1時間の日本語レッスンでは、1時間ぜんぶ言葉の勉強だと学ぶ方も疲れてしまうので、15分程度、日本の文化について触れる時間を持つようにしています。去年のちょうど今頃は、日本文化の一つとして「福笑い」について紹介しました。
I usually spare a quarter of my 1 hour Japanese lesson, that is around 15 minutes, for teaching something related to Japanese culture, so as not to bore my students. Around this time last year I introduced one of Japanese New Year's games, Fuku Warai, in my lesson.
「福笑い」の遊びが、いつどのような目的で始まったのかははっきりしないものの、始まりは江戸時代後期、お正月の遊びとして定着したのは明治期といわれています。ルールも簡単で、紙とペンさえあればいつでもどこでも誰とでも楽しめる「福笑い」は、「笑う門には福来る」のことわざ通り、新しい年を福福しい顔で迎えたいという人々の願いにかなった遊びだったといえます。
It is said that ."Fuku Warai" became popular already in the 17th century in Japan and started playing as the "New Year"s game" in the early 20th. While in the current digital age, it is not anymore so often to play it like in the "analogue" time, Fuku Warai still survives as New Year's play in Japan.
The game has simple rules, does not choose time, place, people to play with, even it is so easy to craft "Fuku Warai" ourselves, just with a pen and papers. Despite of its simplicity, the game is greatly amusing. Here are the rules;
1. A player (oh, first of all, there should be at least 2 people in the game; one for playing, the other one for viewing or sometimes giving tips to the player. It is possible to play alone, yet, it would be a little odd...) is blindfolded and given an outline of a face
2. The face does not have any features, no eyes, no nose, no lips etc. They are removed from the face and the blindfolded player should reconstruct the face, groping for proper locations of the cutouts of eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows and blushed cheek
After completing the reconstruction, the player is allowed to remove the blindfold and see his/her work. Since the work usually ends up with a funny face, Fuku Warai gets a laugh. As a Japanese proverb "笑う門には福来る" meaning "Fortune comes in at the merry gate" shows, people in Japan have believed that laughter brings a luck and wished to start the new year with laughing. So, it could be said that it was quite natural that Fuku Warai found its place as a New Year's game.
日本語レッスンでは、福笑いの起源や歴史、ついでに「笑う門には福来る」のことわざについて軽くふれ、ルールを説明したあと、いざ開始！ここオーストリアで「福笑い」は手に入らないので、私のレッスンでも紙とペンでの手作り「福笑い」を準備。生徒さんはオーストリア人のご夫妻ですが、人生初の「福笑い」、みんなでたくさん笑って、大変上手にできました。
In my lesson, before giving the instruction of Fuku Warai play I told my students -an Austrian couple- its historical background as well as the Japanese proverb. Our Fuku Warai set is my DIY product, but it was good enough to have a great success, that is, a laughter! Their first Fuku Warai works were also very lovely (one photo above and another below).
ひとしきり笑ったあとは、「福笑い」のパーツだけを使って言葉の学習です。実は「福笑い」準備の際、目のパーツの裏には「め 」、鼻のパーツの裏には「はな」と書いておきました。それを使い、カルタ取りのようなゲームをします。私が「め」といえば目のパーツを、「はな」と言えば鼻のパーツを取ってもらいます。視覚・触覚を利用して言葉の意味を学べるのでとても分かりやすかったようです。日本語レッスンに、一石二鳥ならぬ「一石三鳥」に役立つ「福笑い」でした。
After enjoying the game, it was the time for learning. I had written the Japanese name on the back of each cutouts (see below), so that each of them can actually be used as name tags for learning vocabularies. We played a sort of card game using cutouts. I called Japanese terms (in Japanese) and they have to search the corresponding parts. It seemed to be quite helpful for them to grasp Japanese terms for eyes, lips, nose etc. with the assistance of seeing and touching.
国語でも日本語でも、授業の構想を練るとき私は、学習者がどうすれば「楽しく」学べるかをまず考えます。そういう意味で、学習者の知的好奇心を誘ったり気分転換になったりする「遊び」を入れるのは効果的です（「活動あって学習なし」にならないよう気を付けなければいけませんが）。そういう意味で、「これはレッスンで使えるかな」と日々、アンテナをはって物事を見聞きしているのですが、先日、日本に戻った際に面白い「知的ゲーム」を教えてもらいました。既にこちらで何人かの友人に試し、皆とても興味を持って「遊んで」くれました。日本語レッスンでは「~と~」という、接続の働きをする助詞「と」を教える際に使えるかなと思っています。最後に、そのゲーム（クイズという方がいいでしょうか）をご紹介します。
下の写真をご覧ください。
問い：枠の中にあるA、B、Cについて、AとA、BとB、CとCをそれぞれ線で結んでください。その際、
・それぞれを結ぶ線が交わってはいけません
・線は枠の中だけしか通ることはできません（枠の外を回って結ぶことはできません）
・上のAをBを経由して下のAと結ぶ、というようなことはできません。互いを直接結んでください。
みなさん、分かりますか（既に日本ではよく知られているものかもしれませんが）。
I am always preparing my lesson, focusing on learners' motivation. I strive for offering lessons that can amuse as well as get learners feel a sense of achievement. Providing information of Japanese culture by playing games such as Fuku Warai is one of examples to motivate learners. Searching and gathering information for my lesson ideas is a part of my daily life.
Recently in Japan, I came across a "clever" game, okay, it is rather a quiz. Since the answer was very much fascinating, I am now thinking how to combine it with my Japanese lesson. When teaching a particle "と (=and)", maybe?
Quiz
There are 3 pairs of A, B, and C in the square (see below). Please link A with A, B with B, and C with C.
Conditions;
- The lines must not cross each other, that is, the line linking A with A should not cross the line between B and B, for instance
- The lines should be drawn within the square
- The lines should not have any "stopover", that is, linking A with A via B is not allowed
Hope my explanation is clear enough :-). This is really worthy to try once, I believe!
(p.s.) I have heard that this quiz was given at an entrance exam of a junior high school in Japan (unbelievable!). It would be also an idea to use this quiz to inform education affairs in Japan.
