MARGARET River Montessori School recently held a Kaigi, or conference, for students to showcase to parents their understanding of Japanese language and culture.
Classes sang, acted or demonstrated their way through items that led parents on a journey of how a second language is learnt, from the initial stages of simple words and songs, to phrases, sentences and conversations.
Japanese has been taught at Montessori since 2002, to children aged four and up. The school's specialist language teacher Karen Haslau said process of absorbing a new language heightens the memory capacity, increases cognitive function and widens the perspective of students.
"Being able to relate to, and communicate across cultures will be a key advantage for children in the 21st century to build a creative, prosperous and socially cohesive Australian community," she said.
