Graduating from Japanese Playschool!

Jocelyn Hudon

It seems like a long time! Come to think of it, it’s been a long time! Six yearsto be exact, accompanying my children to the Japanese Playschool week in, week out.

Sometimes out of necessity, as when my wife stayed home to teach my older girl (Anna) for a year, or most of the time for the sheer enjoyment of watching (and teasing!) the children. Or lend a helping hand whenever I could (like being treasurer for two years).

So the end of the last school year came with some trepidations, the realization that I too was graduating. A graduation of sorts. Graduating from Japanese Playschool! From chaperoning my young children. Maybe, now, I would finally have time to focus on my own study of the Japanese language!

I will have seen the playschool through the eyes of my wife, two of my three girls (Maya and Erika), as well as my own. My youngest child, Erika, almost grew up in the playschool, first as a baby in her parents' tow, then as an interested observer, finally as a full participant.

My dealings with the playschool go back to its very inception, starting with the musings of my wife, Yasuko Kaide, and a good friend, Sally Ito, a ni-sei/san-sei (now living in Winnipeg), who were concerned that children of international marriages - where only one parent spoke Japanese - or of parents of distant Japanese ancestry - ni-sei/san-sei, who didn't speak Japanese as frequently – probably weren't getting enough exposure to the Japanese language to be able to enter the Metro-Edmonton Japanese Community School (MEJCS) in later years.

And how were these children to be exposed to the Japanese language and all aspects of Japanese culture, including its many festivals, in a foreign land?!

So in 1998 Yasuko and Sally approached Mrs. Sanae Ohki, principal of the MEJCS, to discuss the possibility of forming a Japanese playschool-kindergarten class within the existing MEJCS. Mrs. Ohki, a staunch supporter, suggested that they recruit other parents, arrive at a consensus on expectations of such playschool, and develop a formal proposal to be presented to the board of the language school. A Japanese playschool would provide early childhood Japanese language instruction to Edmontonians, through educational activities and play, activities that young children like to take part in, while being surrounded by Japanese students. It might even help avert an expected future shortage of students at the MEJCS!

Though MEJCS supported the concept of a Japanese playschool for children of pre-school age, it was not going to be an easy sell! Indeed, the school board had serious reservations about having many young, excitable children loose on the school premises, with idly, grabby hands to boot, essentially accidents waiting to happen!

The committee ran a playschool on a trial basis from April to December 1999 and witnessed a strong participation and commitment by parent volunteers (as well as exemplary behaviour by the kids!). There was also a strong growth in attendance, to 13 regular students (from about 6 initially), by the time the experiment was over.

In part as a result of the playschool's initial success, in January 2000, the group of children was broken up into two groups: a group of 4 & 5 year old, and one of 2 & 3 year old (the playschool proper). Funds were procured from supportive groups, like the Edmonton Japanese Community Association (EJCA) and the Edmonton Workshop of Japanese Teachers, as well as individuals (like Mr. And Mrs. Kazuharu Shukuda), to hire a teacher (Mrs. Yaeko Hirano) for the 4 & 5 year old group as it was at the teachable level and the children were ready to be challenged, while the remaining 2 & 3 year old were instructed by parent volunteers.

The MEJCS subsequently incorporated the class of 4 & 5 year old class into its mandate: the MEJCS accepted these students and their parents as full members of the MEJCS. The 2 & 3 year old class remained independent.

While the MEJCS remained strongly supportive of the playschool, and actively supported the efforts of parent officers of the playschool, unfortunately it was not able to provide seed money, material or resources necessary to start the program of 2 & 3 year old (in part because funding of the school by the Japanese government was dwindling in response to a decline in the number of Japanese nationals coming to Edmonton; of course this was before the school started its experiment with casinos!).

Some help came when Sally and Yasuko wrote up a detailed proposal to secure funds from the Endowment Fund Cultural Development Program of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), backed by the EJCA, efforts that were rewarded with a $1,500 grant in November 2000 to help both the 2 & 3 year old and the 4 & 5 year old programs.

The newly acquired funds were quickly used to purchase numerous goods (CD players, carts, educational toys, musical instruments and a toy parachute) and resources (educational material from Canada and Japan) to jumpstart the kindergarten-playschool programs.

At first, parents of children in the playschool alternated presenting material (books, songs, etc…), preparing crafts, bringing home-made play-dough and providing other opportunities for children to interact in Japanese. For a short time early on, one of the grandmother even brought snacks for all of the children!

With the arrival of grant money, playschool parents were forced to organize, and they formed a board made up of a president, vice-president and treasurer. Starting in November 2000 (to about June 2001) a daycare teacher from Japan, Miss Emi Takahashi, kindly offered to teach the children, armed with countless songs, stories and activities. Collection of a small fee was initiated to help with the purchase of craft material, treats, etc..., and to support the teacher.

Over my years there the playschool was served by many dedicated parents (too many to name!) and teachers (including Mrs. Richardson and Yasue Suzuki), who very much loved the children. As many as 22 children attended the playschool in some years. The playschool moved from a gymnasium to a classroom, then a music classroom, then back to a gymnasium after the move to the new school, Richard Secord, from its beginnings in Westbrook School. In a sense it has come full circle.

In the process, it made great strides toward preparing children of international marriages (less so, children of Japanese descent) for Japanese school, arming them with a firm foundation in Japanese. Today, over two-thirds of students enrolled in the MEJCS came from the ranks of the playschool-kindergarten programs! A brilliant success, by any definition of the term. Interestingly, the playschool also met needs not initially fathomed by its instigators, for example becoming a popular destination for young Japanese mothers on temporary stay to Canada in need of socializing with other Japanese nationals. Yet, the steady flow of new young families proved tremendously enriching to the program, ensuring that Japanese be seen as a living and vibrant language.

And it’s also been an eye-opener. Trying to preserve a language in a foreign land is hard enough. I know, because I am trying to preserve a language of my own (French). But to do it without, or with little, help from federal and provincial governments (which French receives), can be particularly taxing, constantly testing the will and dedication of parents. But it’s clearly worth the effort!

I’ll be missing the little ones. I hope they don’t turn this gai-jin away when he drops by. Long live the Japanese playschool!