| 私が理事長になって、ラスベガス学園の日常生活を見るようになり驚いたことがたくさんありますが、その一つが、朝の登校風景です。
ラスベガス学園の生徒たちは、アメリカの現地校と同じように保護者に送迎してもらいます。 ここからが驚きです。教職員が、ホテルのドアアテンダントのように、車に駆け寄り、生徒を元気の良い「おはようございます」の挨拶でお迎えするのです。 なぜこのようなことをするのかと思ったら、2つの重要な意味があるようです。第一に、駐車場で子供たちの安全を守り、登校時に不審な人がいないことを、複数の職員の目を光らせて確認したり、朝の子供の様子を保護者から確認することです。第二に、子供たちが「日本の挨拶習慣」を経験できるようにすることです。 教職員が、車に駆け寄ってお迎えするとき、送ってきた保護者の方から、その日の子供の様子を聞いたり、ちょっとした連絡のやりとりもあります。 車から降りた生徒たちは、すぐに校舎に入るのではなく、各クラスごと、校庭のピクニックテーブルエリアに集まってクラスメートや担任の先生と朝の挨拶をしたり、おしゃべりを楽しみます。 ここで、欠席者（事前に連絡あり）や、遅刻者の確認をし、事務局が出席状況を生徒の顔と照らし合わせながら確認します。そして、授業（朝の会）開始3分前になると、クラスごとに担任の先生に導かれて、校舎に入り、教室に向かいます。 ラスベガスは、年間300日以上の「青空」に恵まれており、登校したら朝の新鮮な空気を吸い、しっかり日光を浴びます。そして、生徒の安全を十分に確認した上で、教室へ向かいます。 教職員は、毎朝、生徒たちを笑顔で迎え「子供たちが歓迎され、安心して勉強できる場所」であることを示します。また、しっかり挨拶をし、保護者と教員の日本語でのやりとりを見ることで、生徒たちは自然に日本語の表現や、日本らしい振る舞いを経験します。 海外で長年暮らし、普段は現地校に通いながら、日本語力を維持することは、一筋縄ではいきませんが、このような小さなことを通して、子供たちは「自然な日本語」に触れることができます。 |
One of the many things that have surprised me since I became chairman and began observing daily life at Las Vegas Gakuen is the scene of students arriving at school in the morning.
Students at LVG are driven to school and dropped off by their parents, just as at local schools in the United States. The cars pass through a security gate and into a secure parking space, where they are lined up in the order of their arrival. This is where the surprise begins. Teachers and staff, like door attendants at a hotel, rush to each car and greet students with a cheery “good morning“ greeting. If you wonder why they do this, it seems to have two important meanings. First, it is to keep the children safe in the parking lot, to make sure that no one is suspicious on the way to school by keeping an eye out for multiple staff members, and to check on the children in the morning from their parents. Second, they should make sure that children experience the Japanese greeting custom. As teachers and staff run to the cars to pick up children, they ask the parents how their children are doing that day, and also exchange a few words of communication. After getting out of the car, students do not immediately enter the school building, but rather each class gathers at the picnic table area in the school yard for a morning greeting and chat with their classmates and homeroom teachers. Here, absent students (notified in advance) and tardy students are checked, and the office checks attendance against the students’ faces. Then, three minutes before class (morning meeting) begins, each class enters the school building, led by their homeroom teacher, and heads to their classrooms. Las Vegas is blessed with over 300 days of “blue skies” per year, and when students arrive at school, they breathe in the fresh morning air and get a good dose of sunlight. After making sure that the students are safe, they head to their classrooms. Teachers and staff greet students every morning with warm smiles, showing them that “this is a safe place to study and the students are welcomed”. The students also watch the interaction between parents and teachers in Japanese, and experience Japanese expressions and Japanese customs. Maintaining Japanese language skills while living abroad for many years and attending a local school during the week is not an easy task, but through little things like this, the children are exposed to “natural Japanese expressions and customs”. |