Japanese children acting as ambassadors at Cape preschool

Although Mika Takano and Yasuaki Orita probably don't know it, they are acting as cultural ambassadors.

Since enrolling in a Cape Girardeau preschool program, the Japanese children have taught their American classmates about their country and language.

The Japanese children didn't know any English when they enrolled and are learning to speak it as they teach their classmates Japanese words. There are posters in the classroom at Community Day School that list words and numbers in both English and Japanese.

Though their English has improved some, Mika's and Yasuaki's limited skills haven't kept them from playing with other children.

"Even if they don't speak English, they can communicate without words," said Melissa Guilliams, whose son, Gus, is also a student at the school.

One day Guilliams saw a girl in the class cup Mika's face in her hands as the two played together. Through facial expression and gestures, the children communicate.

Parents like that the school has incorporated what's going on in the classroom with their curriculum.

But that's exactly the point at Community Day School, which operates as part of the Missouri Preschool Project through the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Preschool Project is designed to help expand early childhood education for 3- and 4-year-olds around the state by giving selected schools financial grants for their programs. The programs must be designed to better help prepare children for kindergarten.

The Cape Girardeau school opened in August for children ages 3 to 5, with the idea being that children learn at different rates based on their environment. Using the Reggio-Emilia approach to learning, the classroom teachers incorporate a variety of elements into their daily lessons, using art, music and play. When one child's father visited Mexico on a business trip, the class learned about the country through books and located it on a map.

Reggio-Emilia is an educational approach first used in northern Italy that states children are competent learners who use their curiosity, play and imaginations to help them learn.

Once Mika and Yasuaki enrolled, classroom teachers Kathy Ducharme and Donna Renick immediately knew there were lessons they could teach about world geography, language and culture.

So they began communicating with the children's mothers, primarily by writing in notebooks since neither speaks English, asking for ideas and input. The mothers gave them plenty.

Last week after the class read "The Paper Crane," about a man whose origami crane comes to life, the parents, Kayo Orita and Yoshiko Takano, came for a lesson on origami.

Using university graduate student Aiko Shimizu's skills as a translator, the mothers helped the children make origami dogs and cats. Shimizu came to the class to help with the origami lesson.

Sitting at a table with the children, Orita helped them fold the squares into triangles while Takano gave them step-by-step instructions.

Hannah Lucas, 4, and Carissa Reminger, 3, used their imaginations to draw faces on their dogs and cats. As Hannah folded back the ears on her dog, she said the pink paper looked like Clifford the big red dog, a character in a children's story.

"The children have such imaginations," said Ducharme.

And coming to the school helps enhance that, said Angela Gross, a parent. "It enhances their curiosity and makes them wonder," she said.

But the school isn't just introducing its students to new lessons, "it's introducing them to new countries and new cultures," said Guilliams, adding that her son has made new friends in the process.

Saw children in snow

"Mika likes everything about this school," said her mother by way of a translator. When she came to the school, she couldn't read, but now she is doing better, she said.

Around the room, objects like tables and chairs are marked with their proper names, which helps the Japanese students learn English.

After driving by and seeing the children outdoors playing in the snow, Takano inquired about how to enroll her daughter. She knew that Mika would enjoy herself at the school, she said.

Orita said her son helped choose which preschool he wanted to attend. The mother and son visited four different schools, but Yasuaki chose Community Day School for himself, she said.

Both Mika's and Yasuaki's father work at BioKyowa Inc. Though the families won't be staying in Cape Girardeau permanently, the children will learn English later when they return to Japan. By junior-high age, Japanese students begin learning how to read and speak English.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126