David

I joined the Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School in my second year of secondary school.
Although it was a small school, I was warmly welcomed and was able to get to know the students very quickly. My time at the school was only two years, but I loved it so much that I continued to go there after graduation as an assistant at the nursery. It was a friendly place where we played together during recess, regardless of age, and where we always had a lot of laughs.

In recess, we exchanged information about things we didn’t know about the local school and how to make Japanese food, and at the bazaar, we gave each other clothes and toys at reasonable prices.

Many of the children could only speak either English or Japanese, but when they found common interests or good friends, they often learned languages at an astonishing speed. I was also encouraged by my classmates’ smug looks at my weekly Kanji test, and I began to desperately memorize Kanji characters, which I must have hated.

Now that I am an adult, and have moved to London, I meet many Japanese people who grew up in supplementary schools, and I even bumped into a Yorkshire and Humberside graduate. They speak Japanese so fluently that you would not know they grew up in England unless they told you. Many of them are sincere and earnest like Japanese people, but they also see the world from a broad perspective without discrimination or prejudice, making them very likeable people. Perhaps it is because they have experience of both Japan and England, two countries that are very different from each other, that they are able to see things from many different perspectives.

I hope more children attend the Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School because it motivates children who grew up in England to learn Japanese, and for children who grew up in Japan, it provides a familiar and comforting environment.

I first heard about the Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School on the Japanese Embassy’s website. At the time, my son was four years old, and I wanted to give him more exposure to the Japanese language.

Initially, he joined the nursery and studying at the school on Saturdays quickly became his favourite day of the week. The songs and origami crafts were the same as those at Japanese preschools, and the parents also enjoyed spending time together. The nursery also had homework, and I think this helped my son develop the habit of studying at home.

As soon as my son entered the first grade, the school went online due to the pandemic. Both my son and I were anxious. However, when I felt lost or discouraged my son’s teacher was very kind and supportive.

We now meet other parents and children outside of Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School too. This includes sleepovers and going camping together. I am looking forward to continuing my friendship with the other families who attend Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School while my son progresses through the curriculum. I truly believe that the time spent at Yorkshire Humberside Japanese Language School will be a valuable experience for the children and will provide them with a prosperous future.

I found out about Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School a year after my family and I moved to England. My younger sister and brother were also able to attend the school. However, I was too old to join. Despite this, I was allowed to help teach as a volunteer, and I feel that this experience was a turning point for me.

At first, I did not really fit in at secondary school in England. I had come to England after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and I missed Japan, so I may not have tried to integrate. Fortunately, I did not need to be a student to get involved with Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School. The school welcomed me as a volunteer, and for the next two years, I worked as an assistant teacher.

What struck me personally in the little I saw of each grade level was the variation in the language levels of the students in the same class. This was a combination of many factors, including the age at which the students arrived in the UK, family circumstances, and their state of mind when they left Japan. Even so, the teachers were creative and they encouraged the students who could do things quickly to help those who did not understand.

As a result, by the time the students graduated from the supplementary school, they were all able to speak Japanese well enough to live in Japan. Furthermore, we often chatted in Japanese during breaks and after school, deepening our friendship and improving each other’s Japanese. In fact, I recently met a graduate who travelled to Japan on her own, and she still keeps in touch with her classmates and meets with them. If you are a child of Japanese descent living in Yorkshire, you should attend the Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese Language School as much as possible. Furthermore, even if you are too old to attend, I still highly recommend you visit this warm and welcoming organisation.