Pretty Cure and B'z and festivals

It's been a while since I've written here, so hello again! My family and I went back to Japan for the Christmas and New Year holidays. We were anticipating the sudden switch from English to Japanese in my daughter, but this time it didn't happen as quickly as it did last winter holidays. We spent time at first with the children's Japanese grandparents. Millie was slow to remember her fabulous Japanese but got by with greetings and simple requests. Then for the next week we were joined by their Japanese cousins. They all played together but did not talk together much, realising that their languages were different. Millie became very interested in her cousin's favourite animation, Pretty Cure, or Purikyuar as pronounced in Japanese. Back in England it has become a great way to continue to hear and sing along with Japanese. Not too sure about the short skirts and too cute girly fashions but hearing her try to sing along in Japanese is adorable.

The Pretty Cure Girls

                                        

We also bought a little CD player for them to play my old CDs on. A favourite of everyone's recently is B'z 's compilation album which is often played to accompany our meal times. Finally we are lucky enough to know a few Japanese/British couples and we are now making an effort to celebrate Japanese festivals and holidays together. Just recently we held the Setsubun festival at our flat, throwing dried beans at the dads with demon masks on! Next is Girl's Day in March, so we will be preparing chirashi zushi and the like for that too. The dolls are already on display.


                                            

My daughter's first ever school report!!

Wow, just 2 months into her new nursery and my little girl brought home her first ever report!!

Of course, as she's only 3, it was very simple.

Positives were:

a sunny smile
sociable
wanting to do things by herself

To work on was:

writing her name
tidying up after finishing with toys (No surprises there!!!)

Moving to Hebden Bridge!

My daughter has to apply for primary school (actually it's reception class just before year 1 starts)  this month. What a panic that brought us when we found out just a few months ago!! So considering her future, we decided to move somewhere a bit nicer than where we are now, with better schools and a better environment.

My daughter's English is now better than her Japanese. In just six months, she has flipped from using Japanese as her main language to English. It is totally fascinating. Now we have to make sure she doesn't lose her Japanese...or should I say, her Osaka-ben??!!

The power of her peers!! 子供同士の力

Just after one week of being at nursery in the U.K....
My little girl can sing the whole of the nursery rhyme, Baa, Baa Black Sheep!!!
And she starts to play and talk in English too. She even says things in English that her daddy cannot catch.  He's going to have to do some studying to keep up with her in the future!!! It just goes to show how much language develops when surrounded by friends of her own age at nursery.
She is free to move from room to room at her nursery. Each area of the room has a theme, such as water and sand play, painting, a pretend house, computer corner and playdough and so on. There is also a good-sized playground with toys outside, as well as a small garden with apple trees and flowers. She has a nursery journal,called a Learning Jornal, which the staff update with my daughter's photos, drawings, and achievements.

My little boy is also starting to talk. He has the most beautiful, "Yes".

イギリスの幼稚園に入って、一週間が経ったの娘が。。。
こどもの遊び歌、”Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"　を全部歌えるようになった。
そして遊びながら、英語で自分に喋ったりする。　たまにお父さんが何を言っているか分からないだって。娘に残さないように、彼も英語を勉強しなくっちゃ！幼稚園の同級生のは言葉の力になるですね。
娘の幼稚園はとても自由です。たぶんもっと日本の保育園に似ている。部屋の中いくつかの遊びテーマがあって、たとえば水遊び、砂遊び、色塗り場、ママ事コーナー、パソコン・コーナー、ねんど遊びとかある。そして外のグラウンドにも遊び道具がたくさん。リンゴの木とかお花が植えているの庭もある。自分の幼稚園日記もある。写真、絵描きのこピーとか娘の達成できた事。
ところで、最近一歳になった息子も話始まっている。世界に一番美しいの"Yes"と言える。

Just the terrible two's? 魔の二歳？

Since we moved to the U.K I feel my little girl has a lot of stress. Maybe it's because she has to share me with her younger brother who's just one and still breast-feeding. Maybe it's because everyone around her is suddenly talking in English, not Japanese. Or maybe it's still the 'terrible twos'....when do they end anyway??She's nearly three. And we experienced the earthquake in Japan last March. I guess it's a lot to cope with. Am I asking too much that she do what she's told and not hit her brother every day?? That she stop her dramatic tantrums that occur daily, two, three or more times? I don't know whether I have been too easy on her and not strict enough. I feel my words are useless, as she doesn't listen anyway.
We've had to leave her playgroup early twice in the past two weeks because she wouldn't listen, or sit down with the other seemingly well-behaved kids. She will start nursery in September so I hope that some time away from us will do her good.

イギリスに引っ越してから、娘がストレスをたまっていると感じる私。理由はなんだろう。。
まだおっぱいを飲んでいる弟に嫉妬しているかな？
周りの人たちは日本語じゃなく、英語を喋っているから？
魔の二歳？でも来週は三歳。ところでいつまで続くなの？
そして日本の大地震も体験したね。
たぶんこれだけで娘は精いっぱいかな。。。
でももうちょっと私の言う事を聞いて、弟をたたかないのは期待したい。毎日、に、三、何回もだだをこねるのをやめて欲しい。無理？
私はずっと優しいすぎて、もっと厳しく育ったほうがよかったかも。今言葉を使って、叱っても、娘は聞かない。

通っている子供とママのサークルは二回も娘の怒りで早めに帰った。他の子供達みんなちゃんと座っている、楽しくにうたっているけど。
四月からずっとママとパパと一緒だった娘はたぶんちょっとわがままになった。９月からやっとイギリスの幼稚園に入る。もうちょっとほかの子供達と一緒に時間を過ごしたほうがいいかな。

バイリンガル子供達 Our bilingual kids

My little girl and boy have both been living in the U.K. now for just over a month.
My little girl is almost 3. Her primary language is Japanese but since moving here I've definitely noticed an increase in her English skills. She lives with us and her uncle as well as meeting her grandad and grandma every day.
She can already sweet-talk her grandad into giving her cookies and grapes. When she comes back home, she calls out, 'Hiya Uncle Jon!!!' or 'Hiya Grandad, hiya Grandma' when we visit my parents. At the moment we are trying to get her to say, Oh yes' instead of 'Oh yeaaay! Example: Do you want a cookie? 'Oh yeaaay', Do you want to go to the park? 'Oh yeaay' and so on. I guess she's copying my 'Oh yeah' so it's up to mummy as well to sort her English out!!
She still chats to herself in Japanese, which her daddy is also trying to change from standard Tokyo dialect to his Osaka one.
Bless her, it's as if she has 3 languages going on in her head at the moment!! She takes it all in her stride though.
More than anything, I want to move and get settled so she can make friends and start school in September.

私のバイリンガル・キッズ

私のバイリンガル・キッズ
娘は二歳半です。週に一回、半日だけ保育園に通っていたが、日本語がすごく上手になって来ました。短い間に、急に話せるようになっています。それだけでなく、テーブルをセッティングしたり、飲み物を配ったり、掃除をしたり、変な顔を作ったりします：）
家で英語と日本語を両方使いますし、たまに同じ単語を二つ言葉に言ったりします。「おいで、Come on!」とか「Look!見て!!」を結構言いますね。自分の世界に二つ言葉があると気づいています。その上に、私と英語を使う方が多くなっているの気がします。
でも彼女の普段の言葉は日本語。お父さん、友達、先生、ベイビーシッター皆日本語を話していますから。私は頑張って英語で話さないとダメと思うけど日本は長いで、普段私も日本語を話しています!! そういうわけで娘は英語と日本語を混ぜたりします。でもイギリスに引越すと英語が上手くなります。その時から日本語を忘れないようにしないと！


My Bilingual Kids
My daughter is two and a half and attends a Japanese day care for half a day, once a week. Her Japanese language is coming on in leaps and bounds! Even just for this short period of time we have noticed a great improvement in her speaking skills. Not only that, she is doing so much more....setting the table, pouring drinks, cleaning up and pulling faces to name just a few!!
She uses English and Japanese at home, sometimes saying a word in both languages to express herself. Often she says, 'Come on, oide' or 'Look! Mite!' I have a feeling that she is starting to realize that there are two different languages in her world now, and that she has started to use English more with me now.
However her dominant language seems to be Japanese, as all her play friends are Japanese along with daddy, her teachers and baby sitter. Mummy has to try, try, try to keep her own language in English, but after being in Japan for so long, I often use both.
And so that's why she mixes up her sentences in English and Japanese. I'm sure it will sort itself out once we move to the UK. Then we hope she won't forget her Japanese!

Girls' Day and a big day for us!!

Today is Girls' Day. In Japan, many mothers get out their emperor and empress doll sets and display them in their houses. The expensive ones can include the whole royal entourage of servants musicians cooks and the like. They are placed on a staircase with the happy couple at the top. We just have a china set of the emperor and empress. Anyway it's a day when girls are celebrated and mothers wish for a the safety of their children. Dolls have to be put back after the 4th or it means a late marriage for their daughters! We ate a lovely pink sponge cake decorated with the emperor and empress for dessert today.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri

And for our family, this day is the day my husband submitted his papers for his U.K. spouse visa application. Now we have to wait for anything between 3 weeks and 2 months to hear a reply. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Check out his diary in Japanese at:
http://noriintheuk.blogspot.com/

What is your Mother Tongue?

Just the other day I had lunch with a group of Japanese friends and their kids. My daughter was running around screaming laughing and generally having fun with everyone. Her Japanese is great I thought. It seems to be her dominant language these days. Funny how 'mother tongue' is used to refer to our native language. The language from our mother. But right now, my little girl speaks more Japanese than English, which is my mother tongue. Japanese is the language of the country she lives in. So it doesn't go to say that your children will speak their mummy's language when living in another country. Is that why we don't hear the expession mother tongue so much these days? The power of friends and community seems to be stronger than that of mummy when it comes to language learning!! Oh and I must not forget the power of daddy too!!!

Feb 15th: Snow in Tokyo!!

It's been a cold weekend in Tokyo!! Snow on Friday and snow last night..all the houses look lovely with their white coating today!
Today me and my little boy are off to work.
I'm still working three days a week, taking my little boy and sometimes my little girl. They both love the English rhythmic classes I teach with my boss, albeit for different reasons. My little boy just loves seeing all the people, especially the children. My daughter loves to run around and copy all the older kids and be teacher, just like mummy. She so doesn't think she's a student!!
It's been great for both me and my kids to experience music and the company of others. I'll miss this wonderful work!!