Onomatopoeia

And continuing with the theme of SOUNDS....

The other day we had fun trading onomatopoeia with a friend who is learning English.

Some of the most common word-sounds in Japanese are:

doki doki (dough-key, dough-key) =  nervous (like the sound of a beating heart)

pecha-kucha (peh cha coo cha) = the sound of girls giggling and chatting

za za (zah zah) = the sound of heavy rain

waku waku (wa coo wa coo) = excited

goku goku (go coo go coo) - glug glug (while drinking)

And then we got talking about the sounds animals make!

wan wan = ruff ruff
nyaa nyaa (knee-yah, knee-yah) = meow meow

And my favorite:

ko ke ko kou (coh kay coh coooooh) = cock-a-doodle-do!

Can you think of some onomatopoeia in English? :)

Konnichiwa!

That means "good day" or "hello" in Japanese!  As my former fourth graders - soon to be fifth graders -  already know, I am headed to Japan soon.  Mr. Nanto and I, along with our two youngest children Kaela and Tommy, will live in Tokyo for 10 months.  I will post some of our adventures and discoveries here.

I am inspired by this image of the 1000 paper cranes my students created last year.  Aren't these cranes beautiful?