Here in Japan, it’s a pity that there are more than 400,000 Filipinos and yet we don’t have our own international school. Why do Indians, Taiwanese, Brazilians, Chinese, Koreans, Indonesians have their own school in Japan? Also, how come there are overseas Filipino schools in countries like Greece, China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Libya, Oman and Bahrain? Those are big questions imposing 2 big challenges ahead for all of us who are concerned about the future of our children in Japan.
We have to make every Japanese-Filipino child (JFC) brighter, smarter and proud of his/her bicultural heritage. This way, having this identity is an advantage for the JFC.With the permission of our St. Anselm’s church parish priest, Fr. Leo Schaumer, we are pleased to present a program called KABAYAN ORIENTATION FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN TOKYOThis FREE program is a weekend bicultural school project for all Japanese-Filipino children in Tokyo and its main targets are:
* To raise consciousness to Japanese-Filipino children and parents that there is Japanese-Filipino Identity and to help them build up its advantages;
* To impart learning of English and Filipino as second languages of Japanese-Filipino children;
* To provide a learning experience of Filipino values and cultural heritage of the Philippines Who are qualified to join? * Children with Japanese and Filipino parents;
* Children with Filipino parents who are working in JapanThe program is more of an experience for JFCs to play because “play is the work of children” and this was once said by Jean Piaget, a psychologist. It is in this activity when children learn how to do things, how to make things work and how to manage their own worlds. In this line, we incorporate the appreciation of a bicultural heritage and the advantage of having a Japanese-Filipino identity.This project will be launched after the Golden Week, 2-4PM on a Sunday with free lunch and snacks for parents and JFC participants.
