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Anonymous wrote:Hi!
I know this thread is a little old but wanted to share.
I moved from Japan when I was 8, not speaking any English, not knowing ANY ‘American’ culture, to full blown English speaking school. My parents spoke zero English, and my dad was an expat. My older brothers were in middle school. And let me assure you, kids adapt incredibly fast and your kids will be just fine.
Hi! Thanks for your encouraging post. Do you think I can pm you? I'd like to ask some questions.
Anonymous wrote:OP the answer is they’ll do just fine. Do you realize how many immigrant kids come to the US without knowing English? And they learn. I know this because my mom is an ESL teacher at a school. And within one year or two they are totally fluent. Many of her students have graduated and gone off to top colleges.
So relax. Kids are sponges and they will be fine.
Thank you for the reassurance. That is good to know. I have middle schoolers so I am more worried for them than my elementary school kid.
Anonymous wrote:OP- not sure if you are still on here but a few things…
1) full trains will never be as full as Japanese trains where they pack you in. During super busy times, you’ll have to stand and people will be close to you, but not pressed up against you.
2) the people on DCUM are mostly middle to upper middle to rich people. So they are able to live closer to where they work. But most people would say anything less than 1 hour is a good commute around here. Most people want it to be 30-45 mins (door to door) but only a very lucky few have less than 30 mins. And there are plenty of people who have 90-120 min commutes. But they usually are taking a commuter van/bus.
3) don’t worry too much about crime. Yes, there is more crime here than Japan. But in the suburbs, most crime is property crime like breaking into cars. If you see violence on the news, it’s either between people who know each other or in known bad neighborhoods.
4) You might be able to get better first hand information from Japanese people who have lived here awhile. Maybe call Blue Ocean in Fairfax (most authentic Japanese restaurant in northern Virginia) or Hana Market and see if anyone would be willing to talk to you. (Ikyuo Tanabe from Hana lives in Northern Virginia and has had grandkids in the Fairfax County schools.
https://www.blueoceanizakaya.com/
https://jaswdc.org/hana-market/
Thank you for your answers that are direct to the point and very helpful. Thank you also for the info on Japanese groceries and resto info. These look great. I keep hearing about the "sizable" Japanese community in Bethesda but would there be similar areas in NOVA? Being near some groceries like Hana Market would be very very helpful.
Anonymous wrote:Your kids will adapt. Bethesda or Rockville is best while being reasonably close to the Saturday Japanese school program where they will easily make lots of friends. Easy access to metro stations. If cost is an issue check out Rockville town center. Be prepared that America is quite a bit more expensive than Japan. (I lived in Japan for 3 years and recently went back this summer to visit in-laws.)
Thank you for the advice. I will checkout the areas you suggested. Yes I am surprised how expensive it is, even compared to Japan!
Anonymous wrote:WillardD wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you live near Fox Mill and are commuting into DC, the commute is going to be an unpleasant one. This is somewhat mediated by there being Silver Line train stations pretty close to FMES, ~15 minutes away during rush hour, I believe.
The Herndon station is 5 minutes from the school, maybe 10 if you hit every light wrong. There is a lot of parking at the Metro stop as well. The Wiehle station is about 15 minutes away but there are now two stops between Fox Mill and Wiehle. If your job is near one of the Orange line stations it is a pretty easy trip in because Silver shares the line with Orange.
There are a large number of child care options that pick up at Fox Mill ES so finding child care is not a problem.
Thank you. I see a lot of posts online about the long commute, but most were before the station got constructed. Can't really find info now, or if google estimates are accurate. Thank you for the info about child care. I was almost ready to give up on the area because a friend told me that that there are times where school is dismissed early, or there may be other reasons where you have to come get them before work ends, so working an hour away may not be a good idea. My work is indeed near the Orange (and Red) line.
https://www.wmata.com/
The link would take you to the WMATA page. You can use the trip planner to see what a trip might look like from any Metro station. I ran a route from Herndon Metro to Foggy Bottom at 7 AM and it projects 41 minutes on the Metro. Toss in time driving to the station and the commute to your building and call it an hour. That doesn’t strike me as awful, especially since you can read or relax on the train. You should be able to get a seat on the way to work because you will be closer to the start of the line.
There are also busses that you can take non-stop from the Pentagon to Herndon or the 5A which runs from Rosslyn Metro to Dulles with a stop at one of the Metro stops, it used to be Herndon but I am not sure if it moved to Weihle. I say this because there are back ups in case of Metro weirdness.
Thank you so much. Would you say an hour commute is an outlier or par for the course in the region and are the trains comfortable or crowded during rush hour?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you live near Fox Mill and are commuting into DC, the commute is going to be an unpleasant one. This is somewhat mediated by there being Silver Line train stations pretty close to FMES, ~15 minutes away during rush hour, I believe.
The Herndon station is 5 minutes from the school, maybe 10 if you hit every light wrong. There is a lot of parking at the Metro stop as well. The Wiehle station is about 15 minutes away but there are now two stops between Fox Mill and Wiehle. If your job is near one of the Orange line stations it is a pretty easy trip in because Silver shares the line with Orange.
There are a large number of child care options that pick up at Fox Mill ES so finding child care is not a problem.
Thank you. I see a lot of posts online about the long commute, but most were before the station got constructed. Can't really find info now, or if google estimates are accurate. Thank you for the info about child care. I was almost ready to give up on the area because a friend told me that that there are times where school is dismissed early, or there may be other reasons where you have to come get them before work ends, so working an hour away may not be a good idea. My work is indeed near the Orange (and Red) line.
Anonymous wrote:Will you be able to send your children to international school upon your return to Japan? I couldn’t quite tell from your post whether you already live abroad, just not in an English-speaking country, but if you are not already abroad, please consider the effect that coming back to local Japanese middle and high school may have on your children. I ended up staying in the US, but I grew up around a lot of chu-zai families, not in a Japanese immersion school (not in the DC area). Even if they were only away for a few years, most of the kids were bullied, some quite badly, after they got back to Japan. The exception seems to be the ones who went to international school.
Subject-readiness at their grade level may also present a problem once they’re back in Japan. If you do not do Japanese school, may I suggest looking into mail-order courses such as Benesse? They are designed to keep kids living abroad on pace with the curriculum back home.
Regarding the DC area specifically, the Japanese language immersion programs at Great Falls and Fox Mill are part of the Fairfax County Public School system, and therefore free and accessible if you live in Fairfax County. Elementary in Fairfax County is K-6, which I know was one of your concerns upthread. But in terms of an actual Japanese community, there seems to be more of that in Bethesda and Rockville in Maryland. I don’t see too many Japanese in McLean or Great Falls, even though they’re frequently mentioned on message boards like KaigaiLink. In Northern Virginia I have seen some moms of younger babies out at playgrounds and cafes during the day in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington. Clarendon is walkable and very accessible to DC by Metro. However, it is in Arlington County, not Fairfax County, and does not have a Japanese language program in its public school system.
I hope this is even a little bit helpful. I will say that this area is fairly polite, and has a fairly large population of East Asian people, so yes there will be culture shock, but it won’t be nearly as bad as other parts of the US. Good luck with your decision!
Thank you so much for this. We currently live in Japan and kids go to public school. Yes, planning for a return to Japan is indeed another concern for us. It's crazy that we have to plan ahead for something that far but our current choices will indeed affect that. If they were away for just a few years (say 3-4) wouldn't they still retain their old ways and blend right in when they get back in a regular Japanese school? I'd prefer that they have the option to pick, and not be forced into international school, but being away also deprives them of the competitiveness to pass the local HS exams for the good schools. I heard the weekend Japanese schools (or perhaps Bennese) only prepares them for the curriculum when they return, but not the juku kind for the entrance exams.
I am assuming you are Japanese that moved to the US when you were young? Would you mind sharing your experience and how you felt just so I can know what to expect and what to prepare my kids for?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fox Mill ES and Great Falls ES in Fairfax County have Japanese Immersion. Both have kids moving in from Japan who speak no English and join the class. They have other students and teachers who are fluent in Japanese who can help them. The other night I had one girl translating for another at a school dance. I know it is a bit of a commute but it an option.
Both schools feed into MS and HS that offer Japanese and have kids who speak some Japanese, and a good number who are fluent because they use it at home with a parent or are from Japan like you are.
Again, a bit of a commute but there established Japanese communities and language dpeakers.
Bingo. Fox Mill or GFES are really the only places you'll find a substantial number of Japanese-speaking students who can help ease the transition. FMES is as well run as a Fairfax County school is going to be. If you need to, you can supplement the academics while your kids build up their English skills. I am 95% certain you do not have to actually live within the boundary for either school -- they should take transfer immersion students from elsewhere, because immersion programs is nearly always going to have room in upper grades. But not living in boundary means you need to work out a transportation arrangement to get your kids to and from the school.
Thank you. I understand that if you are outside of the boundary, you have to take the lottery and you are also not entitled to school bus service. So if I do stay somewhere between Herndon and DC, does that mean I would have to take my kids west to school, then head back the other direction, or are there alternatives? Easiest would be to stay near these schools, but I don't know how horrible the commute to work will be.
Anonymous wrote:Are you coming to the IMF? If so, they have an educational consultant who could help advise you on options.
No, not for the IMF.
Anonymous wrote:I have world bank friends who just did this. They enrolled their 4 and 6 year old in some intense English classes for 4 months before they moved. Dad is bilingual, mom is not fluent in English. It is going well for them, but they also don’t use the social structure of school community on the weekends, they mostly just hang out with other world bank families, some of whom speak Japanese. They think a few years of English immersion will be great for their kids though.
So great to hear this. Almost similar situations, though my spouse is fluent enough. Did they go to public schools in DC near World Bank? Yeah, we will probably not stay long term in the US but also thinking that a couple of years in the US and learning the language would be a great experience for them. Intensive English lessons prior to moving seems to be a great idea!
Anonymous wrote:Move to downtown Bethesda. Plenty of apartment buildings there and coming from Japan, that will be familiar to you as will the ability to get around without owning a car or having to learn how to drive (on the other side of the road too!). Make sure the apartment is zoned for Bethesda elementary. Lots and and lots of Japanese expats live in that area so their kids go to Bethesda ES. It will help both them and you with assimilation. It's a public school so it's free, and the school is very well equipped to handle such students.
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/bethesdaes/
This is wonderful information. I will certainly check these out. Although I must admit that Bethesda (based on my early research) seems to be a very expensive place to live in. But not having to own a car is certainly one big plus factor for Japanese residents indeed!
By the way it seems the elementary school only goes until Grade 5? So that means my kids might have to go to Middle School already. Would what you said still hold true for the middle schools in the area? I checked them out and surprised how large the boundaries are for middle school. I'm used to the walkable distances in Japan.
Anonymous wrote:Are you a native English speaker and your kids and spouse are native Japanese speakers? Does your spouse speak English?
These questions are important because if you move your kids in elementary and middle school to the United States they run the risk of losing complete native fluency in Japanese and would never be able to study in a Japanese university. And the middle school one is at the border of never speaking English without an accent if you don't move to the United States.
In any school in the US your kids will quickly learn English because there are no Japanese only kids to interact with. Just find the best public school in the best neighborhood you can find. They will be speaking fluent English within a year or two.
Thank you for your comment it is very helpful. And you raise a very important question indeed. I am not a native English speaker but am fluent, as is my spouse. We are indeed in that difficult period of also having to prepare for an eventual (probable?) return to Japan so yes, the ability to do well in a Japanese university or high school is also an important issue. There seems to be a weekend Japanese school near Bethesda designed specifically for those with intentions of returning to Japan but I am not too thrilled (more so my kids) to spend the weekends studying.
Hi, new here and this forum is very helpful.
I am based in Japan, just got a job offer in DC (Foggy Bottom). I've never lived in the US. My kids (elementary and middle school) speak minimal English, worried if I move them to an area school.
They are hardly the star pupils learning in their home tongue, so I am worried what kind of hardship they will encounter when I move them. It seems public schools have more support for non-English learners so at least there is that , but quite anxious. I also found out about elementary and middle schools with Japanese immersion programs where maths and science are taught in Japanese (Great Falls and Herndon area) so that seems to be a very good option, however these seem to be fairly outside of a reasonable work commuting distance to DC.
Anyone here with the same experience or know kids in similar situations? Is the distance to the Japanese immersion schools worth it?
I am based in Japan, just got a job offer in DC (Foggy Bottom). I've never lived in the US. My kids (elementary and middle school) speak minimal English, worried if I move them to an area school.
They are hardly the star pupils learning in their home tongue, so I am worried what kind of hardship they will encounter when I move them. It seems public schools have more support for non-English learners so at least there is that , but quite anxious. I also found out about elementary and middle schools with Japanese immersion programs where maths and science are taught in Japanese (Great Falls and Herndon area) so that seems to be a very good option, however these seem to be fairly outside of a reasonable work commuting distance to DC.
Anyone here with the same experience or know kids in similar situations? Is the distance to the Japanese immersion schools worth it?