Talking to the children
The register with children is simple, warm and repetitive: short sentences, plain forms, and a lot of ne, which turns an instruction into something closer to an invitation.
This is the easier of the two registers linguistically and the one that comes first in the day. It also gives you a great deal of speaking practice, which is one of the underrated benefits of the job.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| おはよう、元気だった？ | Ohayō, genki datta? | Good morning, how have you been? |
| 手を洗おうね。 | Te o araou ne. | Let us wash our hands. |
| 順番だよ。 | Junban da yo. | It is taking turns. |
| だいじょうぶ？ 痛かったね。 | Daijōbu? Itakatta ne. | Are you all right? That hurt, did it not. |
| 上手にできたね。 | Jōzu ni dekita ne. | You did that well. |
| お片づけ、しようか。 | Okatazuke, shiyō ka. | Shall we tidy up? |
The pickup report
At pickup you switch registers entirely. Parents get polite Japanese, and the report is short, specific and positive, with anything negative framed factually rather than as a complaint about the child.
One good thing and one factual note is the standard shape. Two or three sentences is a complete report.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 今日も元気に過ごされていました。 | Kyō mo genki ni sugosarete imashita. | They had a lively day again today. |
| お昼はよく食べていました。 | Ohiru wa yoku tabete imashita. | They ate well at lunch. |
| お昼寝は一時間ほどでした。 | Ohirune wa ichijikan hodo deshita. | They napped for about an hour. |
| お友達と仲良く遊んでいました。 | Otomodachi to nakayoku asonde imashita. | They played nicely with friends. |
| 少し咳が出ていました。 | Sukoshi seki ga dete imashita. | They had a slight cough. |
| また明日、お待ちしております。 | Mata ashita, omachi shite orimasu. | We look forward to seeing them tomorrow. |
Lead with something positive, then the factual note. A report that opens with a problem colours the whole exchange, even when the problem is minor.
Reporting an injury
Any injury, however small, is reported to your supervisor immediately and to the parent at pickup. The convention is strongly towards over-reporting, and a small scrape mentioned is unremarkable while the same scrape discovered at home is a serious problem.
The report needs four things: what happened, when, what you did, and how the child is now.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| お怪我をさせてしまい、申し訳ございません。 | Okega o sasete shimai, mōshiwake gozaimasen. | I am sorry that they were hurt. |
| 午前中に、転んでしまいました。 | Gozen-chū ni, koronde shimaimashita. | They fell over during the morning. |
| すぐに冷やして、様子を見ました。 | Sugu ni hiyashite, yōsu o mimashita. | We cooled it immediately and watched them. |
| その後は元気に遊んでいました。 | Sono go wa genki ni asonde imashita. | Afterwards they played happily. |
| 念のため、ご報告いたします。 | Nen no tame, gohōkoku itashimasu. | I am reporting it just in case. |
| ご心配をおかけしました。 | Goshinpai o okake shimashita. | I am sorry for the worry. |
The contact book
Most nurseries exchange a daily notebook with parents, recording sleep, meals, toilet, temperature and mood, plus a short comment. It is written rather than spoken, which makes it easier, and it follows a fixed shape.
The comment is the only free-writing part, and two sentences is enough: something the child did, and how they seemed.
| Field | What goes in | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | How long | About an hour |
| Meals | How much | Ate well |
| Temperature | The number | Taken on arrival |
| Mood | General state | Cheerful |
| Activity | What they did | Played outside |
| Comment | Two sentences | Something specific |
Make the comment specific. Parents read this every day, and a detail about what their child actually did is worth more than a general positive sentence.
Difficult conversations with parents
Occasionally you need to raise something: repeated behaviour, a developmental concern, or a disagreement about care. These conversations need care and are usually held with a senior colleague present.
The convention is to describe behaviour rather than characterise the child, and to ask about home rather than assert about the nursery.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 少しご相談したいことがあります。 | Sukoshi gosōdan shitai koto ga arimasu. | There is something I would like to discuss. |
| お家ではいかがですか。 | Ouchi de wa ikaga desu ka. | How is it at home? |
| 最近、こういうことが何度かありました。 | Saikin, kō iu koto ga nando ka arimashita. | Recently this has happened a few times. |
| 一緒に見ていければと思います。 | Issho ni mite ikereba to omoimasu. | I hope we can watch it together. |
| 主任からもお話しさせていただきます。 | Shunin kara mo ohanashi sasete itadakimasu. | The head teacher will also speak with you. |
| ご意見をお聞かせください。 | Goiken o okikase kudasai. | Please tell me your thoughts. |
Practising the register switch
The specific difficulty of this job is switching registers repeatedly through the day, and the direction that fails is child speech leaking into a parent conversation at the end of a long shift.
That is a practisable thing. Running the same content twice with an AI Sensei in Unihongo's immersive 3D classroom, once as you would say it to a child and once as you would report it to a parent, builds both registers and the ability to move between them.
The session report is worth reading specifically for leakage, because plain forms appearing in the parent report are exactly the error a colleague would notice and never mention to you.
The pickup report is the exchange to get right. It happens every day with every parent and it is what your professionalism is judged on.