Learning guides
Understand readings and expressions, then put them into practice with review and mock tests.
群集, 生態 and 生態系: communities, behavior and ecosystems
Compare 群集, 生態 and 生態系 in tidal-flat, forest and wetland examples. Identify the community, behavior or ecology, and ecosystem being studied or protected.
巣: a nest built by swallows and a warehouse used as a den
Read 巣 as a swallow nest and a den for stray cats. Compare building a nest with an existing warehouse having become a place used by animals.
冬眠: researching hibernation and a bear awakening in a story
Compare 冬眠 as a subject researched in class with the hibernation from which a bear awakens in a story. Read the researcher and the awakening animal separately.
変態: insect metamorphosis and a label in a prohibition
Distinguish 変態する for an insect process from 変態と呼ぶ for labeling a person. Read classroom learning and the prohibition without adding an actual insult.
捕食 and 天敵: predator, prey and a natural-enemy relationship
Read the active 捕食する and passive 捕食される alongside 天敵. Separate observed predation, a relationship looked up in a guide and a bird's role in a story.
餌: feed for fish and bait on a fishing hook
Compare 餌 as feed given to pond fish and bait attached to a hook. Read the recipient and attachment point, without adding a catch to the casting action.
根: roots beneath a pot and the possible root of a misunderstanding
Read 根 as physical roots and a figurative source of misunderstanding. Compare the roots' location with the uncertainty marked by かもしれない.
潮, 干潮 and 満潮: sea scent, tidal paths and a model
Compare 潮 in sea scent with 干潮 revealing a sandy path and 満潮 submerging a rocky path or shown by a blue panel. Distinguish scent, path conditions and representation.
潮流 and 海流: a ship's course, social change and a model
Read 潮流 and 海流 through a ship pushed by a current, social change, map arrows and a model survey ship. Keep water meanings, metaphor and represented objects distinct.
噴火 and 火山: a drill, no eruption and volcano representations
Compare 噴火 in preparation and explicit negation with 火山 in a model and a painting. Separate the eruption event from the represented volcano.
侵食: Coastal Erosion and Encroachment on Private Life
Compare waves eroding coastal rocks with long working hours encroaching on private life. Read the physical and figurative targets and distinguish an ongoing process from its onset.
堆積 and 沈殿: Shelf Dust and Mud in a Bottle
Read accumulation on a riverbed or shelf alongside sediment settling in liquid. Compare the observed process, accumulated state, and settled result without confusing precipitation with rainfall.
蒸発: Evaporating Water and a Disappearing Shop Owner
Compare water evaporating in sunlight with a shop owner's sudden disappearance. Follow the subject and what was left behind to distinguish physical evaporation from a figurative use.
固まる and 凝固: Setting Jelly and Gathering Participants
Read 固まる in jelly setting and people gathering, then compare 凝固 in cooled fat and blood coagulation. Identify the shared hardening sense and the separate gathering sense.
化石 and 標本: Found Fossils and Prepared Specimens
Compare a museum fish fossil and a leaf fossil found in rock with insect specimens and a dried leaf specimen. Read the names alongside the acts of discovery, observation, and preparation.
浄化: Water Purification and a Cleansing Feeling
Compare purifying water before reuse with feeling cleansed during a forest walk. Read the processing sequence and the subjective figurative experience through the wording of each sentence.
再生: Playing a Recording and Ten Years of Forest Restoration Work
Compare recorded-voice playback with work toward forest regeneration. Follow pronunciation checking and ten years of effort without treating either as proof of a fully successful outcome.
吸収 and 浸透: Absorbing Water and Techniques, Seeping and Spreading
Compare absorption by a cloth or artisan with penetration into soil and the spread of an idea. Read subjects, objects, media, and groups alongside completed, ongoing, and beginning actions.
観測 and 観察: Stars, River Levels, and a Leaf Under a Magnifying Glass
Compare monitoring stars and river levels with observing a leaf surface and recording results. Read the overlapping observation meanings through their targets, rather than a tools-versus-no-tools rule.
絶滅 and 危惧: Extinction Risk and Expressed Concern
Read extinction risk alongside an extinct animal, then compare concern voiced about a bridge and plan delays. Distinguish an event's status from the people expressing apprehension.
芸術 and 美術: Music within art and studying fine arts
Read music as one of the arts, then distinguish studying 美術 from seeing a student exhibition at an art museum.
工芸 and 技巧: Craftwork and technique in expression
Compare encountering crafts and displaying handmade bowls with craftsmanship in a pattern and a wish for honest expression.
文化 and 文明: Cultural differences and a civilization as a theme
Read dining customs and cultural transmission beside a model of an ancient civilization and development within a story.
伝統 and 伝承: Preserving tradition and passing it down
Compare preserving tradition while adopting technology with a surviving tradition written down and a technique transmitted across generations.
宗教 and 信仰: Studying religions and expressing belief
Separate studying religion and respectful dialogue from belief reflected in a festival and the wish to respect different faiths.
神話, 伝説, and 史実: Myth, legendary fame, and historical fact
Read a creation myth, a legendary comeback, and a film based on history that also includes fiction.
史料 and 資料: The shared reading しりょう and their reference targets
Compare an old letter preserved for local history with presentation materials and information attributed to data.
記録: Recording temperatures and setting a new speed record
Use 記録した and 最速記録を更新した to distinguish writing data down from improving a performance record during practice.
時代 and 世紀: Contextual times and numbered centuries
Read a grandfather’s youth and changing times beside an early twentieth-century station and a story’s twenty-third-century setting.
古代, 近代, and 現代: Period labels and a modern setting
Read ancient tools and stories, modern development and literature, and present-day life beside an old story staged in a modern setting.