Education for Nikkei Youth
The majority of Nikkei
Brazilian parents want their children
to learn Japanese. They see Japanese as an asset to their children's
life and feel it is important for their stay in Japan. But even
as they urge their children to become fluent in Japanese, they
also want them to maintain their Portuguese language skills and
their knowledge of Brazilian culture.
The Nikkei-Brazilian children's education of Japanese language
is provided through the public schools. To help attain this part
of their educational goals, the government of Oizumi has made
great efforts to integrate the 300 Brazilian children into their
school system. Of that number, 185 students are in the elementary
school system of Oizumi. 
Each
student has a different level of language proficiency and to aid
the children in becoming fluent, Oizumi has a Portuguese speaker
on staff at each of the schools. This aid helps the children communicate
in the classroom as they learn to speak, read, and write Japanese.
Oizumi employs a unique model of language education where the
children learn Japanese with the aid of music and rhythms. The
children are entertained through games and exercises, in order
to keep them engaged. This method seems to be better suited for
younger
children who have not reached their teens.
The children who are reaching their teens
and have just moved to Japan do not have the same ease in learning
Japanese and assimilating into the schools. All the children that
were interviewed in this age group had either dropped out or were
planning to leave the Japanese school system. When the school
board was asked about these junior and high school students, their
response was that the students could not learn as quickly and
the school system had no means of making them stay. The children
that can not adapt to Japanese schools attend Brazilian school
four days a weeks.
Portuguese language schools have been set up to satisfy the demand
of the Brazilian community to teach its children Portuguese. Interested
in maintaining their children's fluency in Portuguese Nikkei
parents, send their children to Portuguese language schools, such
as Escolinha da Professora Rebecca, Escolinha Centro
Nipo- Brasileiro and S.O.S. Brasil Kids. These Brazilian
schools teach only basic skills in different subjects focusing
only on maintaining the Nikkei- Brazilian children's Portuguese
intact.
A typical week for the children who are learning Japanese and
Portuguese is long. They attend Japanese school 6 days a week
and go to Brazilian school 3 days a week, after school until 8
in the evening. Despite the fact that the children go to Brazilian
school, if they were to return to Brazil, they would be years
behind. They would fall behind because subjects such as the sciences
and advanced mathematics are not covered. In an even worse situation,
if they were to return to Brazil, are those children who attended
only Japanese schools. These children would most likely have to
restart school where they left off in Brazil or from the beginning.
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