Toward more intense? Updating 2nd language education plan

Almost 11 months ago I wrote our decision to send our then 5-yr old to a Saturday school for additional Japanese education, in addition to the weekday local elementary school. Driver back then was pandemic, which prevented us from going to Japan over the Summer where we are hoping the children to get stimulated and motivated to learn Japanese and its culture. What happened afterwards? Let us review briefly.

Overall, we are very happy for the decision we made, and we decided to continue sending our soon-to-be 7-yr old to the Saturday school in addition to weekday local school. There was number of challenges, but HG has been showing interest in learning secondary language and the culture, and demonstrating growth. Also, the level of fluency for Japanese language we as parents hope our kids to acquire has changed, maybe we are now hoping higher.

Kinder class at Georgia Japanese Language School

We joined the class in August. For the entire school year, which is from April thru March same as public schools in Japan, in-person classes were taking place only once in every 3 week, the other 2 weeks happened virtually. For kids in kinder age that was tough, there was no way kids could stay focused even just for a few minutes. I'm grateful the teachers did so well in that regard. For kinder the learning was mostly writing and reading the basic Japanese alphabet ("kana"), which my son studied well I think.

The school is an hour away from our home, so apparently the long drive on Saturday early morning and in the early was a challenge for the son. He hated going, but he easily regained energy once he gets there. I bet almost all the parents had strenuous effort in motivating their kids, but it's worth it in the end.

Also it was so good for me to see other parents. We made friends. I also happened to meet a sister of my good, late friend. What a world.

I'm delighted to see he's willing to read Japanese letters, sentences at home. School did the great job. 

Parents' hope for children's secondary language

In the end, it'll be the children themselves who decide what and how much they want to learn. It's parent's job in my opinion, however, to guide them when they don't even have options.

We give Japanese as an option. Until last year our thoughts were close to this: We want our kids to be comfortable in "visiting" Japan by themselves when they are adult. My wife and her siblings accomplished that.

Then, over the past one year under pandemic, I happened to talk far more with my side of families over the Internet, thought a lot more about my own family. We started a conversation with my parents and siblings about elderly care plan and inheritance, something that has been implicitly pushed back by all family members. While I agree if you may think that would be a painful, lame subject, in reality it's not so much so far for us. It sparked a lot of thoughts that each one of family members apparently has never spoken up, and the result has been a mutual caring, positive planning so far.

Derailed a bit. But yes, as my side of family being almost fully Japanese except a few who have tie to foreign countries like I do, we're destined to maintain heritage in Japan. Conversation with my family over an year reminded me of it, and made my determination stronger for raising my kids in both cultures. Maybe "visiting" Japan comfortably isn't enough. I want them to be comfortable in interacting with other adults in Japanese, casually and even professionally if possible.

What's the plan to train my children to be semi/professional bilingual

We haven't reached a conclusion yet. One thing we know sending them to a foreign country just over vacation, without some sort of involvement is probably not enough unless you're super motivated.

Saturday Japanese school generally seems to be a good option among others for the goal and constraints we have. It's just downsides is significant; It's such a huge commitment for both a student and parents...one full day Saturday is taken. And homework over weekday. Even for 1st grader, Saturday has been eventful. Baseball team that I did assistant coach (later dropped out as I found it too much. I was too irresponsible to take on coaching duty with already table full) Kids playdate. Family fun. All happen on Saturdays. That's the main reason my wife and her siblings weren't sent to Saturday schools AFAIK.

Yes, parents commitment it takes is huge. This year I foresee I work as a part-time (which I haven't yet written about) in order to be available for any family needs (4 months passed in 2022, we've taken a great advantage of it for kids sickness and other issues). I don't know how this works once I'm back at full-time.

We'll to keep updating our thoughts. If you have a good idea for how to teach children multi-culture, I'd like to hear.

Meanwhile, much younger AK has just finished learning words associated with alphabets. I remember things were simpler when HG was this age.