Education Japan Project #58335

JOEE to Japan - English for At-Risk Children

by JOEE - Joyful Opportunity English Education

JOEE to Japan - English for At-Risk Children

Project Report | Dec 2, 2025
Joyful JOEE Holidays

By Ruth Ingulsrud | Founding Director of JOEE

Sandy Claws greets the children

As you gather with family and friends this holiday season, thank you for remembering the children growing up in orphanages and protective care homes in Japan. There are about 45,000 children in Japan who require loving care as they have been rescued from neglectful or abusive environments. They deserve a chance to grow up in peace with proper nutrition and a community that cares for them.

JOEE has been bringing joyful English lessons to children in seven different orphanages in Japan this year. During the month of October, children had the opportunity to carve pumpkins which were grown on the farm of JOEE’s founder in Nagano. This was their first experience to create Jack-o-Lanterns and they had a great time! Besides the pumpkins donated to the orphanages, pumpkins were also sold to families in Nagano and Tokyo and all the money raised was donated to JOEE. This was such a successful fundraiser, we will try it again next year, as long as the pumpkin harvest is good again.

At Thanksgiving, one of our volunteers donated many apple and pumpkin pies to a Tokyo-based orphanage; enough to provide a piece of pie for everyone. Our volunteers not only donate their time and talent to teaching lessons, they also donate food, snacks and gifts. One volunteer designed JOEE T-shirts and had them printed and distributed to our volunteers in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Other volunteers help to connect international schools to the JOEE program. This has resulted in more volunteer-teachers and programs such as Christmas gift distribution in some of the orphanages.

As Christmas approaches, parties have been planned at most of the orphanages that we serve. Christmas comics, music, silly games and the telling of the Christmas story are all part of the fun. And, in a couple of orphanages, volunteer Santas will show up to help distribute the gifts. Toys along with warm socks, school supplies, books and gift cards for the older teenaged residents of the home will be handed out. We hope that the gifts and extra attention will be a blessing for these children who need an extra boost, especially during the holidays. Thank you very much for your generous support!

New JOEE Volunteer T-Shirts

Pumpkin carving at an orphanage

JOEE Jack-o-Lantern

Pumpkin carving in Osaka

Happy volunteers at the Chofu, Tokyo orphanage

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Aug 8, 2025
JOEE Journeys - JAXA and Osaka

By Ruth Ingulsrud | Founding Director

Can you find....?

JOEE jumps into the future with free English lessons for both youngsters and teens who will be needing solid job skills once they are out on their own after exiting the orphanages at age eighteen. Our youngest students simply enjoy the chance to interact with friendly and enthusiastic adults from around the world as they play games and sing songs that teach them simple English words and phrases. The older students benefit from active practice in speaking English words and sentences. This helps to reinforce the English that they are studying in public school and lets them hear and practice more accurate pronunciation of the language. The teens that are getting ready to launch out into the adult world of work, are motivated to study with their one-on-one tutors with the hope that being able to speak English at a basic level or more fluently will help them get a fulfilling job in the future.

Recently, JOEE added classes in an orphanage in Osaka, so our program has expanded to include the following cities: Tokyo, Chiba, Odawara, Osaka, Nagoya. And coming up later this month in August of 2025, the children will have a chance to reach for the stars and get a “taste” of outer space through a program sponsored by JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency which is the Japanese national air and space agency. They will get to learn about the space programs as they taste food that the astronauts take with them on their missions orbiting the planet.

We are so thankful for your continued support of “Joyful Opportunity English Education” and are pleased that we can continue to bring these world-expanding opportunities to the at-risk children who are growing up in Japan’s orphanages and care homes.

Arms up! An active JOEE lesson.

"Alligator goes THROUGH the hole!"

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Apr 11, 2025
Expanding JOEE

By Ruth Ingulsrud | Founding Director of JOEE

Imagine not being safe in your own home… not being safe with your own parents… not getting the care and nourishment that you need as a growing youngster. This is the reality for many children in Japan, a developed country perceived as being rich but with many children who need protection and care.

About 40,000 children in Japan have been placed in approximately 680 orphanages or group homes, along with a very few foster families. Most of these children do have parents, but they have endured abuse or neglect. So they have been taken from their original homes to protect them and to allow them to grow up in a safe place. Unless their parents successfully complete rehabilitation programs, the children will stay in the care homes until the age of 18, and then they must launch out on their own without family support. Having a basic knowledge of the English language helps these at-risk youth find good jobs.

During our joyful English education lessons full of songs and games and puppets, we teach the children four phrases: “I am important. I am strong. I am kind. I am loved.” Our volunteers give these children positive attention, encouragement and love. They reaffirm the worth of these important kids. JOEE is attracting volunteers from all over the globe. They currently come from: Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, India, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, USA, Latvia, New Zealand, Serbia, Japan, and Zimbabwe! The lives of the children are enriched by the diverse cultures that are represented by our volunteers… and the worldview of these precious world citizens expands.

Our lessons are expanding too. JOEE will soon start lessons in Osaka. And we have volunteers in Japan and in the USA teaching one-on-one English lessons with youth who are in care homes or who have graduated from the care homes and are working to improve their marketability with improved English skills. We will continue to provide lively and engaging lessons to these children as long as we can. Thank you for your help in lifting up the next generation here in Japan.

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