第１０回バイリンガル教育の臨界期 #10 The critical period for bilingualism

バイリンガルといえども、どの言語が話される国で育つのか、どの言語を話す親のもとで育つのか、何語で学校教育を受けるのか、そこで何歳の時から何年暮らすのか、どんな性格なのか、により言語習得に違いが表れます。我が家の場合は、英語を話す国で生まれ育ち、学校では英語で勉強し、家庭では日本語のみでコミュニケーションをしていました。私は、娘たちがアメリカで生まれ市民権をもち、アメリカで生きていく選択肢があることから、アカデミックのための言語は英語、家庭での言語は日本語、と分けて考えることにしました。といっても、その時は日本に帰国した際に日本の学校に通うか、インターナショナルスクールにするかを決めていなかったので、日本語で学習する力もつけておく必要がありました。子供が４歳から９歳の間にどう言語能力を伸ばしたのか、参考にまとめました。

１）英語（教科を学ぶため）ー公文の英語、フォニックスの習得、本を読む

毎日、家庭で公文の英語を数ページ進めると決めていました。公文の教室に通わず、教材だけ私が受け取り、後は自宅で学習します。フォニックスもCDを聴きながら学習しました。本は学校からの推薦図書を中心によく読んでいました。これは功を奏し、長女がG1の時にはクラスで模範の文章を書くと紹介されていました。

２）日本語（コミュニケーション）ー家庭では１００％日本語で話す

家庭で日本語でコミュニケーションを取る際には、子供が言ったことをそのまま繰り返して言ってあげたり、少し言い換えをして返事をするのがいいと思います。これは大学院でのプログラムで学んだことです。

３）日本語（学習）ー補習校、公文の日本語、本を読む

我が家では日本語学習が最もハードルの高いものでした。普段使用しない日本語の読み書きを学ぶ必要があるので、学習目的とやる気を保つ努力が要るのです。公文の日本語を毎日数ページ進め、土曜日の補習校に通い、その宿題もあります。私は子供達が成長した今、そして大学院の言語教育プログラムで学んだ結果、補習校は米国永住の子供には適していないと考えています。もちろん、補習校で提供される日本の文化行事（運動会や書き初め）の体験は、小学校低学年くらいまでは楽しく良い経験となります。しかし、日本の指導要領が中心で、日本の学校に通う子供達向けの指導方法では、学習効果があるとは思えません。その点、ワシントン継承センターやプリンストン日本語学校では、継承語としての日本語学習コースを永住子弟向けに提供しています。要は、駐在の、将来日本の学校に戻る子供達と、米国永住家庭の子供達は日本語を学習する目的が違うので、教え方や教材を子供達に合わせて分ける必要があるのです。しかし、そこが混同されているのが多くの補習校の現状だと感じています。

Even for bilingual children, language acquisition can vary depending on factors such as the country in which they are raised, the language(s) spoken by their parents, the language of instruction in school, their age when they start learning, and even their personality. My children were born and raised in an English-speaking country, studied in English at school, and communicated exclusively in Japanese at home. Since my daughters were born in the U.S. and have U.S. citizenship, I considered that they would have the option of living and working in the U.S. in the future. So, I decided to separate the languages based on context: English for academic purposes and Japanese for communication with their parents. At that time, however, I hadn’t yet decided whether they would attend a Japanese school or an international school when we returned to Japan, so it was important to also help them develop their ability to learn in Japanese. Below, I’ve summarized how we worked on developing their language skills between ages 4 and 9, which may be useful as a reference.

1. English (for academic learning) – Kumon English, phonics, and reading books
   I made it a point to advance a few pages of Kumon English at home every day. Instead of attending Kumon classes, I would pick up the materials and have them study at home. Phonics was also studied using CDs. For reading, my daughters mainly read books recommended by their school. This approach paid off, and by the time my eldest daughter was in Grade 1, she was introduced as a model student for writing excellent sentences in class.

2. Japanese (for communication) – Speak 100% Japanese at home
   When communicating in Japanese at home, I found it effective to repeat exactly what the child said or slightly rephrase their words in response. I learned this approach in a language education program in graduate school.

3. Japanese (for learning) – Saturday Japanese school, Kumon Japanese, and reading books
   Japanese language learning was the most challenging aspect for our family. Since we didn’t use Japanese reading and writing in everyday life, it required extra effort to stay motivated and focused on the learning objectives. We did Kumon Japanese every day, attended Saturday school, and worked on homework from that as well. Now that my children have grown and I’ve gained insights from my graduate studies in language education, I believe that Saturday schools are not ideal for children who permanently reside in the U.S. Of course, the Japanese cultural experiences provided at Saturday schools, such as sports day and calligraphy events, can be enjoyable and meaningful until around elementary school. However, I don’t believe the teaching methods, which are based on Japan’s curriculum and aimed at children attending Japanese schools, are effective for children who live in the U.S. Japanese heritage children in the U.S. need a different approach. For example, the Washington Japanese Language School and the Princeton Japanese Language School offer heritage language courses specifically for children living permanently in the U.S. The key point is that children in expatriate families, who may return to Japanese schools in the future, and children in permanent U.S. families have different goals for learning Japanese. As a result, teaching methods and materials must be adapted accordingly. Unfortunately, I feel that many supplementary schools tend to confuse these two groups.