We are hunting for a school where kids can learn Japanese and related culture. We visited Gardena Buddhist Church Japanese School last week, and this week we went to Nishiyamato Academy Saturday School. This school started as a private middle/high school in Japan, later added an international course. The school was then named as a school for education and research targeted at oversees returnee children, and a while later they opened a campus here in California. People often compare this school with Asahi Gakuen, which is a school started by the Japanese government for the purpose of supplementing the necessary education for children who are planning to go back to Japan after being here for a while. Asahi Gakuen is known for its rigorous course work. It has classes until 3:30 every Saturday, gives lots of homework, and offers classes strictly based on the government-certified textbooks. It has a great reputation but we determined that it might be too much for our kids. Thus we decided to visit Nishiyamato Academy which has classes only until 1:00 every Saturday, gives so so homework, and offers classes loosely based on the textbooks, hoping this might be a better fit for us. They have a weekday course with about 100 students, while the Saturday school, which we visited, has about 300 students on two campuses.
ロミタ校の校舎。1年生から3年生までの教室があります。The school building of the Lomita Campus. Here, students from 1st grade to 3rd grade are studying.
校歌もあり。糸井重里作詞、矢沢永吉作曲だって。。。聞いてみたいものだわ。They even have a school song, and it was composed by Eikichi Yazawa with words by Shigesato Itoi. Both are pretty popular figures among the young. I am eager to listen to it.
2年生の教室。壁には子どもたちの作文や絵や研究発表がたくさん張ってありました。This is a classroom used by the 2nd graders. On the walls in the classes and on the hallways, we saw lots of essays, drawings and projects done by students.
こちらは6年生の教室。理科の授業で地層の勉強をしていました。4年生から9年生は、トーランスのすぐ南、パロス・バーデスのゴージャスな丘の上にある公立のミドルスクールの校舎を借りて授業をしています。こちらの高学年キャンパスでは、国語、算数の必修のほか、理科、社会、体育などの選択教科もあるそう。2つのキャンパス間はスクールバスが走っています。費用は、入学試験料60ドル、入学金330ドル、1ヶ月の授業料165ドル。This is one of the 6th grader's classes. They were working on stratum. 4th to 9th graders meet at a public middle school on the gorgeous Palos Verdes hills, which is just south of Torrance. In addition to the core classes of Japanese and Math, they offer Science, Social Studies and PE as electives. There is a school bus going between the two campuses. Fees are; $60 for entrance exam fee, $330 for admission fee and $165 for monthly tuition.
