Lesson 09: Where is the teacher?

You already know [topic] は [information] です from earlier lessons. In ブラムさんは教室です, ブラムさん comes before は: Bram is what you are talking about. 教室 is the new information and, in this short noun sentence, gives his location. Dutch and English often add ‘in’ or ‘at’; this limited Japanese noun sentence has no separate word for ‘in’.

The sentence is a practice scene and says nothing about where a real person actually is. Use a name with さん or 先生 as the topic, then choose a school location. When the question already identifies the person, a short answer such as 教室です is enough. A full answer with the topic repeated is also understandable, but not needed in every turn.

ブラムさんは教室です。

先生は食堂です。

Start with 教室（きょうしつ）, 食堂（しょくどう）, and 先生（せんせい）. Then add 事務所（じむしょ）, 会議室（かいぎしつ）, and トイレ. The kanji provide recognition support: you may use the kana reading for active production. The reading aid shows the exact reading for this word in this context.

Notice the combined sounds: きょう in 教室, しょ in 事務所, and ぎ in 会議室. Small ょ combines with the preceding character into one sound group; do not read じむしょ as if it contained a full-sized よ. In 食堂, しょ is short and どう is long: SHOKUDOU.

First use the words as short answers: 教室です, 事務所です, 会議室です, and 食堂です. This lets you practise the meaning without immediately building a long sentence. In the next chapter, add the person being located and the question word.

To locate a person, replace the unknown location with どこ, ‘where’. ブラムさんはどこですか therefore asks for Bram's location. The person being located comes before は; どこ occupies the position where the answer will supply a place. Final か turns the polite sentence into a question.

Answer with a place plus です: 教室です. You do not need a new existence verb in this lesson. Later you will learn います for the presence of people and animals; that is a preview and is not required in the exercises or final check here.

ブラムさんはどこですか。

教室です。

In this school setting, you use どちら (DOCHIRA) as a more polite alternative to どこ when asking about a teacher or another senior person. 先生はどちらですか means ‘Where is the teacher?’ here. The context and an answer such as 会議室です make it clear that the question asks for a location.

Use ordinary どこ for a classmate; in the targeted politeness exercises with 先生, use どちら. The difference here is register, not a different sentence structure. Both words occupy the same position before ですか and receive an answer naming a school location.

Preview, without assessment: in a later lesson, どちら can also ask ‘which of two?’ when exactly two options are offered. That function belongs to lesson 19. Do not turn it into a two-choice question now; in lesson 09, どちら is only the polite place word within the stated setting.

Begin with あの or すみません to get someone's attention; use it as a set polite opening. Then ask where the person is and listen for the place. Use ありがとうございます to thank the helper. The core information is in the middle two lines: the person being located and the answer location.

Read the model once with support. Then cover the translations and replace 教室 with 食堂. Finally, play a new round about 先生, using どちら and 会議室 as the answer. This deliberately changes register, person, and location while keeping the basic structure stable.

あの、ブラムさんはどこですか。

教室です。

ありがとうございます。

Make two person cards: a classmate and 先生. Also make three place cards. First draw a person and deliberately choose どこ or どちら; then draw a place for the answer. Say the question and answer before writing them. After each round, explain in one sentence why you chose that question word.

The final check assesses only the location function taught in this lesson. Kana, the shown kanji forms, and romaji are accepted for the bounded writing tasks. The later two-choice use of どちら and the existence verb います are not assessment targets here.