The omet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 23 | Issue 3 | March 2020

In this issue...
02...KIST@Facebook
03…Japanese New Year Party
09...K3B Food Choices
09...Celebrating Setsubun
10...G2 Relationships with the Elderly
13...SocialꟷEmotional Skills

17...Secondary Winter Concert
22...CISSMUN 2020
24...Brain Bowl at KIST
25...Jordan Hattar Visits G9
26...KIST Cricketers28...G12 Trip to Ajinomoto

From the Head of School

Dates to Remember

What does it truly mean to be international?
Xenophobia noun

xe·no·pho·bia | \ ˌze-nə-ˈfō-bē-ə: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anythingthat is strange or foreign.

March 2020

The IB mission statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable
and caring young people who help to create a better and more peacefulworld through intercultural understanding and respect.
Through a focus on the learner profile traits, the IB programmes aim to developinternationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity andshared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peacefulworld.
Although not explicitly stated, it can be easily assumed that a goal of the IB is
to build bridges between nations, ethnicities and cultures throughunderstanding and respect, and prevent the development of xenophobic
attitudes within our communities. In times of uncertainty, fearmongering andmedia sensationalism can test our ability to remain unbiased, open-minded
and impartial.
It seems that the recent outbreak and spread of the coronavirus has generated
fear, panic and other unwanted and unnecessary social consequences. Similar
to incidences that occurred during the SARS outbreak 17 years ago, one groupis being condemned simply because of their ethnicity. There have been reportsof people of Chinese descent encountering racism in many regions around theworld. I was saddened as I read an article describing the rise of this type of
xenophobic attitude in my home country of Canada in response to thecoronavirus.
As an international community, it is critical that we stand together and support
one another when faced with challenges such as this outbreak. Rather thanpointing fingers, the people of Wuhan could use our support, not our criticism.
Our school community is composed of a large and brilliant variety ofnationalities and ethnicities. While we may come from different places, we all
share a common humanity.

16-20 (K1-G10) No classes due tocoronavirus
20 (K1-G9) Student-led conferences[Cancelled]
20 (G10) DP options session [To berescheduled]
20 Spring university fair [Cancelled]
20 (G12) DP Visual Arts exhibition[To be rescheduled]
21-29 Spring vacation
30 School resumes for all students

April 2020

6 School photographs (for new andabsent students)
9-10 School musical [Dates to be
confirmed]
10 (K1/K2/K3) Cross country
23 (G1-G10) KIST cross country
meet [New date]
24 (G12) Last day of classes
27-May 1 (G12) DP study week
(G12 teachers available)
27-28 (G9) Camp
29 School day
29 (G5) PYP exhibition [New date]
29 (G8) MYP Community Project
exhibition
30 ISTAA cross country invitational

May 2020

1-22 (G12) DP examinations
2-10 Golden Week vacation
12-13 (G1-G4) English diagnostic
testing
15 (G5) Day campContinued on next page

KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for LifePYP | MYP | DP

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20“ T h e Co m e t ”

2Continued from previous pageIn the book titled Whoever
You Are, the author Mem
Fox reminds us that there
are people like us all aroundthe world. And while we may
have differences, our hearts,
our smiles, and our pains
are the same. Please takethe time to read and listen to
Whoever You Are by Mem
Fox at this link:

As we move through and overcome this latest virus,
let’s stick together, celebrate diversity, and offer
support to those who need it. We all have the choice
to spread either positivity or negativity about others.
As members of an international community, if we aregoing to consider ourselves truly international, I
believe we can and should be thevoice that cares for and supports
those who are being seriously
affected this outbreak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Web
v=f0J6tKoT53Y
b

Dr. Kevin Yoshihara
Head of School

Ruby Bridges, the American civil rights activist said:
I think racism is something that is passed on
and taught to our kids, and that’s a shame. Ourbabies know nothing about hate or racism. Butsoon they learn—and only from us.”

KIST@Facebook
KIST’s official Facebook page now open!
We are excited to announce that, as of last December,
KIST has opened an official Facebook page! The
page will showcase student experiences andsuccesses and allow us to connect with current andformer members of the KIST community, as well asother members of the international school community
both in Tokyo and around the world. Some highlights
will include photos of students and other community
members taking part in lessons, extracurricular
activities, events and more! Please keep in mind,
however, that official school announcements andevent information will continue to be issued primarily
through E-Communications.
We are aware that there are other pages using the
KIST logo on Facebook and are in the process of
having them removed; to avoid confusion, please use
the link at the bottom of this page and look for thepage shown below:

We would like to invite members of the KIST
community to “like” and “follow” our page to stay up todate on the new and exciting
things that happen at KIST
each week. Please feel free to
use the buttons as shown inthe below image. Facebook
also offers the option to leave areview on its pages; we would
love if members of the KIST
community would be willing toshare their good experiences
at KIST with the international
school community by leaving areview. Reviews can be madeusing the menu option asshown in the image to the right.
If you have any questions about the KIST Facebook
page, please don’t hesitate
to contact info@kist.ed.jp.
We are looking forward to
sharing more of ourcommunity through social
media in the future!
Miranda Liu
Facebook
Administratorb
Web

You can access the KIST Facebook page here:
www.facebook.com/pg/k.internationalschooltokyo

V o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0Japanese New Year Party
Our annual Japanese New Year Party was held on
January 29, 2020. This year for the first time, the party
was held in conjunction with World Cultures Day. At
first, we were worried about holding two events on thesame day, but thanks to the support of the community,
everything went smoothly after all. The weather was
fantastic and so warm that we didn’t even need towear our jackets outside. We were happy to see
everyone thoroughly enjoying the event, including theJapanese instructional team.
As in previous years, we again welcomed many sumo
wrestlers from the Musashigawa stable to take part in
the event by performing mock sumo bouts with thestudents. They also helped with the rice cakepounding and demonstrated for students how to makerice cakes. It was a great opportunity for KIST and
KIPS students to learn about traditional rice cakepounding and try taking on the wrestlers in the
wrestling bouts.
Every year, parent volunteers from KIST and KIPS
come to support this event, and this provides a great
opportunity for parents to get to know each otherbetter as they serve the pounded rice cakes to thestudents. We feel it is important for parents to getbetter acquainted in order to build a strong schoolcommunity. We would like to thank all the parents whocame to help us; we couldn’t have done it without you!
We believe this year’s New Year Party was a great
success again, and we look forward to holding theevent again next year. We also hope to continue tointroduce Japanese traditions and culture to our schoolcommunity. And a big thank you once again to theparents and sumo wrestlers from the Musashigawa
stable for your invaluable support!
The Japanese Instructional Team“ T h e Co m et ”

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“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20

Elementary School NewsThe world isn’t such a bad place!
Back when I was young (a long time ago!), the news
was conveyed in basically three ways: the newspaper,
the radio and the television. There was a daily
newspaper we had delivered to our house, wesometimes watched the evening news, andoccasionally we heard the radio news if we weretravelling in our car. These days, in contrast, children
see and hear the news many times a day through 24hour news stations, real-time news broadcasts,
newspapers, online apps, smart speakers, andunending news feeds.
The American Academy of Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry reported that exposure to news such as
natural disasters, catastrophic events and crime
reports can cause stress, anxiety and fear in children.
As parents, there are ways we can help our children
manage the overexposure of negative news and put it
into perspective.
It is first important to recognize that the state of theworld is really not that bad! Psychology Today
described that the news often tells us of “immense
suffering and evil: natural disasters such as hurricanes,
tsunamis, earthquakes, and fires, and humanwrongdoing”. They point out that news reporting
regularly focuses more on the negative aspects of theworld. One reason for this is that journalists often see
themselves as instrumental in guarding society against
corruption, wrongness and evil. By drawing attention to
the wrongness, they feel that they can help to put an
end to it. It is critical that we remember that there isplenty of good in this world, even though it may not bereported on.
So, what can we do? As parents we can lessen thepossible negative effects of the news by watching or
listening to the news with our children and discussing
what has been seen or heard. Kids Health explains thatin order to calm children’s fears about the news,
parents can discuss current
events with their children
regularly and help them tothink through stories they seeor hear about. Asking
questions such as “What do
you think about these
events?” and “How do you
think these things happen?” isalso recommended.
Parents can also point out all the wonderful things we
encounter on a daily basis. An amazing blue sky. The
selflessness of volunteers, like crossing guards who
keep children safe as they cross the street. A person
adopting a dog from an animal shelter. A person
holding a door for a stranger. The list is endless! There
are also websites that focus on positive news. Here area few examples:• Sunny Skyz
• Good News Network• Positive NewsSo, while it is easy
for us to be tricked
into believing that all
hope is lost, it is also
possible for us to getcaught up in thewonder and positivity that surrounds us. There is a lotof good in this world. There are good things, goodexperiences, good people, good actions and goodplaces. We just need to open our eyes and train
ourselves to see the wonder andbeauty!
Dr. Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal
References:• Aacap. (2019, January). News and children. Retrieved fromhttps://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/
Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-The-News067.aspx• KidsHealth. (n.d.). How to Talk to Your Child About the News (forParents) - Nemours KidsHealth. Retrieved from https://
kidshealth.org/en/parents/news.html• Landau, I. (2018, August 28). Is the world really that bad?
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/
finding-meaning-in-imperfect-world/201808/is-the-worldreally-bad

G5 Guitar Virtuosos
As part of their current music unit ofinquiry, G5 students have begun
learning the guitar. This is a new
initiative for KIST. It has been great
seeing students enthusiasticallyspending recess times to practice
guitar outside of class.

V o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0“ T h e Co m et ”

PYP News
Writing diagnostic testing at KIST and the ‘Six Traits of Writing”
I’d like to share some changes that we are making to our writing diagnostic testing; infact, these changes have begun already. In previous years, we have had our students
take diagnostic tests in August in order to give us a baseline level and then again in
May to measure progress over the school year. These tests were past papers from the
National Curriculum for England and while they were effective in giving us accuratescores, it was felt that they were a little outdated and didn’t reflect the type of learning that we promote at KIST.
From June last year, our Grade 5 students have been taking Edexcel exams which, again, are from England but
are updated annually and externally marked. We decided that in order to best prepare our G5s, we would create
similar writing tests for Grades 1 to 4. Instead of doing these twice a year, our students will now be writing shorter
papers, but three times a year: one in November to get a baseline; one in March; and a final paper in May. The
prompts for the writing tasks will be linked directly to the writing genres that we cover. This flexibility also allows us
to change our tests to reflect our units of inquiry if we wish to do so.
You may be aware that we use a framework called the ‘Six Traits of Writing’ to develop more balanced writers. The
six traits are:• Ideas...the writer can develop a single topic to convey a clear message• Organization...the writer reveals ideas in a logical order• Voice...the writer increases reader engagement with intentional feeling, attitude and emotion• Word choice...the writer uses the correct words in the correct place to convey just the right meaning• Sentence fluency...the writer improves the readability of a piece with complete thoughts and sentence variety• Conventions...the writer makes their writing more correct by following the rules of spelling, punctuation,
capitalization and grammar

These new writing diagnostics are better aligned to the principles of this framework, with the students receiving two
different grades from each test: one in form, communication and purpose (which links to organization, ideas,
word choice and voice); and another in grammar, punctuation and spelling (which links to sentence fluency andconventions).
We are confident that these new assessments, as well as the further promotion of the Six Traits of Writing, willcontinue to help our students become more balanced and enthusiastic writers.
For more information on the Six Traits of Writing, visit:Web

https://www.smekenseducation.com/6-Traits-of-Writing.html

Oliver Sullivan
PYP Coordinator56“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20

Early Childhood NewsAt KIST, we are fortunate to have a wonderfully diverse community.
We celebrated this rich diversity recently by having our students’parents come in to share about their own unique cultural heritage.
We had parents share from Mexico, Bulgaria, China, Korea, Japan,
Colombia, England, Lebanon, the Philippines and Tunisia!!
Thank you always for your continued support
towards our children’s learning.
Eri Ozawa
Early Childhood Coordinator (K1ꟷK3)/
K1B Teacher

LondonInternational foodV o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0

K1 Imagination and Creativity through the Arts
During our unit, ‘How we express ourselves,’ the students inquired andexplored lots of different ways of expressing their imagination and creativity
through music and art. Some of the activities they took part in included thefollowing:• Showing their talents and skills by: singing and dancing on the stage while listening to various music
genres.
 using different tools and materials to display their imagination when
painting on an easel; creating a mural; producing unique creations
with blocks, clay, etc.
• Drawing and painting pieces inspired by many famous artists and theirworks such as: Michelangelo: drawing and painting under the table and facing upside-down.
 George Seurat’s Pointillism: using a dot technique with Q-tips to painta picture.
 Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Several Circles’: using different sizes of tubes toprint circles on the paper, and coloring circles to create an abstract
picture.
 Henri Matisse’s cut-out art ‘Drawing with Scissors’: making cut-out
collages by cutting and pasting different shapes of colored paper onto
pieces of black paper, and naming their masterpieces, depending on
their interpretation of their cut-outs.
 Andy Warhol’s pop art: gluing the handprints of their parents or othermembers of their family onto a box of painted paper, and painting
their hands black and printing them onto each handprint.
 Pablo Picasso’s distorted face painting: molding paper
clay and making distorted faces.
Claire Yoneyama
K1A Teacher“ T h e Co m et ”

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“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20

Exploring Different Cultures in K2A
K2A have been exploring different cultures as part of their ‘Where we are in place and time’ unitof inquiry to better understand the world and their place in it. They learned about three different
countries in each continent, and slowly built their knowledge about what they could find there:
animals, food, dress, architecture and much more. They demonstrated collaborative skills andcreativity during their summative assessment task, which was to make a world map that showed
their knowledge of different places. The students worked separately on individual drawings and together to make abackground for their maps and presented what they had made as a group. This activity and unit hopefully madethem excited about the world and gave them a taste for exploring new places!!
Catherine Wells
K2A Teacher

K2 It’s Not a Box
This year, to begin each unit of inquiry,
K2 students have been working together
to create objects relating to each unit’s
central idea with cardboard and various
other resources.
For our first unit, “Who we are,” the K2screated human bodies from recycledresources (cardboard, water bottles,
string and paper rolls) as we werelearning about our bodies. For our second unit, “Where we are inplace and time,” they created dragons for the Vietnamese MidAutumn Festival with cardboard and scrap color paper since we werelearning about places and cultures around the world. In our current
unit, ‘How we express ourselves,’ the K2s created setting props withcardboard and paint to support their understanding of stories, andmore specifically, their settings.
Throughout the course of the year, we have read and reread thewonderful book, Not a Box! This is an excellent book that helps
students begin to see the potential of different materials in a creative,
new perspective. Being able to see simple objects and think of new
ways to use them is exactly what engineers do to accomplish
challenging tasks.
Solving problems and building things with limited resources helps
students develop not only excellent critical thinking skills, but also
their confidence to continue tackling problems that have no simple,
straightforward solution. At KIST, we highly value this type of “out of
the box” thinking, no pun intended!
Axel Norwood
K2B TeacherV o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0

K3B Food Choices
For our third UOI, ‘Who we are,’ K3B students havebeen exploring different food choices that people
make.
During our inquiry, some students have asked great
wonder questions like:Is honey sugar?”
Does it go in the Sweets, Fats and Oils
food group?”
Why do people have different diets?”
Does eating vegetables make you a vegetarian?”
The photos below are some snapshots of our learning experiences thus far:
Making nameko miso soup following Erika’s family recipe (we also made avegetarian-friendly version), making sushi handrolls and observing
everyone’s likes and dislikes, interviewing thepeople at our school about their food choices, doinga sugar water vs. honey water taste test to taste thedifference between sucrose and fructose, andstudying the food pyramid and knowing some namesof important vitamins and minerals topass a “dietician’s test.” ☺
Keep eating healthy, everyone!
Christie Chung
K3B Teacher

Celebrating Setsubun
Setsubun is a traditional Japanese event where
people throw roasted soybeans at “oni” (demons) toprotect themselves, and then eat some of the beans tobring good luck for the new year. Historically, it was
believed that demons would come and cause mischiefin people’s homes, such as breaking and stealing
people’s belongings, but soybeans could magicallyremove their power and protect against their bad luck.
At KIST, students in K1 to K3 celebrated setsubun on
February 3, 2020. Instead of using real beans, thestudents threw handmade “beans” made of paper andclay to scare away the “demons” who visited on theday (courtesy of our bus drivers!), while yelling the
traditional phrase, “oni wa soto, fuku wa
uchi!” (“Demons get out, good luck come in!”). Someof the children were a little scared of the demons at
first, but once we got started, everyone was eager toparticipate. Although they didn’t eat any real soybeans
due to safety reasons, the children thoroughly enjoyedchasing away the demons.
All the children did a great job and enjoyed the chance
to experience traditional Japanese culture. We are all
looking forward to throwing beans on setsubun again
next year!

“ T h e Co m et ”

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“ T h e Co m e t ”

G2 Building Relationships with the Elderly
As a new initiative for the ‘How we organize ourselves’unit, students in Grade 2 have been visiting andbuilding relationships with the residents of a local
elderly care center, the Fukagawa Yasuragi no Sono.
Together with Mr. Sawayama, the center’s director, wehave been collaborating on a year-long project to fill a
specific need in our local community. Our aim has been
twofold: 1) to warm the hearts of the center’s residents
and to brighten their days with the smiles andenthusiasm of our energetic young students, and 2) toprovide an authentic experience for our students topractice genuine care and empathy.
The central idea of the unit is “Individuals impact thefunction of groups.” Prior to each visit, the students
have organized themselves in groups to devise
activities and experiences to share with the residents.
Some examples of the many activities students havewanted to share in the past are origami projects,
singing songs, magic shows, and drawing classes.
Through the process, students have been learning not
only how to communicate within their own group to
avoid friction and bring about smooth collaboration, butalso how to communicate/share their experience withthe residents of the home. They have had a chance tolearn that individuals DO impact the function of groups.
In addition, the elderly care center staff have also been
preparing some collaborative activities for us too.
Students and residents mingled and participated inrehabilitation exercises that are important for theelderly. When students worked together to pass big
rubber balls to each other in a line in a big ball-passing
contest, it became quite heated with excitement andemotion. Students absolutely loved working together
with the residents.
Through these authentic experiences, we hope tonurture empathy, care and respect in our students. As
teachers, it certainly has been amazing to watch theGrade 2 students take on this new project with zeal andthoughtfulness. Hopefully the experience will create
lasting memories that may influence future decisions totake part in community
action service in later
years.
Aya McDonough andTimothy Vodden
G2 Teachers

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20

“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0Elementary ELS
Partnering up and learning language
At KIST, our students are often partnered up to do atask together. The photos you see here, from ouryoungest grades up, show what our classrooms
regularly look like during lessons. Pair work—like group
work—gets children learning in special ways that
individual work doesn’t allow for. On one hand, children
learn social and communication skills—plus the
English to use for those skills; and on the other hand,
they learn about the topic or concept—plus the
English language connected to it. Compared to working
in a group, however, pair work provides both a simpler
social situation and a simpler language situation.
For English language learners, being partnered withsomeone who knows the vocabulary in English alreadycan be the perfect situation to help “tune in” to thelanguage of a topic, without the stress of trying to follow
conversations between two or three other people. It’s
also a chance to practice the language of turn-taking
and connecting your ideas to others’ ideas—skills thatare more difficult to put into practice during group work.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the benefits of pairwork come automatically. Teachers and ELS staff canenhance pair work learning by providing prompts suchas sentence starters, visuals and key words. And, ofcourse, you can help at home, too, by talking in yourhome languages about the topics your child is learning.
This will get your child ready to participate more
confidently in the pair work they do at school and tocatch on to the new vocabulary they hear in English.
This home language support should
never be underestimated. Thank you!

Lia and Yi Qiao (K3B) think together about the book they arereading.

Rury and Soren (G2B) work together to teach each other what theyknow about the present indicative tense.

Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator/
G5 ELS Instructor

Allen and Fuwa (G5A) learn more about the properties of 2D
shapes and the language to describe them as they check theaccuracy of each other’s drawings.

Mei and Riu (K2A) pair up for computer
work to talk together about what they
are working on and practiceteambuilding skills.

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V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20“ T h e Co m e t ”

Elementary SRC
Train manners
The Elementary SRC members are currently working
on a project focusing on etiquette on public
transportation. To provide further advice, we asked JR
workers if they could come to school to explain to us
about manners while using their trains. We had ameeting with the JR representatives and discussed
what kind of topics we wanted them to explain to us.
We were grateful that the JR representatives kindly
made an assembly based on our discussion to suit
our needs.
It was a great opportunity for us to reinforce the IB
learner profile and PYP attributes in order to be
responsible community members: we need to respect
each other and others’ personal space, and we need
to be caring and supportive to the people who require
extra help.

bWeb

https://www.kist.ed.jp/files/pdf/0205.pdf

We also learnt how to deal with emergency situations
such as when earthquakes occur, and what to do attimes when we feel unsafe.

As good manners can be different depending on
where you have previously lived and there are manydifferent cultures around the world, it can be difficult tounderstand what good manners look like in Japan.
We hope these slides give you clear information andguidance on this matter.

They kindly shared the slides they used with us andwe would like to pass them on to you so you can go
through them with your child to reinforce themessages from the assembly.

Oliver Sullivan and
Kana Furnival
Elementary SRC
Mentors

“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 013

LEAP News
Hello KIST
community! I
can hardly
believe that we are halfway into
the school year! In this issue of
The Comet, I would like to sharesome of the ways in which ourstudents got involved in LEAP lastsemester.
• In Ms. Wang and Ms. Joanna’s K3 English Supportclasses, students worked on reading and writing
longer sentences using their knowledge on
diagraphs and high frequency words.
• Ms. Amanda and I looked at producing complete
sentences using capital letters and full stops, alongwith other forms of punctuation including questionand exclamation marks with our G1 students.
• Ms. Rina’s G2 English Support students expanded
their ideas and concepts on various topics that wereintroduced in UOI.
• Ms. Parvathy’s G3 students continued to perfecttheir literacy skills by focusing on making inferences,using fronted adverbials, finding cause and effect,
and drawing conclusions.
• In Ms. Yuko’s English Support class, students paid
close attention to the definition of complex words
that were introduced in their unit on How We

Organize Ourselves by analyzing and discussing themeaning of these words.
• Ms. Rachel used reading comprehension strategies
with her G5 students to help them understandinfographics connected to their unit on Energy.
We have many more exciting and engaging activities instore for our students for Semester 2!
Semester 2 LEAP classes began on January 20, but
you can still apply by filling in an application at:bWeb

https:// kisted.sharepoint.com/CA/SitePages/
LEAP.aspx

Thank you for your continued support.
Miki Kanai
LEAP Coordinator/G1A ELS Instructor

Social–Emotional Skills
Why is developing your child’s social–emotional skills so important?
While most of us view building our children’s academic
skills as a priority, social–emotional skill development
may not always be at the forefront of our minds.
However, positive social and emotional development is
critical in helping children to become successful in theirschool life. These skills influence children’s selfconfidence and empathy, and their ability to develop
meaningful and lasting friendships and partnerships.
They also lend a sense of how important it is to value
those we find around us. Furthermore, social andemotional development has a direct influence onchildren’s academic development.
Here are five social–emotional skill areas that you could
support your child with at home:• Self-awarenessTo support your child in recognizing their own emotions
and feelings, pay attention to their behavior and provide
lots of face-to-face time. Help them identify and nametheir emotions and understand the links between
emotions and behaviors.
• Self-management
Support your child in finding ways to manage their
feelings and how they respond to others. Joining a club
activity is beneficial for building these skills. To deal withanger and frustration, teach them specific routines tohelp them calm down.

• Responsible decision making
Support your child in understanding their goals. Build
their self-esteem by giving age-appropriate tasks andpraise their choices when they complete themsuccessfully.
• Relationships
To support your child in recognizing how others feel,
respecting other people’s opinions, and appreciating
differences, read and discuss books with them and ask
questions such as: “How does this character feel?” and“What would you do?”• Social awareness
Joining a club activity, especially ones involving
teamwork, is beneficial in supporting your child in
becoming a good listener, teaching problem solving
skills, and letting them know when and how to say
sorry.
It is a good idea to build these skills into your daily
routine as much as possible, as they need to besustainable from childhood into teenage and adult life.
If you have any questions regarding yourchild’s social–emotional skills, please do
not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Kana Furnival
Elementary Student Care Coordinator14“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20

KIPS News
From the P1 classroom...
Greetings from KIPS P1! Speaking of greetings, as the year progresses,
the P1 children, who were once too shy to greet their teachers in themorning, have taken to returning our “Good morning, P1 class!” with ahearty “Good morning!”
Greetings aren’t the only area in which the students have shown us how much they’re growing
and learning. Out of the 8 terms in a year at KIPS, we are now entering Term 5, and we’reamazed to see how much the children have already progressed. During each term, we
introduce picture books, songs and other activities related to the term theme and the current
season. At the beginning of the year, the children listened to the unfamiliar stories quietly andswayed their bodies to the music, but they were not able to engage in the activities yet. Now,
only a few months later, we see them joining in repeating familiar phrases and stories during story time and happily copying theteachers’ dance moves while singing along to their favorite songs. We are so excited to see their growth!
In recent seasonal activities, we celebrated Setsubun with a visit from some Japanese oni, who talked to the children about
Setsubun celebrations and brought holly leaves for the children to touch. It was the first time for many of the children toexperience holly leaves, and they were curious to touch the pointy edges and tell us “it hurts if you touch here!” They also sangthe Japanese song “Oni no Pantsu” and got to try out mame-maki by throwing balls at the oni and shouting “oni wa soto!” (“Getout, demons!”)
During Japanese specialist classes, a volunteer from the local library comes once a month to sing songs, read stories and playgames in Japanese with the children. At first, the children were too shy to interact with the volunteers, but now, they greet themwith a smile and a high five, actively participate for the 20-minute session, and say, “Thank you!” politely at the end of each visit.
Finally, the P1 class participated in World Cultures Day at KIST in January. We were excited to meet the sumo wrestlers andparticipate in traditional Japanese culture such as pounding mochi. Somestudents were a little scared by the big sumo wrestlers, but inthe end, we took lots of photos with them and had a great time.
We were proud to see the children actively interacting andparticipating in this big event, and once again were happy to see
how much they have grown.
Hitomi Shimizu
P1 Teacher

From the P2 classroom...
After welcoming a new student in January, we started the new year with 10 students in
P2. We are so proud to see students accomplishing things that they weren’t able to do
before the winter vacation and to see how much they had grown in that time. When theyborrow toys, they have learned to ask their friends things like, “Can I use it?” and to say“Please,” nicely, and we see them playing together happily with their friends more andmore.
During Term 4, students enjoyed learning through fun activities around the theme Shapes
and Colors. At the beginning of the term, students more or less had some idea about theshapes and colors, but they weren’t able to answer the names of each confidently andcorrectly. By the end of the term, however, they not only could confidently name eachshape and color, but both inside and outside KIPS, students eagerly pointed out different
shapes and colors, excitedly informing us things like, “I found green!” They learned songs
about colors and shapes which they sang while dancing along, and we could even hearthem happily humming the songs during our walks with a smile. The children are excited
to perform the song “Dancing Shapes” for everyone at the Spring Concert!
We are looking forward to supporting the students and watching them grow even moreduring the remaining half of the school year.
Yoshimi Machida
P2 Teacher

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MYP News
MYP students create portfolios to reflect onlearning
Each year the student-led conferences provide a great
opportunity for MYP students to stop and reflect on theirlearning and share their progress with their families. This year,
due to the coronavirus situation, the conferences will be held ina different format. Details will be announced at a later date.
An ability to step back and think about ourselves—ourstrengths and limitations—is an essential component ofteaching and learning in the IB. ‘Reflective’ is among theattributes in the IB learner profile. Teachers encourage
students to explore and express their thinking day-to-day inlessons and at the end of units.

G6A students reflect on the changes they’ve made from thefirst day of class this year.

The MYP portfolio, completed
over three to four weeks ofAdvisory classes, asks
students to look back over arange of experiences in the
MYP this year. Each of theG8s reflect on their experience performing during a summative
areas for examination—assessment in studying Romeo and Juliet in English.
Academic Progress, School
Life, MYP Essentials, Organization for Learning—allows students to see just how
complex their learning is. The portfolio works as a place to gather evidence tosupport students’ conclusions about what they’re doing well, what they need to
improve, and where they see the progress they’ve made.
The final step in the process is sharing the portfolios with families during thestudent-led conferences. The students work with an outline so thatthey can share what they’ve found in their investigation of theirlearning for the year.
G7s reflecting on their time at camp
and what they learned from working toprepare their own meal.

Robert WhiteMYP Coordinator

Japanese Haiku Contest
A haiku contest was held for students in G6 to G10 Japaneseclasses. Three students from classes of different language
levels participated in the contest as one team. The theme wasto introduce winter in Japan using haiku and calligraphy.
Students chose the best team from each grade. Each winnerreceived a certificate from Mr. Cowe and Mr. Rose.

Congratulations to the winners of
the Japanese haiku contest!

Jiani (G6A) with Mr. Cowe

Kaito (G8B) with Mr. Rose

G6 – Jiani, Lander, Rigel
G7 – Feiru, Donna, Mano
G8 – Nishka, Kaito, Hina
G9 – Nehal, Tomoko, Mariko, Hriday
G10 – Minn Thant, Rina, Satoshi

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DP News
One of the things that our DP students have beenworking on this school year is to develop noncognitive skills during the two years of the DP.
Research from the High/Scope Perry Preschool
Study, a scientific experiment that identified both theshort- and long-term effects of a high-qualitypreschool education program for young children has
shown that the possession of the nine non-cognitive
skills below are important determinants of success in
life.
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•
•
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Self-perception
Motivation
Perseverance
Self-control
Metacognitive strategies
Social competencies
Resilience and coping
Creativity
The Big Five (openness to newexperience, conscientiousness,extraversion, agreeableness,emotional stability)

Many of the above non-cognitive skills are in fact
incorporated in the IB learner profile and the DP
subject group aims. For example, one of the aims inGroup 5 (Mathematics) is to develop logical, criticaland creative thinking, and patience and persistence inproblem-solving. This aim itself contains three noncognitive skills (Creativity, Perseverance, Resilienceand coping). Similarly, the aim to enable students toappreciate the moral, social and ethical implications
arising from the work of mathematicians and theapplications of mathematics is linked with The Big
Five (extraversion; showing interest towards outerworld).
KIST seeks for all learners to demonstrate excellencein academics as we believe that the process of andattaining a high score on the final DP examinations at
the end of Grade 12 provides evidence that students
have acquired both cognitive and non-cognitive skills
at a high level through achieving the aims of the DP.
From the nine factors identified as potential key noncognitive skills of young people, Grade 11 and 12
students were asked to choose up to two noncognitive skills that they want to acquire or improvethrough their time in the DP. Students have met, andwill continue meeting with the DP Coordinator once asemester to set goals and discuss their progress on
the attainment of the non-cognitive skills.
Below are reflections written by our DP students on
their experience of the non-cognitive
skills goal setting task.
Hiro Komaki
DP Coordinator

Yui (G12A)

Anya (G11A)

T

T

o ensure success in the DP life and beyond,the implementation of the non-cognitive
skills by our DP Coordinator was crucial. The DP
curriculum itself has the IB Learner Profile,designed to develop both cognitive and non-cognitive skills
through the IB. Cognitive skills and academic success canoften be reflected and measured through report cards andgrades. But little did I know that non-cognitive skills wereplaying a big role in my overall learning. It may seem
evident that throughout the DP course at KIST, we all havebeen using some non-cognitive skills, but we rarely get the
chance to reflect upon them. In semester 1 of Grade 12, I
realized that I already possessed some of the noncognitive skills but was lacking on Creativity and Social
competencies. During semester 1, we completed most of
the internal assessments (IA) which often includes a rubric
component of “personal engagement”. I saw this as anopportunity to improve on my Creativity, and tried to
explore topics in unique, engaging and abnormal ways.
The result was that in most of these creativity criteria, I
successfully ended up getting the top bands. Now for theSocial competencies, I felt that I had still not acquired mygoals for semester 1 and decided to work on it further
during semester 2. In order to improve on my Social
competencies, I decided to take part in the Grade 12
Graduation Committee in this semester and am looking toeffectively lead and plan events while maintaining
everybody’s participation through good communication. I
am looking forward to improving my Social competencies
in semester 2.

he non-cognitive skill I chose to work on in
the past semester was Emotional stability.
After a minor setback or obstacle, I often foundmyself getting easily discouraged, which is the
specific aspect of my emotional instability I chose to focus
on. Being an infamous pessimist, whether it be an
unsatisfactory grade or a personal challenge, I had thetendency to fixate on the negative elements of a situation.
Academically, as a glass half empty person, getting what I
considered to be unsatisfactory grades automaticallymeant I was ‘failing’ and I would start to doubt my abilities.
To be blunt and to introduce an anecdote of mine, from the
beginning of this academic year to the semester 1 exam, I
managed to improve my score on my biology tests by 15%
from an average of 76% to 91% in my semester exam.
Frankly, I can say with confidence that this was due to my
improved emotional stability. Initially, I planned on relying
on my friends as a source of comfort and to consult themto do so. While this did help, it was ultimately myself who
was able to make the biggest change. By starting withsmall steps, such as being more organized and engaging
in my hobbies, I began developing a more optimistic output
on life, ultimately leading to increased emotional stability.
As I built up my confidence on my own, I developed themindset of putting mistakes in the past and striving for
better; which is truly what pushed me forward. Thissemester, I hope to enhance my Social competencies, a
crucial skill needed in any setting. Whatever the skill is,there is no one clear pathway to improving it, but it is
crucial to keep it in mind. In doing so, I naturally started
developing habits that work towards it.

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Secondary Winter Concert
On Friday, December
13—the day before
the winter holiday—
we held ourSecondary WinterConcert in the school
gym. Many families
and students camealong to support the
talented students’performances. Eachof the ‘B’ classes
from G6 to G10
performed as an
ensemble. The music
selections of eachclass ensemble were determined after considering the current
music units and the relation to the general winter theme. The
students prepared for a month in their music classes. Some ofthe students who are talented in dancing also worked on thechoreography of their class performance.
There were also many solo acts that were performed between
the class ensembles by students who volunteered to perform
and who prepared their performances outside of school. Music-related clubs such as the orchestra club, the IGCSE band,and the taiko club also performed to show their achievementsfrom their weekly practices.
There were four amazing MCs—Riu (G6A), Saanvi (G9B),
Ketan (G9B) and Minn (G10A)—who helped make theconcert more enjoyable. The backstage team, led by Daigo(G10B), showed their teamwork by leading the concert to be
as smooth as possible. The concert reflected what thestudents are learning in music class and it gave the students aholiday spirit before the long break.
If you missed the concert this time, you can always come to
our next musical event, the End-of-Year Concert, which will
be held at the Tower Hall Funabori on Friday,
June 12.
Makiko DuranSecondary Music Teacher“ T h e Co m et ”

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Academic Scholarships
KIST Scholars’ Awards
Bronze Award(25% tuition discount)

2 students

Silver Award(50% tuition discount)

2 students

Each year, students in Grades 8 to 11 who meet set criteria are eligible to apply for
KIST Scholars’ Awards. There are four categories of Scholars Awards to recognize
students who exemplify our school mission by making significant contributions to ourcommunities through academic excellence and as role models for other students.
After an extensive selection process that took place earlier in the year and involved
the submission of an initial written application with supporting teacher
recommendations, as well as an individual interview for all those who passed thescreening stage, a total of four students received awards.
Congratulations to all awardees and their families!

Click the link below for more information about academic scholarships offered at KIST, and how and when to
apply.
Web http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/197

Wall of Honor 2019–20
Every semester, we recognize students in Grade 6–8 for being rolemodels in their class in line with the IB Learner Profile. These attributes
are long-term positive goals for students to strive towards to become
motivated and effective learners for life.
Students are nominated by their peers, so it
really is an honor to be chosen. Nominatedstudents put their handprints on the Wall of
Honor.
Congratulations to the winners of the Wall of
Honor awards for the 2019–20 school year in
Semester 1!

G6A

Saku

Caring

G6A

Jiani

Balanced

G6B

Ewan

Caring

G6B

MamikoPrincipled

G7A

Nao

Caring

G7A

Shota

Principled

G7B

Prakariti

Caring

G7B

Aryan

Caring

G8A

Simba

Knowledgeable

G8A

Luer

Caring

G8B

Kiichiro

Knowledgeable

G8B

Ayami

BalancedV o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0“ T h e Co m et ”

I&S Visiting Speaker
Mr. Matthew Williams and the plight ofblack people in South Africa

Mr. Williams is currently a student of False Bay
College where he is studying in his senior phase.
Born in post-Apartheid South Africa, Mr. Williams,
who visited KIST on January 16, presented to us
the history of oppression under the Apartheid laws and a shocking first-handed experience of living in a country
recovering from the wound of racial divides.

Mr. Williams’ experiences living in South Africa—The difficulties
he and his colleagues face on a daily basis in South Africa

Mr. Williams shared with us about his life growing up in the Vrygrond Township.
Townships are specific areas which were set aside for non-white occupation during
the time when Apartheid still existed; a primary encounter to the impacts of theApartheid laws that still remain today. He explained to us how he spent hischildhood in poverty, with is parents unable to fully sustain his family—which was
not uncommon in the township. From a young age he had to learn to fend for
himself in the dangerous neighborhood, finding the most difficulty in continuing
school himself, telling us about a shocking past of beinga gang member and dropping out of middle school. He
highlighted how young children were constantly looking up to gangsters andunfortunately had involved themselves in drugs, alcohol, and violence. He said he andmany of his friends were victims of violence, and he emphasized how he had to carry aweapon at all times, even when attending school.
He shared with us episodes of being chased by other gang members in a different
township when attending school and a shocking experience of being stabbed twice.

How he has escaped his life in South Africa

The turning point in his life, he said, was when he switched on his motivationand decided to focus on getting an education. He explained how faith in a
religion—going to church—gave him the starting motivation to change. He
quit doing drugs, left his gang, and completed his high school education andwas successfully able to enter a college. He was scouted into Projects
Abroad through his skills in debate which is the reason why we were able tohave this valuable learning experience.

Why he wants the world to know his message

Mr. Williams emphasized how the lack of education as a norm for black South African people, was a root cause of
the poverty and social inequality in the country. As previously mentioned, gangs and gang-related crimes are still
extremely common, and this causes young children and capable adults to lose the opportunity to finish theeducation which could change their lives, and give them more job opportunities. He also stressed how the South
African government was not functioning as well as the people wished, although he did mention several
organizations which strived to help the people escape poverty.

What did you learn from the presentation and how canthat help you going forward?

Mr. Williams’s story and experiences were so incommensurable toours, many of us were aghast and disillusioned. Mr. Williams gave us acompletely new perspective on poverty and racial conflicts and we wereable to encounter a reality that we could never have understood unlesshe openly shared his experience with us, and for that, we would like tothank him greatly. This whole session had a very positive impact on ourperspective of the world. We were all inspired and realized the value of
receiving an education. We recognized that the intense studies andassessments that we take for granted are life changing
in the world in South Africa. Thus, we students areencouraged to put even more effort into out education
so that we could grow up as knowledgeable andcompassionate adults.
Eleina (G10A)

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KIST aims to develop responsible citizens who makemeaningful contributions to our communities. This newseries in The Comet looks at some of the efforts
through which KIST students are working to make theworld a better place.
The first installment of this series features the Kodomo
Shokudo service committee. KIST students are working
together with the Kodomo Shokudo Network, acollection of non-profit organizations located acrossJapan that aim to provide a safe, healthy environment
for children and adults suffering from loneliness,caused by poverty or other social issues. Kodomo
Shokudo provides a space where people can gather
and spend time playing games and eating together.
There are hundreds of Kodomo Shokudo locations
across Japan – 12 of which are located around Kotoku.
Riya (G11A), our Student Representative Council
President, first discovered Kodomo Shokudo in Grade
9 when she was doing research about single mothers
for an Individuals and Societies assessment task. While
researching about single mother poverty in Japan, she

was also surprised to learn that one inseven children in Japan lives under
the poverty line. This experience left a strong
impression on Riya and, as part of her service
commitment for IBDP, she knew that Kodomo Shokudo
could be a great opportunity for her to contribute to her
local community and improve the lives of thesechildren.
From the start of this year, Riya, along with Kaoru(G11A), Min Seung (G11B), Sujin (G11B), Uri (G11A)
and Michiko (G11A) have begun volunteering at two
Kodomo Shokudo locations: Sumiyoshi and Toyocho.
They also organized a school activity for students todonate chocolates on Valentine’s Day which were
given to children at Kodomo Shokudo locations. With
the support of our community, they were able to collecta lot of chocolate (see picture) and put smiles on thefaces of many children! A special THANK YOU to all in
our community who supported this effort!
Riya and her team are looking to expand the Kodomo
Shokudo service program so if you are interested inhelping too, be sure to get in touch with Riya!

Valentine’s Day chocolate collection

At the Toyocho location

Enjoying dinner with the kids

Helping out with serving

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Student Care Update
Social awareness and relationship skills inadvisory
We hope that you are all staying safe and healthy
through this tumultuous time. As part of our Advisory
program, students have been working on Social
Awareness and Relationship Skills. In difficult times,
empathy, respecting others, and effective
communication become even more vital.
ReachOut defines a good friend as having some of
the following traits:• is there for you, no matter what
• doesn’t judge you• doesn’t put you down or deliberately hurt yourfeelings• is kind and respectful to you• is someone whose company you enjoy• is loyal• is trustworthy and willing to tell you the truth,
even when it’s hard for you to hear• laughs with you• sticks around when things get tough• makes you smile• is there to listen• comforts you when you cry
As students get older, the social issues that they facechange. Therefore, our lessons are very different
throughout the grades, but there are common themesof respect, kindness and teamwork throughout.
Students in G6 and G7 have been considering ways to
be a good friend, even in difficult situations. Students
considered different traits of a good friend and what
was important in a friendship. Then they created skits
to show both effective and ineffective ways to deal withfriends who are having a tough time. Advisory class
was a bit loud for a few weeks, but we had some really
important conversations about respecting our peers
and being supportive through difficult times.

The Tokyo English Life Line (TELL) organization cameto visit KIST in February to talk to our G8 and G9
students about what makes a healthy relationship, withfamily members, friendship, and even romantic
relationships. Students were able to talk about how
mutual respect is vital in a variety of situations bylooking at case studies of different healthy andunhealthy relationships. Finally, all students walked
away knowing that there are people who we can talk tohere at school if we feel like we are not being respected
in a relationship. While conversations like this can be
uncomfortable, it is very important to know that wehave a right to be valued in any relationship we are apart of.
G9s considered what values were important to them,
then worked in groups to create a product to exemplify
this. Group work can bring out the worst in people
sometimes, so they had to consider what makes agood leader, a good team member, and effective
teamwork to achieve something great. The students
came up with many creative ways to show the different
values they want to embody.
The G10s learnt the value of formulating study-groups
and how they could support each other inunderstanding complex issues linked to a range ofsubjects. Study groups are an effective study techniqueto remain accountable to others while tracking one’s
progress in learning. It is also a less intimidating setting
for sharing of different fears, queries and knowledge,
which creates a support network for all those involved.
Anna Holdaway
Student Care Coordinator (G6ꟷG8)

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CISSMUN 2020
A great MUN experience
January was an exciting month for
MUN club members, as we had
our first experience abroad at MUN
at Concordia International Schoolin Shanghai! The CISSMUN
conference was an extensive three-day international conference
involving many committees dealing
with real-life topics such as
equality, economic and social
issues, international relations,conflict and the environment.
Under the theme of “dignity andhuman rights”, delegates hadheated debate and constructive
discussion on how we can create
resolutions to related problems theworld faces today.
When we first arrived at theschool, we were amazed at themassive scale of the conference –there were more than a thousand
delegates sitting in the gymnasium
at the opening ceremony! Apartfrom the speeches done by thesecretary-general and advisors of
CISSMUN, we were fortunate tohear from a keynote speaker Ms.
Mariatu Kamara, who shared hercompelling story of her life in
Sierra Leone during a civil war.
When we separated into ourcommittees, we were all a bit
anxious seeing so many new
people and thinking about how our
speeches and debate session

Shanghai MUN students and teachers enjoying a meal after the conference.

would go. However, we eventually
got into the discussion and createdblocs with other delegates to draft
resolution papers for the topic of
our choice. On the following twodays, we participated in thediscussion and debate that wasgoing on to eventually create asolid and feasible resolution to a
problem that the delegates could
vote on. The debates weresometimes tense and nerveracking, but it was mostly quite
exciting as we found topics that wewere passionate to discuss about.
When the debate finally ended withthe knock of the president’s gavel,
we were quite relieved andrealized how this MUN experience
shaped a better understanding of
the teamwork and critical thinking
needed to solve real global issues.

Apart from the MUN debate, we
also enjoyed making new friends
and going out to tour the city of
Shanghai outside of being serious,
diplomatic MUN delegates! We
went on an excursion to The Bund,
where you can see an amazing
panoramic view of the city
buildings and towers of Shanghai,both old and new. We also visited
the shopping district Tianzifang,with its food, gifts and photogenic
streets. Overall, this MUN trip wasa wonderful opportunity to interact
and learn something that connects
to the real world – but at the sametime, we got to havelots of fun exploringnew places andactivities together!
Hanna (G10A)

KIST MUN delegates at the CISSMUN International Conference: front: Hanna (G10A); second row (l. > r.): Mehak (G10B), Saanvi(G9B), Jiaying (G11B), Yukino (G11A), Ryuun (G10B); third row (l. > r.): Helena (G9A), Stephen (G10B), Shiro (G10B), Rei (G10A)

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23

Secondary ELS
Intensive English and Academic Writing: What’s the difference?
The Intensive English and Academic Writing curricula
have been developed by the ELS department tosupport KIST students’ language development
throughout the MYP and IGCSE to ensure future
success in the Diploma Program at Grades 11 and 12.
Both curricula are taught by grade level ELS Instructors
in concert with current classroom content in both
English and I&S class. As such, both the Academic
Writing and Intensive English courses are constantly
reevaluated to ensure that student needs are being met
with appropriate content within a timeframe toadequately support students in upcoming summative
tasks.

While Green’s 3D model of literacy is not strictly
hierarchical, as the nature of language acquisition seeslearners learn each part contemporaneously, although
at differing rates. It stands to reason that as operational
literacy expands deeper understandings of both culturaland critical literacy. To support this, the IE and AW
curricula have been developed to best meet student
needs in these literacy strands.

Curricula for both IE and AW are informed by Green’s
3D Model of Literacy (Green, 2013) which defines
literacy in operational, cultural and critical terms.
Operational literacy is concerned with the nuts andbolts of language such as writing systems, vocabulary
and grammar. Cultural literacy is centered around rules
for the creation of specific text types and language
denoted by position in space and time, whereas critical
literacy sees learners consider power structuresinherent in the production of different text and text
types.

Jade Bonus
Secondary ELS Coordinator

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Intensive English (IE)
Offered from G6–G8 in place of Art/Music class two
periods per week.
First semester is predominately focused on
operational literacy.
Second semester predominately focused on culturalliteracy with revision of recurring issues inoperational literacy.
Cross subject skills focus.
Alignments with texts and text types being taught inclass.

Both courses are detailed below. Should any parents
have questions about either course
please feel free to contact me atjade.bonus@kist.ed.jp.

Reference:
Green, Bill & Beavis, Catherine. (2013). Literacy in 3D. An integrated
perspective in theory and practice. 36.

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Academic Writing (AW)Offered from G6–G10.
Classes run during period 0 either twice (G9–G10)
or three times per week (G6–G8).
Primary focus is on cultural literacy throughout withincreasing consideration of critical literacy in second
semester.
Alignments with texts and text types being taught inclass.

1st Japan Kanji Aptitude Test
To further improvetheir kanji skills,
students in G6 to G10
took a kanji aptitude
test at KIST on Friday,
January 31, 2020
during period 6. The
official results of thetest will be reported tothe school by theJapan Kanji Aptitude
Testing Foundation in
mid-March. The
results will not bereflected in students’ semester reports; however, the test provided
an important opportunity to raise the Japanese proficiency of ourstudents. Kanji is a skill required for the DP starting in G11.

日本漢字能力検定

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Brain Bowl at KIST
A question-and-answer group trivia
competition, led by Mr. Dayaram and Ms.
Chernenko, was held during an advisory
period in early February for the Grade 6
and 7 classes. Students were asked
questions and had to solve puzzles to write
answers on their answer sheets for eight
different rounds. The rounds included
topics such as movies, books, geography
and a very special music round. The
competition was a big success as themixed teams were able to work welltogether and showed great participation.
The winning team from the trivia competition was theninvited to be part of our team to compete in the KPASS
Middle School Brain Bowl competition held at Tokyo
International School on February 12. The participants,
comprising the winning team and selected members of
our Brain Bowl club team were: Ulala (G6A), Haruya(G8B), Saku (G6A), Han (G8B), Shakti (G8B), Ruby
(G8A), Ryan (G8B) and Ayami (G8B).
At the competition at TIS, our students did exceptionallywell. Again, the teams were mixed, and were comprisedof students from different middle schools. Nonetheless,there were top scoring
teams, and each of the
top three teams featured
a KIST student.
Congratulations to Han,
Shakti and Saku who
all contributed so
excellently to theirteams! Well done
students! What aremarkable
Shakti, Han and Saku
achievement!
Brain Bowl club is held every Tuesday after school andwill run for a few more
weeks.
Ron Dayaram andNataliia Chernenko
Club Supervisors

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Jordan Hattar Visits G9
On 24 January 2020, Mr. Jordan Hattar, thefounder of Help4Refugees (an organization
dedicated to advocating for refugees) visited KIST
to talk to the G9s about his work with refugees andhis views on human rights. Learning about thecrisis that refugees face was an eye-opening
experience, and we were able to understand thegravity of some situations people had to cope with.
Mr. Hattar was joined by Saanvi (G9B) and Ketan(G9B) who facilitated the discussion.
The discussion started with a self-introduction by
Mr. Hattar, where we learned about actions hisorganization “Help4Refugees” were taking. We
learned about Mr. Hattar’s personal efforts to raise
funds to buy caravans for the Zaatari Refugee Camp,as well as how he was spreading awareness of thecurrent situation by talking in schools around the world.
When asked what inspired him to help refugees
around the world, we learnt that Mr. Hattar first wanted
to help people when he saw the devastation Hurricane
Katrina brought to citizens in 2005. Soon after, hebecame aware of the refugee crisis in South Sudan
and was shocked by the life-threatening situations
many refugees faced. He started to write articles toraise awareness, and visited South Sudan himself tohelp those in need. We were amazed with how
passionate Mr. Hattar was and his efforts to better the
lives of others.
Then the focus turned to how Mr. Hattar’s core values
shaped him as an individual. He stated that his main
values were empathy, resilience and selflessness. He
reflected how trying to follow these values was notalways easy, but with practice and thinking twice
before he acted, he was able to help others in the best
way possible. As the Grade 9s are learning about core

Photographs: Heet (G9B) and Reed (G9A)

values in our Advisory classes, I realized how having
strong core values will lead to one being able to makea beneficial contribution to society.
Inspired by his story to make a change, the last
question asked in the discussion was how we canmake a difference in the world for any type of crisis weare aware of. Mr. Hattar emphasized that the first stepto making a change is devotion and belief in yourself.
For Mr. Hattar, he listened to countless stories of the
refugees to understand their views. By learning about
their stories, Mr. Hattar felt a deeper connection withthe refugees and his passion to help them increased.
Believing in yourself was also important, because
without the belief that you can change something, youwill be too scared to take any action.
The G9s learned so much about the importance ofhelping others and we are very grateful for the inspiringand meaningful discussion. Thank you,Mr. Hattar!
Sara (G9A)

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KIST Cricketers
KIST students at the Junior Cricket World Cup in South
AfricaIn January 2020, I wasfortunate enough to be selected
to represent Japan at the ICC
U-19 Cricket World Cup alongwith Ishaan (G11A). Cricket is
Yugandhar
Ishaansomething that has been a partof my life since a very youngage, and I am very grateful of the fact that I was able torepresent my country at the highest level for my age
group.
Japan qualified for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup for
the first time in history after winning the ICC East-Asia
Pacific Qualifiers, which were held in May of 2019.
After beating our neighboring island countries of
Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the roadwas open for us to go against the top countries in theworld. As this was for the first time Japan had qualified
for a World Cup, we were very excited for what liedahead but were also mindful of the immense amount oftraining that we would have to do to reach a level atwhich the other nations would play at.
As part of our preparation, we played in Japan against
the Western Province Cricket Club from Sri Lanka, andalso had a 2-week preparatory camp in Brisbane,
Australia to practice against high quality opposition. We
were also introduced to how serious this event would
be as we were asked to sign anti-doping, anticorruption, and Code of Conduct agreements, which
was a first for all of us.
The World Cup was held in South Africa, and wereached Johannesburg on the 11th of January. We had
a week to acclimatize to the conditions, combat jetlag,
and play two warm-up matches before the tournament
began on the 17th of January. Over the course of 3
weeks, we played against New Zealand, India and Sri
Lanka in the Group Stage, and against England,
Canada and Nigeria in the 2nd round of matches.

Playingagainst thebest teams in
the world wasa humbling
experience,and somethingthat all of us
will keep with
us for the restof our lives.
After talking
with some oftheprofessional
players, whoboast lucrative
domestic
contracts
worth around40 million yen, we realized the amount of effort thatthey put in to reach this level; they mentioned that they
practice their skill for almost 7–8 hours every day!
We returned to Japan on the 3rd of February, andalthough we did not achieve the results we were hoping
for, the fact that Japan qualified for a World Cup itself isrepresentative of how fast the sport is growing here, as
well as the potential that Japan Cricket possesses.
This World Cup, which was eventually won by
Bangladesh, has now placed Japan on the cricketing
map, and the popularity of the sport here will only
continue to rise. Everyone involved in Japan cricket hascome back more motivated, and willcontinue to work hard to ensure that thiswas only the first of many future World
Cup appearances to come.
Yugandhar (G11A)

Congratulations, Sara!
Sara (G9A) was
selected as one of 51
winners from 6,518
entries in the youth
category at the 8th“Yuko Kono Tanka
Contest” (sponsoredby Sankei Shimbun)
last August.

別れの日
うまく言葉がでてこない
その静けさが別れの言葉
Tanka is a type ofJapanese poetry
containing 31 syllables in five lines, with fivesyllables in the first and third lines, and seven syllables in the others.

Sara receiving her certificate lastNovember.

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27

G10 I&S Welcomes Visitor
Mr. Clay Bradley and the Civil Rights Movements in the US
On February 13, 2020, the G10 class had the privilegeof listening to an educational and inspirational talk by
Mr. Clay Bradley, a white Southerner who had firsthand experience of racial segregation during the 1950s
to 1960s and the impacts of reformations to the unjust
system. This session was part of the I&S Civil Rights
unit, where we learned about concepts such as
discrimination, slavery and xenophobia; examined civilrights movements in South Africa and the US; anddiscussed whether they have brought about change.
Mr. Bradley was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1958,
four years after the start of the modern civil rights
movement. During the time, racial segregation wasprevalent, especially in Mississippi and the southernstates; Jim Crow laws were enforced to separate
whites from “persons of color” in every aspect of life,
from minute details such as buses and water fountains
to wider aspects in healthcare and education.
According to Mr. Bradley, racism was fueled by theoutraged Southern white slave owners who felt that the
government had stripped them of their “property” after
the Emancipation Proclamation of 1963 which liberated
all enslaved African Americans, of whom the Southern
agriculture-based economy was entirely dependent on.
Mr. Bradley’s father was the owner of multiple
restaurants in Mississippi, and Mr. Bradley would often
help out with the family business during weekends as achild. The restaurant could only serve white customers;
black customers had to go to the back door and ordertake-out. While his brothers and sisters worked at thefront of the restaurant and served white customers, Mr.
Bradley worked at the kitchen which was staffed byblack employees. The exposure to the black
community made him “colorblind,” able to set aside
racial differences and look beyond the color of one’s
skin. He would often argue with his brothers andsisters who made fun of him for having black friends,
and could not understand why the white community
sought to separate themselves from the black
community. He was also considered a “black sheep”
by his family, an outsider secluded from the white
community which had strict rules on how a white
person should look and behave.

However, society waschanging rapidly.
African Americans
began fighting fortheir equality througha series of civil rights movements, including Rosa
Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955–56,
the Albany Movement of 1961–62, and the Selma
Voting Rights Movement of 1965. Multiple civil rights
acts were passed, first in 1957, then in ’60, ’64 and ’68.
Mr. Bradley said that the most memorable reformation
was when schools were desegregated in 1969 and it
became mandatory that the number of white students
equal the number of black students. Although he felt asense of triumph, many white people were still
unwilling to share their living space with another race,including his siblings who transferred to a private
school that was intentionally made unaffordable toblack students. Unable to endure the racism in theSouth, he moved out of Mississippi after college.
Mr. Bradley expressed his concern for the reemerging
racist attitudes in the US, and blames the president,
Donald Trump, for undoing the invaluable
achievements in equality and desegregation that thepeople have fought so hard for. He conveyed themessage that if you look at the past few hundred years
from the beginning of the slave trade to the present,
white people have not lost anything as they were notentitled to anything to begin with. He called upon us
students to treat each other with dignity and respect, tobe vocal against any injustices, and to be lifelong
learners. Overall, this was a valuable and interesting
experience as we were able to look at civil rights
movements from the perspective of a whiteSoutherner, learn about his mindset in dealing withinjustice, and apply this knowledge to our own lives inbecoming compassionate, diligent and knowledgeable
individuals.
Stephen (G10B)

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G12 Trip to Ajinomoto
G12 Business Management students visit the Ajinomoto factory in Kawasaki
Ajinomoto. A word that rings
a bell to all Japanesecitizens. It has stood the testof time in following each
twist and turn of Japan’s
food culture. Now how did
they pull this off for a whole
century beginning in 1909?
On February 3rd, some 19
G12 Business Management
students were fortunate enough to find out. We embarked ona journey through the Ajinomoto Factory tour of their famous
product: the “Hondashi,” soup stock made out of bonito fish,
crucial to the Japanese “umami” factor. But first of all, let us
introduce the whole of the Ajinomoto corporation, in true IB
Business Management fashion.
Ajinomoto Co., Inc (now a PLC) is a biotechnology and foodcompany started in 1908 when Dr. Kikunae Ikeda discovered“umami” from drinking seaweed broth (“kombu dashi”).
Proceeding with his research based on his newfound beliefof “umami” and the kombu dashi, he went on to find thatglutamic acid (a type of amino acid) gave kombu that
distinctive “umami” taste. He then invented seasoning thatused glutamate as its main element. In addition toseasoning, Ajinomoto today sells cooking oils, beverages,
frozen foods, sweeteners, supplements and even skincare
products. In its product line, the food products take up 70%
and the rest of the 30% are made up by products ofAminoScience, a division of the Ajinomoto Group thatspecializes in Amino acids. Its Number 1 product is their own
umami seasoning (90% of consumer purchase) containing
MSG (monosodium glutamate) and comes in a red and white
container with a panda face that all of us are familiar with.
When I asked our tour guide about the health concerns
normally affiliated with these kinds of chemicals, shesmilingly told me that the ingredients that they use now forthis product have been changed to more and moretrustworthy, natural ingredients and this has helped thecompany to convert the name of such seasoning from“chemical artificial flavoring” to “umami.” Ajinomoto also has
expanded its business overseas, setting up many offices in
Asia since the 1920s. With cooperation from leading local
businesses, Ajinomoto now has been developing in Turkey,
the Middle East and Africa.
Ajinomoto employs 34,504 people globally (2019 data) withits main factory in Kawasaki, Japan. However, looking at its
financial information, it is clear they should be wary ofcoming business targets and strategies. Compared to theirbusiness profit in FY3 2016 of ¥98,144 million, FY3 2019saw a fall to ¥92,635 million. Nonetheless, Ajinomoto
continues to secure its position as No. 1 in dry savories(umami and flavor seasonings) on a global scale.
Once we arrived in the foyer of the Ajinomoto factory in

Kawasaki, we were greeted by Ajipanda, theAjinomoto mascot, who we took photos with aswell as our tour guide. She then led us to atheatre room, where we watched an immersive video thatwas projected on all four walls of the room.
In this video, they explained what the Ajinomoto flavoring
was, how it came to be, and a brief introduction about how
Ajinomoto produces their products. We learned that
Ajinomoto is a flavoring that can add umami to food. What isumami? Umami is one of the five basic tastes, alongside
sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness, and is thesavory flavor that is present in broths and cooked meats.
The video explained how in ancient Japan, this umami flavor
was first discovered by people who cooked their seafood in abroth, resulting in a delicious savory flavor. Ajinomoto thendiscovered that this umami comes from an amino acid called
glutamate, and now reproduces this flavor using sugarcane,cassava and wheat.
We then visited the Hondashi grinding room where we wereable to see Ajinomoto’s capital-intensive production
techniques that they have implemented to produce large
quantity of goods. This allowed us to see and apply businessconcepts and production methods that we learned in class inaction while gaining insight into the production methods andquality control measures that Ajinomoto uses to ensure that
their customers receive the best quality products and thatthe production process runs smoothly.
We were fortunate enough to
try one of the production
stages, the Hondashi
shaving process where wewere all given pieces of
Hondashi to shave. After
shaving the Hondashi
pieces, the staff camearound to see whether ourwork matched the standardof quality at Ajinomoto.
Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in meeting the highstandards of quality at Ajinomoto, however it showed us how
important maintaining quality is for a business to meet theircustomer expectations.
We were also fortunate
enough to take part in a small
experiment. Although
Ajinomoto is well-known inJapan it has faced various
criticisms on the health aspectof MSG. Knowing this, I
personally was very nervous totry the MSG myself. However,
our perception of MSG wascompletely changed after weparticipated in a small
experiment at the factory.
Where we first tried miso soup
without MSG or any form of seasoning and later, we tried themiso soup again after adding the MSG. We were all blown
away by the difference in flavor that 4 drops of MSG added.
All in all, the Ajinomoto trip was the perfect end to learning
content in business management class as it allowed us toapply our knowledge and visualize the production processes.
Megu (G12A), Ami (G12B) and Marlinah (G12A)

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Library News
Hokusai Katsushika

The Metropolitan Art Gallery,
New York (The MET) has
recently made available ‘Under
the Wave off Kanagawa’, also
known as ‘The Great Wave’, fromthe series Thirty-six Views ofMount Fuji (ca. 1830–32) by Hokusai Katsushika.

New titles in the LMC

We are pleased to share that the LMC now has more
exciting fiction titles that are due to become movie
adaptions on Netflix, Prime and Hulu in 2020. Why notread the novels before you watch the movies?
Sometimes movies exclude extensive facts, but books
can provide a purposeful way to advance yourknowledge and imagination skills.

Free drawing classes from Katsushika’s ‘Quick
Lessons in Simplified Drawings’, a digital archive of
213,000+ Japanese woodblock prints, and many otherclassic works of Japanese art are now available to
KIST students and parents at:
http://bit.ly/KIST-Libraries
Web >KIST Libraries >Free Online Resources >Art
>Katsushika Hokusai

JSTOR—NEW• For high school
students and Extended Essay students• Full runs of more than 2,600 top scholarly journals in
the humanities, social sciences and sciences• Books• 70,000 DRM-free ebooks from scholarly publishers,
integrated with journals and primary sources on
JSTOR• Thematic collections focus on emerging areas ofresearch and contain multiple types of content,
including journals and research reports. Collections
include Lives of Literature, Security Studies, andSustainability

We have also beenworking to improve the
LMC resources for staff
and have recently
introduced a newcollection of professional
resources in thePedagogy section.
Additionally, we havecatalogued new books inyoung adult, English literature and Encyclopedia
categories. Please visit the LMC to check out the newcollections, and feel free to ask for assistance if you
need it.

It is essential that students read the ‘How to Use
JSTOR’ guide first.

Classroom books

http://bit.ly/KIST-Libraries
Web >KIST Libraries >KIST Online Resources>JSTOR

New school building

Construction of the new schoolbuilding commences shortly,and preparations have begun.
Mr. Tim and Ms. Hema havebeen busy for the last 12
months weeding out andremoving books that are nolonger required by the students
and staff. Almost every
Secondary teacher has helped
in some way with this process.

Scholastic

Mr. Tim with Ms. Kuga

As a result, we identified many books, although dated,that could still serve a purpose. We are very grateful to
Ms. Kuga from the Together with Africa and Asia
Association (TAAA)—an NGO based in Saitama—who
has kindly taken these books.
The TAAA has been assisting education in South Africa
since 1992 mainly by sending about 10,000 English
books every year to disadvantaged schools in rural
areas where education had been neglected during theapartheid, and people still suffer from poverty and massunemployment due to lack of education and skills.
Web http://www.taaa.jp/

Thanks to the fundraisingefforts of the CA Library
Committee last year, theElementary Library wasable to purchase newclassroom library books
for each class in the
Elementary School. Eachclass chose two books,
and students are now
enjoying these in their classrooms!
KIST is once again offering you theopportunity to purchase books in English
from the Scholastic International School
Book Club. This is a program where you
can buy entertaining and educational
materials for the whole family to enjoy.
KIST Libraries receive the equivalent of
20% of all purchases made by KIST
families in rewards points that we canuse to obtain Scholastic books for the
library collection, and for the enjoymentof students using the library. You canpurchase books by visiting the site below.
Orders are due by March 20, so students
can enjoy their new books during Spring
break.
Web http://world.clubs-school.scholastic.co.uk/
kinternational-school-tokyo
Continued on next page30

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Continued from previous page

KISTv

Relive the excitement or
discover for the first time someof the great events andactivities at K. International School.
Web http://bit.ly/KISTv-events• World Cultures Day & Japanese New Year Party(including sumo wrestling)• PE—The Sid Shuffle—G2A & G2B• Winter Celebration 2019: K1–K3, G1–G5, G6–G12• HockeyBook donation

On behalf of the LMC, the Art department and all keen
readers, I would like to thank Mr. Valckx for the fantastic
donation of art books to the LMC. Mr. Valckx was
accompanied by special guest author, Ms. Dumas, who

World Cultures Day
World Cultures Day, combined this year with theJapanese New Year Party (featured earlier in this issueof The Comet), was held on January 29, 2020. Various
activities were held throughout the day and included an
art exhibition, a parade of national costumes by
Elementary students and staff through the Secondary
building, and Japanese-related activities of sumo
wrestling and mochi rice cake making.

In addition, Secondary students conductedpresentations to promote intercultural awareness,
cultural diversity and the support of home languages by
providing engaging classes for Elementary students.
The students put a lot of thought and preparation into
their presentations; some of them even practiced
dances, made videos of their hometowns, and worked
with their families over the winter break to create
informative content to share with the younger students.

Mr. Valckx and Ms. Dumas with the G4As.

introduced her work to Ms. Bethan’s G4 class and Mr.
Luke’s G11 art students.
We look forward to displaying these in our new school
library. Thank you.
KIST Libraries Team“ T h e Co m et ”

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31

Athletics Update
Winter season 2019–20

Due to the coronavirus, all the KIST Basketball teams
were not available for the ISTAA tournaments in early
March, so it was an unfortunate and disappointing earlyend to our season. Our HS and MS boys’ basketballteams had a legitimate chance at winning this year.
Below are some summaries from our coaches for
winter season sports.
Kanto Plain Junior Varsity Boys’ Football (Soccer)
The season for JV Soccer is finally over! It
concluded with a final visit to St. Mary’s fora special Varsity tournament, where they
managed to grab one win against Lycee
Francais Internationale de Tokyo (LFIT) (2–0), although they unfortunately lost games
against the German school and St. Mary’s.
Nonetheless, KIST’s performance against LFIT wasboth very promising and satisfying, especially with a lotof players out through injury. The season also brought
about other moments of elation – the team won fourgames convincingly against the likes of ASIJ, which
demonstrated the vast improvement many players
made. I hope the students take their winning
momentum into the new futsal season and bring about
more success. I have thoroughly enjoyed my timecoaching these students and will miss yelling at
students to ‘drop and give me thirty push-ups.’

Kanto Plain and ISTAA Middle School / U-14 Boys’ BasketballThank you to the MS boys’ basketball teamfor a great season! The boys improved somuch over such a small period of time. I
was impressed with the determination and hard workthat the boys were able to demonstrate during our cold,
early morning practices to our 1-hour-long trips tocompete with other schools. The level of respect,friendship and teamwork I have seen gives me much
optimism to see how they improve next year. Thankyou again! As is our customary cheer: 1, 2, 3 COMETS!
Coach Dayaram

Coach Knuchel

Kanto Plain Middle School Girls’ 8 v 8 Football(Soccer)Through pouring rain, snowy Saturday
fixtures and a spate of injuries, this soccer
season the MS Girls’ Team has shown
exceptional development and team spirit.
With praise from other teams for our fairplay and goal keeping skills, the teamfinished 6th in the league with victories over teams witha much longer legacy. The team has also shown
excellent team spirit in their praise of each other,formation of new friendships and supportive
atmosphere which will hopefully continue into the futsal
season.
Coach ChildISTAA U-18 Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball
The ISTAA U-18 boys’ and girls’ basketballteams were quite busy this year. The girls
participated in an early season 2-day
tournament (WJAA) in mid-December at
YIS that included teams from Nagoya, Senri-Osaka,
and Canadian Academy Kobe international schools.
They won once and lost three games, but all in all it
was a great first experience. In the ISTAA league, theylost matches to LFIT and Columbia but beat CIS, KAIS
and BST. The boys were busy in ISTAA league play as
two schools joined ISTAA this year, Aoba and New
International, making it an 8-team league. There were
key injuries and absences all season, but the boys held
their own for the most part and still finished 4th. A 46–
40 OT thriller at Columbia late in the season was thehigh point.
Kanto Plain and ISTAA Middle School / U-14 Girls’
Basketball
The MS girls’ basketball team started
practicing in mid-January and had a coupleof ISTAA friendly matches losing a 22–21
nail-biter away at LFIT and a 24–14 win athome over Columbia. Unfortunately, the
ISTAA U-14 tournament was postponed as were all of
the scheduled March games in the Kanto Plain league.
Stay tuned.

32“ T h e Co m e t ”

Spotlight on Clubs
Debate Club (Secondary)In debate club, I learned the fundamentals of the World Schools
Debate, and how, as a team, to make a stronger argument than the
opponent team. The debate is structured so that there are three
speakers per team, opposing and proposing the motion. The clubmeetings were mostly preparation which included learning about
the structure, the role of the speakers, organization skills andpractices for the KPASS debate tournament.
In the early tournaments against other international
schools, the teams were notified with the motion inadvance to prepare before the debate. This caused thedebates to be specific and narrow with the topic due tothe extensive research from both teams. I personallyenjoyed the impromptu debates because the teams are
not informed with the motion until one hour before thedebate. In addition, the only sources are a dictionary
and my team’s prior knowledge. This was moreinteresting to me because I was able to attach myknowledge with the motion and make a broader casewhich allowed my team to be flexible and abundant withinformation rather than a narrow topic.
I think that debate club has allowed me to experiencecertain perspectives, and to cooperate andcommunicate with my teammates effectively especiallywhen constructing an argument in an hour.
In addition, debate reinforced my speaking
style to be clear, which is often useful when explaining or convincing.
Kiichiro (G8B)

Karuta Club (Secondary)
The Twelfth Annual Ikusei Shokuiki Karuta Team Tournament washeld for four days from December 25 to December 28, 2019. The
KIST team, consisting of Michiru (G12B), Saki (G11B), Hanano(G10B), and Rinka (G10B) took part in the competition on the finalday.
The eight teams in the alpha bracket divided into A and B groups toparticipate in a round-robin preliminary round. Based on the resultsof this preliminary round, the final matches took place to determine
the winners.
As a team tournament, the winners of each round were determinedbased on the results of one-on-one matches between the fivemembers of each team; the team with three or more individual wins
was considered the winner. KIST, having only four members on ourteam, was at an inherent disadvantage, as we automatically lost one
game in every round; however, we still
managed to place 3rd in the B group during
the preliminary round with one victory and twolosses.
Afterwards, our team was victorious in thematch to determine 5th and 6th places, andplaced in 5th for the alpha bracket.
Congratulations, team!
Etsuo Kamo
Club Supervisor

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Staff 10!
In this month’s Staff 10!,
we are pleased topresent Andrea Ramos
who joined us in August
2018 as a Scienceteacher in the Secondary
School. In addition toteaching Science, she iscurrently the G7B
homeroom advisor.

339) Is there anything you are trying to learn/improveabout yourself at the moment?
I am trying to maintain going to my CrossFit gym 2–3
times a week, to get stronger! I am also constantly
trying to stay informed with current science and newtechnologies and world issues, by reading articles andlistening to podcasts.

The risk-taking Ms Ramos on topof the volcano Tajumulco in1) Tell us something
Guatemala, the highest peak ininteresting about your Central America.
hometown.
I am from a tiny town called Cedaredge in Colorado,
U.S. The town is so small we only have one stop light.
Although it is a tiny town, it is surrounded by the Grand
Mesa which is the longest flat top mountain in theworld, so there are plenty of good places to go hiking,camping and skiing in the winter.

2) What is your favorite place in the world?
My favorite place is Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. A
beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes and Mayan
villages. You use water boat taxis to get to the different
villages. A beautiful place, with beautiful people.
3) Who would you like to meet if you had thechance and why?
I wish I could have met my grandfather. He passed
away before I was born. He was also a teacher andcoach. Many family members say I received myathleticism from him and have many of the samemannerisms he had.
4) Do you have any special skills or talents?
Hmm…this is not a useful talent but I can wiggle myears and walk a short distance on my hands!
5) Please share a little known fact about yourself.
It might not be known that I was a very active memberof my high school Future Farmers of America chapter(FFA), although I am not a farmer, I did learn manyskills such as wood working and welding.
6) What is your most prized possession?
A necklace given to me by my grandma. She gave it tome before I moved abroad, its purpose is to provide
protection. I wear it every day.
7) Which IB learner profile attribute do you mostclosely identify with and why?
Risk-taker. Although I am usually pretty quiet, I amquite the risk-taker. Moving to a new country?
Traveling alone? Skydiving? Deep sea diving? Yes,
please! I don’t think I would be the person I am today
and where I am today, had I not taken many risks. I
love taking calculated risks and trying new things.
8) If you could live your life again, would you doanything differently?
I wouldn’t do anything different. I think all my choices
have built up to this point and I am very happy with
where I am.

10) Do you have any special message for yourfans?
I am so happy and fortunate to have the opportunity tolive and work in such a beautiful country, with beautiful
and kind people!

Secondary SRC
Fighting malnutrition—Table for Two
donation from SRC
Malnutrition is far too common among theunderprivileged. Millions of young children are unable
to get healthy lunches across the world, and this is
one of the most prominent issues that must be
addressed. As such, the SRC chose to organize adance earlier in the year, from which 50% of the total
profit would go to an organization that is trying to solve
this issue.
Table for Two is an NGO that seeks toprovide healthy lunch meals for students
across three central countries: Japan,
the USA and Germany. The method thatthe social firm utilizes is by donating apart of the proceedings earned by themat their restaurants, of which 0.25 cents
per meal is donated towards providing
food for those in need. The company
also accepts donations, which is themethod in which the SRC chooses to support theorganization and fight against the noble cause. Held in
December, the dance revolved around the theme of‘space.’ The SRC organized a unique way to allow
students to invite their friends or loved ones throughan initiative called space date. It involved sending aglowstick to the receiver as well as paying for theirentry. This initiative helped to increase the overall
revenue the SRC earned, which helped to raise funds
for Table for Two. In total, 50,300 yen was donatedthanks to the extensive participation of the secondary
students.
On behalf of the SRC, we thank Secondary students
for their involvement, which allowed us to run asuccessful event and support a prevalent issuepresent in the world. We would also like to inform youthat we will be going forward with new initiatives laterin the year. These include things such as an upcoming
dance, a student suggestion chart, sports workshops,
etc. We hope we can continue to try
and improve the students’ lives within
the school, as well as have a positive
impact on the society outside KIST
through things such as donations.
Ravi (G11B)

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Nurse’s Notes
Food poisoning during summer
Why is food poisoning more common insummer?

Bacteria are present all around us—in ourenvironment (water, air, soil) and in our bodies. Thesebacteria multiply faster in warmer temperatures,
particularly between 32 to 43°C, and in humid
environments. Therefore, we are more likely tocontract food poisoning during periods of warmer
weather when many food products we consume
produce the nutrients and moisture needed forpathogens to flourish. Keeping food unrefrigerated
and/or at an unsafe temperature can cause some of
the most common bacteria and pathogens that cause
food poisoning, Salmonella, Escherichia coli (E-coli)
and campylobacter, to grow to dangerous levels.

What are the most common causes offood poisoning?

• Eating raw or undercooked meat, shellfish or eggs
• Cross contamination: eating food prepared on
surfaces that were in contact with raw meat or
seafood such as cutting boards, tongs, knives orcountertops• Consuming foods that have not been washed orrinsed properly before eating• Consuming pre-prepared food that has been left atroom temperature more than two hours• Transfer of bacteria when the person preparing thefood does not wash his or her hands with soap
before handling food• Consuming animal byproducts such as milk or eggs
contaminated with animal feces

Symptoms of food poisoning

After consuming a contaminated food or drink, it may
take hours or days before symptoms develop.
Symptoms may range from mild to severe and differ
depending on the bacteria ingested. The mostcommon symptoms of food poisoning include:• Abdominal pain
• Nausea• Vomiting• Diarrhea• Fever• Headache• Dehydration
See a doctor if you have severe symptoms
including:• Signs of dehydration (little or no urination,dizziness, severe weakness)• Temperature higher than 38°C
• Frequent vomiting• Diarrhea for more than 3 days
• Blood in stools• Severe abdominal cramping• Neurological symptoms such as muscle weakness
and blurry vision

How to treat food poisoning• Stop eating for a few hours until your stomach
settles.

• Stay hydrated and take care to
replacing the lost fluids andelectrolytes.
• If diarrhea is severe, drink oral
rehydration products such as OS-1 orsports drinks to prevent dehydration.
• Avoid eating fatty and highly seasoned foods until
recovery.
• Get enough rest.
• A doctor may prescribe antibiotics if you havecertain kinds of bacterial food poisoning andsymptoms are severe.

How do we prevent and control foodpoisoning?
Clean• Wash your hands with soap before, during and after
preparing food.
• Wash fresh vegetables, fruit and seafood
thoroughly before cooking.
• Use clean utensils, cutting boards and countertops.
Separate (prevent cross-contamination)• Keep raw foods separate from foods that are readyto eat.
• Use separate cutting boards, plates, chopsticks,
and knives for fresh fruits and vegetables and for
raw meat, seafood, and eggs.
• Cut vegetables and fruits first and then prepare
meats and seafood.
Cook• It is important to cook food both at a high enoughtemperature and for a long enough period of time tokill harmful bacteria.
• Cook meat until the color completely changes all
the way to the center.
• Cook fish and shellfish thoroughly.
• Apply heat to food as thoroughly and evenly as
possible when cooking.
• To safely kill harmful bacteria, these foods must be
cooked to the following temperatures: Poultry: 74°C
 Ground beef: 71°C
 Beef, pork, lamb and veal (steaks, roasts andchops): 63°C
Other points• Refrigerate or freeze perishable foods within twohours of purchasing or preparing them – avoid
leaving the foods at room temperature.
• Defrost food in the refrigerator or using a microwave
before cooking or eating, and avoid leaving foods atroom temperature.
• For those who bring a boxed lunch to school, packice packs near the food to keep it cool.
• If preparing food in advance, divide cooked foodinto shallow containers and store in a refrigerator or
freezer where it will be cooled quickly rather thanremaining at room temperature.
• Discard the food when in doubt: If food has beenleft at room temperature too long or undercooked,
don’t risk food poisoning; throw it away.
Yukiko Yamazaki
School Nurse

Reference:
Tokyo food safety information center. / Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
(February, 2020) Retrieved from https://www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/shokuhin/eng/anzenjoho_index.html

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V o l u me 2 3 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 2 0

35

University Guidance News
University advisory classes
Hello from the University Counseling Offices at KIST.
Now that most of the applications have been
completed for our Grade 12 students and we arepatiently waiting for their results, our focus has
returned to Grades 9–11. Recently, each grade levelhas been working on projects focused on helping themlearn a little bit more about universities around theglobe and how to do their own research.
Keep up to date on any university related events bychecking our University Calendar on SharePoint.
Grade 9G9 students have been researching different regions in
the world and understanding that great universities
exist in almost any country (as referenced by the “Top100” universities determined by the 2020 QS Rankings
picture below). The areas students have done
research on have been US Public/Private, US Liberal
Arts, Canada, Europe and Oceania, UK and Asia.

in university. Keep in mind, however, some countries
like the UK require specific interests at the time of
application and are difficult to change later.

University counselor meetings
Grades 9–12
Thank you to those G9–G12 families that came tomeet with Mrs. Okude and/or Mr. Waterfall over the
past few holiday sessions. As the sessions have beenvery popular, we are sorry if you were unable toschedule a session with us and hope you can meet us
the next time.
Note: If you would like to meet before the next
sessions, there is always the option to schedule ameeting with either counselor during normal working
hours. Please have your child schedule a meeting for
you through the Cialfo program, which has an up-todate calendar with available times for meetings. In thenotes please write “Parents Meeting” as well as any
topics you wish to discuss. It’s as simple as that!

Counselors’ suggestion for parents:
It is very important for our kids to study
somewhere that provides them motivation to
succeed. Please talk with your child and figureout where that might be for them!

！

Grades 10 and 11
In both of these grades, we have focused on
researching subjects and majors. Grade 10 students
need to make their IB subject choices soon and Grade
11 students are busy considering what major to apply
for next autumn. The groups students have focused on
have been in Engineering & Technology, Social
Sciences & Management, Life Sciences &Medicine, Arts & Humanities, Natural Sciences,and Undecided Majors. Research for this can becomplicated as requirements to study biology can bevery different from country to country.
Counselors’ suggestion for parents:
Figuring out what your children are ‘not’interested in can be a good start if they are notsure yet what they want to study. Some students
do not figure out exactly what they want until they are！

Grade 8 and below
We haven’t forgotten about you. Although we do nothave weekly classes yet or schedule regular meetings,
if your family has questions at this early stage, you are
more than welcome to send us an inquiry or schedulea meeting with us via e-mail atkeiko.okude@kist.ed.jp orthomas.waterfall@kist.ed.jp.
Keiko Okude andThomas Waterfall
University GuidanceCounselors

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V ol u me 23 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 20“ T h e Co m e t ”

Alum Interview
Interview with KIST alum, Yurika (Class of 2018)
Mr. Thomas:
Today we are
speaking with a
KIST Graduate
from 2018, Yurika,
who is currently a
student at the University of Tokyo.
Could you please introduce
yourself?
Yurika:Yes, hello. My
name is Yurika
and I came to
KIST when I was in
Grade 6. Before that I
used to live in Malaysia. I have
many interests and also like dogs.
Mr. Thomas:
Thank you for that. Could I
next ask where and what
are you currently
studying?
Yurika:I am currently studying Social
Sciences at the University ofTokyo PEAK JEA (Japan in
East Asia) Program.
Mr. Thomas:
University of Tokyo, great.
Why did you decide toapply for that course?
Was it difficult to get in?
Yurika:I wanted to go to a Japanese
university and study about
Japan. I am Japanese but I
didn’t really have much knowledge
about Japan and its history or
economics for example. I think it
was not too difficult to apply. The
expectations were high to get inregarding IB scores and theinterviews were quite long andintimidating. However, the processitself was straightforward.
Mr. Thomas:
Quite understandable. So,
speaking of the time prior touniversity, what is one
thing you think KIST reallyhelped you prepare for?
Yurika:I would say, the IB classes.
For example, I took
Economics HL at KIST, andI think it prepared me quite well forthe economics classes I am now
taking. Most of the ideas discussedslightly overlap with what we did in
the IB. It isn’t the same topics, butwhen the professor introduces
something new, because my basic
knowledge is already solidified, it
helps me to understand what they
are saying right away.
Mr. Thomas:
Is there something you
wish you could havechanged or done better?
Yurika:I think I would have readmore books andnewspapers. The courses
I’m taking right now, especiallysince they are in the social
sciences, have a lot of required
readings, and we discuss a lot of
current social issues that are
happening right now. Because I
focused on the sciences while at
KIST, I did not spend as much timereading outside of class.

PEAK Class of 2023 on matriculation day, April 2019
(Yurika, Chaehyun center; Jinil, top center)

Mr. Thomas:
What is one piece of advice
you would give to current
students?
Yurika:Make more social
connections. Students should
try taking part in clubs,committees, or anything that isavailable at school. It’s important toparticipate and do something otherthan just studying. When it comesto doing interviews andconnections with professors inuniversity it gives you more to talkabout and makes futureconnections easier.
Mr. Thomas:
Thank you for answering all
my questions today. I verymuch appreciate it. Is there
one last thing you would like to
add for students or families?
Yurika:At first, I often was not thebest student and did not
really get the grades I would
have liked until Grade 10, so I
would really like to give the current
students the reminder that it isnever too late to recover, improveand get yourself to where you want
to be!

Yurika at the PEAK food booth at the Komaba-sai festival,
November 2019