生まれてはじめて、子どもたちが塾というものに行きました。体験クラスだけど。このあたりはありとあらゆる塾があり、帰国準備、日本での受験対策、現地校の宿題サポート、英語力アップ、日本語力アップ、日本語能力試験準備、漢字検定準備などなど、さまざまなクラスがあります。うちの子どもたちは日本語力アップのクラスに参加。ガーディナ仏教会、西大和学園に次いで、日本語学習継続のための一候補としての見学です。とっても若く見える先生だけど、もう大学を出て勤めている娘さんがおふたりもいて、おふたりとも日本語能力試験１級を持っているので、大学進学や就職のときにとても有利だったとのこと。おひとりはDream Worksでカンフーパンダの製作チームだったそうで、部屋にはDream Worksの映画のポスターがたくさん。この辺だと、カリフォルニア大学に入るのを目標にする子どもたちが多いらしく、日本語でのAPクラス（ハイスクールで受けられる大学レベルのクラス）や日本語能力試験がいかに受験でものをいうかについていろいろ説明を受けました。
うちは子どもどころか、両親とも塾というものに行ったことがないので、どうも”ジュク”という響き自体抵抗があったけれど、行ってみたらそんなにコワイところではありませんでした。都会のひとはこうやって塾を使って受験準備をするんだぁ~などと、カンシンして帰ってきた私。。子どもたちはといえば、"塾なんて絶対行きたくない！”といっていたくせに、Dream Works攻撃と先生のうまいノセ方にすっかり魅了され、”絶対行きたい！”。 費用は入学金150ドル、80分授業が週１回の４週分で月148ドル。
Our kids tried a Jyuku, a cram school, the very first time in their lives. We sat in for a trial class today. Around here, there are so many kinds of courses offered at a great many variety of cram schools. Those include courses for prep to go back to Japanese educational systems in Japan, prep for the entrance exams at Japanese schools, English improvement, support on assignments at local schools, improvement on Japanese, prep for Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and so forth. Our kids tried a course for Japanese improvement. Following out visits to Gardena Buddhist Church Japanese School and Nishiyamato Gakuen, we selected this school as an alternative for kids to continue with their Japanese improvement.
The youthful looking instructor has two daughters who already finished college and are working. Both passed the 1st class of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and that was a great help to get into the college and to get a job also, she said. One of them works in Dream Works and was a part of the production team of Kang Fu Panda, and the room we were in had full of movie posters on the wall. Kids just fell for it. Great many students around here target at University of California (UC) as their first choice for college, and she explained to me how the fact that kids successfully finished Japanese AP classes and/or the Japanese Language Proficiency Test works for students to get in the UC.
It's not only our kids who's never been to a cram school. Neither my husband nor I have been in a cram school when we grew up, so we had an ambiguous fear towards these schools, but my impression was not too bad on this particular one. It was interesting to know how all these people in a big city like this start preparing for college early on. Our two kids, who had to be forced to come with me to visit this school, totally changed their view to "I love to come study here!". The instructor knew how to get kids involved. Dream Works did the trick too. The admission fee is $150 and the monthly fee for one 80 min instruction per week is $148.
