子どもたちは、明日より西大和学園土曜補習校に通います。この写真の教科書を持って。数ある補習校、塾のうち、いくつか見学に行き、最終的には、西大和か塾での日本語の勉強かで迷いました。子どもたちは、バージニアにいるときにも日本補習教室には通っていたものの、親がボランティアで教師をし、子どもたちのレベルに合わせて授業を行っていたもので、教科書通りに授業を進めていく政府の認定校とは性質を異にしていました。日本の学年で１年生の下の娘の場合は、まだ比較的簡単に追いつけるものの、上の６年生の息子は学年相当の勉強からかなり離れてしまっているわけ。ということで、塾で自分のレベルに合わせた個人授業を受けるほうがいいのではないかとかなり迷いました。塾には、日本語の勉強を将来の大学受験に生かす方法（高校でのAPクラスや日本語能力試験などを通して）についてのノウハウも蓄積されています。しかしながら、「受験で得をするためだけに日本語を勉強するのではない。自分たちの血であり文化であるから勉強するのだ。１対１の個人授業より、たとえ最初は苦労しても、コミュニティーの中の一員として、仲間の言葉や行動に接しながら勉強するほうがいい」との主人の一言に、私も息子も同意し、西大和でがんばることに決心した次第。ところがそこからが大変。息子の漢字レベルは小学校２、３年生レベル。自分の学年（６年生）より１学年落として５年生に入学希望することに決め(1学年しか落とせない）、入学テストを受けたものの、テストで出題された文章題が読めないため、ほぼ白紙回答。度重なる校長先生との面談。しかしながら、この学校のすばらしいところは、「それでも本人ががんばるというのなら、受け入れます」と言ってくれたところ。最終的に、家でのサポートを含め本人・家族とも相当の覚悟のうえ入学することを決意。
５、６年生といえば、現地校の宿題も増え、課外活動も本格化し、みんな日本語教育を断念するころ。その時期に、自分の能力より上の補習校に入ろうというのだから、かなりの向こう見ず。。。と、親が言ってしまったらおしまいだから、なんとかがんばろう。お友達で、日本から来たばかりで、英語がなかなか聞き取れず、ミドルスクールで苦労しているお嬢さんがいる人がいるのだけれど、お互い励ましあい、くじけそうになりながらも前に進みます。
明日、勉強することろを少しでも予習しようと思い、５年生の教科書を（読めというと漢字が読めないので）私が朗読してやったら(環境問題についてだった）、意味は９０％は理解できている様子。音にすれば分かるというだけでもバンザイ！ホソボソとでも、なんとかここまで日本語の勉強を続けてこられたのは、シャーロッツビル日本補習教室のおかげです。お世話になりました。
With these textbooks, kids will go to Nishiyamato Academy every Saturday starting tomorrow to study in Japanese. There are a great number of Japanese schools, cram schools, and private tutor services around here, and we have visited/tried several of those. On our final list were Nishiyamato and a private tutor. Our kids have been studying Japaense at a Japanese school, while we were in Virginia, but the school was a tiny organization run by parent volunteers, and the classes there most often could not afford following the grade level requirements set by the Japanese government. Our daughter is only a 1st grader in the Japanese system, so she will be able to catch up relatively easily, while our son, a 6th grader, will have to go through a hell to catch up, if he is ever able to. After a careful analysis of the current situation, I thought placing him with a private tutor would be the viable choice. This tutor we tried seemed compatible with him and has a knowledge base how to take advantage of the Japanese proficiency for college application, which could be a motivation for him to keep studying. However, my husband objected; " The primary purpose of his learning Japanese is not to get in a good college. He studies it because that's our blood and culture. It's much more beneficial to be a part of a community and learn from others' behaviors and thinking. " After all, we agreed, as a family, on his studying at Nishiyamato.
Well, it was a long way to come to a decision to choose Nishiyamato, and it was even a longer way after that. He has only studied Kanji (Japanese characters) up to the 2nd or 3rd grade level so far. Nishiyamato only allows kids to go one grader higher or one grade lower than their own grade level. Thus, he took the entrance test at 5th grade, one grade lower, but still the reading comprehension was a mission impossible for him. He could not read Kanjis. The answer sheet was pretty much blank. We had a series of meetings with the principal, and the final word of his is that if our son is committed to study hard here, then we will accept him." Great school.
The thing is when kids reach 5th or 6th grade, being busy with assignments from local schools and extracurricular programs, many of them leave Japanese schools. Our son is going totally against the flow, starting with the 5th grade which is even beyond his current capability. We must be so courageous or simply crazy, depending on the perspective. Well, we should not look back and keep moving forward, I guess.
We opened the 5th grade textbook to find the chapter they will be working on tomorrow. I read the chapter to him first, since he has a difficulty with Kanjis. Even though the theme was not a very concrete one (environmental issues), he was able to understand 90% of what was read. If read, he can understand. Yeah! We should be glad with what we have now instead of crying over what we don't, shouldn't we?
