EDUCATION | LIVING IN JAPAN

How I Succeeded — and Failed — to Raise Bilingual Children in Japan

Raising 8 children gave me plenty of room for trial and error

Child #6 in 4th grade at public school. Teaching child #4 to read with child #3 spacing out in the back. Child #5 studying English at home, with his schedule of assignments by his books. (All photos ©Diane Tincher unless otherwise noted.)

When I arrived in Japan with two young children in 1987, I didn’t give any thought to the Japanese school system. I had been homeschooling my American children from before they could walk, and I would continue.

Before they could walk, you ask?

I generally followed the Glenn Doman method of teaching sight-reading by using big cards with a word written in red block letters on each, flashing them at my babies, and making a game of it. I talked with my little ones incessantly, describing things, explaining things, and putting words in their mouths.

Before they were five, they learned to read, write, and do simple math. We read science books and watched nature documentaries. I taught them to swim.

I did whatever was in my power to instill in them knowledge and the love of learning.

Japanese

Through our years in Japan, my older kids picked up spoken Japanese by osmosis, as children do, and I taught them hiragana and katakana using workbooks from a local bookstore.