English Children's Book Translations

As some of you may know, the family of Taylor Anderson, the Ishinomaki JET who was lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake, have contributed "Taylor Anderson Reading Corners" to the 7 schools at which Taylor taught. These corners, including beautifully carved wood shelves constructed by the father of 3 of Taylor's students, provide a comfortable place for kids to relax and read during lunch and after school. In addition to the corners, the Andersons have donated both English and Japanese children's books to encourage kids to explore the world of reading. Unfortunately, the English children's books (classics such as the Magic School Bus, the Cat in the Hat, etc) are a bit too high for Elementary School English levels. The kids say they love looking at the books  because the drawings are so different from Japanese drawing styles, but still, they wish they could understand the meaning.  

Here's where we come in. MAJET is  working with the Miyagi International Association (MIA) to organize a "English Children's Books Translation." We will invite Japanese volunteer translators from MIA, who have worked on similar projects of English to Japanese translation in the past, along with native English speakers to work together to translate these books.
 
If you have experience translating, or would like to try your hand at it, please come and see! Even if you aren't pera-pera, you can still help by explaining English phrases and duel meaning to the Japanese translators. This will be a great opportunity to learn a little Japanese, interact with Japanese people, try your hand at translation and put some smiles on some kids faces. MAJET will even provide the snacks ;)

When this will happen will depend on when enough people can come. We need at least 10 JET volunteers, and right now we are aiming for either Sunday, April 15th, or Sunday, April 22nd from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.

If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know which day (or both) you would be able to make it. As April 15th is almost upon us, please respond by this Thursday to let us know.

Thanks. We're looking forward to working with you!
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-The MAJET Team