Dear Madam Mao, our daughter, has been to the nursery near our apartment for a year. (Last month, the nursery went bankrupt.) She seemed to be happy going to that nursery. Last week, when we came here, we were very surprised to hear that she said "kowai!" which means "frightened" in Japanese. We wanted to know why she said that, but unfortunately we could not understand what she really wanted to say. When she was in the two and half year old class, she came here several times, and she always seemed to be happy. So we are confused. Now however, she cries every morning before we come here. My wife, Yuko, had a chance to see how things were going in Mao's class. She told me that Mao felt it was hard to understand what the teachers said. Mao can say "Yes" and "No" clearly, but in many cases, she could not understand the real meaning of the teacher's question and expectations. We tried to ask her some questions in English, but she replied with many nonsensical answers. We are afraid that she felt a great fear of not being able to understand the teacher's instructions, and she didn't know what she was expected to do. If she continues to cry every morning when she comes here, we will have to give up taking her anymore. However, she always seems to be happy after the class. We are not sure what to do now. We think we will wait and see how she does, but if things don't improve, we would like to ask you that she be taken down a grade, because she never cried when she was two years old in her 2 1/2 year old class. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Madam Today, I heard from my wife, Yuko that my daughter, Mao was so happy to be taken the down grade class. After the class, Mao told us that she enjoyed it and hoped to come here again. We felt so relieved to hear that, and happy to see her smiling face again. I would like to say again thank you very much for accepting our hope and your considerations.