| English Club |
Address
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Languages
| English | ||||||||
| Type | Parent-led English activity group for elementary school aged children | ||||||||
| Meeting Times |
We hold English Club every other Saturday. We are mainly a social group that uses English.
Parent-led session: 11:00 - 1:00pm ESL/帰国子女 session: Afternoon | ||||||||
| Status | not-for-profit | ||||||||
| Contact Person | Melissa | ||||||||
| Contact Email | melissasenga@gol.com | ||||||||
| Who is it for? | English using mulicultural children/ returnees 帰国子女 | ||||||||
How many?
| 12 Families | ||||||||
| Partner group/program? | Chayagasaka English Playgroup (Preschool children) | ||||||||
| Who started it? | The Onishi-Moore Family | ||||||||
| When did it start? | It was started more than 10 years ago. | ||||||||
| How did you start? | The Onishi-Moore Family's children had graduated from the Chayagasaka playgroup, and they wanted something that would enable them to carry on using English. They rallied together other like minded families and started the English Club. | ||||||||
| How does it work? |
We have two parent-led groups: 1-3rd graders & 4th-6th graders.
One parent is responsible for leading activities with one of the groups each week. They are left to their own devices about what they do. If for some reason a parent is unable to come on their scheduled Saturday, they must find their own replacement. The sessions are conducted in English, and the children encouraged to use only English. The younger group involves mainly oral activities, and only a little bit of reading. The older group is more literacy oriented (e.g. Making a magazine). | ||||||||
| How do you keep the group/program going? |
We advertise in the local English Language newsletter that is put out by Nagoya's International Center. They have been a great help to us.
We also encourage people at the playgroup to carry on. Otherwise, it is just word by mouth. | ||||||||
| How does it benefit families? |
I love going. It is very social for the parents. We try to have a family camp once a year, and do fun events like going to the swimming pool in the summer.
Often families will get together at other times during the month. Being together as a community enables parents to talk about things like what schooling options are open to us. When you are living in Japan, it is great having the opportunity to be able to speak English. Even if the kids were having an 'off day' and did not want to go to playgroup, I said "Tough! Mummy wants to go!" Our kids get to interact with other bilingual children. Their confidence, like use of vocabulary, in using English improves through this interaction. | ||||||||
| Any advice for others who want to set up something similar? |
Finding a good place to hold your group can take time. Finding a convenient location was one of our biggest problems. There are a lot of community centers but:
*Some you cannot book every week, or every other week. *Some are not near a park where the kids can play after English Club. *Some have no parking. Even if you have a core of three or four key families, you can build it from there. Be sure to have fun with it. | ||||||||