Description:

A Road Safety Course was implemented within the regular curriculum for elementary school students at Brazilian schools.
※ This course is held throughout the year at Brazilian schools in three sessions:
1) Garbage Disposal Facility Tour;
2) Road Safety Course;
3) Introduction to Japanese Culture.
This article discusses the second session: Road Safety Course.

 

 

Objectives:

In order to promote a multicultural society, this course was introduced to explain basic rules and living habits to Brazilian children residing in Japan, the largest foreign population in the prefecture, and to encourage their participation in community life. This course is also conducted in the same way at Japanese public schools. A positive side effect of the course is that students explain what they learned at school to their parents and other adults, spreading information about road safety to people who may otherwise be difficult to reach.

Place:

Local driving schools provided their facilities three times for the Road Safety Course. For the last session, a space owned by the prefecture was used free of charge.

 

Lecturers:

In addition to staff from the driving schools, the assistance of prefectural police officers, local officials in charge of traffic instruction, the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and prefectural staff in charge of traffic safety were also requested. Translations of course materials were made by Brazilian CIRs, the prefectural consultant for Brazilians, exchange students and Brazilian town office staff.

 

Contents:

Indoors:

 

Outdoors:

 

Preparation of the Venue / Meeting at School:

Staff were split in two groups: one group was in charge of setting up the venue, while the other met students at the school. Students were transported to the venue on a prefectural bus. Some schools used their own buses.

 

Course:

The Road Safety Course started with an opening greeting from a prefectural official. Activities were divided into indoor and outdoor activities (see above). Outdoor activities were performed at various locations with an instructor. Students formed groups of 15 to 30 and moved between the various activities.
The CIRs and other Brazilian staff led and translated for each group.
The Japanese staff supervised the whole course, took pictures, dealt with the media and were ready in case of an emergency.

 

Departing from the Venue and Return to School:

Staff were again split in two groups: one group took charge of clean-up, while the other took the students back to school.

 

Feedback from students:

On the day of the course, questionnaires and reply envelopes were given to the teachers, who asked the students to fill them out and send them back to the Prefectural International Division.

 

Translating and Counting of Questionnaires

Arrangement of Venue and Instructors:

After consulting with prefectural police, the decision was made to contact the divisions in charge of traffic safety in each of the towns where Brazilian schools are located, and have them get in contact with local driving schools.
Many municipal traffic instructors organise road safety courses for public elementary school students. At the same time, driving schools also organise such courses for local kindergartens, elementary schools and senior citizens’ groups. Local police departments also actively cooperate in road safety courses as part of their duties. The implementation structure for road safety courses aimed at children is therefore already set at each level to some extent: local government, police, and driving schools. Due to this, the prefecture took the initiative when planning this course for Brazilian schools, liaising with each party in order to make necessary adjustments. The language barrier was a major issue, however due to the help of the Brazilian CIRs, all parties were able to work together.

 

Selection of Participating School:

Participation in the course was limited to those schools recognised by the Brazilian government (accredited schools). A list of accredited schools was obtained from the Brazilian Embassy's homepage. Each school was visited to determine the budget, explain the outline of the course, and confirm interest in participation. All four accredited schools in the prefecture participated.
Scheduling started well in advance of the course commencing to ensure the availability of driving schools and that the timing would fit with the schedule of each school. Bus reservations and insurance issues also needed to be taken into account. Due to the fact that Brazilian schools hold classes on a rotating basis for each grade (morning and afternoon), the time of recess for each grade also had to be confirmed. Schedules were decided four to six months in advance.

 

Creation of Course Contents:

We asked driving schools to produce a tentative course based on the requests from schools and suggestions from the prefecture. "Cautions when getting on and off the school bus" was a topic requested by schools and was included in the course.
Because the instructors gave explanations in Japanese, interpreting into Portuguese was necessary. The timing and content of each activity, as well as how to group the activities, were considered according to the number of interpreters, including the CIRs.

 

Creation of Documents:

Documents published by prefectural police, the Japan Traffic Safety Association (JTSA) and JAF were collected, and relevant information was selected and edited to make a Japanese version of the course. After confirmation and authorisation of use from the prefectural police and prefectural authorities in charge of traffic safety, CIRs translated the course material in Portuguese. Two CIRs worked for a month on the translation. They made the explanations easier to understand by adding pictures and illustrations. No mistake was allowed in parts dealing with laws and road rules, therefore CIRs had to do a lot of research and it was a difficult process.
Two versions of the course were produced: one for participating children and one for parents. The version produced for children was kept simple and relatively short, focusing on their experiences during the course. With the aim of spreading information about road safety to adults, the one for parents included cautions for driving in Japan as well.

 

Miscellaneous:

・Reserving buses and contracting insurance

・Official requests for instructors (police officers and municipal traffic instructors)

・Official requests to JAF (car and instructors)

・Obtaining a list of participants (from schools)

 

Creation of Documents:

Documentation was distributed to the prefectural press club and sent to municipal sections in charge of multicultural issues. City press clubs were also asked to collaborate and provide information.

Gifu Prefectural Government

General Planning Division

International Divison

Tel: 058-272-1111