Schools in Japan
Kamus of Kadizhar
a Japanese public school? We're looking at sending our kids at the
elementary level (we have relatives there but neither of us is a citizen.)
If it's possible, what sort of visa do the kids and parents have to have?
Thanks,
--Kamus
--
o__ | If you're old, eat right and ride a decent bike.
,>/'_ | Q.
(_)\(_) | Usenet posting`
Michael Cash
<y...@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com> brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
>Anyone know if it's possible for a non-Japanese national to send kids to
>a Japanese public school? We're looking at sending our kids at the
>elementary level (we have relatives there but neither of us is a citizen.)
Yes, it is possible. Would either of you be accompanying the kids to
Japan? A more burning question....Why on earth would you want to send
them to Japan to go to school?
>
>If it's possible, what sort of visa do the kids and parents have to have?
I don't think the schools put any sort of restriction on it. The key
thing will be to just get the visas.
Have you made use of google yet?
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html
--
Michael Cash
"I am sorry, Mr. Cash, but we are unable to accept your rap sheet in lieu of
a high school transcript."
Dr. Howard Sprague
Dean of Admissions
Mount Pilot College
Kamus of Kadizhar
> On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 05:56:52 -0500, Kamus of Kadizhar
> <y...@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com> brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
>
>>Anyone know if it's possible for a non-Japanese national to send kids to
>>a Japanese public school? We're looking at sending our kids at the
>>elementary level (we have relatives there but neither of us is a citizen.)
>
> Yes, it is possible. Would either of you be accompanying the kids to
> Japan? A more burning question....Why on earth would you want to send
> them to Japan to go to school?
To learn Japanese.... Besides which, our school district here is in the
lower half of the 2nd worst state in the US for public shools, so we can't
do worse. Less than half of our 9th graders graduate; less than 10% go to
college.... Heck, we have 15 year olds in elementary school (not many,
true, but....)
One (or both) of us would go and live there for a while.
>>
>>If it's possible, what sort of visa do the kids and parents have to have?
>
> I don't think the schools put any sort of restriction on it. The key
> thing will be to just get the visas.
>
> Have you made use of google yet?
>
> http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html
I'll check it out.
--Kamus
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Cash
>
> "I am sorry, Mr. Cash, but we are unable to accept your rap sheet in lieu of
> a high school transcript."
>
> Dr. Howard Sprague
> Dean of Admissions
> Mount Pilot College
--
Murgi
>
It's possible... but do your kids speak Japanese?
If not, there IS a problem. And if the kids are small and unable to
communicate, they might be prone to being bullied....
They need to be able to read Japanese also (no good for somebody who has
missed some years of Japanese school and can't read a word).
Sigi
Kamus of Kadizhar
>> If it's possible, what sort of visa do the kids and parents have to have?
>>
>
> It's possible... but do your kids speak Japanese?
Not yet, but they will be in a Japanese immersion school shortly, so they
should be fluent in a year or so.
> If not, there IS a problem. And if the kids are small and unable to
> communicate, they might be prone to being bullied....
Yeah, didn't think of that.
> They need to be able to read Japanese also (no good for somebody who has
> missed some years of Japanese school and can't read a word).
Well, since they're 3 and 6, reading is not much of an issue yet. The
older one recognizes some hiragana and katakana, and can speak some very
basic Japanese. I'd say, though, that if we wait until much later, the
learning curve will be too steep.
>
> Sigi
Bryce
> > They need to be able to read Japanese also (no good for somebody who has
> > missed some years of Japanese school and can't read a word).
>
> Well, since they're 3 and 6, reading is not much of an issue yet. The
> older one recognizes some hiragana and katakana, and can speak some very
> basic Japanese. I'd say, though, that if we wait until much later, the
> learning curve will be too steep.
>
> >
> > Sigi
>
Fluent in a year?
Kamus of Kadizhar
> Fluent in a year?
Heck I learned English in a year at that age, and I'm bad at languages.
You throw a kid into a total immersion environment, they get fluent pretty
quick... We're talking about kids here, not adults.
--Kamus
Bryce
"Kamus of Kadizhar" <y...@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.02.16....@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com...
Be careful with the word "fluent". It's often overused and misused. And it
does a disservice to those who *are* fluent.
Ryan Ginstrom
"Kamus of Kadizhar" <y...@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.02.16....@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com...
Total immersion, sounds really neat.
So, this means the kids will speak nothing but Japanese...
at school?
with their friends outside of school?
at home?
My son goes to an English-language preschool here in Japan. Only English is
used in the classroom. Many of the kids are in their third year at the
school.
I would say that of all the Japanese kids in the school (it is about half
Japanese/half American), one is really fluent, and he's some kind of boy
genius. The others can basically get by after two years or so.
And this is with lots of native-speaking peers. Something tells me your
Japanese "immersion" program won't have lots of Japanese kids in it.
--
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom
Louise Bremner
> > Yes, it is possible. Would either of you be accompanying the kids to
> > Japan? A more burning question....Why on earth would you want to send
> > them to Japan to go to school?
>
> To learn Japanese.... Besides which, our school district here is in the
> lower half of the 2nd worst state in the US for public shools, so we can't
> do worse. Less than half of our 9th graders graduate; less than 10% go to
> college.... Heck, we have 15 year olds in elementary school (not many,
> true, but....)
>
> One (or both) of us would go and live there for a while.
Wouldn't it be easier, and maybe even cheaper, to move into another
school district where you are, rather than split the family?
________________________________________________________________________
Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!
Murgi
> does a disservice to those who *are* fluent.
Well, this is 'fluent' at a low level since they are 3 and 6. I have seen
young kids whose Japanese was at the same conversational level as that of
their native counterparts after a year.
What about the overused expression of "bilingual" or "trilingual"? In most
cases foreign kids will be fluent in conversional Japanese, but reading and
writing is another issue.
Sigi
Bryce
"Murgi" <srin...@da2.so-net.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:1623a4e3fd9c609e...@news.secureusenet.com...
That's part of being fluent.
It's funny how some parents will say, "yeah, my kid is fluent in 4
languages!" Turns out they can count to ten, say hello and ask where the
toilet is.
That's not fluent.
It's overused.
And one year submersion only will fluent, not make them make.
Here's what you do. You drop your kid off at a train station in Japan with
no clothes, no money, no nothing... come back in a year or two. The kid's
Japanese will be very good, but not fluent. Definitely not fluent by going
to some "Japanese school" in a foreign country.
Steve Sundberg
wrote:
>> Be careful with the word "fluent". It's often overused and misused. And it
>> does a disservice to those who *are* fluent.
>
>Well, this is 'fluent' at a low level since they are 3 and 6.
It's less about fluency than it is about literacy at such a young age.
A fluent speaker of Japanese would have a vocabulary of several
thousand words and be able to read an equal number of kanji; a
literate speaker would know how to speak a basic vocabulary and
recognize kana and, later, 1500-1800 kanji.
Your idea is very intriguing, but have you done any cost calculations?
I would imagine that costs, including room and board (even if they'll
be staying with relatives), transportation, tuition, etc. could
approach $10,000 per child per year. I doubt your local school
district would pony up any money, either, even if your children aren't
registered for the schoolyear.
Just my 2 yen.
Bryce
"tm" <t...@tmoero.invalid> wrote in message
news:tm-050F29.11...@newsflood.tokyo.att.ne.jp...
> "Bryce" <fuk...@takethisout.hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > It's funny how some parents will say, "yeah, my kid is fluent in 4
> > languages!" Turns out they can count to ten, say hello and ask where
the
> > toilet is.
> >
> > That's not fluent.
>
Well, that's different. And a Big Mac I suppose too!
Drew Hamilton
>"tm" <t...@tmoero.invalid> wrote in message
>
>Well, that's different. And a Big Mac I suppose too!
Big Mac is easy. When I first went to Japan many moons ago, the first
time that I found myself stranded without anyone to order my lunch
for me, and no idea how to do it myself, I found out that I could go
to McDonald's and order anything my just using the English name spoken
in a stereotypical "Japanese person speaking English" accent...
- awh