• Portuguese Curriculum February 11 - 5:01 pm

• Canadian Schools October 25 - 9:45 am

Hi,

I would like to have info on Japan International School, Aoba International school and Nishimachi School. I have been told that these school offer a thorough education, and are not like the majority of international schools where at the end of the day one does not know what the child has learned in school and there is no fixed curriculum.
I would like to know any info on these schools, share your experience you can email me separately at irwogg@hotmail.com

Like to mention that spouse and I are non Japanese and speak only English at home.
Will that be an issue at these schools?

Thanks, Rachel

Rachel,
Your comments above are extraordinarily general and in danger of upsetting a lot of people. Please support your statements with facts.

All the international schools in Tokyo are filled to the brim and turning away applicants right and left. Even New International School which just started its first term in September only has a few slots available in the older grades, and nothing left from pre-K to 2nd grade. That school is being created by a man with 19 years experience at Aoba Japan International School, so you really need to get your facts lined up before speaking about "the majority of international schools where at the end of the day one does not know what the child has learned in school and there is no fixed curriculum".

These schools could not stay in business if they did not have proper missions and good reputations. American School in Japan (ASIJ), The British School, The Deutsche Schule (German school), and all the many others have according to your comment above no fixed curriculum!?

Pretty inflammatory statement. IF you get a lot of flame emails, you shouldn't be surprised.

Hi,
I am sorry if my comments are general , basically would like to know about schools where curriculum is predetermined and detailed.

Thanks, Rachel

Does anyone know about the Toho school that is known to be popular with returnees? Located out near Fuchu maybe 25 minutes out from Shinjuku on the Keio line (Senkawa station?) and then a bit of a walk. I heard they have among other things a really strong music program. Also the elementary school is co-ed, but then it splits into two sex-segregated schools at the junior high level. The boys section is supposed to be pretty high pressure, but the girls side is more outside of the box. The Toho university is a music university, but the Toho high school students are not automatically fed into the university (in other words they don't all go into music but go on to a wide variety of disciplines).

Does anybody already over there know of an international school, other than the British School in Tokyo, which teaches the British curriculum? We're coming to live in Tokyo/Chiba (not sure which yet) in August and while the BST is a valid option I'd like to have a fallback position if we can't get places. Any helpful advice would be much appreciated.

Relatively new organization:
The Japan Chapter of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
http://www.ascd.org/cms/index.cfm?TheViewID=813
and
http://www.jascd.org/

The membership consists of International schools, US Department of Defence Schools, in Japan and any Japanese public and private schools that wish to participate.

Hi,
My kids are half-Japanese and go to Japanese schools. I'd like to place them in an international school that doesn't require that they have English ability to attend because I'd like them to learn English. Does anyone know of any schools?
Thanks!

Dear Vicki,
New International School in Ikebukuro has a fully developed dual language program (English and Japanese) and welcomes children who do not speak any English. They boast a child centered curriculum with multi-age classrooms and at least two teachers in every classrrom (one English speaking and one native Japanese speaking). They also have an ESL unit which works with groups of one to 10 kids throughout the day (these groups are put together from different classes according to their needs assessments). A child arriving with only one language would find him(her)self in an immersion setting with lots of support. AND they make an effort to keep siblings within the same school (which some of the other schools have been known to be insensitive about in the past). They also have a discount for additional children from the same family. I am not sure if they accept non-English speakers after a certain age. It may depend on the ages of your chlidren. You would need to contact them directly. There is more on this school at: http://www.tokyowithkids.com/discussions/messages/151/526.html.

Also, I think Columbia International at Higashi Tokurozawa (Saitama-ken)and maybe also the new Canadian School (http://www.cisjapan.net) will also take non-English speakers, but I have not spoken to any parents with kids in either of those.