2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Study of Japanese-Language Schools in Brazil
| Project/Area Number |
10610276
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Educaion
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| Research Institution | TEIKYO UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
EHARA Hiromi Teikyo University, Department of Law, Associate Professor, 法学部, 助教授 (40232970)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2001
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| Keywords | Japanese Language School / Education for Children Overseas / Japanese Language Education / Brazil / Japanese-Brazilians / Japanese-Brazilian's Society / Japanese Immigrants / International Education |
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| Research Abstract |
Most of Japanese-Brazilians (82 %) are concentrated in the States of Sao Paulo and Parana, so are the Japanese Language Schools, too. It is said that there are about 500 Japanese language schools in Brazil, but the research by the Japanese Language Study Center could count only about 300.
The number of students of Japanese Language Schools investigated are about 10500 in 1997. It shows that the number of Japanese language students has decreased about 40 % in these 5 years.
A lot of problems are found in these schools. 72 % of these schools have less than 50 students. The largest part of teachers are of first generation and don't speak Portuguese, while most of the students are of third generation with few k knowledge of Japanese. As to teachers, very few of them have taken language teacher training. Their salary is generally W low, and they are not recognized as professionals. The finance of schools is in the red chronically.
Some schools have succeeded in transforming the education they offer. One has become a private school institute including from kindergarten to secondary school with extra Japanese language course. Others have attracted a lot of younger children at pre-school level, offering English course, computer instruction and Japanese language education.
It will be urgently necessary to tackle with these problems to grow better international understanding between Japan and Brazil. Some means might be taken, for example, to teach Japanese in more public schools, to prepare Japanese courses for ordinary Brazilian adults, to train Japanese language education specialists, and to transform Japanese language schools, etc.
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