Radio Exercises

Background Information.

Materials Required:  Radio Taisou video or CD (demonstration video below)

Time/Periods: 20 minutes ~ 40 minutes, depending on if you want to just learn the exercises or cover the cultural part of radio taisou. It is most effective to use radio taisou in the morning before classes begin or between classes. 

Background: Japanese children often do Radio Taisou, a famous and common type of exercises that is regularly done in the mornings and before and after gym classes or swimming lessons.  It consists of a set of predifined exercises carried out to music.  Some teachers use these exercises between classes when students get tired of studying to refresh the students’ ability to focus. These exercises are designed to use all types of muscles, but are not too strenusous so even elderly people can use them. The exercises also teach the basic skills of rhythm and counting to young students.

During summer vacation, students get up early and gather at one place with neighborhood friends and do radio taisou along with the radio program that happens every morning. A student leader supervises this activity and sometimes teachers and parents come to help carry on this morning routine.  The leader stamps the students’ card as an attendance record.  The students must turn in this card at the end of  summer vacation. 

Unlike American students’ summer life, Japanese students get up very early to attend do radio taisou (usually about 6AM) and they go to bed early so that they can get up early the next day.  This helps students to keep their life style healthy.  Typically, they get up early, do the radio exercises, go home to eat breakfast, do homework when it is cooler in the morning (Japanese students get a huge booklet of homework with work to do every day in the summer), go swimming at school (students often have access to the school pool during summer vacation and teachers or parents take turns supervising).  As you can see, Japanese students get plenty of exercises everyday without signing up for a special summer camp regardless of their financial background.  

Japanese students first learn these radio exercises in elementary school and they continue doing them throughout their life.  They do them in the middle school, high school, and sometimes in their communities.  Some Japanese companies use this exercises between breaks and in the mornings to keep their workers healthy.

(As an interesting cultural note, radio exercises were originally imported to Japan from the United States in the 1920s, although they are now considered part of “Japanese” culture.)

Learning Goals.

Learn Japanese radio taisou and create a healthy habit of doing this exercise to relax muscles, stretch, and refresh yourself. 

Standards.  N/A

Key Concept.  N/A

Essential Question.   N/A

Primary Source.   N/A

Thought Questions.
1. People say that Japanese people are healthy and live long.  What do you think is the difference in terms of Japanese people's life styles?

2. What kind of stretches or exercises are effective to relax your muscles, limber up,  and refresh yourself when you are tired?

Activities

Focus Activity Ideas. N/A

Main Lesson Activity Ideas.
Before the lesson, decide on some leaders and teach them how to do these exercises by looking at the video. (This activity might be a good opportunity for kinesthetic learners to take a role at leaders/teachers.)  In the class, divide students into groups.  The leaders can show how to do the exercises to the group members.  Within the groups, they can practice it so they can do it without watching the video.

As an optional activity, you can also use this activity as a way to teach how to count from one to eight in Japanese, since the exercises are all done with the leader counting the beats from one to eight.  (You can hear the counting in the video.)  The words are:

ichi

ni (pronounced like knee)

san (pronounced sahn)

shi (pronounced she)

go

roku

shichi

hachi
 

Students doing morning radio taisou during the summer


Students receiving a stamp for attending radio taisou

Radio taisou attendance card for the months of July & August

Summative Activity Ideas.
When the students are ready, they can come to the front and do the exercises in groups.  The best group can get prizes.  Within the groups, students can decide which part was the most effective for loosening up their bodies.  If the students want to do this regularly, ask them when it is a good timing to do this at school--in the morning, after lunch, before gym class? Why?  You can assign Radio Taisou as homework and students can bring back their parents’s or the guardian’s signature daily or weekly to varify that they have done their exercises.

Resources.

Radio exercise (in romanized Japanese radio taisou) illustrations: https://pid.nhk.or.jp/event/taisou/img/radiotaisou1_2.pdf

The above video and other numerous videos of Radio Taisou on the internet.