Daruma no Gakko
Daruma no Gakko is a four-week, co-op summer school designed for children to learn about Japanese American culture. The program develops strong, positive self-image and identity through the study of Japanese American history, literature, language, music, art, food, field trips and community involvement. Open to children who will be entering K - through 6th grade. All ethnicities welcome!
Introducing New Afternoon Programming!
We are excited to announce that this summer, we will be piloting an add-on afternoon session to the regular morning session.
2019 session classes meet 9:00 a.m. to noon, Mon through Thurs, June 17– July 11. Program showcase July 12.
Afternoon session: 12pm - 3:30.
Registration opens January 26. Visit us at www.daruma-no-gakko.org for more information.
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Daruma no Gakko for 5 year old?
April 2011
We'd like our 5 yr old to start learning some Japanese and have fun too. How much Japanese language do children learn from Daruma no Gakko ? A teeny tiny amount? The school welcomes children of many ages with no/little Japanese experience, so I wonder how they do the language instruction. okasan
Both my husband and I are originally from Japan, but our children were born here. We have never sent our 2 children to Daruma no Gakko due to our work schedule conflicts, so I will not go too much details. I know many people who did/have done. I have not heard any negatives so far and all the families I know are happy with Daruma no Gakko.
As far as I know (I might be wrong, though), their focus is more on the cultural aspects, including the Japanese-American history, not too much on language though they teach speaking, not writing. I am not sure how much you want your child to learn Japanese, but there are many schools and organizations offer Japanese language lessons. If you want your child to learn decent language skills, I suggest to learn speaking, writing, and reading at the same time continuously because I, as a foreigner who learned English at the later stage in my life, believe that learning those skills together are very important to acquire any languages other than your native ones. English and Japanese have quite a distinct composition in grammar and cultural background so it is not the easiest combination. My sister is married with Korean and she learned the language very quickly because we share the culture a lot.(Sometimes people there do not know she is Japanese). If you have any questions, I am happy to respond. -Rie
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