Goals
- Nurturing fluency in English.
- Providing marketable skills in English and the arts.
- Building creativity, confidence and healing through the use of theater and expression.
- Creating an educational, daily routine that adds delight and motivation to young lives.
Rationale
- Addressing the problem of under-supported orphans who will need marketable job skills once they are required to leave the orphanage at age eighteen. English language ability helps graduates find employment.
- Bringing joy and motivation into the lives of young orphans by making the learning of English a fun experience.
- Nurturing creative thinking and problem-solving skills as children learn to act out stories and ideas, providing a positive way for children without parent support to engage with the world and make life better for themselves and others.
Summary
The Japan Orphan English Education organization seeks to educate and enrich the lives of the youngest children who are growing up in orphanages in Japan. English language skills will be taught during a child’s most language-receptive stage of development, increasing the speed and depth at which a second language can be acquired.
Providing these disadvantaged children with the strong advantage of being fluently conversant in English will give them a marketable skill and the confidence to enter the competitive working world of Japan when they exit the orphanage system at age eighteen.
JOEE teaches English in a way that is creative, playful, expressive and immersive. Students are surrounded with English lullabies and stories. As they grow, they are immersed in music, puppet play, storytelling and play-acting. Intrinsic motivation is the driving force behind creating lifetime learners, since research shows that positive emotions facilitate deep learning.