Second from the left, with her ' Wanikko ' Classmates Right, at the first camp " Hey, listen..." At the second camp Center 　　In 2002, the seminar of the Japanese-language education for young children whose mother tongue is not Japanese*, to which I belong, created a volunteer organization called "Waseda Nihongo Club for Children" commonly known as the Wanikko Club.  Recently, as you know, the number of children from abroad is increasing in Japan.  The Wanikko Club was established in order to support those children's Japanese-language education and conduct a survey on juvenile Japanese-language education.  In Shinjuku Ward alone, the area around Waseda, more than 100 children from foreign countries transfer to the schools every year.  We decided, based on the agreement with elementary and junior schools in Shinjuku Ward and the Shinjuku Ward's education board, to do some volunteer activities of the Japanese-language education mainly around Shinjuku Ward.  We basically visit the children's houses and help them learn Japanese and other subjects.  During the summer and winter holidays, we organize some events in which Japanese and foreign children living in Shinjuku Ward can get together and play.  Here, I would like to talk about the "Wanikko One-Day Camp" which was held in the summer and winter of 2003. 　　 The first camp, which was held on 3rd August 2003, ended successfully thanks to many volunteers from in and out of Waseda.  The children were divided into groups according to their age and they actively participated in games like snakes and ladder and made collages together.  We played on the lawn of the Okuma Garden (The lawn was burning hot!), explored the garden and found some beetles (I did not know that a beetle could be "that" big!).  It turned out to be the event full of happy summer memories.  Among foreign children, there were some who were not used to the life in Japan yet.  They looked a little worried at first but after playing for a while with others, they soon became friends and even a smile could be seen on their faces. 　　On 23rd December the same year, the second "One-Day Camp" attracted twice as many children as the last one.  Once again, it went quite well.  This time, the children engaged in activities such as cooking, magic, woodwork and play in groups.  We prepared a stage where the children could perform in front of the audience.  The children who could not speak Japanese well at the first camp came back with better Japanese and seemed to be having a good time talking to other children whom they met for the first time. 　　Not only children but also the graduate students and all those volunteers had fun at the last two camps.  There was so much to learn from playing with children.  The Wanikko Club members will continue to do our best with the volunteer activities hoping that foreign children (including those whose mother tongue is not Japanese) and Japanese children will come to understand one another by participating an event like "One-Day Camp". *Among children with foreign backgrounds, there are some who do not speak Japanese although they have Japanese names and nationality.  Some may have brought up with a few different languages at home.  They cannot simply be called "foreign children" so we use the phrase "children whose mother tongue is not Japanese".