Kanji inside words you already say

The words are old friends; only the writing is new

学生, 先生, 日本, 電車, 食べます, 見ます – you have been saying all of these for nine units. What changes now is that each one has a written shape built from characters with meanings: 学 learning plus 生 life gives a student, 先 ahead plus 生 life gives the one born earlier, a teacher. Reading them is easier than reading them in kana, because the eye stops guessing where the word begins.

Okurigana: the kana tail that bends the verb

A verb is written with a character for its meaning and kana for its ending: 見ます, 見ません, 見ました. The character never changes and the kana carries all the grammar, which is why the same 見 appears in every form. The kana tail is called おくりがな, and where it starts is fixed by convention: 食べます always keeps べ outside the character.

学生は車で大学へ行きますThe student goes to the university by car.

先生はしょくどうでごはんを食べていますThe teacher is eating in the canteen.