Japanese Schools in Houston

[Rio Grande Valley]

I was just wondering if there were any private or any Japanese schools in the Houston area. I'm not Japanese, but I maybe I might consider it when I have a family of my own. Please get back to me. Arigato Gozaimas.

[musicman]

I was just wondering if there were any private or any Japanese schools in the Houston area. I'm not Japanese, but I maybe I might consider it when I have a family of my own. Please get back to me. Arigato Gozaimas.

do you want to learn japanese? rice has an "after work" program that i know of.

[TJones]

I don't think so, but Rice University offers an exchange program, I may be able to put you in touch with someone if you want to go over there ?

[musicman]

I don't think so, but Rice University offers an exchange program, I may be able to put you in touch with someone if you want to go over there ?

they do offer a continuing studies because two of my officemates go there. i know it is held in a building off of university near the stadium.

[TJones]

they do offer a continuing studies because two of my officemates go there. i know it is held in a building off of university near the stadium.

I am sure you are right, I actually know one of the heads of admissions there, and she actually did the exchange program in a teaching capacity. She is fluent in Japanese. I will ask her to learn more.

Edited April 19, 2007 by TJones

[musicman]

rice continuing ed language classes.

[donnieyen]

Don't know of any other classes in Houston, but there is a series by a company called Rosetta Stone which i heard was very good. Go to their website and take a look. Also, the Leisure Learning courses might have Japanese.

Edited April 21, 2007 by donnieyen

[MidtownCoog]

Reading this cryptic question I thought he was asking if there are schools in Houston that follow Japanese curriculum.

Like French School of Houston (Awty) (follows France) or the British School of Houston (UK).

Or do you want to know where you can learn to speak Japanese?

[Rio Grande Valley]

Reading this cryptic question I thought he was asking if there are schools in Houston that follow Japanese curriculum.

Like French School of Houston (Awty) (follows France) or the British School of Houston (UK).

Or do you want to know where you can learn to speak Japanese?

Yes, MidtownCoog, my question was If there any schools in Houston such as the French School of Houston, because I know other major cities have one. My friend since high school is from Mexico City, and she went to a Japanese school there.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Rio Grande Valley

[MidtownCoog]

Not that I know of. I always thought these schools were for expats. It's a cool idea.

[jtech2]

> ... because I know other major cities have one. My friend since high school is from Mexico City,

> and she went to a Japanese school there...

Yes, I've seen the Mexico City Japanese school on NHK TV - rather impressive.

There are 8 highschools in the greater Houston area and 2 junior highschools that teach Japanese. In addition there is the regular Japanese language Saturday school. Information on all this can be found in a few minutes by a WWW search. Registration and application information for the regular Japanese language Saturday school is on the WWW. I think they have about 40 American students registered right now.

Earlier messages mentioned the UH main campus adult education class. This is too short to do any good and this class is extremely expensive. Other adult non-credit classes are taught at UH Clearlake campus, Japan American Society, Taiwanese Cultural Center, Rice University, Houston Community College, and sometimes Berlitz. The only non-credit classes that continue to advanced level (full literacy) are the JASH classes. Among the college credit courses in the Houston area, only Rice gets to that level. You should be able to dig up most of this information on the WWW by a little searching.

An earlier message mentioned Rossetta Stone. The Rossetta Stone Japanese course is essentially junk, useful for nothing but teaching low-level tourist expresions. The same can be said for any of the other course materials you are likely to find at your local big bookstore.

--- Jtech2

[Rio Grande Valley]

Thanks alot for the info jtech2, I'll definitely look into it.

[Vertigo58]

We must have a Japanese Consulate too somewhere in Houston? Most consulates can offer any if not most advice to those like your self.

or we can ask the tiny twin ladies here on the left? very wise...

[krix]

Of course there is a Japanese school in Houston. However, these schools are usually for kids who already speak Japanese, it is a way to preserve their heritage and, most importantly, learn to read and write (that's one of the greatest challenges facing children of East Asian heritage in America, keeping up those characters, in fact, most second-generation Asian Americans I know might retain the language but not the characters). The Japanese school is at I-10 & Yorkshire (beyond the Beltway), the link is http://www.jeihouston.org/ (Japanese only). If you read Japanese, there is also a forum for Japanese in Houston, at http://www.e-noac.com/hounavi/ . Granted, it's not as large as the one for LA, and many of the posts are preoccupied with safety issues (the admonition that "safe" in the United States does not mean the same thing at it does back home in Japan seems to be a recurring theme), but it's a start.

Now, Houston only has a Saturday School, not a regular Japanese school. I think New York and Los Angeles have regular Japanese schools, but other than that I don't know of any (even in DC, there seems to be only a Saturday school, somebody I know went there to class with children of Japanese diplomats, who would surely have been sent to a regular Japanese school, if there was one). Some American schools offer bilingual programs in Japanese and stuff like that, but you might have better luck looking for those in California. But maybe somebody here knows about comparable programs in Texas. But the number of Japanese in Houston is very low, I've been told that there might be more in Austin and DFW....

I could tell you stories about the Japanese education at Rice....

Edited April 30, 2007 by krix

[Rio Grande Valley]

Thanks Krix

What stories about the Japanese education at Rice?

[krix]

Thanks Krix

What stories about the Japanese education at Rice?

I could, but not that I would...