The present article aims to propose the BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) Japanese Syllabus for foreign children.
This syllabus includes 620 basic words (except particles, auxiliary verbs and other function words) needed to survive at elementary schools, not words connected with content-area language study. It will help them acquire interpersonal skills.
The composition of the syllabus is based on Hallidays seven linguistic functions of children's performance and Maslow's basic needs theory of human motivation. I integrated them into the affective syllabus which has five categories: 1. physical comfort, 2. safety, 3. interaction, 4. acceptance, 5. development of capabilities. The BICS syllabus comprises all the categories except the fifth one.