Playgroups for children: Not michael jackson style

[craxican]

ok, i know this is off fucked gaijin topic, but I am searching for playgroups for my son (3 months) and my wife`s cousin`s daughter (3 years).

my son doesnt speak yet, but i want him to hear more english from other people besides me cause im the only one in the family that speaks english.

for the cousin`s daughter, she goes to expencive english lessons at 8000yen a pop and can "hear" english, but not speak it. so we are trying to find a playgroup to get our children culturaly enriched.

ya i googled it but a whole bunch of shit came up. nothing that has recent posts or sites that just went out due to inactivity. so if any other fucked gaijins out there are willing to help a fellow fucker out, post, PM, or email if you can.

I would appreciate no critisizim on this thread cause it is sort of serious. but if it is funny i cant really say no. just dont take it too far off topic and its all gravy.

UPDATE 2008August04:
my family lives in hiroo (minato-ku) and my cousin`s family lives in kawasaki-shi close to kawasaki station.]

Convinient Locations:
kawasaki-shi (around kawasaki station would be great)
anywhere in minato-ku or nearby wards

[halfnip]

Where you at?

[craxican]

Where you at?

I live in hiroo (one stop away from roppongi in tokyo) and my cousin lives in kanagawa-ken kawasaki-shi right by the kawasaki station. so anywhere inbetween or close to those areas would be of great help.

I will edit my first post with the locations i just provided.

[omae mona]

Craxican - I know of a few great classroom settings in Setagaya ward, but nothing in Minato or Kawasaki unfortunately. The Setagaya locations would be reasonable to get to by car from Hiroo (maybe 20 minutes) but would be a bit of a hike by public transportation (at least two trains and a bus). Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.

Not meant as a criticism, but I don't think you'll get a lot of language learning benefit by putting your 3-month old in a playgroup. The closest thing to socialization I've seen out of 3-month olds is synchronized vomiting. If you just want your son to hear more English, you can buy some CDs with children's songs or plop him in front of the TV. Either way, I don't think it will have much of an effect at this early age. If anything, it's just detracting from more meaningful time spent interacting with his parents. For what it's worth, the youngest children admitted into the classrooms/playgroups I know of are just under 2 years old, anyway.

[craxican]

Craxican - I know of a few great classroom settings in Setagaya ward, but nothing in Minato or Kawasaki unfortunately. The Setagaya locations would be reasonable to get to by car from Hiroo (maybe 20 minutes) but would be a bit of a hike by public transportation (at least two trains and a bus). Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.

Not meant as a criticism, but I don't think you'll get a lot of language learning benefit by putting your 3-month old in a playgroup. The closest thing to socialization I've seen out of 3-month olds is synchronized vomiting. If you just want your son to hear more English, you can buy some CDs with children's songs or plop him in front of the TV. Either way, I don't think it will have much of an effect at this early age. If anything, it's just detracting from more meaningful time spent interacting with his parents. For what it's worth, the youngest children admitted into the classrooms/playgroups I know of are just under 2 years old, anyway.

thanks for the input. i was just worried cause i dont want my son having the japanese english. not to be a prick, but japanese english is just horrible, my wife doesnt like it when i say that, but she understands my reasons. This is my first kid so i am trying to do everything possible to get him on the right track, but then again, trying to do this so early might just be trying to hard.

thanks again!