| Chofu English Playgroup (CEP) |
住所
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使用言語
| English | ||||||||
| (活動の)カテゴリーは? | Playgroup | ||||||||
| 活動日/電話 |
Location: Public meeting facility near Chofu station
Meeting: Weekly | ||||||||
| 営利/非営利 | not-for-profit | ||||||||
| 連絡担当者 | Louise George Kittaka | ||||||||
| Eメール | lgkittaka@aol.com | ||||||||
| 主にどう言った人向けですか | For preschool children and their English-speaking parents in the Tama/West Tokyo area. (They do not have to live in Chofu; about half of the members live in neighbouring cities.) The parents are usually all mothers, although occasionally we’ve had fathers involved. The children range in age from babies up to about 3. The kids usually leave when they go to daycare or kindergarten, but we’ve had kids up to 4 in the past. CEP is NOT a “teaching English to mothers” group. Members must be comfortable speaking everyday English with reasonable fluency, but do not have to be native speakers. The members are a mixture of foreign and Japanese women. Many, but not all, are in international marriages. The Japanese members who are not in international marriages have usually lived overseas. | ||||||||
| パートナーグループかプログラム | Yes, when a member’s children outgrow CEP she can become a “CEP-OB”. (Perhaps this should have been “OG” since we are all women, but “OB” means “alumni members” in Japanese and the name stuck.) The CEP-OB mothers continue to meet occasionally for lunches, ladies nights out, seasonal parties, etc. As the children grow older and go to school, it is impossible to get them all together, but former CEP children often maintain close friendships with each other as they grow up. For example, my three children are now 14, 11 and 8, and all have friends who they have known through CEP since they were toddlers and babies. | ||||||||
| 誰が始めた物ですか | Louise George Kittaka, a New Zealand woman living in Chofu. | ||||||||
| いつから活動していますか | CEP began in the summer of 1999. | ||||||||
| どのように始めましか。 |
My two older children were born in the USA when we lived there for my Japanese husband’s job. I had enjoyed playgroups in the USA and wanted to create something similar when we moved back to Japan in 1999. As my younger child was 18 months old at the time, I particularly wanted something that would support her burgeoning English. I decided to set up an English playgroup in my area. I wasn’t sure how successful it would be, but I had nothing to lose.
Firstly, I needed to find other members! Back in 1999, the Internet was still new for many people. I found members the old-fashioned way, through word-of-mouth and telephoning. I’m a long-time member of AFWJ (the Association of Foreign Wives of Japanese) and I looked in our Directory for other women with toddlers in the Chofu area, and found four interested people. I also contacted the International Association at the city office, and got introduced to several women that way. One was a Russian lady whose family was living in Japan while her husband studied at the local university. And I had a Japanese neighbour who was interested in international culture and spoke English well. In this way, we gathered a core group of nine women, six foreign and three Japanese. Between us, we had 11 children coming to playgroup. We met in an old tatami room at a community centre in central Chofu. Kathy, an American who had just had her fourth baby when CEP began, was very helpful in setting things up. She acted as a sub-leader and someone I could bounce ideas off. Having lived in Chofu a long time, she was also very knowledgeable about the area. | ||||||||
| どのような物ですか. 具体的に何をするのか |
We picked a meeting day—Tuesday worked for everyone, and then we started meeting weekly. CEP began at 10 and finished by 11.45 or so. Over time, we developed a routine that worked:
-A few minutes of free chatting. -Opening song, “Good Morning to You”, in which we go round the circle and sing to each child in turn by name. -More English songs and finger plays, moving from quieter ones (sitting down) to more active ones (getting up and moving round). -End with a storybook or two in English, and then “Time to Say Goodbye”, our closing song. Meetings typically end with many of the members having lunch together. We also started having a monthly outing: Park play dates in the warmer months, to different parks in people’s neighbourhoods. In the colder months, indoor play areas at fast food restaurants, community centers, etc. And we also introduced a monthly craft activity, which members took turns leading. Often these are linked to seasonal holidays, and include both Japanese and Western celebrations. From the very first year, we started a number of seasonal family events which fathers and older siblings could attend, too. These were a hanami (picnic under the cherry blossoms) in spring, a family picnic at a water park in summer, a Halloween party in autumn and a Christmas party in winter. I have hosted an annual Ladies Christmas home party at my place every year, too. As leader, I thought I had to do everything at first. That included making a monthly newsletter and sending it to members by email or fax, maintaining the membership list, booking the room each month and taking care of membership fees. (A small annual charge to cover craft materials, room fees, etc.) As time went by, it became stressful to do it all, so I learned to delegate. And I realized that members feel more involved if they help with planning. This was a learning curve for me. | ||||||||
| 活動を継続するために、何か努力をしていますか |
CEP has now been going for more than 10 years, reaching that milestone
in the summer of 2009. I never imagined it would continue this long. (At the time we started, I thought it would be great to last two years or so!) Basically, as long as there are people willing to lead and people willing to come to meetings, a playgroup can continue indefinitely. Finding members has never been a problem. We grew slowly at first, with about 12 women by the start of the second year (after losing two original members whose children went to kindergarten). In the early days, if I saw a bicultural child, I would ask the mother, “Are you interested in a playgroup?” We got several members this way! Then things mushroomed during the second year, and we ended up taking a waiting list once the group hit 20 members. We didn’t have space for any more, and the group would have been too hard to manage. People were introduced to CEP by their friends, or heard about it through word-of-mouth. (We never actively advertised the group, except when I was interviewed about it in a small parenting magazine once. That attracted some new members, too.) People want to join a successful group, and CEP soon became successful! I maintained a policy of personally handling all requests from people to join, and ensuring their English level was satisfactory. I think it really helped that CEP had a solid leadership for many years. I lead for 4 1/2 years, since I had a third baby during my time as leader, and so continued even after my older daughter (who was 1 when we started CEP) entered daycare. I gave up the leadership role when my younger daughter was 3. I was followed by Rachel, an American woman who was also the leader for four years, as she had another child during her term as well. I think that having two leaders who stayed for such a long time really gave the group a solid base. The basic structure of the group was largely unchanged for the first 81/2 years of CEP’s existence. When Rachel stepped down two years ago, the question arose as to who was going to take over. One woman, with several years experience, was willing to help lead, but didn’t want the job on her own. After some discussion, the members at that time decided to run CEP as a co-op style-venture, with different members taking it in turn to plan and run meetings on a rostered basis, and four main people handling overall leadership. (One handles money, one keeps track of membership, etc.) Expanding on the simple notes I used to send to new members, the current leaders have produced a very handy notebook for all members, including all the song words and details on how to run a meeting. The current style f CEP is a great way to ensure that everyone shares the load. Personally, as the founder, I liked doing most of it myself, but that was in my day. The current members have found a style that suits their needs. They meet in a bigger room now and allow up to 25 members to join before putting names on a waiting list. Typically, new members join in April when older children go off to kindergarten or daycare. The songs, outings and seasonal events are almost exactly the same as when I was leading CEP. | ||||||||
| 実際に、二か国語や多国籍家族にどの様なメリットが有りますか |
Bicultural/bilingual families in Japan often struggle with finding the right balance between two languages and cultures. The children of CEP members, with just a handful of exceptions, are being (will be) educated in the Japanese system. As such, CEP parents are trying to fit in English language and culture around a daily Japanese life. Depending on the family, their experience varies. Foreign women married with a Japanese partner, such as myself, wonder how far to push their own culture and language with the child while often struggling with the finer points of child raising here. Japanese women with foreign partners worry that the children don’t see their fathers enough to keep up the English side, and wonder how to compensate for that. Japanese families who have lived overseas would like to retain their children’ English ability, but find it hard after being absorbed back into everyday Japanese life. For all these families, being part of a bilingual/multicultural group like CEP provides an opportunity for support and exchange of information.
When their children are very small (playgroup age), parents are seeking friends who share the English language and culture in an environment that embraces and celebrates differences. Children can see that it isn’t just their family that uses English. When the children “graduate” and move off into the wider society of Japanese kindergarten/daycare and then school, the connections made at CEP are still very important for OB mothers. Sharing experiences and being able to seek/offer support is necessary for any parent. For me personally, having a circle of friends in the area who are also raising bilingual/bicultural children is one of the greatest gifts I have gained through playgroup. I needed these women when I was coping with daily life with toddlers and babies; I need them just as much now that my children are older and moving forward in the education system. Any effort I put into CEP has been more than paid back by the lasting connections I have formed with other parents. I am so glad I took those initial tentative steps and started a playgroup! | ||||||||
| 同じようなグループやプローグラムを立ち上げたいと思う人にどの様なアドバイスが出来ますか | First, think carefully about what kind of group you want. Second, be proactive in networking to find members. Thirdly, remember that anything worthwhile might take some time and effort to set up. Lastly, have fun and share the workload! | ||||||||