My daughter started preschool (a “forest school” where the classroom is the outdoors) last year and we knew it would be a challenge since she spoke no English and her teachers spoke no Japanese. I had originally come up with a tiny cheat sheet of terms etched in acrylic that I could give to the teachers but it was too limited in scope. I thought that if I could put together a list of key subjects, verbs, and objects that would help a teacher in an outdoors environment. I also put in a few one word phrases like “danger” and “#1” and “#2” (for potty).
The trick was that while English is SVO (subject, verb, object) Japanese is typically SOV (subject, object, verb - indeed subject is often omitted because it is implied). There were ways to get around it but got too complicated so I just engraved an instruction on the back to tell the teachers to arrange their phrase in SOV. The Japanese version would be on the opposite side of the dial. There’s not a lot of words since that would make the dial too big for a teacher to carry around in a forest (this was pocket sized) but just enough so that the combination of words will give you a fair variety of sentences.
Epilogue: Her teachers told me it worked really well and that it was just enough to break the ice and get my daughter used to her new environment and community.
My grandson is in the opposite situation, he speaks English and his teachers speak Japanese. Lucky my daughter is fluent in both.After one month, It’s been fun listening to him use both languages.
That’s great. Kids are resilient and super fast learners. A nudge in the right direction or a slight opening in a wall and then they’re off sprinting. Many ex-pat families in Japan opt for an international school but I heartily encourage a local school. It is an experience they will never forget and build strong community skills. Plus it’s free.
Yeah, they have become quite popular now. When we started we were the only ones there but now they’re so many. One group has gone so far as to post signs (illegal), put up swings which they leave behind (also illegal), and scare people off their patch with veiled threats (not very nice).
My eldest graduated from the same program a few years ago and when we talking about her next school she asked “it’s going to be an indoor school?” as if that was the exception and not the norm. It was great for her even though she is not a natural outdoor person. It built up her physical strength and stamina, mental toughness (they were out in the rain too - unless it was a storm), and confidence. The funny thing was that we weren’t even looking for a forest school but we had moved to the area too late to apply to the cool preschools. This was our only option, but man am I glad it worked out that way. Happy accidents.
This reminds me of Waldorf schools. I really wanted to send my kids to a Waldorf school, but they were super expensive, and unfortunately, living with my techie-husband, it would’ve been impossible to stay with the program.
Sounds like a great experience! Just the fact that everyone was brave enough to be an expat is saying something! Everyone should be an expat sometime in their life. You learn alot about yourself! We are still expat-ing and I would not trade it for anything. If we had a chance at Japan that would be cool!
