My son will be graduating for a Japanese elementary school and we have decided to have him continue in a Japanese school so he will be attending a junior high school from April '08. After one year we would like to enroll him in an international school in the Tokyo area (we live in Chiba).
I am concerned as to the criteria of the int'l schools in accepting a student who has never lived in an English speaking country nor attended an all-English school. My son speaks English at home and we travel back to Canada every two years for a month. His reading/writing level is certainly not at his grade level (6) more like Gr. 3. Is it difficult for a child who is not an all-round native English speaker to get into an int'l school?

Hi Natalie,

My kids, age 11 and 7, go to international school and have been since last January, we moved from California to Tokyo in December 2006. Since they are both native Englisher speakers, no test was conducted for their English ability. But I have heard from other parents whose kids aren't native English speakers that the children had to go through interview to assess their English ability. For non-native speakers, school offers ESL classes twice a week. A lot of children are half-Japanese so Japanese is spoken in school though not in class.

One concern you may have is your son's reading and writing level. My son is also in 6th grade and I have noticed that he has a lot more reading and writing projects. If you are not working, you may have a lot more time to assist him with his homework.

Hi Constance and Natalie,
It really depends on the school. Some schools assume that the kids will fall into place after spending some time there. Others don't want their academic levels to be pulled down.

Natalie,
Once every two years for one month is kind of short as immersion period, though it is better than many. Your son is old enough now to be sent to summer camp in Canada for the whole summer. In an effort to bring his English up, you might consider sending him for a whole summer, even taking him out of Japanese school early. There are camps designed to help bring up reading and writing levels as well as providing outdoor activities. So a camp in June/July plus a sojourn with the relatives in August, could be an enormous boost to his English skills, if he's enjoying himself.

There are strings of kids sent over on their own every summer. A lot of camps are really helpful in doing airport pickups. AND a lot of camps have scholarships to help emeliorate the cost of the airline tickets, etc. But you have to ask. The trick is to use a camp that is not dominated by Japananese speakers ;-)

Back to the schools, some of them have good ESL support and welcome kids who are not native level. The Canadian curriculum in Saitama (Columbia International) I believe is less strict on the language levels. I think K. is more open-minded. TIS might be also. NewIS for certain.

The same schools are also more open-minded about accepting kids with certain diagnosed issues (such as Asperger's, Turet's, etc.), though it is always on a case-by-case basis.

Within a year,if not already now, your child will also probably have an opinion. It's important that you have his cooperation. Every kid is different. At some point, it's important to make sure the child so disposed feels like he's got input in the decision making.

A friend of mine put all of her energy into begging her mother to come back home when she was sent off to boarding school at 10. Her parents never let her come back home, and the girl did not learn as much as she could have, because she was not at all cooperative. She's now an adult, and caught up in all subjects, however, she also still carries a huge grievance against her parents over having been sent to boarding school.

Another friend of mine put her son into the Columbia International School in Saitama for 7th grade (he went to Japanese hoikuen and elementary school). He later determined that he would stay there until the end of 9th grade, and then he would go to a Japanese high school. He decided to take up juku in order to make sure that he gets into the Japanese High School. So he's completely involved in his educational decisions.

There are enough options availabe if you are open-minded. It's better not to set ones mind on only one school. Then when the child is not accepted, it's a huge shock and takes a while to re-adjust, just at a point when time is running short.

Hi Natalie,

We have recently opened an international school in Makuharihongo, Chiba. Our students range from 1.5 years to 8 years old.We also cater for after school students. All our classes are taught in English by qualified native English teachers. We group our students based on their English abilities rather than their age. There is a lack of credible English preschools in the Chiba/Tokyo area and we are trying to overcome this problem. I recommend that you take a look at our website at:

www.multiage-education-academy.com

or phone us on 043-309-5887