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Originally Posted by SSJup81
Seriously, it didn't hit me that even a Kindergarten would have fees to pay. I don't know what I was thinking. I knew of the uniforms, the smocks, the shoes, etc.
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Believe me, it really cuts into the budget. Kindergarten isn`t required, so it`s entirely up to the parents whether they send their child. The kindergarten my son goes to is a private one, so it`s a bit higher than average - but not all that much of a difference (think around 28000/month in comparison to 25000/month for public.) At the end of the year we will get a sort of refund voucher from our town, as there are no public kindergartens in the immediate area.
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I can't recall, what age does Kindergarten start over there? Isn't it about three or four?
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It starts from 3. If your child is 3 on April 1st (regardless of whether their birthday is March 31st or April 2nd), then they are eligible to start that year. Standard kindergarten is for 3 years, up until elementary school. Some parents send their kids for the full 3 years, some for only 2, and occasionally there will be someone who only sends them for one. It`s very rare for a child to enter into elementary school without having been in either a kindergarten or nursery.
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Oh, something else. For your son, does he hear and speak Japanese, or does he know some English too?
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He only hears Japanese. He has a language acquisition disorder, so is not yet at the speaking stage yet.
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I'm sure if he does know English, and since I'm under the impression that you're not returning to the states and stuff, that it'll probably give him a big advantage when older when being forced into taking English language.
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That may be true, but it`s not something that will happen in our house. We have absolutely no plans to move out of Japan, so as my son does have a language disorder I`m not willing to take any chances adding something into the mix. Not to mention that my husband does not speak or understand English, so it wouldn`t happen anyway.
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Hmm, speaking of that...do you know if those who are children of a native English speaker would still have to take English language when older?
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English? No. You don`t actually have to study English in Japanese school. It`s by far the most commonly taken foreign language, but you can actually elect to study a different language (granted that the school offers another option.) Chinese is the second most common.
I don`t think that is what you`re asking though...
Regardless of what their ethnic background is, you *still* have to take a foreign language in school. Just having a parent who speaks a different language natively doesn`t magically grant you that ability. Language isn`t genetic.