I have created some worksheet activities that requires students to explore their textbooks closely and work with their classmates in order to understand the role of IPA and why it's even in their textbooks to begin with. Students should have their tablets available to access a listed link in the worksheet, as well as access their online textbook.
Each sheet comes with an explanation in Japanese (may not be perfect, but I've also had my JTEs look over it) explaining things like what IPA can do and what IPA looks like depicting sounds in Japanese. A third part is in the making, where the aim is to compare letter combinations with their IPA counterparts and explore the sound variations that even one letter or combination can make.
The 1st year textbook only includes IPA at the back of the book, whereas 2nd and 3rd year includes it routinely with new vocab, so there is only one 1st year version, a similar and simpler version of the general version labeled with #1. #2 also includes a think corner, where students should think about words in Japanese that are pronounced differently to how it's written (e.g. fun'inki, man'in, where the 'n' isn't fully manifested) and how they would try to explain this to Japanese learners.
The worksheets include straightforward tasks, such as circle the odd one out (which word doesn't have this sound [IPA]) or circle the letters that make a common sound. I have included answer sheets. Feel free to try it out yourself.
The last sheet isn't required, but it's a reflection (furikaeri) and feedback sheet. This is for you to know whether they found the sheet to be helpful or IPA to be useful. I'd also love to hear how it goes. The trial version got lots of positive feedback and the 3rd years shared lots about how it opened their eyes.
This is my first time uploading to ALTopedia. Please let me know if there's anything wrong with formatting, etc.