Trip to SOAS
We had the opportunity at SOAS University in Central London, who hosted the L Factor song competition to try out various different instruments from around the globe.
It was exciting to be exposed into such a burst of musical instruments and enjoyed playing them all.
It was also great to speak to other Japanese students who entered the competition and comparing learning styles.
We had the opportunity at SOAS University in Central London, who hosted the L Factor song competition to try out various different instruments from around the globe.
It was exciting to be exposed into such a burst of musical instruments and enjoyed playing them all.
It was also great to speak to other Japanese students who entered the competition and comparing learning styles.
Upon reading this, you may be wondering what the Language Factor (otherwise known as L – Factor) is
The L – Factor is a competition which involves writing a song (on a given theme) in however many foreign languages as possible.
The L – Factor is a competition which involves writing a song (on a given theme) in however many foreign languages as possible.
As a class that is so passionate about music, Mrs Middleton (our Japanese teacher) saw this to be a great way for us to learn Japanese. Of course she was right… we wrote the song and translated it with her help. In doing so, we learnt different structures and verbs. Music is a great way to learn Japanese. It's catchy and easy to remember. However, we didn’t stop at just Japanese; as a class we speak around 8 different languages and since this a language competition we thought why not?
The first song we wrote was based on the theme of friendship and is therefore called “Tomodachi” (meaning Friendship in Japanese).
Here are the lyrics:
The first song we wrote was based on the theme of friendship and is therefore called “Tomodachi” (meaning Friendship in Japanese).
Here are the lyrics:
The second song we wrote was called “Onaji Sekai no Shimin” meaning "Citizens of the same world" and was based on the theme of Citizens. This song, we decided, would be purely in Japanese as our GCSE’s were close and we wanted to make the most out of this opportunity. We also performed this song during our trip in Japan at various schools.
Here are the lyrics and a video of us preforming the song:
Here are the lyrics and a video of us preforming the song:
In 2014, the now Year 9 students entered the competition and won a prize. Their song was based on the theme of "World Cities" and they managed to include an abundance of languages (including Japanese, Gujrati and Russian).
Here are the lyrics and a video of the song being performed: