The 新学期 (shin-gakki, new school term) is well underway at this point in September — the 二学期 (nigakki, second term), to be specific. I’ve always found it funny that, even in adulthood, I associate September with the end of summer because of the 夏休み (natsu yasumi, summer vacation) I had in my 学生時代 (gakusei jidai, school days).

This week, Bilingual would like to take you back to school — a Japanese 小学校 (shōgakkō, elementary school).

まず、日常生活で使える、小学校で学ぶ言葉をおさらいしましょう (Mazu, nichijō-seikatsu de tsukaeru, shōgakkō de manabu kotoba o osarai shimashō, First, let’s review the words learned at elementary school that can be used in [our] daily lives). Note here that the noun おさらい (osarai, review) is used as a verb with the versatile word する (suru, to do), just like 復習 (fukushū) and 復習する (fukushū suru) work to express “review” as both a noun and a verb.