The Abiko Board of Education(ABE) held a meeting to discuss “the project of sending Japanese instructors for the foreign children who moved into from other countries to the elementary or junior high schools in Abiko city.” 6 AIRA members and the 19 teachers from related elementary & junior high schools involved in this project also attended to this first meeting for FY2018. (No.18-3)Date & time: June 6,2018(Wes) 15:00～16:00
Venue :A meeting room of ABE
Attendees: 28 members, including 2 officers of ABE(Director of the Guidance Section& the officer in charge),19 teachers from elementary& junior high schools, 1 officer of the Education Research Institution,
6AIRA members (Ms.Kitajima, Ms.Komiyama, Ms.Kudoh, Ms.Matsushita, Ms.Adachi and Ms.Sakazume)
It is hard to provide education to those youngsters, having accompanied parents to Japan whose customs and language are very different from theirs. They might be inevitably put into various family circumstances which they didn’t imagined. So under the project, the city government is sending Japanese interpreters to the schools and helping those kids understand the contents of the subjects easily. The kids are also taught Japanese which will improve their quality of life at school as well as at home.
One of the ABE officers explained some revisions of the clause for” Requirements for Sending Japanese Instructors to Schools”. The officer of the Education Research Institution briefed the current” System of sending Interpreters” .
A major revision for this year is to send the interpreter twice a week for one term(4 months), instead of conventional once a week for a year. This was made as per the request of AIRA who believed it more effective for the youngsters to learn Japanese intensively in a short period. This may not be enough but should be one progress.
AIRA has been eagerly working to send Japanese instructors for the foreign school children as their important subject since AIRA had started to take such activity for the Chinese junior high school students in FY2007. AIRA gained the support from the city government from the following year and has been providing the service in response to the request from the elementary & junior high schools.
It is hard to provide education to those youngsters, having accompanied parents to Japan whose customs and language are very different from theirs. They might be inevitably put into various family circumstances which they didn’t imagined. So under the project, the city government is sending Japanese interpreters to the schools and helping those kids understand the contents of the subjects easily. The kids are also taught Japanese which will improve their quality of life at school as well as at home.
One of the ABE officers explained some revisions of the clause for” Requirements for Sending Japanese Instructors to Schools”. The officer of the Education Research Institution briefed the current” System of sending Interpreters” .
A major revision for this year is to send the interpreter twice a week for one term(4 months), instead of conventional once a week for a year. This was made as per the request of AIRA who believed it more effective for the youngsters to learn Japanese intensively in a short period. This may not be enough but should be one progress.
The followings are the rough summary of remarks made by other attendees.
1. Teaching tactics should be changed for the kids individually taking account of their background i.e.those using Chinese-characters, those with/without the experience of going to school, those being unable to seek advice to their parents, and etc.
2. The difficulty of teaching Japanese to those who don’t have the common language with their interpreter became more apparent.
3. Some cases were reported that kids changed the school as they felt anxiety from not finding their interpreter in the class.
4. Respecting their feelings while communicating with them is crucially important, because this experience will help them to have a confidence in getting along with their peers at school.
5. The interpreters want to give them the feeling of “having a good time in Japan”, because coming to Japan might not be their wish but their parents’ convenience. Therefore, it is important to support them from many people; their class-room teachers, schools, friends, and neighbors.
The director of the guidance section of ABE expressed its appreciation to AIRA’s efforts. He said that this project wouldn’t have been successful without AIRA’s painstaking contribution. Despite the fact that the number of youngsters has been increasing, both AIRA’s available personnel and the ABE budget for the project are insufficient at the present. However, ABE & AIRA will keep on working hard for this project to provide them with the chance to get the skills needed to survive in Japan”
The Cabinet Office gave “The award of Child Youth Support for 2017” to AIRA in appreciation of their utmost efforts for the project.(16 groups all over Japan were awarded the prize.)
1. Teaching tactics should be changed for the kids individually taking account of their background i.e.those using Chinese-characters, those with/without the experience of going to school, those being unable to seek advice to their parents, and etc.
2. The difficulty of teaching Japanese to those who don’t have the common language with their interpreter became more apparent.
3. Some cases were reported that kids changed the school as they felt anxiety from not finding their interpreter in the class.
4. Respecting their feelings while communicating with them is crucially important, because this experience will help them to have a confidence in getting along with their peers at school.
5. The interpreters want to give them the feeling of “having a good time in Japan”, because coming to Japan might not be their wish but their parents’ convenience. Therefore, it is important to support them from many people; their class-room teachers, schools, friends, and neighbors.
The director of the guidance section of ABE expressed its appreciation to AIRA’s efforts. He said that this project wouldn’t have been successful without AIRA’s painstaking contribution. Despite the fact that the number of youngsters has been increasing, both AIRA’s available personnel and the ABE budget for the project are insufficient at the present. However, ABE & AIRA will keep on working hard for this project to provide them with the chance to get the skills needed to survive in Japan”
The Cabinet Office gave “The award of Child Youth Support for 2017” to AIRA in appreciation of their utmost efforts for the project.(16 groups all over Japan were awarded the prize.)
（Translated by Ms.Hitomi Koyama）
