat story provides extra support and eases the cognitive load for emergent readers of Japanese by presenting the proper nouns in English. This keeps the focus on the key, targeted grammar chunks/structures rather than overloading with excessive vocabulary.

The Extension Edition is available separately which is entirely in script and can be used to differentiate a classroom reading program.

There are numerous ways to use this reading resource:

• As a whole class shared story
• Reading circles
• To teach the basic geography of Japan in a story format
• As a hook/springboard to introduce the character of Sadako Sasaki and
• As part of a Peace Day unit which commemorates the August 6th anniversary and start a conversation about Sadako and the 1000 cranes, and depending on the age of the students

Additionally, this resource and the others in the Sadako series are printable and will complement:

• A Japanese class library
• A Take Home Japanese reader program
• A Free Voluntary Reading Program/Silent Reading Program
• A reader's theatre activity
• A reading comprehension task
• A story board sequencing activity

I hope these mini readers will become a loved part of your extensive reading program boosts student confidence and fluency reading.

Hard copies of all the JapanEasyReads books are available on my website japaneasyreads.com