The Comet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 19 | Issue 3 | March 2016

In this issue...
02...Founders’ Awards

11...Secondary Wall of Honor

03...Future Horizons Scholarships

12, 13...Artscape 2016

05...G4 Recycled Instruments

14...Middle School Brain Bowl

07...K3 Fundraising Initiative

15...Awareness of Child Labor

09...Art in All of Us

18...G12 DP Economics Excursion

10...Drama Intensive Workshop at KIST

27...KIST Summer Programs 2016

From the Head of School

DATES TO REMEMBER

Dear KIST Community,
Maybe it is part of not being so ‘young’ anymore but for me each year seems to
be going by quicker – I find it hard to believe that Spring is here already and weare entering the final months of our 2016-17 school year. There are many
events planned between now and June so I am sure the remainder of the year
will go by very quickly as well.
I would like to start off with a big thank you to the Sakamoto family and to our
KIST Community Association for your generous support of our New Year’s
Party. This annual event is a tradition at KIST and is a special opportunity toshare Japanese culture within the school community and one that is looked
forward to each year by students and staff alike. Another event that keeps
getting better and better each year is the World Cultures Day event organizedby our KIST Library Team, again with the support of our KIST Community
Association. The fortunate weather was a wonderful complement to the day as
KIST students and staff enjoyed sharing their various cultures throughcostume, dancing, food and other presentations. It was fabulous to have guest
visitors this year from Fukagawa Elementary School enjoying the festivities
with us. Thank you to everyone involved for your support towards furthering
multicultural understanding through this special event.
I hope that you had the opportunity to attend the MYP Personal Project
Exhibition and enjoy the celebration of learning that our Grade 10 students hadon display for us. The Personal Project is the culminating assessment task of
the MYP and a valuable experience that prepares students well for the
Extended Essay in the DP. Congratulations to all of our Grade 10 students on
accomplishing this milestone – you are now even more ready for success inthe DP. A big thank you goes out to Mr White and to all of our staff who
supported the Grade 10 students during the Personal Project journey. Grade
10 parents as well, thank you for the support and commitment you provided
throughout this learning task.
With the Personal Project now completed, our Grade 10 students are now
looking forward to commencement of the DP as they seriously consider theirpost-graduation plans and make their DP course selections. Each year Visual
Arts is a popular course selection for our DP students and another community
event coming up that is always worth attending is the DP Art Exhibition.
Continued on next page

KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life

March 2016
16 (G2-G3) Mathematics diagnostic
testing
18 (G1-G12) Clubs program ends /(Nu-G5) LEAP classes end
21 Student-led conferences
21 Spring university fair
23 Last day of quarter 3
24 (G9-G12) High school SRC
dance
26-Apr 3 Spring break

April 2016
4 School resumes for all students
4 LEAP classes resume this week
5 (G1-G12) Clubs program
resumes
11 School photographs (for new
and absent students)
20 (G7-G11) Math field day (Hosted@Zama)
22 (G12) Last day of classes
25-29 (G12) DP study week (G12teachers available)
29 School day
29 (G5) PYP exhibition
29 (G10) DP subject options
afternoon for parents and students

May 2016
Apr 30-May 8 Golden Week
vacation
2-20 (G12) DP examinations

KIST is an
IB World
School
PYP | MYP | DP2

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Continued from previous page

Last year our Exhibition was our largest ever and thisyear as well is sure to be another wonderful opportunity
for community members to be thoroughly impressed by
the artistic talents of our DP students. Thank you Mrs
Justice for the countless hours put in to plan for andarrange this community event each year! I look forward
to seeing everyone there on April 8.
It was fantastic to see strong parent support at our PYP
Exhibition information session a couple of weeks ago.
The MPR was packed with parents and students andthere was a positive vibe of excitement and anxiety inthe room as our Grade 5 students embarked on their
final unit of inquiry in the PYP. Students are now wellinto their 10-week journey and I hope that everyone islooking forward to the celebration of the students’learning that will be on display in the gym on April 29. It
is wonderful to see the hard work of our Grade 5
students at the PYP Exhibition – thank you again to allof our parents for your commitment to making this eventa success. And a big thank you as well to Mr Archibald,
Mr Grant, and Ms Parkinson for their hard work guiding
the students as they inquired into their various topics.
With many events between now and the end of theyear, the Spring months are a very busy period at KIST.

Spring is also when ourGrade 12 students fully
immerse themselves inreview of their studies as
they prepare for theupcoming Mock Examination
session in March and for the‘real event’, the DP Examsession in May. Based on
the results from the January Mock Exam session, weare optimistic that this year as well will be anothersuccessful year for our Grade 12 students. To all of ourGrade 12 students – good luck with your studies and beassured that the whole KIST community is cheering for
you to attain your best on your exams.
I hope that you enjoy this edition of The Comet and lookforward to seeing you at one of the many upcoming
events.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

Founders’ Awards
Recipients of this year’s KIST Study Scholarships were announced at
the Secondary Assembly held on Friday, December 18, 2015. The
scholarships recognize students who make a significant contribution to
the school according to its mission, vision and guiding beliefs, and who
demonstrate qualities that truly represent the essence of the spirit of theschool. Congratulations to the four students below who received scholarships this year.

KIST Study Scholarships

Silver Award

Jiaying(G12A)

Bronze Awards

Aska(G10A)

Hana(G11B)

Motoi(G12B)

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Message from the Board President
Future Horizons Scholarship Program (for external students)
KIST has introduced a new scholarship program– the Future Horizons Scholarship Program –to support children who have demonstrated
excellence in academics, exceptional moral
character and the potential to make extraordinary
contributions to our global society in the future as
the next generation of leaders, but who would notnormally have the opportunity to receive a quality
international education due to financial need. The
program is targeted to external students living
either in Japan or abroad who are eligible to enter
Grades 10 or 11, and is partially sponsoredthrough financial contributions received from
corporations, organizations and individuals.
KIST offers an inquiry-based curriculum based onprograms developed by the International
Baccalaureate (IB). These programs are widely
recognized as providing skills and knowledge
essential for children to succeed in our future
global society. KIST is currently the only school inTokyo fully authorized to offer all three IB
programs. Upon completion of the IB Diploma
studied during the final two years of high school,
students take final examinations which areconsidered as an entrance requirement by
universities around the world. In May 2015,
141,828 students from 2,437 schools in 138
countries sat for these examinations. KIST
students achieved exceptionally high scores, andas a result, KIST is currently the highest ranking
school offering the IB Diploma in Japan.
One of the features of our school is that we havea large number of exceptional students who go

on to receive acceptances with full or partial
scholarships form leading universities such as
Princeton University and Stanford University in
the USA, the University of Tokyo and Waseda
University in Japan, and Seoul National
University in South Korea.
At KIST, we offer a number of internal
scholarships to support current students who
have demonstrated excellence. With the successof these internal scholarships, as part of ourcontinuing contribution to our global society, we
have established this new scholarship programfor external students who wish to join us in order
to continue their studies. It is our sincere wish
that by accepting excellent external students
through this scholarship program, we can provide
opportunities to as many students as possible,
and also motivate our current students to achieve
further personal and academic growth, and work
together to achieve our mission of ‘developing
competent individuals who make meaningful
contributions to our global community.’
We would like to ask for your cooperation andsupport for this new initiative.
For more information about the Future Horizons
Scholarship Program, please visit the KIST
website.
Yoshishige Komaki
Board President

Brochures in English and Japanese are also available from the office for companies, organizations andindividuals who may be interested in contributing to the Future Horizons Scholarship Program as sponsors.

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Elementary School NewsInternational-mindedness
Every year I look forward to our World Cultures
Day. This event celebrates the diversity within our
school community and allows us to reflect on ourown backgrounds, who we are, and where we arefrom. Having recently re-read a great article titled“Beyond Food, Flags, and Festivals” from thejournal Educational Leadership, I have beenreflecting on this annual event at KIST. This article
states that George Walker, a past Director Generalof the International Baccalaureate Organization,
was correct in pointing out that “international
education must be more than the five “Fs”—food,festivals, famous people, fashion andflags.” (Skelton, M., Wigford, A., Harper, P., &Reeves, G., 2002). While reading, I began toquestion whether our World Culture Day event
should be redesigned. As I read on, I began toreflect on how international-mindedness isembedded into what we do every day here at KIST;
how it goes beyond this yearly celebration.

Farewell to Ms Ashley!
Last September, KIST welcomed its first teachingintern, Ms Ashley Chin, from Malaysia. Over the
past six months Ms Ashley worked tirelessly tosupport students in the Elementary School andhas now returned to Malaysia to complete heruniversity study to become an elementary school
teacher.
Thank you Ms Ashley for allthat you did for KIST. We wish
you the best with your studies
and hope that you remember
us and come for a visit again!
We will miss you!

Around the world it is common for students to learn
about topics such as transportation, energy, homes
and governments. Through our units of inquiry, we
look at these topics from a different, international
perspective. As Niki Singh (2002) points out in her
article “Becoming international”, each of our units
begin with “a single concise sentence expressing a
globally significant central idea that is truly universal
and worth knowing—and therefore worth study by
any school anywhere in the world.” (p. 57). These
central ideas drive our inquiry beyond the walls of
our classrooms and our national borders.
While our World Cultures Day is a great opportunity
for us to celebrate the diversity within ourcommunity, international mindedness runs deeper
at KIST; our curriculum and our teachers provide
the rich and precious learning experiences whichdevelop deep thinking about international concerns.
The next time your child excitedly describes their
new unit of inquiry, take a minute and think about it;
contemplate its global significance and its
international perspective.
Happy learning!
Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal

Notes:
Singh, N. (2002). Becoming international. Educational
Leadership, 60(2), 56-60.
Skelton, M., Wigford, A., Harper, P., & Reeves, G. (2002).
Beyond food, festivals, and flags. Educational Leadership, 60(2),52-55.

REMINDER
Maths diagnostic testing (G4-10)

May 30, 2016
FREE UK MATHSRESOURCES
Register for free with the website below to access
1000s of math videos and lessons on Key Stage 3
and GCSE math topics. A great resource forreviewing topics in preparation for diagnostic exams
in the secondary school!
http://mathswebsite.com
Click HERE to read an inspiring article about theteacher who created the website. He is shortlisted fora $1 million teaching award!

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PYP News
A sense of wonder
One of the requirements for a truly “inquiry-based
approach” to teaching is the sense of wonder thatteachers foster into their investigations with thestudents. The idea being that children are more willingto push farther in their learning when it is fueled bytheir own curiosity.
Teachers are forever trying to strike that spark ofenthusiasm which wonderment brings. Without thehonest yearning for understanding, the opportunity forlearning becomes a realization of boredom and apathy.
Having experienced the pressure to increase
engagement with an authentic sense of excitement,
I’ve come to realize the importance of “learning for life”
in order to root out the perspectives and qualities thatmake a lesson enchanting. Teachers have to have theG4 Recycled Instruments
As part of their current unit of inquiry, Grade 4
students have been creating musical instruments
using recycled materials, exploring the acoustic
properties of different materials and how sound ismade. Using pet bottles, old cans, rubber bands,
cardboard and other discarded items, students
have invented their own instruments, such as the“Orchestar”, “Guitdrum” and “Shakey Shake”. After
presentations on how each instrument wasconstructed, students will come together in an
ensemble to play their new instruments. Keep an
eye out for the Really Rubbish Orchestra!
Robert Collins
PYP Music Teacher

There are no seven wondersof the world in the eyes of achild. There are seven million.
―Walt Streightiff

same feeling as the students to make the task at handmore than a chore to be dealt with and simply filed
away in a portfolio when finished.
Without a sense of wonder, students and teachers
alike will lose an opportunity to experience our world in
all its complexity and uniqueness. As educators and as
students we need to inject a sense of wonder into ourdaily lives in order to enrich our time that we spend
together.
Clay M. Bradley
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K1 Provocation and Exploration of Transportation
As part of our new unit, ‘How we organize
ourselves’, we planned a provocation
involving modes of transportation. To
challenge the class to consider this, we laida big blue sheet across the floor of theclassroom and asked the question “What isthis?” “What large areas are blue?” Misha
replied, “The sky is blue”, Kei answered,“The map is blue”, and many students
collectively answered, “Water is blue”. Aftertalking about how the blue sheet
represented the ocean, a small island wasplaced at the other side of the blue sheet
and we discussed that this island would be
Hawaii. The class used their thinking skills
to answer the question, “How do you get to
Hawaii?” They were thinking when they
tried to answer the question, and reflectedon possible answers. Each student thenroleplayed how to reach Hawaii by using atissue box as a mode of transport. They
reflected on whether their chosen transport
traveled in the water or in the sky, went fastor slow, and made noise or not. They
showed that they were risk-takers by actingout their chosen method, taking their tissue
boxes to the island.
We went on a journey to visit our friends at
KIPS. From KIST, we walked to Morishita
Station and took the train to Hamacho
Station, then walked to KIPS from there.
We participated in group activities, atesnack together and explored the school.
We met specialist teachers for Dance andMusic and had fun dancing and listening tomusic before our return journey on the train
and by foot. The class were risk-takers
when they took the train as a class for the
first time. They were thinkers when they
considered which mode of transportation
could be used to get there, and reflective
when they drew their pictures describing
their journey and what transportation theyused.
During the unit, we discussed the different
modes of transportation that we use. The
students worked together in groups to
identify and sort different transportation
cards into three categories. The categories
were separated according to travel in thesky, on land and in water. The students
were thinkers when they identified the typeof transportation and reflective when they
considered where it can be found andwhich category to place the card in.
Claire Yoneyama
K1 Teacher

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K3 Fundraising Initiative
As an authentic and engaging way to kick-start ourthird unit, How We Express Ourselves, a unit on
exploring different celebrations as a means ofrecognizing important events in our lives, K3 students
tuned in with a busy agenda ahead of them – to plan asurprise baby shower for K1-K2 teaching assistant,
Ms Angela, a soon-to-be mommy!
Instantly, students came up with great ideas for Ms
Angela’s baby shower and how we should celebrate it,
but we were faced with a small problem: We reallywanted to buy her a gift, but we had no money.
Although many students proposed that they could getmoney by asking their parents, teachers suggested aplan for students to earn their own money! The plan
was to make use of our students’ developing fine
motor and writing skills and make greeting cards ofvarious celebrations to sell (money is also what we’vebeen learning in math so everything tied in nicely!), all
the while exploring why and how thesecelebrations are being celebrated around theworld, as well as learning the appropriate messages
associated with each particular celebration.
Students enjoyed making their greeting cards,
unleashing their creativity as some drew barcodes on
the back, while others included pop-up features like aspringing heart for their Valentine’s Day card.
To our surprise, we sold out and earned much moremoney than we had anticipated; we were able to raise
close to ¥3,000! We are very grateful for having ourdedicated K3 parents who came to support us with a
lot of change in their wallets, as well as the rest of ourlearning community here at KIST including our
teachers, Ms Leslie, Mr Bradley, Mr Yoshihara, Mr
Jones, office staff and students not only from theelementary school, but from the secondary school as
well!!

As a result, we were able to buy a hairpin for Ms
Angela, a teddy bear for her baby, and some balloons
to complement our handmade decorations and cards.
Our surprise baby shower turned out to be a great
success!! However, I must say that the mostfascinating part of all of this was when we were faced
again with another problem: What were we going to
do with the leftover money? After a discussion, both
K3A and K3B students impressed their teachers by
displaying a caring and moral character as they
independently decided to give the money away to“people who don’t have money.” And so that’s what
we did! We took our money down to the elementary
office and requested that it gets
donated to some good cause.
Through this activity, our students
have demonstrated that they are a
step closer in achieving ourschool’s mission, making“meaningful contributions to ourglobal community.” Christie Chung
K3B Teacher

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PYP at KIPS
In this issue of The Comet, we will talkabout what the children in K1 and K2 arelearning during their unit of inquiry time at
KIPS.

K1
In K1, the children are learning about different formsof transportation in their community, as well as thereasons for choosing different transportation systems
for each occasion through the ‘How We Organize
Ourselves’ unit. The K1 class has been out on
several excursions using different forms oftransportation: they took a train from Hamacho station
to Morishita station and walked to KIST; they walked
all the way from KIPS to KIST; they also used aschool bus from KIPS to KIST. Now they say that if
we walk all the way to KIST, it is not good because it
is far, far away and we get tired. They think catching
the train to KIST is also not that good because thewalk from Morisita station to the school took us awhile. They told me that we do not need to catch abus or a train to go to
Hamacho Park (anearby park we often goto) because it is so
close, but we cannot
ride bicycles because it
is not safe. The children
are learning a lot
through these real life
experiences.
Eri Ozawa
KIPS K1 Teacher

K3 How the World Works
The students in K3 learned about simple machines in
the unit How the World Works. The central idea of theunit is “simple machines can make work easier”. To
begin the unit, students were given the task of “cuttingout” hearts or stars from paper. The students all foundit difficult to complete the task because all the scissors
in the class were hidden.
As students became more familiar with the different typesof simple machines, they began to understand that various
jobs require the help of simple machines. One activity thestudents did was to role play jobs such as bakers, hair
dressers, construction workers and paleontologists. The
students especially enjoyed pretending to bepaleontologists! We used a hammer and a minus screw
driver as a wedge to crack open rocks to find fossil leaves.
This activity was made possible with the generous
donation of fossil rocks from the parents of Marie in K3A!
Kay Shinada
K3A Class Teacher

K2
K2 have been exploring the natural world around us
through our unit of inquiry, Sharing the Planet. We
have been talking about the characteristics of living
things and finding living and non-living things aroundour school. We discussed and wrote about what
different living things need to survive. And we havebeen practicing being responsible by taking care of
our new class pet, Snowy the hamster, as well as ourown plants every morning, checking the soil andgiving them water when they need it. We are also
looking forward to our Ueno Zoo excursion to learn
more about living things.
Luke Callaghan
KIPS K2 Teacher

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Art in All of Us
In December, Elementary students at K. International
School Tokyo participated in a New Year’s card
(nengajou) fundraising activity to help support, andraise awareness of ‘Art in All of Us’ http://
artinallofus.org/. Students eagerly decorated theirnengajou cards with stamps and drawings and sent
them off to friends and family with wishes for the New
Year. Proceeds to Art in All of Us were also
generated from students having their photo takenwith Santa. A food drive for a local charity was run by
our grade 5 students. Total proceeds amount toaround ¥42,000 yen (approx. USD350!).
This is a time when many of us are surrounded byfriends and family, plentiful food and sometimes anexcessive abundance of gifts. To highlight thisdisparity between the children of the world, to instill a
sense of gratitude for what one has, and the ability toempower children to help others is vital. Students
and parents kindly and generously gave theirsupport. AiA uses art, photography and poetry as ameans for children to express themselves, their lives,and for them to find similarities between themselves
and others through their art works, within a global
creative forum.
Reflection, communication, open-mindedness andappreciation are key elements in stepping towards

uniting minds for a common goal. Finding a moreaccessible means to support, celebrate and provide
authentic understanding of differences andsimilarities within not only our local, but global
communities is important to pursue. Hopefully withmore awareness and fundraising events such as thisat KIST, fundamental empathy will grow and impress
upon these young minds that the act of giving, nomatter how small, can and does make a difference, itis the act of inspiring such a mindset and taking
action that infuses a lifelong motivation to contributeto society in such a purposeful way.
Thank you to you all for your invaluable support!
Much appreciated.
Helen Campbell
PYP Art Teacher

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Drama Intensive Workshop at KIST
In January 2016, KIST hosted a unique event when two drama specialists
from New York City flew over for two weeks to deliver an “intensive”
workshop to interested students. Intensive meant almost every day within a
two week period. The workshop ended up with a small performance where students were able to demonstrate
what they had learned. Students seemed to have enjoyed the activity and are keen for it to happen again next
year. Below is a short article with two pictures by one of the male participants, Igor from grade 9.
Mark Cowe
Secondary School Principal

What is the first thing that you think of when someone mentions drama? Is it a movie, William
Shakespeare, or your friend trying to imitate someone during lunch? For me, it is acting andbecoming a part of a different vision. This is where the Drama Intensive Workshop comes in. Prettymuch anything that is associated with drama was covered in this amazing workshop. But what exactly
is it? It is a drama “club” that is 2 weeks long where you do all sorts of activities and lessons that
relate to this topic. The best part? The mentors, Celine and Logan, are drama experts from New York
City who appear in various cinemas and TV shows.
During the course of the workshop, we did various activities and lessons. We learned about theproper use of the stage, to make sure you can get as much attention as possible. The workshop
offered insight into one of the greatest figures in all of literature, William Shakespeare. Then there
was a class where we did an activity called prior circumstances. You are given a pretty extreme
situation (like you just won the lottery) and you have to act this situation out while following a script ofa regular conversation. Oh, I almost forgot, the workshop included a final play that was performed byeveryone. We made a monologue or a play to perform, along with a “set piece” dance (called amovement) where we had a song; we then had to make a dance out of it with several other members.
It was a lot of hard work, but it was a great opportunity to improve your drama skills. You can express
yourself in various forms, which can allow you to view your limits and what you are capable of. It also
requires a lot of critical thinking, collaboration and communication, which are some of the key things
to being successful in the IB.
There you have it folks. There are rumors that the mentors will be back next year. You still haveplenty of time to keep your calendar clear…
Igor (G9A)

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Secondary Wall of Honor
On December 11, 2015, KIST hosted its bi-annual
Wall of Honor Ceremony for the G6 to 8 students, aceremony that recognizes students for displaying
one of the characteristic traits of the IB Learner
Profile: Balanced, Caring, Communicators,
Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Open-Minded, Principled,
Reflective, Risk-Takers and Thinkers.
What is special about this event is that all of thesestudents were nominated by their peers. During the
weeks leading up to the ceremony, students in G6
to 8 had the opportunity to submit a nomination
form, where they included a short explanation as towhy they feel the classmate they have chosen
should be recognized for the named Learner Profile
attribute.
Two of the winners from the first Wall of Honor
Ceremony of the 2015-2016 school year haveshared their reflection on this page.
The complete list of winners, along with therecognized IB Learner Profile attribute, from theDecember ceremony are listed below:

G6A
Yuzu – Knowledgeable
Ryuta – Communicator
G6B
Anna – Caring
Kaiser – Balanced
G7A
Deniz – Inquirer
Uri – Open-Minded
G7B
Sinali – Caring
Sung Guk – Communicator
G8A
Ji Hye – Principled
Yongjun – Risk-Taker
G8B
Gaon – Knowledgeable
Michiru – CaringDuring the wall of honor ceremony, I was
predicting the winners with my friends. I neverthought that I would get awarded as an ‘open-minded’
person for the IB MYP learner profile attribute. When
my name was called I was surprised so much that I
couldn’t speak for a second. I wasn’t patient at all and I
could not hear what I was awarded for. When I went topaint my handprint on the wall of honor, I knew that I
was awarded as an open-minded person. The paintthat I painted on my hand was green, which is myhouse color. The paint was a bit cold and it added tothe coldness in the wintry weather that day. After I got
the certificate and went back to my seat in the gym, myfriends were cheering for me and I was very happy. I
reflected what kind of things I did to be recognized as
an open-minded person. Since I was a new student at
KIST, I tried to be friends with everyone. After a few
days, I started teaching some classmates when they
were struggling with their
homework. (Well, I don’t know why I
was teaching because I was a newstudent.) I also accept other’s
opinions every time.
Uri (G7A)On the day of the announcement, I was extremely
excited about listening and watching students
from both of the younger grades, as well as my very
own grade, receive an award in front of every G6 to G8
student. I was very surprised when Mr Van Loh looked
at me, and called my name during the Wall of Honor
ceremony. It was surprising for me because I had
never thought of myself as a caring person. That day,when my hand shape was printed against the wall in
red paint, I finally realized the importance of being
caring. Every morning, every day we are being caring
to one another. Saying “Good Morning” to friends,
teachers, or anyone who’s around us, and them saying“Good Morning” back to us. That is what caring means.
Letting others recognize each other’s importance,
giving them a sense of belonging, showing them how
much they matter. All these things can define caring.
Being awarded for caring affected me very much. It
made me realize that we don’t have to be pushing or
pulling chairs for another, or serving them their favorite
food like waitresses do in a restaurant, to be caring.
What I do in daily life can affect the people around me.
This is because this world is not only my world, andwe’re sharing one world with billions of other people.
What we do can hurt another, or cure another. So whychoose hurt? Being awarded for the Wall of Honor
allowed me to start thinking about these questions. It
let me realize that nobody will ever get hurt if everyone
becomes caring. I hope that in the
future, not only the students in
KIST, but everyone in this world willlearn the importance of caring, andstart taking action towards it.
Michiru (G8A)

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This year’s Artscape exhibition at the Kids to Teens Hall in Azabu
has had some wonderful artwork showing how creative andtalented the students in the Kanto region are, with some
exceptional artwork from the students at KIST as well. We had
students from Grades 6 to 12 participate with a selection ofdrawing, painting, printmaking, 3D design and sculpture in thisyear’s exhibition.
Well done to all who took part! I am very proud to see so muchwork on display from KIST and it was a very difficult choice toselect the work this year.
Emma Justice
MYP/DP Visual Arts Teacher

Hugo (G6A)

Hae Soo (G11A)

Naman (G9A)

Julie (G8A)

Cindy (G12A)

Hee Dae (G12A)
Emiri (G9A)

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Artscape masterclass workshops
Some students also took advantage ofvarious Masterclass sessions which wererunning during the Artscape period; aprintmaking workshop and ceramics/pottery
workshop held at the International School of
the Sacred Heart, a photography andPhotoshop session at New International
School, Life Drawing at Seisen International
School and Paper Fashion here at KIST. Allworkshops were held free on a Saturday
during the teacher’s spare time, and students
from all over the Kanto region took part in thesessions. This was an incredibly rewarding
and great opportunity for the students to not
only take advantage of the facilities at otherschools but also to get to know other art
students while learning some new materials
and techniques.

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Middle School Brain Bowl Reflections
Nimit (G8B)

I

was in Team H. We called ourselves “The Houseof Historians”. This was an ironic name for ourgroup especially, since none of the members wereactually quite knowledgeable in the subject “History”.
Once our whole group was present, it didn’t take us
long to become the loudest group around. Also,
unexpectedly, we introduced and started to get familiar
with each other very quickly. We were a group of 4
people with a boy from Aoba, 1 girl each from Seisen
and Sacred Heart, and I, representing KIST. However,
the issue was that we all were mainly knowledgeable
about the same topics; math, science and othergeneral knowledge. Luckily, the rest of the subjects weknew, our minimal knowledge tied up and led us tobecome prepared for questions from almost every
subject.
This was my second participation in the MS Brain
Bowl, so I was mostly prepared for what I was to face,at least I thought I was. I shared my experiences withmy teammates and we all seemed prepared andenergetic to start off the competition. Our teamwork
worked out well for the first 5 Q&A rounds but then we
started to lose points due to the lack of knowledge insome subjects. However, we didn’t lose hope andbelieved that we would do well in the buzzer round.
And, we did. I got to press the buzzer 3-4 times andwas able to answer most of them right. Our hopesrose as we progressed well, until we faced thenovelties round. There were so many quizzes that weweren’t sure about and many of them were completely
unexpected. We were able to gain points in some ofthose activities but mostly failed in the others. By theend of the competition, my head was spinning and had
no bit of energy left.
Overall, I’m glad I took part in this competition, it was agreat experience for me where I learned a lot of newthings and also got to interact with different people.
Even though we didn’t win, I learnt that in order to win,neither the teamwork, nor the knowledge are morevaluable than the other. I would definitely recommend
my fellow 5th-7th graders to give this a shot next year,
because it is a great way to learn new things, and to
improve on your collaboration skills and thinking skills.
And if you’re lucky enough, you just might get to missa day of school!

Aditya (G7B)

In the brain bowl tournament, the first thing we do isfind our groups. You always want to know about
your group like “are they good” and a few more things.
Your group has different group letters and names thatyou can call yourself; we were in group O and called
ourselves Orion since that was the coolest name we
could think of. You don’t know who you are with andthere are 2 boys and girls in each group from different
schools. In my group a boy was from Aoba-Japan
International School, and the girls were from Seisen(maybe) and Sacred Heart. Compared to last year, I
felt my group felt slightly better and was more funsince each of us were knowledgeable in different
topics.
After you get to meet your new groups and create agroup banner, the questions start pouring down. There
was a total of 12 rounds, each round having 10questions. There were a lot of things we knew anddidn’t know since many of them were things that you
usually won’t learn in school. Then there was thebuzzer round where we have to buzz when you know
an answer before the other team to get points. Since it
was my 2nd time I felt fine but a few mistakes I still
made was not being confident enough, and pressing
the buzzer too lightly. My group was wondering why
the questions we got were hard but others were easy.
After that we had lunch and recess and quickly
followed to the novelty round. I was already tired bythen and there were questions that were very tricky(like guessing pixelated characters and book titles andauthors) and it was really hard.
At the end we were top 10 being tied with 3 groups
and it was worth it. Even though we weren’t top 3, it
was a very fun experience, and I learned a lot of things
about trivia and also about my teammates and otherschools. In general it was a good and valuable
experience that is hard to get and if you are going tojoin next year, I assure you that it’s going to be fun.

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15

Raising Awareness of Child LaborIn December, Ayaka, Sara, Remi, Emi and Emily from G8 brought up the idea of holding
a bake sale for raising awareness of the issue of poverty and child labor. This was agood example of students taking action from what they learned in their class, and I am
impressed with how committed and organized they were with this event. They donated
all the money raised from the event to UNICEF afterwards. Here are comments from thestudents about their experience with this event.
Shun NakadeService CoordinatorTW

I have never experienced holding a bake saleat school so I was very excited, and I had fun
baking and decorating the treats for the bakesale. I would like to thank all the customers
who came to buy our treats at the bake sake.

We prepared for the bake sale by discussing
with each other on when and where we wouldbake the goods and on what day we would sellthem. The day was very successful, with many
students and even teachers purchasing the
sweets. Getting the opportunity to do thisevent was very meaningful for spreading anawareness of poverty and child labor. It was
definitely a learning experience for all of us
and wish to do something like this again soon.

Remi (G8A)

Emi (G8A)

hroughout this service activity, I learnt
many things about children who wereaged close to us living in many other countries
facing the issue of poverty and child labor. We
were motivated to work on our service projectfrom our class in Individuals and Societies,
mainly learning about child labor and poverty.
We initiated the activity by coming up with theservice project ideas, and asking if we could
hold a bake sale on the last day of school
before the winter break. Before the bake sale,
we gathered up in Emi’s house to bake anddecorate our treats and sold our treats on
December 18 on the deck in the main building.

hat inspired us to hold this bake sale
was the studies that we were doing in
Individuals & Societies class. We werelearning about the agony of child labor andhow it is still currently a universal issue to thisday. With getting a more open view on this
topic, we thought it would be a great idea to doan activity for the purpose of helping others
who are in need.

Office Updates
Withdrawing from KIST?

Family Handbook

If you are planning to withdraw yourchild from KIST during the current school, year, don’t
forget that you must submit the Student Withdrawal
Form to the office at least one month (or sooner!) prior
to the date of withdrawal. The form is available on theschool website at the link below:

As indicated in the previous
issue of The Comet, an
online version of the Family Handbook is available on
the school website at the link below. Please refer tothe handbook when you need to check the school’s
policies and procedures.

http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/5

http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/340

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Library News
World Cultures Day 2016
Now in its fifth year in promoting“inter-cultural awareness” and“support of mother-tongue
languages”, World Cultures Day at
K. International School Tokyo
continues to be bigger and better –and we couldn’t do it without yourhelp.
The national costume parade has been a highlight ofthe event formerly known as International Mother
Language Day since its inception at KIST four years
ago. This year we invited Fukagawa Elementary
School and other nearby schools to watch and join us.
Since they enjoyed the parade they promised to comeback next year with their traditional costumes! The
students had a great time watching the performancesof One Voice group, Bollywood Dancers, and the KIST
Comets Cheer Dance Team. Thank you to everyone
who wore a traditional costume. The parade was verycolorful – probably our best yet!

was toexpress
students’
individuality
and respect
to different
nationalities
represented
in our KIST
community. Aside from these, there was also apresentation on “Third Culture Kids” during theadvisory session of Grade 6 to Grade 8 classes, whilea student-led seminar organized
by Mr White (our MYP
Coordinator) was presented by agroup of DP students to the Grade
9 and Grade 10 classes in the
LMC. Lastly, the SRC completed
this event by organizing a world
cultures-themed middle school
dance in the gym where students
had a chance to play and dance
the night away.
If all that excitement made you hungry, the CA Library
Committee had an international food booth sale set up
outsidethe MPR.
Parents,
students
andguestsboughtdelicious
goodies
inspiredby many cultural backgrounds in our community. Thankyou CA parents for your support and working with us!

Secondary student presenters visited elementary
classes to teach them Polish, Chinese, Korean, Finnish
and Swedish as well as hula dancing. For our younger
students, parent-storytellers cameand read books in English, Frenchand Spanish. Grade 4 and Grade 5
students had the opportunity to hearrakugo, a traditional Japanesestorytelling sit-down comedy, in
English performed by ourdistinguished guest, Mr Sanpei
Hayashi.
In the secondary school during lunch time, students
had a chance to show-off their national costume in a
fashion show directed by Mr Andi (teacher-librarian) incollaboration with the SRC. The purpose of the show

Meanwhile, in the MPR the KIST TASSEL students
raised approximately ¥25,000 at the photo booth during
this event. As part of their CAS, TASSEL group’s
mission is to help lesser fortunate schools in Cambodia
by teaching them basic English communication
grammar lessons via webcam sessions in the LMC.
They plan to use this money to support their students inbuying their school needs. Again, “Thank you!” for yourcontinued support to the Library Team and making thisday a huge success.

Sakura Medal books
Another KIST Libraries tradition,
Sakura Medal Programme 2016is going strong! If you read fivebooks listed from the 2016 list in
the Elementary Library, you cancast your vote for your favorite
Sakura Medal book. Need help
voting? Please see Ms Leslie for a ballot form or help inchoosing an eligible book.
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Sakura Medal Book Bowl
Thanks to club leaders Ms Bridget (G4), Ms Katie (G1B)
and Ms Leslie (Elementary Librarian), KIST Grades 4 and5 students will again have the opportunity to participate in
the Sakura Medal Book Bowl. This is KIST’s second year
participating in the competition, which tests students’knowledge of the Sakura Medal chapter books. This
year’s competition will be held at Yokohama International
School on April 12. Our team has been working hard, butplease wish them the best of luck, as they will be facing
serious competition this year!

Sakura Book Trailer
Competition (for secondary
school)Starting March 1 till 25 the LMC will
be collecting book trailers made by
our students based on the Sakura
Medal Books 2016 list both from theJapanese and English categories.
There will be house points andexciting prizes at stake. Watch out for posters ads andother information posted on our daily notices about thiscompetition.

Collection update
A group of secondary students
led by Nikita (G10A) collated arecommended list of fictional
books to be added to the LMC.
This Book Blog group aims to
support the goals of KIST
Libraries in developing “readingfor pleasure”. Special thanks to
the CA Executives and the CA
Library Committee for donatinginteresting books to our libraries every month. All of these
items are displayed in the new arrivals shelf of the library.
KIST Library Team

Promoting Good Conduct
Our school promotes“Respect, Responsibility
and Safety” at all times toall students when inside theschool and off-campus. This
principle must also be applied when visiting FamilyMart (the nearest convenience store to our school)
and using Tokyo Metro subway stations. It is very
important to remind our students to display their “bestbehaviour” in these places. Showing RESPECT tothe culture of our host country impacts the reputationof our school and reflects the values we teach ourstudents in school or at home. For this reason, weare asking for the cooperation of parents inreminding their child/children about “good manners,
right conduct and social skills”. After all, we havethe same goal and a shared responsibility ofnurturing our students to be “responsible citizens” ofour society in the future.
Another issue wewanted to emphasize isthe use of ID cards at
our school entrance
gate. Each student
must scan his/her ID(Edy) card whencoming in every
morning and also going out in the afternoon. In caseof emergency such as earthquake, fire or an
unexpected stranger breaking in, it is a protocol that
we have an official record of students who are inside
the school or who went out and on their way backhome. Please remind your child that we follow thisprocedure to make our school a safe and secured
learning environment.
Andi Licuanan
Secondary Student Conduct Coordinator

Second Harvest for K. Parents
On December 4 and 10 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we went to Second
Harvest Japan for our volunteer work. We volunteered there to better
understand the activities of Second Harvest, for which our children havebeen running food drives as their volunteer activity for some time. Bothdays spent volunteering at Second Harvest involved helping with the foodpreparation for the following Saturday’s soup kitchen. We first received a
20-minute lecture about Second Harvest from the staff and proceeded toprepare and cut vegetables for meals. There were also other volunteer
members who were not K. parents, both individuals and volunteers from
corporate programs, and we enjoyed working together happily. Ourcommittee is planning to return there for more volunteer work. How about
joining us next time?
Students Events Committee
KIST Community Association (CA)ca.studentevents@family.kist.ed.jp

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G12 DP Economics Excursion
Learning about negative interest rates at
the Bank of JapanOn February 2, 2016, the DP Grade 12 Economics
class had the privileged experience of visiting the
Bank of Japan in Tokyo (BOJ). Prior to thisexcursion, we were learning about how central banks
use monetary policy to achieve certain
macroeconomic objectives. With numerous
discussions and activities that assisted us inunderstanding this topic in class, we also had achance to visit the BOJ and further understand about
their operations and roles as the “Bank of Banks” andthe Bank of the government.
We were introduced to the Public Relations Head,
who guided us on the tour and gave us a shortlecture on the recent negative interest rate policy
adopted by the BOJ on all financial institutions(banks) across Japan. Starting off with a video, wewere given a general guide to the history of the BOJ
and the building which remains as an important
cultural symbol for Japan as it was established as thenation’s central bank in 1882. After the video, we had
the experience to go on a BOJ tour where we wereintroduced to both the new and old building that theBOJ currently operates in. The most interesting partwas when we had the privilege to take a view of theold vault in which the gold and issued bank notes
were once stored. It was guarded by a three layer
door with a heavy steel frame that weighed over 25
tonnes! Beyond this massive gate were two otherdoors, which were significantly strong and heavy as
well. It was very good to see how the BOJ valued its
old building and kept it maintained as if it was still in
operation. The new building in which the BOJ
currently operates seemed to be a busy world of its
own. I was astounded to hear the daily transactions
that the BOJ deals with exceeds 100 trillion yen a
day and that the bank never shuts down its
operations throughout the year.

After the tour, we were given a short lecture about thenew ‘negative interest rates’ which were announced
on January 29, 2016. With attempts to counterJapan’s economic stagnation, the BOJ imposed thisnegative interest rate of -0.1% on all commercial
banks in Japan with the ultimate aim to encourage
financial institutions to use their reserves to lend tobusinesses. The charge does not directly apply toordinary customer’s accounts like us, which was arelief to know, but I was excited to hear that thecountry was willing to increase spending andinvestment. After all, it is imposed for the betterment of
the nation’s economy. Our class was honored to havethis experience and have a chance to look at the BOJ
and its operations closely. I must say, that it did inspire
me to know more about banking and financial
institutions.
Special thanks to both of our Economics teachers, Mr
Cernak and Mr Erickson for organizing such a
wonderful trip.
Raj (G12B)

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19

IB Mock Exam Reflections
Mock exams: A blessing in disguise

After mock exams…

A person’s reaction when hearing about a mock exam
is “A mock exam!? I have to live through the nightmare
of a full IB exam more than once!?” At least this is what
my reaction was.

While everyone was excited about
having 3 weeks of winter break, the grade 12s had tostudy for 6 days of mock exams. Preparing for my firstmock exam was a lot of work because I had to review
all of the subjects including what I had learned in grade
11. It was hard to find an efficient way I could cover allof the contents and study. The only way I could do was
to take notes and try to solve a lot of questions as
possible as I can. It was very stressful during 3 weeks,reviewing all of the contents and solving a lot ofpractice questions to get used to the IB-style questions.

The typical first stage-symptoms of dealing with themock exams, or any exams for that matter is the denial
and the anxiety. This usually appears from 1 month
before the mocks, where you are in this painful limbo
between procrastinating because you deny the fact thatthe mocks will happen in a month and the anxiety ofwhat will happen if you fail the mocks. As the days
shorten, a bunch of other emotions start to join themosh pit, such as the guilt of not studying earlyenough, the false-hope that maybe you will do decently
in the mocks and the regret of taking the DP programin the first place.
Now this is where the yellow brick road splits into two.
You take a right and you will actually gather thecourage to start studying. You take a left and you will
end up where I went, a deeper darker place than thefirst stage-symptom; forfeit. You will experience theforfeit stage at about two weeks or less before themocks. At this point, you are so unprepared and indespair that you can almost feel yourself summoned by
Mr Rose to be noticed that you have failed miserably.
As a result, you will often see yourself slamming yourtextbooks on the desk at home or any gesture similar
to giving up.
It is the weekend before the mock exams. Your senses
are pretty much numb to the demoralizing sensationsof the previous symptoms and have started studying
just to avoid being a complete humiliation to yourfamily, school and yourself. The actual mock exams
are just a mixture revision, concentration, nervousness
and self-contempt.
The first week back from mock exams is rather relaxing
in terms of work load. When the exam results comeback, some will be disappointed and some will behappy. Although, you will change gears and start
focusing on getting your act together pretty quickly andthe rest is just constant in-class revision.
This is a quick rundown of how a student with
university application results counting on the mark of
the first mocks will feel during this process. I,
fortunately will start applying from July of 2016 (due tothe nature of the Australian school system) so theexperience was not as dreadful as for the others. On aserious note, experiencing a bitter result for the firstmock has prepared me for the worst to an extent andhas helped me gather myself to study hard for thesecond mocks and the final exam in May.
Joh (G12A)

Six days had passed faster than I thought by taking twoor three tests every day and reviewing for the next
day’s test every day. It was as stressful as the 3 weeks
of winter break, however what I thought after the mockexam was that this mock exam really helped me a lot
despite of a big stress. It was a great opportunity forme to take the test in the same exam conditions as thereal IB exam. The real IB exam would lead to nerves,anxiety, frustration and sloppy mistakes and the mockexam was a great opportunity for me to figure out andpractice what works best for me under exam
conditions. It was also a better chance for me to realize
the areas that I am weak at or the subjects that I needto improve on for the next several months until the next
mock exam.
It was a stressful month of preparing for the exam andtaking the exam, however a very beneficial time for meat the same time.
Yu Jin (12B)

Mock exams
The mock exams slowly creeped up on me and otherstudents during the DP. From the very beginning, welearnt of the horrors and the stress the mock exams
would bring upon the students. But when it actually
happened, it wasn’t THAT bad.
To any soon-to-be DP students, my advice is to
STUDY. Prepare for months in advance, focus on thesubjects you hate, read your textbook like the bible,
just about any advice is going to benefit you.
Procrastination is your enemy. I know you want towatch movies, play games or hang out during thewinter holiday. But you can’t. That’s how it works. But if
you think about it, it’s only a month of pain and agony.
After the exams, you can reward yourself all you want.
When the schedule was first released, I was panicking.
The dreaded exams were now so close, beginning toassimilate my sanity. The mock exam is like “TheThing” (the monster from the famous John Carpenterfilm) that slowly “changes” your friends one-by-one.
Despite my reassurances that everything was going to
be okay, in my mind I was paranoid.
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Studying for the mock exams is the hardest point.
Here, you can either advance or just stop. I chose theformer, and I am glad I did. The subjects I focused onmost were Economics and ESS. These were thesubjects I needed to focus on. On the other hand, I
allocated less time to study Math since I knew plenty
beforehand. I studied using past papers and the
textbook in general. A simple study schedule will
suffice, on my desk I left the memo “Do ESS, Do Econ
tomorrow, Do English today afternoon”, simple as that.
To study, you need motivation. I rewarded myself witha nice movie or two after my study session. That way, I
felt less pressure and ease on my nerves. This went
on for a couple weeks, and the mocks began.
It was a cold morning, where I approached the
dreadful exam hall. It was an ordinary apartment, but
to me it was the gateway to hell. I was there first, since
I made sure I shouldn’t be late. Big mistake. I cametoo early and was freezing. A couple minutes later, myfriends came. They were all cramming in their final

revision. A couple hours later, my first exam
“Economics” ended. During the exam, I felt nopressure but to do the test. Here, I felt rewarded since
I understood everything on the test. Thanks tostudying, it made a difference. The best part about themock exams are the breaks. You can go wherever you
want with your friends. I visited Denny’s with a coupleof my friends to share our struggles andaccomplishments. A couple days later, the exams
were done. I felt a sense of relief, but also felt readythat the final exams were approaching.
But overall, the mock exams is a one-of-a-kindexperience. You have to experience it to decide
whether the myths told on the internet are real, or if it
wasn’t that bad. Just study and you’re good. Reward
yourself. You will not succeed if you lose yourmotivation. Just do it.
Masaki (G12B)

Elementary ELS
Small group work boosts language learning
If you’ve been a KIST community member for some time,
no doubt you’ve noticed our classrooms include a lot ofsmall group work. Working together closely on a taskwith 3 to 4 peers, helps students learn the curriculum
content more effectively; however, this is not the only
benefit. From the perspective of language learning, small
group work is priceless. It offers students a low-risk
space where they can comfortably experiment withputting their ideas into sentences. What’s more, since
the talk time for each student increases exponentially,
they get loads of speaking practice. Especially when theassigned task is collaborative (making new knowledge
together, not just reciting facts), the motivation to speak
and the level of language demanded goes up, andstudents include more high level vocabulary in their
discussions as they work.

In Kyu (G5A) and Yuki (G5B)
discuss how to make their word
choice more formal as they
revise a comment on one of
the Exhibition Blog posts
together.

Jessie (G5A) and Sally (G5B)
finalize creating the lines ofinquiry for their issue,
homelessness.

Taimu and Shiven (G5B)
teach each other about creating
blog posts, including how toformat text and insert photos.

Yudai (G5B) and In Kyu (G5A)
plan their online research on
overfishing, deciding who will
focus on which line of inquiry
for their initial search.

Class teachers and ELS staff plan together and makesure group work is designed into each unit on a regularbasis. Then we monitor this group work together toreinforce both the unit’s content/ concept goals and theoverlapping language goals. The PYP Exhibition
inquiries that Grade 5 students are currently leading are
one example of how small group work leads to language
learning. Below we share some photos to show off someof the language Grades 5s are learning as they discuss,plan, organize, search, read, analyze and publish writing
about their issues together.
Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator / G5 ELS Instructor

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MYP News
MYP students attend seminar to mark World
Cultures Day
Students in Grades 9 and 10 ended the recent World Cultures Day
with a student-led seminar in the LMC.
The discussion, under the direction of Sara L. (G10B), touched ona variety of subjects connected to language, identity, culture andinternational mindedness.

The student-led seminar highlighted the complex
experiences of KIST with respect to language and culture.

DP students Akiko (G11A), Akira (G11A), Hana (G11B),
Mirabelle (G11B) and Oshin (G11A) each had a chance to explain how their lives and their time as students has
been effected by complicated and rich connections to language and culture. The students were joined by MYP
teachers Mr Florent and Mr Homewood, both of whom also have a lot of experience in reflecting upon such issues.

Hana (G11B)

O

ne of the World Cultures Day events
held on Friday, February 19, was astudent-led seminar about cultural identity.
Several DP students and teachers discussed
their multicultural backgrounds and its effecton their character and beliefs. Some of us
were raised in Japan yet are not ethnicallyJapanese, while others have lived acrosscontinents. I particularly enjoyed listening to
the teachers’ responses, as they’ve had very
diverse and interesting experiences. It was avery productive discussion that raised andanswered many questions about language,
culture and identity.

Mirabelle (G11B)

B

eing able to share different experiences about
culture is one of the highlights of being aninternational student. That was what I learnt as aspeaker during the World Cultures Day seminar.
World Cultures Day is a yearly event at KIST where
the importance and uniqueness of cultures
worldwide are celebrated, nurturing values ofinternational mindedness among international
students. This year, 5 students as well as 2 teachersof complex cultural backgrounds shared theirpersonal story about culture and how it has hence
affected their lives.

This seminar reminded me of how culturally
diverse the KIST community is. Listening tothe other students’ and teachers’
experiences and thoughts, as well as sharing
my own, prompted me to think more about
how my cultural background has shaped myidentity. I realized how much my experienceswith language and culture have affected mybeliefs, values and even mannerisms. It wasalso fascinating to find how people reflectedon similar experiences differently. For
example, some people thought living abroad
expanded their cultural identity, while others
thought the experience weakened theirconnection to their mother culture. It’s not
only what kind of experiences we have, but
how we respond to and reflect upon such
experiences.

Though my cultural experiences weren’t as
extraordinary as the others, I certainly felt a renewed
sense of appreciation towards my own cultural rootsthat I’ve never felt before. This seminar showed me
how people were different because of their exposure
to cultures as well as how their mindset adapted to
the varying perspectives that each culture had tooffer. The importance of international mindedness
was brought up and I realized that this value wasperhaps extremely valuable to our current society as
the lack of such values has been causing issues
such as discrimination, which is a major setback tohumanity itself. During this seminar, I felt moreconnected to the people in this school as this was
one of the rare times in which I got to share mypersonal story with others, and being able to hear
their stories, too, provided me with a sense of
comfort as I realized that I wasn’t alone in thisfascinating journey of culture.

As a multicultural student in an international
school, I sometimes forget how lucky we are
to have such an internationally-minded
community which is inclusive of people fromdifferent cultural and social backgrounds. I
hope that this event gave students anopportunity to think about their cultural
identity, as I did.

Looking back, I think the seminar was a reallyinteresting realization that everyone has their own
perception of culture and that perception is whatmakes us individual. As we ascend into society, we
should also learn to understand and constantly
reflect on not only the cultures of others, but also thecultures of our own to be able to truly make adifference.

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KIST teachers undertake self-study for IB
evaluation
As an IB World School, KIST participates every five years in aself-study to help ensure that each of the school’s three IB
programmes are being delivered in a way that matches the
expectations of the IB itself.
This year, the self-study is being conducted alongside theprocess of certification for the Council of International Schools.
Both the CIS and IB processes will be completed within the nextyear.

Work is underway for the IB evaluation visit
scheduled for November 2016.

In November, teachers from across the three programmes met in the school’s gym for a kickoff workshop.
Teachers from the PYP, MYP and DP all shared their expectations about the process and learned more about how
the self-study is conducted.
Ultimately, the school will use the information gathered in the process to help guide practice for teachers, students
and parents over the next five years.

Secondary Japanese teachers discuss the process ofevaluating the delivery of curriculum to MYP and DP
students.

The outline of meetings devoted to reviewing andevaluating curriculum at the school.

All three programmes will be reviewed to identify
strengths and areas for improvement.

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23

Secondary SRC
2015-2016 has been a rather successful
year for the SRC and we hope tocontinue on with a number of events andactivities in plan for 2016. Here are a number ofaccomplishments from this school year.

World Cultures Day middle school dance
The SRC held its first middle school dance on February
19 with a world cultures theme! The decorations, flag
games and costumes portrayed the various cultures
seen within our school community. A number of othergames took place such as a balloon race and awhipped cream challenge which some students
seemed to enjoy. Also, lights and colorful decorations
were all around the dance floor, bringing a very fun andbright vibe to the night.

open to students, parents, staff and teachers to view
during the lunch break.

The sports and arts committees
The sports and arts committees are specializedcommittees within the SRC, focusing on events likelunch concerts, art competitions, sport department
assistance and sports events for the student body. The
arts committee has conducted a number of very
entertaining lunch concerts with performances ranging
from dances and songs to poetry and instrumental
pieces. They are also in the process of carrying out an
art and photo competition and have assisted the arts
department for Artscape. The sports committee has
also worked hard, with the assistance for cross country
and sports games within our school, and is also in theprocess of finding solutions for field and gym rotations.

Financial records from this year

Morning greeting video
In order to promote the importance of greetings every
morning, the SRC has created a video promoting
morning greetings in a comical form. This was shown
during homeroom to all students in the secondary
student body in the hopes to encourage more students
to properly greet those who greet them in the morning.

The middle school dance was very successful
financially and the SRC spending ¥35,320 in thematerials for the dance has raised ¥9,930 through theentrance fee and food booth which will later be used in
World Culture related events.
As for this year, beginning from January to March 2016,
the money collected from SRC events and SRCorganized activities was used to purchase: Materials for SRC dances: ¥35,320 (for the middle
school dance)
 SRC dance lights: ¥8,124
 Banners for SRC events (two big stage banners andtwo smaller banners for the main gate entrance for
SRC dance and the winter concert): ¥8,578
 Student printer ink and paper (Money raised fromthe SRC printer is used only for printer purposes)
 Board games for the LMC: ¥4,500
The student fund, which students can sign up for with amaximum of a ¥15,000 budget to work on projects
benefitting the school, is still available and interested
students are more than welcome to apply for it!

SRC fashion show
As a part of World Cultures Day this year on February
19, 2016, the SRC in cooperation with the library teamconducted a fashion show. The fashion show consistedof many elements such as close to 40 student models
who went out in different progressions and a ballet/
expressive dance performance which took place. The
fashion show was an 8-minute-long event but was
conducted in a very organized manner thanks to thelibrary team and cue managers who managed themodels and performances taking place. This led to avery enjoyable and intricate performance which was

Upcoming projects
As semester 2 has begun, the SRC has a number ofprojects taking place. Firstly, the first high school dance
will take place on March 24, which will be run by the
SRC. Secondly, the annual KISTalks will take place on
March 25 which is an event where student speakers
can give short speeches to the secondary student bodywith the theme being ‘tell us your story’. The SRC will
also be hosting a “Future Horizons” logo contest incollaboration with the school board along with a bicycle
area improvement project to promote neatness andrespectful usage of the bicycle area.

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Spotlight on Clubs
World cultures club (Elementary)
The world is such an amazing place! People around the world
live life in countless different ways and in all kinds of beautiful
places. In World Cultures Club, we strive to grow ourawareness for the rich cultural diversity in this world. Rather
than judge others for being different, we seek to see the goodin other people’s way of life.
This year in World Cultures Club, we have made ‘respect’ as
our main objective. As we learn about different people aroundthe world, we seek to understand them and treat them in a way
we would like to be treated. Each week, we explore a new
country and try to immerse ourselves in a different culture. We
do this via slideshows, songs, games and other fun activities.
I feel privileged to share my passion for world cultures withsuch a wonderful group of students. I am amazed by thesestudents’ incredible curiosity and desire to learn more about
the world they live in. I am confident that this group of students
will be role models in the way they show respect to others fromdifferent cultural backgrounds.
Axel Norwood
World Cultures Club Supervisor

Badminton club (Secondary)Do you know a sport that you can move your body and have fun?
Well, that’s badminton! Badminton club is where you can learn how
to play badminton with the lovely teachers, Mr Nakade, Ms Hamanoand Ms Kobayashi. Badminton is a racket sports where you hit the
shuttlecock and get it across the net.
Hanna (G6B)
I learned a lot of things in badminton club. The biggest improvement
I made is smash, which I was really bad at, but I overcome it
because of the badminton club. I am still learning backhand, but I
am enjoying to learn different things in the club.
Satoshi (G6A)
The badminton club is very fun, however, in the time remaining at
the club, I would like to try the following: teacher vs students, asingles tournament, 1 vs 2, and 2 vs 3. If possible, I would want tohave a tournament with the other schools. I will continue to work
hard to make these happen.
Daichi (G6A)
This club is very fun and entertaining as we have plenty of time topractice useful skills such as serving, backsides, drop shots,
far shots and other useful techniques, allowing us to getbetter. In this club, we don’t just learn and practice but weare able to play matches every club day. We also do nothave to worry about the weather as we do clubs indoor. Thisclub is very fun and in time, anyone could get better.
Rei (G6A)

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V o l u me 1 9 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 6

Staff 10!
In this month’s Staff
10!, we are pleased
to present Florent
Debouverie whojoined us in August
2014 as a Japaneseteacher in theSecondary School.

The photographer being photographed.

 Tell us something interesting about yourhometown.
Having lived, as a kid, about as much in France’s
countryside than in Brussels, I do not feel like I have areal hometown. So let’s pick the latter, which is wheremost of my family lives. Brussels is one of the mostinteresting places I have lived; not because of the place
itself, but because of its inhabitants and the political/
social status of the city. Despite being located in the
Dutch speaking part of the country, French is thecapital’s official language; you can already imagine howcomplicated the administration of such a place is!…andalso how rich its language scenery became, especiallysince the middle of the last century, when a great
number of foreigners came to live in Belgium. As aresult, Brussels came to be way more international thana capital like Paris (where I used to live for a few years
too). This is something that I liked a lot, and is only
slowly starting to appear in Tokyo.
 What is your favorite place in the world?
I haven’t seen half as much of the world as I want to,and that is just talking about sightseeing; I would love tolive for a couple of years in all the places I foundinteresting! Living some place gives you a totally new
perspective on pretty much everything about it: culture,values, inhabitants, life rhythm… I have to say that I do
not know what would be my favorite place in the world
even if I had lived everywhere (which will never happenof course), but at the present time, Tokyo is the place I
love best to live in: most of the things I’ve learned so far
have lead me here, and I also have a great job that I
love!
 Who would you like to meet if you had the chance
and why?
Three persons: my parents before I was born, and my
11-year-old self. The former because I would haveheaps of things to ask and tell them as my 20-year-old
father and mother were not the same people then as
they are now. The latter because I had some roughtimes around that age, and since no one knows you
better than yourself, I could certainly give myself somegood advice!
 Do you have any special skills or talents?
Not much that I haven’t talked about, used or showed atschool already. In no particular order: I trained in 5
different martial arts and have 2 black belts; I can reada lot of 17th century Japanese (at least until 2 years
ago! I’m forgetting more and more everyday...), some ofit handwritten; I’m a pretty good cook when I try mybest, whether it’s Japanese food or Belgian desserts.

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 Please share a little known fact about yourself.
Most people probably view me as hyperactive, athleticand smiling a lot. Well, those who have known me since
my teenage years know that I was the exact opposite:
lazy as can be, nerdy, seldom smiling. My recipe forchange: getting to know yourself by doing what youlove!
 What is your most prized possession?
If we speak about material objects, I would say mycamera and my speakers. I got my camera only acouple of years ago, but photography made me
rediscover an artistic part of me that I had forgotten
about for a long time. As for the speakers—a pair of
Monitor Audio Bronze BX2—they bring anotherdimension to an already good song or an already greatmovie; going back to more basic hardware would be
difficult!
 What words would you use to describe yourself?
“Serious(ly) and inquisitive lifelong learner”. I know, it
sounds cocky and probably not like a lot of fun. But I
assure you, fun is part of the deal too. After having
learned seriously of course!
 If you could live your life again, would you doanything differently?
Yes and no. Yes, because I feel like I took the (very)
long way to get where I am, which cost me quite a few
years in the process; being 25 rather than 33 would begreat! But no, because I only got here by making the
choices I did; I believe that there is no shortcut in life,
and that no discourse or explanation can make up forexperience, even (especially) when experiencing means
making mistakes!
 Is there anything you are trying to learn/improveabout yourself at the moment?
A better question would be “Is there anything you are
not trying to learn/improve?” Life is a never ending workin progress, and so am I. But to be more specific, on theintellectual side, I am currently trying to improve on myplanning as a teacher, and on the physical side I am
challenging myself with some boxing.
 Do you have any special message for your fans?
Only one: be(come) your own fan, and no one else’s!

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Nurse’s Notes
Gargling
Every year during the influenza season, you may often hear about “gargling” and“handwashing”. Are you gargling and washing your hands correctly? This month, I would
like to explain how to gargle properly.

■The mechanism of cold and influenza infections from the throat
Eight to ninety percent of colds and influenza infections are caused by viruses. Viruses in
the air become attached to the mucous membranes and start to increase which causes an inflammation of thethroat. This inflammation leads to various cold and flu symptoms. The increasing virus gradually destroys the cells
in the mucous membranes and infects the surrounding cells.
Typically, the cilia in the mucous membranes vibrate 1,000 times/minute. This causes mucus to be sent out of themembranes to eject any foreign substances such as viruses. However, when the air is dry, the surface of the
mucociliary becomes damaged which causes the vibrations to weaken or cease. This makes it easy for viruses toenter the body.

■The effects of gargling
When you think about gargling, you may have the image that its purpose it to physically remove foreign
substances such as viruses or bacteria from the throat. But this is not the only effect. Gargling stimulates andimproves the flow of blood and the secretion of mucus, and also improves the immune function of the throat.

■How to gargle properly
Many of you may think that gargling means to simply swallow water or mouthwash, gargle (with face up) and spit
the liquid out. Of course this is effective enough, however, following the procedure below is even more effective in
helping to prevent infections.

1. Rinse the mouth
Take in some water or mouthwash and rinse your mouth to clean out any bacteria or fooddebris. There are bacteria in the mouth that create enzymes that destroy the mucous
membranes so it is important to wash these bacteria out. If you feel that your mouth is notcompletely clean after one rinse, keep rinsing until it feels clean.
2. Gargling
After rinsing, it is time to gargle. To gargle, take some water or mouthwash into your mouth,
gargle for about 10 seconds (face-up) and spit the water out. Producing an “AWW” sound while
gargling will enable the mouth to be cleaned right to the back of the throat.
3. Rinse again with water
As some mouthwash contains acid, frequent gargling may damage the enamel surface of theteeth. After using mouthwash, rinsing the mouth with water to neutralize any acid remaining is
recommended.

■What if I cannot gargle?
Although gargling is important, it is unrealistic to gargle all day long. Viruses that are strong may increase at a
rapid pace before you are able to gargle again.
At times when you may not be able to gargle frequently, or there is a strong cold or
viral influenza epidemic, it is effective to keep your throat moist or to wash down thevirus by drinking liquids frequently. Since viruses are consumed by gastric acid,swallowing them does not pose any problems.
Mouth
Wash

Makiko Whittaker
School Nurse

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27

KIST Summer Programs 2016
Applications opening soon!
Did you know that students’
diagnostic scores often decreaseover the summer break? Attending
one of our summer programs
provides a great chance to catch up
on learning from the previous year,and get a head start for the year
ahead. It also acts as a buffer
between the school holidays and theschool year to get back into study
mode. It is not only recommended
for students that are struggling, butalso students who want to exceed
expectations and make it into theHigh Level Mathematics insecondary school. And you canmake sure that your child has the
chance to give their best
performance in the diagnostic tests
held in the first week of school inAugust.
Please keep an eye out for thesummer program applications thatwill be sent out via ECommunications after the spring
break.
*Note: Incoming K1 students will be
unable to join the summer programas they have not been through theregular KIST gradual entry program.
Only students from KIPS will be
accepted.

Session 1 (June 13 – June 24)
New K1 – G1
Summer Day Camp
A play-based program that lets
students try different activities inEnglish. Students will take partin various classes such as
science, dance, story time,
sports, art, yoga, phonics,
excursions and more!
New G3 – G6
Summer Day Camp
An inquiry based program wherestudents will take excursions tovarious places around Tokyo.
Last year, our students went toHaneda Airport for a JAL
backyard tour, learned how tomake mayonnaise from Kewpie,
went on a Japanese-style boat
cruise, and took part in many
more exciting activities.
New G2 – G5
Summer Academic Program
Session 1
An intensive academic program
geared towards giving yourchild’s English and math levels aboost. The Key Stage 2
curriculum will be taught at
different proficiency levels basedon diagnostic test results.

Session 2 (July 25 – August 5)
New K1 – G1
Summer Academic Program
Session 2
An intensive academic program
geared towards giving yourchild’s English and math levels aboost. The Key Stage 1curriculum will be taught toprepare your child for the year
ahead.
New G2 – G12
Summer Academic Program
Session 2
An intensive academic program
geared towards giving yourchild’s English and math levels aboost, giving them practice andkey feedback to help prepare forthe diagnostic tests. Students
may attend English and/or
mathematics classes. The Key
Stage 2, Key Stage 3 and IGCSE
curriculums will be taught at
different proficiency levels basedon diagnostic test results.

Here are some photos from our KIST and KIPS LEAP classes in Semester 1 and 2:

G1s participating in a guided reading
session with Ms Millican.

K3s learning the importance of sequencing
events to tell a story with Ms Wang.

KIPS Science Literacy students making predictions KIPS Dance Class students learning
about how different objects react to each other.
choreography for the KIPS LEAP concert.

Mr Norwood helping the G2s to edit
their writing.

KIPS Music Math class playing a concentration
game to learn their musical notes and rests.

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