This article identifies two causes of the absence of methodology for teaching Japanese reading to children from overseas: 1. The absence of a theoretical foundation for the principle of acquisition of academic Japa-nese; 2. The absence of content-based reading instruction − that is, instruction for learning school subjects. This article then proposes the Endogenous Development Model as a theoretical framework for teaching Japa-nese reading to these children. This framework is designed to

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... proficiency in reading academic Japa-nese based on first language proficiency and the cognitive, affective, social, and cultural abilities which these children have developed before their arrival in Japan. This article also presents a concrete format for the model, to realize the following goals: 1. With the support of the mother tongue, children understand textbooks and lectures on school subjects in Japanese so that they can progress in subject learning; 2. By making the content of subject learning in Japanese comprehensible, children learn Japanese academic language; 3. Through the use of the mother tongue for the purpose of learning academic Japanese, children maintain and further develop their mother tongue.