Chanpuruu Children's English Class

English Language Arts classes:

The Chanpuruu Children’s English Class is an English language arts program that offers English-language supplementary support for students who attend local public elementary schools. The curriculum covers language arts topics such as reading, writing, spelling, critical thinking, and projects.

The aim of the program is to supplement home-based English education that aims to keep children's English language skills at grade level in schools in their home/target country to provide for an easier academic transition when they leave Okinawa or transition to international schools.

The classes currently are held in Seaside House in a room within School-Aged Program (SAP) space. Students attend these supplementary lessons after school hours. Enrollment in SAP is not necessary to access these classes, however parents or guardians of children who do not attend SAP MUST pick up students directly from the classroom after class on time.

Registration of interest:

Please click here to register your interest in the OIST International Classroom, English language arts program. Places in the program are subject to availability, which will be clarified in the acknowledgement of your registration via email.

Eligibility:

Eligible families for this program include all OIST community members’ elementary school aged children on a first-come, first-served basis.

Out of Scope:

  • Children must not be enrolled in an international school where English is a language of instruction
  • English test preparation is out of the scope of this class.
  • Junior High School and High School students are outside the scope of this class.

Capacity:

The capacity of this program is 8 children per class. Classes are divided based on school dismissal time first, then grade, and where further division is possible, current English level (across all skills). When the appropriate class for your child is full and another class would be too challenging or too easy, your child will be placed on a waiting list. Priority is strictly first-come, first-served.

Late Pick Up:

If a student is picked up late more than three times, the student will be asked to withdraw from the class because the room capacity cannot accommodate them safely.

History:

Chanpuruu Children's English class started with an agreement between OIST and Onna Elementary School that resulted in an English-speaking support teacher teaching Math and Science in English to non-Japanese children inside Onna Elementary School during the school day. This teacher worked alongside a Japanese-English bilingual support teacher who helped the same non-Japanese speaking children develop Japanese language skills. The students were referred to this "international classroom" by the school.

When the agreement ended, the English academic support teacher moved out of Onna Elementary School to Seaside House in an afterschool capacity. At the request of OIST parents, the focus of the program changed to English language arts instead of math and science. The eligibility remained the same (students who used to be in the program at Onna were still in the Seaside House class).

As OIST continued to grow and especially as the CDC's kindergarten class graduates moved on to first grade, it was time to review the eligibility criteria to align with OIST's core values (PRP 1.3). 

1.3 Core Values

Integrity, honesty, fairness, respect for others, and dedication to the OIST mission are the values that inform the activities and behaviors of individuals working for, or asserting an affiliation with, the University.  The University promotes diversity and provides equal opportunities for all community members without regard for gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, medical condition, race, ethnicity, ancestry, culture, national origin, religion, or marital status.

Now the class is open to all elementary school children in the OIST community. The focus remains on English language arts, and the structure of the class is designed to meet the needs of as many children as possible with our available resources.

Why Chanpuruu:

When we decided that this class needed a name, I was inspired by the names of the classrooms in the Tedako Child Development Center (CDC). Those names are all beautiful words in Okinawan language “Uchinaaguchi”. So I asked my former uchinaaguchi teacher to help me think of a name that respectfully represents a class that involves children who speak languages from all over the world. With the help of her friends, including a native speaker, they suggested “chanpuruu”.

 

Isn’t that food? Well, yeah. “According to the “Okinawan-English Workbook”, chanpuruu means ‘a dish in which chopped tofu and vegetables are mixed and cooked with oil’.”

But that is not all: “Chanpuruu is also used as a metaphor to indicate any kind of mix or mélange (e.g. cultures and languages).

Note that it is chanpuruu ちゃんぷるー with long vowels [uu] at the end but not chanpuru ちゃんぷる with a short vowel [u].

The long vowels are uniqueness of Uchinaaguchi :)”

Thanks, shinshii!