流暢を忘れてもいいです。
A long time ago, when Monica was a second grader and Jonah was in kindergarten, and we were in the process of moving to Japan from Tennessee for what we thought would be a 2 1/2 year stint, many well intentioned people with no real experience told us how lucky we were that our kids would become fluent in a foreign language. "They'll pick it right up." they said, "Kids are like sponges."
Well, here we are just over eight years later, and the kids are far from fluent in Japanese. I'm a little better, and Martin is doing best of all, but neither of us would admit to fluency. Hindsight is 20/20, but if we had it to do over, knowing we would be here so long, we might have put the kids in a Japanese elementary school upon arrival for a year or two with the idea that immersion at school at such a young age could make a significant difference. But there's no going back, and we wouldn't have 
wanted to miss all those wonderful experiences at ASIJ anyway. They do learn Japanese at school, but it is an academic subject, not an immersion experience. Those first 2 1/2 years, when Martin was working at Honda R & D, he was living away from the family during the week and all he did was work and study Japanese. He had an excellent teacher, and he was an enthusiastic student. During my first year here, I learned hiragana and katakana, and a few words that would get me home in a taxi if necessary, or little phrases like "Ohayogozaimasu" (Good morning) and "Ikuradesuka?" (How much does it cost?). Finding out how REALLY DIFFICULT Japanese is definitely contributed to my poor adjustment that first year. But things got better.... see the package of yakisoba there? Recently I actually made it by following the directions on the bag and guessing the parts I couldn't read.
In 2004, after living in Japan for almost four years, Martin took the level 3 Japanese Proficiency Exam and PASSED! He really deserved to pass because he studied so hard. At that time, I was studying Japanese nearly every day on my own, and taking private lessons once or twice a week, but it was the furthest thing from my mind to take the test. Attitudes change, and in 2006, when my excellent teacher, Matsui-san suggested I might want to take the JLPT six months later, I considered it. I knew, I wasn't ready for Level 3, and probably wouldn't pass even with several months of studying at my pace. However, I felt quite certain that I could pass Level 4, which is lower. The test is only given once a year. I ultimately decided that it wouldn't really help me any to take and pass level 4, 
that instead I should study for level 3, and take the test considering it a practice test. This went fine. After taking the all day test in December 2006, I knew I hadn't passed, but when I got the results in February that said I failed, I still cried. But we were right, it was good practice, and in 2007 I took Level 3 again and this time I passed.
In 2008, when I suggested to Monica and Jonah that they should study for and take the Level 4 JLPT in December, they both balked, but somehow we were able to turn it into a competition between them. Recently we got the results, and THEY BOTH PASSED!!! Yeah, that's great. Here's a photo of Monica's test results. Both kids were glad to pass but didn't make a big deal about it. (Not like when Monica made the VARSITY SOCCER TEAM last week. Still, I think its a confidence booster, and I've noticed both of them taking the chance much more often to speak Japanese.
For example, a few weeks ago, Jonah's turtle, Zeus, developed a large bump on his ear. I had already taken him to Toby's vet but it didn't change, so this time I used Japanese Google and I found a Vet in Yotsuya who seemed to specialize in reptiles. 
Just finding the place used all my Japanese skills, and over the course of several visits I met three vets who spoke very little English. Still, we were able to sort out what needed to be done. They wanted me to give the turtle an antibiotic injection every day. Which we did, of course, for a month, with good results. While at the office, Jonah asked the doctor in Japanese if Zeus was a boy or a girl. (he's a boy) Then, he asked if it was alright to keep Zeus in the same tank with Gina and Spitfire. I was actually surprised that he took the initiative, and I didn't interrupt for a change.
Speaking of fluency, you know I've been teaching English for awhile via private lessons and with a school, but recently I decided to start a group lesson on Sunday afternoons for skaters and their families. With the help of my friend, 
I set up a community "Zoom UP" on Mixi (which is like a Japanese Facebook) and people who joined the group are welcome to sign up to come to individual classes when it's convenient for them. I'm only offering the class twice a month when it works with my schedule, and I'm only charging 500 yen for the hour and a half lesson, but the idea is not to make money, but to encourage my friends to become more comfortable with listening to and speaking English. I've created a safe environment where they may not be too embarrassed to practice, and I think it will work out once the word gets out that its a fun way to make progress. My first class had five students and I think it went very well. 
I used a variety of methods such as reading a children's book with beautiful pictures of fruit to talk about adjectives, using toys to talk about transportation and a powerpoint presentation for repeating dialog about asking directions.
Of course, the very best way to improve your language skills is to practice with friends, and we are so lucky to have our skater friends for that. A couple of weeks ago, we went on a weekend ski trip to Yuzawa with over twenty skater friends and family. It was a wonderful chance 
to practice Japanese, share our English skills. Sasaki-san organized this trip using mixi (it's our third annual skater's ski tour) so I wrote on mixi that I would bring the bingo game if some folks would bring prizes. Well that worked out so well. I called the bingo numbers in Japanese for the first two games and then surprised everyone and called them in English for the next game. It was so fun. Kinoshita-san brought a funny cowhead hat which was won by Noel-chan and then everyone tried it on one at a time. You have to see these photos. I'm slowly getting the other ski and food photos up, but it takes time. Martin takes so many good photos, it takes a long time to process them. HERE THEY ARE.
You may have guessed that the top picture is supposed to signify fluency 
with the cranes taking off into the sky. Well, that works for me. They are so graceful, and being a symbol of Japan, it is a fitting image. The picture is of the top of a tea box that I recently covered with washi paper and shellac. This is a big box, lined in thin metal, usually used to store either tea or nori (seaweed) as it keeps out humidity, so I plan to find a nice place to set it and fill it with treasured things.
Unlike usual, I didn't write this post in Japanese as well as English. I had thought about this post for so long and not written it, that I felt a real sense of urgency to write it before we go to Saipan tomorrow. As it takes many hours to write the same thing in Japanese, I'll have to skip it this time and pack instead. But I promise to come back strong next time. ごめなさい。今度のポーストは英語でだけ。家族の日本語の勉強することで、私の新しい英語のクラスについてです。もう、ジョナのカメについてです。
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