Explore the dynamic educational offerings at the “International Education Fair Tokyo 2024 Autumn.” This video provides insights into how Tokyo’s international schools blend global educational standards with a deep respect for local culture. From personalized learning environments to specialized programs like the Dalton Plan and AP courses, discover how these institutions cater to the holistic development of students. The video highlights how schools encourage students to pursue their interests, engage in STEM and real-world problem-solving, and maintain a connection to Japanese heritage, all within Tokyo’s vibrant educational community.
Transcript
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as a part-time student uh they can you
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know start from one subject so for
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example we have AP so those who go to uh
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normal Japanese school and if they’re
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good at math they take uh calculus AB or
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Calculus BC AP or for example statistics
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or AP economics macroeconomics
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microeconomics something like that so
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for elementary school students or Junior
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High School students if they want to you
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know uh strengthen their English skills
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they take ESO classes where they can you
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know strengthen listening speaking
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reading writing skills so even uh and
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even those those who go to in
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international school if they think their
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academics is not enough they you know
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take primary or lower secondary or igcc
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classes to strengthen their um for
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example English science or math skills
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so yeah and you can start from one
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subject so you can actually use our
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school as Juku as
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well we’re a new school and we just
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opened in 2019 and our school is founded
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on the dalan plan which was founded by
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uh Helen Parkers um in America over 100
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years years ago so it’s a it’s a very
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old um philosophy and has a lot of Rich
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history and um as some of you may know
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there’s a very famous Dalton School in
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New York based around and there are lots
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of Dalton schools internationally that
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also are based around the plan and the
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plan focuses really on freedom and
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cooperation independent thinking and is
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very student centered learning so
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students are free to pursue their own
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interests and really deepen their
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understanding and learning about things
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they are interested in so we really want
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to um install us a love of learning and
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let them pursue their own interests and
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um their own passions oh that’s great
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and what are some of those uh passions
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that they can uh pursue here either in
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the classroom or outside of the
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classroom well we offer um the a thing
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called inquiry lab which uh different
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theme Labs so right um you know as
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Junior High School students they don’t
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have a lot of experience and they’re not
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really quite sure which path they want
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to take so we aim to expose them to a
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lot of different um different things and
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different interests and passions and uh
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we have theme Labs where they can take
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every Friday um and they sign up for
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things that seem interesting to them and
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they can challenge those and experience
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different um paths that they can
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take I think in Japan now uh the parents
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want the kids to learn English so they
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are more inclined towards international
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school then second is of course they get
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to choose between the curriculums right
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because we have different curriculums
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they have that option then it is a
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global school network so our school is
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not only located in Japan but different
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countries like Singapore Vietnam Korea
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uh so if at any point they relocate they
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get that seamless transfer to other
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countries other parts of the school and
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we not only um focus on academics but we
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have wide co-curricular activities also
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so we have yoga we have karate we have
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ego origami so I think these are the
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pretty few USPS of our school which
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bring the parents
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here most important thing is we invite
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um the the professional and also the
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entrepreneurs from different uh Fields
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then um we ask them to speak about their
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business to the to the children to the
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students directly and um there are many
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chances for the students to think about
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the world and you know the society and
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they try to connect their studies and
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the the real things in know world yeah
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do um the kids have many opportunities
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to go outside of the campus as well yes
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they they also visit companies and
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different places and investigate
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things yeah so we have three unique
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schools uh located in Pasadena New York
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and Oxford so each school is completely
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different in Pasadena we’re we have a
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very Progressive high school that’s
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focused on Project based learning uh as
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well as getting a US diploma and in New
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York we have
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uh an IB program as well as AP courses
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and a standard US diploma and then
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Oxford is specifically for a levels so
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11th and 12th grade
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students and you come here to uh Japan
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because you’re not because you have a
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school here but because you’re a full
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boarding uh school as well that’s right
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yeah we have found that uh it’s very
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popular in Japan for families to send
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their children over Seas uh and so
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what’s unique about EF Academy is that
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it is truly an international boarding
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school so we have students from over 60
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countries uh living on our campus and
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attending our
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schools the things that draw parents to
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kis I think is the
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personalized learning the personalized
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education that we offer um especially
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with the small class sizes as the Middle
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School principal I know all the families
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in the community I’ve met with them face
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to face I know all their students I know
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their
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needs um and their strengths and I think
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it’s that connection it’s that
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understanding that oh if I send my child
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to this school they’re not just going to
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be like a number amongst thousands
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uh the whole experience is tailored and
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designed for their own kids I think that
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draws a lot of people that and uh we
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have especially like a caring atmosphere
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um like I mentioned uh they call us by
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our first names a lot of effort is put
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into creating an atmosphere where um the
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students are managed in a positive way
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be behavior is managed in a positive way
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learning is done in a fun and creative
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way all these things create they’re the
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building blocks to I think our school um
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and um like one example of that sorry if
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I don’t go too long one example of that
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is in the middle of the week on
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Wednesdays um we don’t have a normal
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schedule we have an elective schedule
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where all the hobbies and interests and
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the requests from students we try to we
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try to create a a a huge menu of
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elective classes from cooking to chess
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to Table Tennis right to uh there
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there’s Sports there’s art and painting
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and uh there’s also academic classes
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from philosophy robotics engineering um
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it’s just we go completely off
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curriculum every week and we bend that
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5day work week monotony so there’s this
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really special day in the middle of
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every week kids love that parents love
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it they learn a lot of skills that you
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don’t really get in the normal
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curriculums I think that’s a huge a huge
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point that keeps kids at our
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school so we started about 30 years ago
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and was started by a mother who wanted
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to provide a a kind of education for
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young children she wanted children to be
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happy to be confident to be enjoying
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their childhood rather than be you know
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ask to do things and you know fill out
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worksheets Etc she wanted learning to be
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enjoyable and fun so that was the
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original philosophy and we’re quite
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happy that we’ve stayed on and we’ve
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committed to that philosophy over the
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years so we start as with children as
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young as infant can go all the way to
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high school and one of the reasons why
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family come back to us is because it is
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like a second home for them Community is
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very very important for us our schools
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are Boutique and size but that also
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translates into a highly personalized
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level of conversation communication and
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Community with our families the other
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reason why we feel families come to us
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and we a very International Community is
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because of the language Provisions that
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we offer so we are very committed to
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bilingual foundation so Chinese Japanese
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and other languages are a big part of
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our program and we also have a very
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diverse range of nationalities so we’re
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not really a British or an American or
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Singapore we’re you know an
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International Community of D so we in
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the nationality of our staff we me in
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the nationality of the families who come
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to us we’re very very
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tiess most of parents are pretty amazed
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how much education especially English
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acquisition uh their children can learn
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and uh in the preschool and and then
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after that um when they happy with um
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what they do and what how they are they
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pursue their education in elementary
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school so um and we have all the unique
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like professional teachers around and we
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basically spend a lot of time inquiring
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what they like how they are and then
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they boost confidence I think children
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purely enjoy their time with their
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friends and
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with that um higher motivation they put
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some energy in academics and then that’s
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why our children’s
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performing in the academics pretty high
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as well um it’s good that um at any
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point end of the elementary school or uh
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Middle School they have a choice if uh
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they want to pursue different career
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different school they could do it in
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Japanese or English
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and if they want to keep their choices
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they um come to the middle school and
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then then finally they usually apply for
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both Japanese school and then um
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overseas School in high school but um
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it’s up to them which whichever they
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want to
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go um we have a whole team of science
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specialist teachers and also in our
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facilities we have um one uh science
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laboratory in each floor of our facility
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so students can actually do um real
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science projects and science
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experiments um also uh we have long-term
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projects short-term projects and uh yeah
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our students say um it’s not just
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science it’s also like we uh we
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emphasize uh stem education so um
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students are actually
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um trying to uh use uh the science
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knowledge that they learn to solve real
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world
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problem we have five buses we have a
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shuttle bus that goes to kabuni station
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um but then the four other buses stop at
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either two or three stations so we go as
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far as azaba juban and hio station
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um also but then we do more Central like
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sh then we also go a little bit um
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further south
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toag jashi as well Mar col has so has so
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much history if you uh come into school
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you first see the picture of CS Lewis
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yes as of the many names uh so um how do
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you bring so much tradition and culture
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and history into campus here in Japan
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and yet how do you also try to still
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connect to that Japanese community and
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that Japanese culture so I think having
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that really strong connection to the UK
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school um not only through through our
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Headmaster Mike Spencer but um they come
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and visit us often so the Headmaster
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from the UK um just other also members
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and students from the UK will come and
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visit us um it’s really important to
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keep like the house system which is from
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the UK um the uniform the crest
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everything has a really deep meaning and
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connection um but it’s also really
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important to also keep connected to the
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local Japanese um kind of History uh one
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thing in particular is one of our houses
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is House Tab uh for Jun the first woman
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to ever um climb Mount Everest uh we
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actually learned that she originally
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grew up in tachikawa which is not too
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far from our school um and some of the
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teachers in the Kida area actually know
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her family so we have that kind of
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connection um we also connect with like
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the local community International
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Community I myself volunteer in the
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local Koda community so we connect
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connect with those festivals and with
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those people there um we’ll have like
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the local Tea Ceremony club or uh
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different kind of traditional cultural
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clubs will come and visit us and teach
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our students about those things so we
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really want to keep that that mindset of
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we are an international school and a
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British school but we’re also a school
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in Tokyo in Japan so it’s really
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important that we kind of not disregard
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um where we are but also not forget
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where we’ve come from as well
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