by Nagasawa Yasuhiro
Illustrations by Hasegawa Sachiko
Translated and narated by Masaki Hashimoto
That day, there was a rumor that “a new friend is joining our class,”
and everyone had been very excited since morning.
Together with our teacher, a boy came to the classroom.
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“This is Carlos who has moved here from Brazil,”
Our teacher said, as he introduced him to us.
「コンニチワ。(Hello.) ヨロシク オネガイシマス」 (Nice to meet you.)
The boy had large eyes and spoke Japanese in a strange sort of way.
During class, Carlos would not open his textbook, and would just stare at the teacher's face.
Carlos could not read Japanese books.
He could not understand what the teacher was saying.
But he would just patiently look forward, as he listened to the teacher speaking.
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“He is just like I was, back then,”
I thought to myself.
When I was little, I went to America because of my father’s work, and started going to an elementary school there.
Since I did not understand a single word of English, my tummy would begin to hurt.
The teacher did not understand me when I said, 「おしっこ」(pee)
and I wet my pants.
My cheeks would always twitch and tremble.
But one day, during recess, John invited me to play soccer.
Because I did not understand what they were saying, nobody passed me the ball, but John was different.
“Hey Akira!”
John looked at me and shouted.
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John's pass flew right in front of my face.
With all of my strength, I headed the ball.
The ball flew straight into the goal net.
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“Hey Akira. Good job,”
all of my teammates said, as they patted me on my shoulders.
For the first time ever, I could understand the meaning of English words.
I could understand that everyone was telling me that I “did a good job.”
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Once everyone found out that Carlos could hardly speak any Japanese, they were not sure what they could do.
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Even though they were not trying to be mean, they were just not sure how they could get close to him.
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Even during recess, Carlos would just quietly sit in his chair, all by himself.
I walked up to Carlos and pulled him by the hand.
“Let’s go to the field.”
On the field, students were already playing soccer.
Carlos’ eyes lit up when he saw this, and he turned to me.
I nodded.
Run Carlos.
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I'll send a pass right near you, in front of the goal.
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Even if you miss the shot, I will still call out to you.
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“Eezo Carlos”
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I'm sure Carlos will understand my Osaka dialect.
And Carlos will be able to feel that this town welcomes him.
And I can also ask him to teach me many words from Brazil.
※“Eezo” is an expression used in the Osaka dialect of Japan. It means “good job”or “excellent.
著者/長澤 靖浩(ながさわ やすひろ)
1960年生まれ。 大阪府公立学校教諭。
主な著書 「魂の螺旋ダンス」第三書館2004年
「蝶を放つ」鶴書院2014年 星雲社発売
絵/はせがわ さちこ
1956年大阪府生まれ。
アートスクールで絵本制作を学ぶ。
2004年 おおしま手作り絵本コンクール最優秀賞受賞
2005年 第8回人権絵本コンクール絵本作画担当
「ええぞ、カルロス」 絵本
作/長澤 靖浩
絵/はせがわ さちこ
2005年発行
発行:大阪市教育委員会
制作:大阪市立総合生涯学習センター
マルチメディアDAISY版
2016年製作
企画:NPO法人おおさかこども多文化センター
電話:06-6586-9477
http://okotac.org/
制作:DAISYグループふじつぼ
翻訳・音訳:Masaki Hashimoto