The Comet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 18 | Issue 3 | March 2015

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

16...Sakura Book Trailers

07...Teaching Skills for the Future

18...World Cultures Day

09...Student-Led Conferences

19…Artscape 2015

10...Secondary School Spelling Bee

25...MUN Scrimmage

11...MYP Personal Project Exhibition

27...The Big Disconnect

13...Japanese New Year Party

30...Spring College Fair 2015

From the Head of School

DATES TO REMEMBER

Dear KIST Families,
It is hard to believe that March is now upon us and that we are about to head
into the final months of our 2015-16 school year.
We had another successful MYP Personal Project exhibition, and the PYP
exhibition next month provides another opportunity to celebrate the learning
experiences of our students. With DP exams just around the corner it will not
be long until Student-Led Conferences, preparations for our year-end concerts,
and of course, graduation. With summative assessments and the writing of
exams, the final months of the year do bring some stressful moments forstudents and teachers but this time of year is also a happy one for ourcommunity as we enjoy the culminating learning experiences of our students
and celebrate with them the many successes that they have had over the year.
There has been much to celebrate so far this school year. Our recent
mathematics diagnostic testing results were very positive indeed, withsignificant increases in the number of students attaining school expectations
and increases in the levels attained by students not yet attaining school gradelevel expectations. We are pleased to see the results of the school efforts thathave been made to increase mathematics achievement and we look forward tofurther increases henceforth as well.
While we have many KIST events throughout the year, we have a couple ofbigger ones that require significant contributions from various members of ourcommunity each year. One such event is the World Cultures Day which took
place on February 20 this year. Since its recent introduction only four years
ago, World Cultures Day has grown to become one of our biggest events of the
KIST school year. Collaboratively planned by the KIST PTA and our KIST
Library Team, the event offers students a full day of cultural sharing activities
that bring smiles to the faces of all involved.
I felt fortunate this year that my schedule enabled me to attend many of theWorld Cultures Day activities. I enjoyed a book reading in French and one inAmerican Sign Language, observed wonderful sharing of Indian culture to agrade 2 class by some of our secondary students, listened to a language
symposium for our grade 9 and 10 students which was conducted at an
impressively high level, and I laughed with students and staff during an English
Rakugo presentation. It was truly a wonderful day for me as a participant, as aparent, and also as the Head of School.
Continued on next page
KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life

March 2015
13 Clubs program ends
21 Student-led conferences
21 Spring college fair
22-29 Spring break
30 (W) School resumes for all
students

April 2015
3 Last day of quarter 3
7 (G1-G12) Clubs program
resumes
13 School photographs (New andabsent students)
22 (G7-G11) Math field day(Hosted@Zama)
23-24 (G5) PYP exhibition
24 (G12) Last day of classes
27-May 1 (G12) DP study week
29 School day
29 (G10) DP subject options
evening for parents and students

May 2015
2-6 Golden Week vacation
7-8 (G9) Camp (*Tentative)
4-22 (G12) DP examinations
20-22 (G9-G11) Semester 2
examinations
22 (G12) Semester 2 reports
issuedKIST is an
IB World
School2

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Continued from previous page

On behalf of KIST, I would like to send out a big thankyou to all the parents, staff and students who
contributed to the success of this year’s World
Cultures Day and through it further developing theinternational awareness of our students. Your
commitment and hard work has made this day one
that our students look forward to each year.
I hope that you enjoy this Spring edition of The Cometand look forward to seeing you at one of the many
upcoming events.

For Tomorrow
The school song, “For Tomorrow”, wasintroduced to the school community in June 2012.
A recording of the song is now available to listen toon the school website at the link below.
You will notice that there are two versions of thesong—a sing-along version which features a singalong style “la la la” chorus, and a full version
which includes additional lyrics. The recording on
the website is of the sing-along version only.

Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/614

Founders’ Awards

Habitat for Humanity

KIST study scholarships

Here at KIST, the Habitat for Humanity team consists of
sixteen members from Grade 11, all of whom are eager tohelp people who cannot afford to build or buy their own
houses. We have meetings every Tuesday lunch to discuss
the organization of fundraising activities and to prepare forour up-and-coming trip to the Asia-Pacific region in June.

The KIST Study Scholarships recognize
students who make a significant
contribution to the school community.
Awardees for this year were announced at theSecondary Assembly on Friday, December 12.
Congratulations to the students below who
have received scholarships this year.

KIST Study Scholarships
Silver Awards

Jiaying
Silver Award

Sara
Silver Award

Bronze Award

Habitat for Humanity is a non-government globalorganization that works with people from different
backgrounds to build houses for families in the Asia-Pacificregion. Since its establishment in 1976, Habitat for Humanity
has built more than 800,000 houses, and has worked withmore than 4 million families in need.
Our main goal as a Habitat for Humanity team is to increaseawareness of those in need and to raise funds for our trip to
the Asia-Pacific region. An example of our fundraisingefforts took place recently on World Cultures Day on
February 20, where we held a photo booth for thecommunity to commemorate their cultures. As a result of
this, we raised around 40,000 yen. All proceeds willcontribute to the funds for our trip. Thank you to those who
supported our booth.
f you are interested in knowing more about KIST’s Habitatfor Humanity team or if you would like to donate funds tosupport our cause, please contact Mr Ito, our teacher
supervisor, at andre.ito@kist.ed.jp.
Hamish (G11A)

AngelaBronze Award“ T h e Co m et ”

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Elementary School News
Bringing mathematics to life
Although we may not always recognize it, mathematics
is all around us. In educating our children, it is importantthat we identify it in the real world and bring out theenjoyment in math. Some of those who lovemathematics view it as a sport; a competition between
human, number, pattern and logic! As adults, we mustencourage this challenging yet playful interaction withnumbers and figures. Professor of Mathematics at
Oxford University, Marcus du Sautoy, stresses theimportance of not passing on to our children our fears ofmathematics. As parents, if we express that they are‘rubbish at math’, our children are likely to place lessimportance on their learning of it.
In the Elementary School at KIST, we are attempting to
make mathematics visual in the real world. We believethat by exposing our students to mathematical patterns
and concepts in an authentic manner, they will be lessanxious of, and more fascinated with, the wonderfulworld of mathematics!
Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal

PTA News
Bicycle safety
As spring approaches and the weather becomes warmer, there is normally an increase in thenumber of children who travel to and from school by bicycle. It is our responsibility as parents toensure that our children have proper control over their bicycle and are aware of those around themwhile riding to school.
The PTA Student Activities Committee is planning to invite an adviser from the Bicycle Popularization Associationof Japan to present a workshop on bicycle safety for our G1 to G5 students after school for about one hour on
Monday, June 1. Details will be sent via E-Communications around the end of April.
If you are interested in this committee or have any
good suggestions for the activities, please e-mailus at: pta.student.activities@family.kist.ed.jp.
Mitsuko Morooka
PTA Student Activities Committee Chair

For more information about the Bicycling Popularization
Association of Japan, see the website below.

http://www.bpaj.or.jp

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K1s Experience Digital Art
At the young age of 3 and 4, it is very difficult forchildren to experience and create digital art. In K1 classso far, the children’s computer fluency is limited tomaneuvering the mouse and clicking. For our second
unit, “How we express ourselves,” however, that was
just not enough.
On December 5, the K1 students went on an excursion
to Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Scienceand Innovation), and visited “teamLab Shake! Art
Exhibition and Learn and Play! teamLab Future Park,”a special exhibit where children and adults alike canexperience digital art through an unbelievable
immersion of projection mapping and computerized
technology. The children, with their parents, colored in
sea animals and transportation vehicle templates, tosee it projected onto a big sea (and road) wall. Not only
that, but these fish and vehicles responded to yoursudden moves and touch. The children, and also theparents, were mesmerized with the surreal interactionof people and digital art! It became a beautiful andmeaningful experience for all.
This exhibit, originally open only until the end of March,
is now open until May 10. If you have not gone yet…
now is your chance to go!
Aya Kurosaki
K1 Teacher

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5“ T h e Co m et ”

K3 Exploring Simple Machines
For the unit, How the World Works, K3 students
have been exploring the central idea: Simple
machines can help make work easier. We
started off our exploration by observing what kindsof work people do. Then, we learned about the six
different simple machines and how they help
people around the world. It was fun to see, touchand play with the different simple machines! For
the summative task, students were given three
scenarios wherein they were to choose one andcreate a compound machine that could make workeasier.

Youn Ho (K3B) chose to
make a compound machinethat could help pull an
enormous turnip out of theground. He explained thatwhen the lever is pulled, it
will turn the pulley and the wedge on the pulley will
cut the ground. He also added, “You can take theturnip out and make soup. I used screws so mywheels and axels don’t break.”

Kindergarten Spring Concert
K3s practicing for the spring concert
Spring is almost here and it means the spring concert too for ourkindergarten students! With eagerness, our kindergarten students
are busy as bees practicing their songs for the upcoming concert
with the help of their teachers, Ms Kay of K3A and Mr Robert
Collins, our music teacher.
I’m sure all of you will be surprised and amazed at how the little
ones have really put in their best singing to entertain us all.
Some students were asked how they feel about the upcoming spring concert. Here are their replies:
The K1s, K2s and K3s are cooperating and working hard on theirperformances to show their parents and teachers this mostawaited performance/musical play that will be held on Friday,
March 13, 2015.
Come watch and join our kindergarten students as they sing andact on stage!
Macrina Prado
K3A ELS Instructor“I think I will enjoy the
spring concert.”“I feel that we are ready to
perform and have fun!”“I’m excited because I wantto sing the songs nicely.”“I’m excited because I want
to be the best singer!”56

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Celebrating Japanese Culture at KIPSOn Tuesday, February 3,
a red and a blue ogre
made an unexpected
appearance at KIPS
during the ‘End of Winter(Setsubun)’ event. While
the Nursery and K1children cried, the bigger
K2 and K3 children were able to stand up and repel theogres by tossing beans at them. Towards the end, thechildren were able to celebrate the festival of Setsubun
by eating the same number of beans as their age, plus
an additional one, to ward off evil spirits and stayhealthy throughout the coming year.
Next, on Wednesday, February 11 an Open Day washeld at KIPS. All children from Nursery to K3 did awonderful job showing parents their daily routines andexplaining what they have been learning in class.
Students and parents were able to get a goodunderstanding of the relationship between their childand teacher. A question time was in place at the end
where teachers were able to answer any queries
parents had about their child’s life at KIPS.
In March, we celebrated the Dolls’ Festival(Hinamatsuri) and students were able to dress up as aprince or princess, and have their photograph taken incostumes handmade by one of our student’s
grandmothers.

New Face
Since the last issue of The
Comet, we have welcomed a
new staff member to our
Preschool team—Mayumi
Yamanaka—who is the new
Movement Instructor at KIPS.
On behalf of the schoolcommunity, we wish you all
the best and hope that you
enjoy your time with us.

Playground Improvements
As announced recently through E-Communications (No. 211,
Tuesday, March 3, 2015), in an effort to make ourKindergarten Playground safer and more visually attractive,
we are planning to install a rubber surface covered byartificial turf around the play structure and are seeking
monetary donations to help make this project a reality.
Thanks to some generous donations from the schoolcommunity during the first week of the campaign, we havealready exceeded our initial goal but are continuing to accept
donations with the aim of completing additional construction
work to replace the wooden decks around the outside of theplay area.
If you would like to support this initiative, please print out the
Donation Form from the school website (at the link below)
and submit it to the office.
http://www.kist.ed.jp/files/pdf/Donation%20form.pdf

Mayumi Yamanaka
Preschool
Specialist Instructor(Movement)

“ T h e Co m et ”

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7

Teaching Skills for the Future
It is said that education must prepare students for jobs that do
not yet exist, using technology that has not been invented. In thepast, a school’s purpose was to teach knowledge. However,with portable technology, we can now access any fact in a
moment. So how can we ensure education prepares ourchildren for a future we cannot even imagine?
One of the ways we do this in the PYP is to teach and develop
skills. In the recent Unit of Inquiry, Grade 1 students wereintroduced to the idea of design and presentation. In their futureschool careers, post-secondary education, and workplaces, ourstudents will need to prepare numerous projects andpresentations for an audience. Therefore, developing students’ designand visual presentation skills is essential.

G2 mentors came the day before to teach us
about presentation skills

For the summative task of our Sharing the Planet unit, the students made andpresented posters about a natural resource. In Literacy, we exploredinformation texts and their characteristics. We also built on our knowledge of
research skills from previous units. The class had a ‘research interview’ with
the Grade 1 Teacher’s Assistant, Mr Dave, who is trained as a graphic
designer. Mr Dave talked to us about the different aspects we should consider
when designing our posters. He told us designers need to think about balance(balancing text and photos) and audience (who is our poster for, and what
information are we trying to present?). Mr Dave taught us how to brainstorm
by creating several ‘thumbnails’, or quick plans, and then choose our favourite
design before starting. We also had a visit from our Grade 2 mentors, whotalked to us about presentation skills such as looking at the audience, trying
not to look at our paper, and being enthusiastic.

Lilas sharing with a Grade 2 student.

As usual, our students approached their challenging task as risk-takers! Theylistened carefully and were soon experimenting with a variety of creative
designs. The students then enthusiastically set to work on their posters.
Finally, the class excitedly welcomed KIST teachers, parents and students toour classroom for our ‘Sharing the Planet Mini-Exhibition’ to celebrate our
projects and knowledge.
Our students are well on the way to success…whatever the future brings!
Jennifer Campbell
G1B Teacher
Marie sharing with her mother.

Helping KIPS K3s leave us feedback

Naoki sharing his learning with Mr Komaki.

Mark getting feedback from Mr Jones.

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Elementary ELS
Grade 5 students: Making language learning a
regular part of everyday life (Part 2)
This is the second of a two-part article where Grade 5
students discuss the routines, technology and other tools
they use to learn language across all parts of their life, notonly school. In Part 1 (December issue), Grade 5s gave us
hints on technology and tools that aided their language
learning anytime, anywhere. In this issue, the learning
routines that these students have developed is under the
spotlight. We owe thanks to the following students for thetime they committed to sharing their advice with us: Minh Ha(G5B), Yoo Mee (G5B), Parsh (G5A), Hanna I (G5A), Rei M(G5A), Miyabi (G5A), Nishi (G5A) and Nanami (G5A). They
give us some fantastic ideas on establishing our own fun
routines for language learning.
Songs“I like songs…like rap…Sometime likethey’re saying a hard word so I go to my Iphone…and I translate it, ask my mom. Sometimes when I
go to the internet and type that song, there’s lyrics, so I canlook at it and remember that song…” (Hanna I)“For music, I do it a lot…If there’s a hard word, I’m going to
the dictionary and find it, and I keep on repeat that sentence
so it helps me memorize the word more easily…There’s thisYouTube channel called AVbyte, they make musicals every
week…I think it’s good because first it’s fun and second
there’s lots of words I don’t know so it helps me learn evenmore.” (Yoo Mee)“...music is really fun...because you just sing…and you don’tknow that you just say a word, and English sentence…andyou will say “what did I just sing?” and try to learn…I translate‘Let It Go’.” (Minh Ha)
Movie and videos“...BuzzFeed, it’s a YouTube channel. I like BuzzFeed
Blue because it about science, a lot of fact that I don’teven know, and they say it in a very funny way that it easy tolearn…because if you don’t know a word, but then you lookat the next word, you could know what the sentence about,so sometimes I don’t need to pause it. But sometime…I still
use the dictionary. But because that is about facts, it really
get me to learn vocabulary.” (Minh Ha)“When I’m watching movie, if there’s a difficult words…Irewind it so I can hear the word clearly, and then I stop themovie…and then…type it on the online dictionary and then I
have Word document that will show any word and thesynonym or definition next to it…My mum sometimes makeme write the movie reflection. That helps me like make it on
my own words.” (Yoo Mee)

Nanami and Nishi(G5A) learn a lot fromtheir friends as well asfrom their free-timereading and writing
routines.

Parsh (G5A) finds reading
the best way to wind down
before sleeping each night.

Rei M (G5A), like Parsh,
has a vocabulary notebook
he carries with him.

Books
“I think the Sakura medals books helped me alot, because…there’s first interesting and good books, andthere’s more new words...When I read books it gives me
more ideas of word choice I can write for the words I alreadyuse before.” (Yoo Mee)“I also learn by seeing movies and reading cause sometimes
while reading I find one word I don’t know…so I found thatword in the dictionary and I put it in my vocabulary
notebook…the vocabulary notebook is a very handy thing…
We can take that anywhere and you can write words that you
learned.” (Parsh)“I take one small book and read the whole thing and write
down the words in my vocabulary notebook, and find…themeaning. And I have a rough notebook…whatever I
understood from the story I write those…topics and what I
understood about those words, and then after doing that…I
write my own story adding those words so I understandexactly where to use it.” (Nishi)“I think reading at night time…is really good. Because while
you sleep you can [remember] new words. Reading bookagain after you wake up is also important too….In themorning you have to check it again to know if it’s…
right.” (Rei M)
Socializing“...my mum has friend in…America andthat friend has daughter and…once in a year she come to
Japan and she speak English, so soon…my English is improve better…the sound, accent and new words. I can ask
her and she can explain me.” (Miyabi)“Another way I learn English is my friends. Sometimes theyknow more words than me, so they teach me, or I teachthem…Talking to them and playing, somehow I just learn.
Talking to my brother…even he’s a lot younger than me, helearns stuff that I haven’t learned. He just teach me stuff andI teach him.” (Nanami)“Even in weekends, as long as you have small brother orsister, then you can read to them. By reading a small bookyou might be able to learn new words that you might misswhen you were small.” (Rei M)
How about the language learning routines and habits thatyour family has? If you haven’t already, please share yourexperience with others you meet in the school community.
Ideas like these that we get from each other really help!
Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator“ T h e Co m et ”

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Student-Led Conferences

Secondary School News

Next week, two important
events will take place. One
being a natural event and theother more academic innature. The former, “TheVernal Equinox”, occurs on
March 21 when the earth will
be in a position where thesun shines directly on theequator and results in the day
and the night being equal inlength. The latter being our“Student-Led Conferences”.
The equinox marks the start of spring and represents a
new beginning, while the conferences stand as apromise of accomplishment and achievement.

At the end of February, we had our first assembly forthe second semester. We had not had one for twomonths due to the winter temperatures in the gym andit was a hard assembly for me to put together as there
were not just a number of events that I and students
wanted to present on, but also a number of students torecognize for success in the academic, sporting, artistic
or club areas. Some items simply could not make thecut because of time! You will be able to read about a lotof these events and student successes in this edition of
The Comet!

Every year in early spring, students at KIST have thechance to showcase their learning by presenting it for
their families. As early as August, students selectpieces of work that demonstrate understandings they
have been able to construct from class inquiries.
Our philosophy focuses on teaching that is highlyinteractive and engaging. Our teaching helps students
to think critically, problem-solve and become selfdirected learners. The Student-Led Conference is an
opportunity for parents to continue to demonstrate
positive interest in your child’s progress. For students,
it is an opportunity to be involved in selecting work toshow, explaining activities and classroom experiences
and to identify points of strength and areas for future
growth within a chosen work. The entire process
becomes an excellent opportunity for parents andchildren to have a medium and platform for opening
communication which might not naturally occur at
home. We hope that everyone will take this chance totalk seriously about goals and accomplishments in ameaningful way which may strengthen not only
academic outcomes but also build stronger family
connections.
These important conferences should be viewed as acelebration of learning across the school. We lookforward to seeing all students with their families on
March 21 for the beginning of spring as well as the firststep toward an equal partnership in your child’s
education.
Clay M. Bradley
Elementary School Vice Principal / PYP Coordinator

One item I was able to present briefly on to thestudents was the KIST Progression Criteria andGraduation Requirements which is a new policy for thisyear. Last month, I was able to read all of the Grade 9
and 10 school reports as part of our final proofing andediting process in Secondary and it is clear that somany of our students are improving their knowledge
and skills and achieving high levels of performance. In
terms of academics, the KIST Progression Criteria andGraduation Requirements support our written
curriculum and assessment policy by aiming to ensurethat we have students who can access the curriculumin the appropriate grade level and also specifically
identifying types of action for students who need tofocus on improvement in certain areas. The criteria
have been e-mailed home earlier in the year but if I canencourage all parents to look at them so that they areaware of school expectations. The policy can be foundon the school website in the Information section underCommunity or at the link below:
http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/67
To conclude my short message and to amalgamate my
two themes of school events and student achievement,a suitable event to highlight is our SLC day on
Saturday March 21. As I write, we are preparing thetime slots for this day and in many Grade 6 – 11Advisory classes this month students are having thetime to finalize their Portfolios ready to present toparents. If you can ask your child about the progress of
their KIST Portfolio this month that would be great andmay help your son/daughter(s) when it comes topresenting you with what they have done so far thisyear! Please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any
feedback about Semester 1 reports or SLC at any timeand I look forward to seeing some of you at this eventand later in the school year.
Mark Cowe
Secondary School Principal

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Secondary School Spelling Bee
The Secondary School Spelling Bee of KIST took
place on January 31, 2015, with three students fromeach English class of Grades 6 to 8 representing
their grade in the school spelling bee. The
contestants were Deniz, Maki and Joe from Grade6, Kai, Shunnosuke and GaOn from Grade 7, andNatasha, Gautham and Yuki from Grade 8. Mr
Davignon was the master of ceremony, in charge ofstating the rules of the spelling bee as well as
introducing the contestants to the stage. Mr Miller
was the pronouncer; in charge of saying words
correctly to the contestants. Mr White was the judge,
and was in charge of making final deliberations ofwords pronounced. Lastly, Mr Andi was the event
photographer, and took photos of the whole event.
For this spelling bee, the contestants were asked tospell words from the Grade 8 Scripps’ Spelling list,and each contestant was allowed to ask for the word
to be repeated or said in a sentence before carefully
spelling the word. Words spelt correctly were
“epicurean” by GaOn, “hyrdroponic” by Deniz and“wherewithal” by Natasha, and some difficult words
that tested the contestants were “monstrous” and“dementia”. One by one, the contestants were
knocked out leaving our final three contestants
Shunnosuke, GaOn and Gautham. They managed tospell all the words in the Grade 8 list correctly, so thejudges moved on to the additional list of words
suggested by Scripps. After a long battle, Gautham
from Grade 8A won, first by beating out GaOn with“brawl” and finishing off by then spelling the word
“mutual” correctly.
All of the contestants fought a great battle, andshould be proud to have been able to represent theirgrade.
Lastly, we should all thank Ms Christian and all theother teachers who organized the 2015 Spelling Bee
and made it possible.
Congratulations to Gautham, and we wish him all theluck for the Japan Times Bee on March 14!
Natasha (G8B) and Shumpei (G8B)

Below is an interview with the Spelling Bee winner,
Gautham from G8A.
S (Shumpei): Congratulations for the win!
Could I ask you a few questions?
G (Gautham): Thanks, sure!
S: You seemed quite calm during the bee, but
how did you feel before it?
G: I didn't really feel anything and I wasn't
nervous, but I really wanted to win for a chance totake revenge in the Japan Times Bee, because I
fell in second place last year.
S: Oh yeah, the Japan Times Bee! How did you
feel after winning this bee and getting a chance totake revenge in the Japan Times Bee?
G: I felt happy after winning, and knowing I
could take revenge. I'll do my very best to win theJapan Times Bee.
S: I’ll be cheering for you for the Japan Times
Bee! Good luck!
G: Thanks!

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5“ T h e Co m et ”

MYP Personal Project Exhibition
Grade 10 work showcased at the Personal Project
Exhibition
The hard work of 32 Grade 10 MYP students was on display in theschool gym on Friday, March 6.
The Personal Project Exhibition marks the end of a process thatstarted in August. Each student in Grade 10 highlights his or her
efforts in exploring an individually chosen topic.
The Personal Project is the culminating
activity of the IB’s Middle Years
Programme. Students are challenged tofind a topic they have a personal interest
in and frame a goal that will allow them todeepen their knowledge while taking
action that will lead to a more meaningfulunderstanding.

Aika (G10B) explored how dogs are used to affectwell-being.

Guided by a supervisor from the KIST
MYP staff, the students engage in a
The Personal Project model.
process that takes them through a cycleof investigating, planning, taking action and reflecting. They’re able
to use their Approaches to Learning skills (Communicating,Researching, Collaborating, etc.) while exploring one of the MYP’s
Global Contexts.
A special part of the exhibition day saw the Grade 10s share theirexperience with Grade 5s who are in the midst of their own IB
culminating activity – the PYP Exhibition. They also had a chanceto speak at length to Grade 9 students who are beginning to thinkof their own Personal Projects that they will begin next school year.

Akira (G10A) produced a book as the product for his
project.

Hiromasa (G10A) explored calligraphy.

Student displays for the Personal Project Exhibition.

Mirabelle (G10A) [far left] explains her investigation ofIndividuality with Grade 5s.

Saachin (G10B) [center] answers questions about his
project investigating the link between fast food andchildhood obesity.

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Welcome to the ESS Classroom
ESS, which stands forEnvironmental Systems andSocieties, is the newest addition to
our KIST DP subject choices. This
unique subject, unlike others hasvery much to offer to its students.
As the name suggests, the subject
looks at the relationship between
humans and the environmental
system. This is a great topic forstudents who are particularlyinterested in the world and ongoingissues, but also students who are
genuinely interested in hands-on
experiments. ESS also provides
students with the ability to analyseand create theories. Since thesubject has a large scope in focus,
students have to have thecunningness to be able to reject
and to accept different theories.
ESS is just like any other subject,
we have the same assessment
framework, but it can beconsidered as both a natural andsocial science. This is what makes
it unique and interesting!

In ESS class, we have done
numerous practicals which areessentially lab experiments which
we write a lab report on. One of thepracticals we did required us toobserve and calculate thepigments in autumn leaves to findwhich color of leaves have certain
pigments. This practical wasmemorable as an enjoyable
practical, because we actuallywent outside to collect the autumn
leaves by ourselves, which madeus realize how the things aroundus are formed and could be
explained by science, more
specifically, chemistry.

The original autumn leaves that we
picked out.

Grinding the leaves to get the “coloredjuice” out.

In another practical, we collected
fingerprints to find some kind of
correlation between the pattern offingerprints and certain
independent variables such assides of the hand, gender and age
etc. of the person that we collected
the fingerprint from. This practical
was slightly linked with biology, as

fingerprints are about us, but also
because we looked at thetendency and characteristics offingerprints that we collected so we
could conclude something thatapplies to the human population asa whole. This is one of theadvantage of taking ESS. Learning
in ESS class usually requires us to
explore other sciences that apply
in real life so by taking ESS, we
can technically learn a wide rangeof sciences, to actually “see” and“feel” how sciences can be foundin the nature.
Aditya (G11B) and Ayaka (G11B)

Extracting pigment using ethanol.

Saturday Computer Workshop

on 2D game making
for students in grades 5-11

April 11th, 2015 @ KIST

more information and sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/MbCGt96fes
Don’t just consume technology, CREATE IT!

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5Japanese New Year PartyI

nternational students learn about
Japanese traditions

On Wednesday, January 28 at K. International
School Tokyo, a New Year Party was held.
This event is held every year in this school
every January. The sumo wrestlers came toschool to wrestle with all the students. We saw
a lot of students with smiling faces. The sumo
wrestlers helped to make mochi with thestudents and ate that mochi afterwards. Somepeople couldn’t eat the mochi because they
don’t like eating that type of food.
Two students were interviewed. A grade two
student girl said, “The sumo wrestlers were verystrong. I couldn’t win but the mochi was veryyummy. I ate a lot.” A grade five student boy
said “I almost won against the sumo wrestler, it
was a lot of fun. At first I was scared to eat
mochi but it was very good.”
Marina (G9A)

M

aking mochi with sumos

Teachers and students from K. International
School Tokyo wrestled with sumos to learn
about Japanese traditions.
On January 28, 2015, five sumo wrestlers cameto K. International School Tokyo and wrestledwith students from Grade 1 to Grade 12. Since
the sumos were really big and strong, three
students wrestled against one sumo.
A student said that sumo wrestlers were reallybig so it’s impossible to fight with them one on
one. However, there was a really brave student
from Grade 9 who wrestled one on one with asumo. The students lost, of course.
After wrestling with the sumos, the students
made mochi or rice cakes. There are many
types of mochi like anko, nori and kinako. It wasan amazing day for this school in Tokyo.
Kuni (G9A)“ T h e Co m et ”

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

DP Reflection
When I first started DP, I was surprised at the workload
because it increased in comparison with MYP. Many ofthese tasks were important since they would all counttowards my grade.
In the DP, students select Higher Level subjects (HL)and Standard Level subjects (SL). The HL subjects are
the subjects that the student is expected to do well inand therefore the level of work and expectations arehigher than the SL subjects. In order to do better in my
HL subjects, I found myself spending more time on
independent study than what I spent during my time in
the MYP. Therefore I was glad that I chose subjects
that I have an interest in. My HL subjects are Japanese
B, Psychology and Art. Originally coming from aJapanese school, I have always been familiar with the
expectations in the Japanese class, which worked to
my advantage. I find Psychology one of my hardest
subjects since I have to memorize theprinciples, command terms, names oftheories and the studies that support them.
However, the subject of understanding
human behavior has always been aninteresting topic for me and therefore I am

always excited to learn new material. I
have also practiced drawing during
my spare time as one of my hobbies.
This worked to my advantage when I
chose Visual Arts as one of my HL
subjects because I was able to apply
this experience to my work. Also, for DP Art, I foundmyself reflecting upon what I made through myhandheld journal, where I would put entries inthroughout the year, and my online portfolio, which I
would type up at the end of the unit. These reflections
helped me learn from my experience, which I would
then pass on to the next unit.
So far throughout the course, I have had many
challenging moments and I often struggle keeping abalance between my schoolwork and my social life.
However, whenever I do not understand myschoolwork or a concept that I learnt during class, myteachers are always there to explain it to me, andtherefore no matter how hard the workload is, I am able
to get through it.
Liam (G11B)

Welcome to the Global Classroom
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to havea lesson in a café or Starbucks? Well, all you need is a
laptop, headset and access to the Internet.
Pamoja Education is an organization that works closelywith the International Baccalaureate (IB) to provide
online Diploma Programme courses. Theses online
courses are taught by highly qualified and experienced
IB teachers and follow a strict and regimented course
structure.
Since 2014, KIST embarked to provide its students
with a wider variety of subjects to choose from for the
DP. Currently, there are five students KIST who areenrolled in the following online courses:
 Mandarin ab inito SL
 Business & Management SL/HL Psychology SL
Together with Mr Rose who is the DP Coordinator, Mr
Kroschel is appointed as the Student Co-coordinator
for Pamoja in KIST and they both ensure that theonline students in KIST have a smooth enrolment
process and they also look into any technical issues
that students encounter and work closely with the
Pamoja administrator based in the UK especially on
progress reports and feedback on students.
Since September 2014, I have been enrolled in two

online courses – Mandarin ab initio
and Business & Management SL.
Personally, I feel that the online
courses are challenging yet exciting.
I have been so used to face-to-faceinteraction with teachers all my life so
this is a change in mindset and a new way of learning.
However, you get to interact with students from all over
the world especially when you have to do a grouppresentation. You have to be mindful that all questions
to teachers must be in an email or the online forum andfrom my experience, the teachers are prompt to reply
to any concerns you may have regarding the unit/
assignment. Online students also have regular Skypecalls and you get to book a time slot that is convenient
to you. Once in a while, you have to join in conference
calls which may be at early hours of the day, forexample, 2:00 in the morning. But I take this as partand parcel of life because we are being groomed to be
active university students. I cannot stress theimportance of time management in the DP, but more
importantly, in an online course. And it also involves a
lot of reading and seeing different
perspectives to issues at handbecause the whole global
community is sharing their views
online.
Lavanya (G11B)

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

TASSELT

ASSEL is an NPO which provides education to
unprivileged children in Cambodia who would
otherwise have no opportunity to receive English
education. TASSEL is free of charge for the children (andtheir families), and they learn listening and speaking fromstudent volunteers from different countries (Japan, Korea,
USA) through online video calls using a software called
VSEE with the support from local teachers who receive
salary to support their families. Most of the salaries comefrom the funds raised by student volunteers from all over
the world and as a result, TASSEL is providing job
opportunities for the local teachers as well. Students areprovided with interactive classes and also taught theirskills in English. TASSEL also provides food, Internet
access and other general needs of the children including
essential vitamins to help them stay focused during thelessons. The current KIST chapter consists of 4
enthusiastic students who are willing to support these
unprivileged students in Cambodia. We are looking for
more students who are interested in committing their time
to join us to provide bigger support for the children in
Cambodia.
Knowing TASSEL’s mission, which is to support
unprivileged students in Cambodia, I thought this would be
the right service activity for me to get involved in, after
having to spend time in other countries in Asia including
China, Thailand, India and Cambodia while growing up.
Supporting children’s education in Cambodia was a great
motivation for me as I started this program as a part of my
DP CAS. For someone like me, who had the opportunity tolive in such a wonderful country and interact with local
people, I believe that TASSEL is one way that I can show
my appreciation and make a wise use of my experience.
TASSEL has allowed me to not only contribute to thecommunity but they have also provided me the opportunity
to improve my skills to teach and as well as my creativity
thinking and skills required for teaching. I truly believe that
TASSEL is an activity which will help students grow as
individuals in many ways and I hope for more students tojoin our group in the upcoming year!
Momoko (G11)“ T h e Co m et ”

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Sakura Book Trailers
Secondary students participated in the 2015
Sakura Book Trailer Competition in Japanese.
Students read one of 2015 Sakura
Medal books this year and created abook trailer to introduce their chosenbook. As appraisers, Mr Jones, Mr
Andi and all the secondary Japaneseteachers selected the best trailers
from each category. All the book
trailers can be found on the LMC’s
Moodle page. Please enjoy watching
our students’ book trailers!

The top 7 finalists received a certificate ofrecognition and an iTunes card worth 1,500 yen
during a recent secondary school assembly. Theirwork will be sent to the Sakura Book Trailerinternational competition where they will compete
against students from many other international
schools across Japan.
This activity was led by the Japanese department
in coordination with the LMC and sponsorship of
the PTA Library Committee. Next year, we plan tomake this event even bigger with moreparticipationfrom different
Middle School Japanese A
grade levels.
Aya (G8B)
Yeonseo (G8A)
The best
Sophia (G8B)
book trailers
Middle School Japanese B
that will be
Li Ran (G8A)
sent to theHigh School Japanese A
international
Aska (G9A)
level
Ibuki (G9A)
competition
Manato (G9A)
were createdHigh School Japanese B
by:Taisei (G9B)
Ken (G10B)
Hiroya (G10B)

Mr Cowe congratulating finalists Manato (G9A) and Ken (G10B).

Kiyomi Kanazawa
Subject Area Coordinator – Japanese

WebLEAP Boom!
WebLEAP is an all online essay writing program for G4-G10 students.
Students get 1-on-1 feedback so it is suited for students of all levels. Thissemester, thanks to the help of one of our new KIST parents, Donna Linnett,
we have reopened the WebLEAP program. Mrs Linnett is an experienced IBteacher and a TOK examiner—we are very lucky to have her helping us.
We have had to close applications early due to the high volume of applicantsfrom within KIST, as well as outside students coming from Chiba, Okayama,
Sapporo, and some even coming from New Zealand, Morocco and Canada!
If you are interested in learning more about the program for next semester, you
can find all of our information on the LEAP website (http://www.k-leap.jp).
Anna Holdaway
LEAP Coordinator“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

17

Library News
World Cultures Day 2015
Now in its fourth year, World Cultures Day(formerly known as International Mother-languageDay) celebration was a smashing success on
Friday, February 20. Starting this school year, theKIST Library Team expanded the scope of thisevent to better promote inter-cultural awarenessand support for mother-tongue languages. The
concurrent activities during the day gave
opportunities for students (both elementary andsecondary), teachers and parents to work together
which made this whole-school event a meaningfullearning experience.
Grade 5 students kicked off this year’s celebration at
the International Library of Children’s Literature in
Ueno. The students had a chance to explore theresearch library and its special collection and to utilize
the library services offered free of charge to Tokyo
residents.
Celebrations at school started brightand early on Friday morning with asong number entitled “Yesterday’s
Dream” performed by One Voice—agroup composed of secondary students(Emani, Min Woo, Marlinah, Aya,
Michiru and Keri). This performance
was followed by the Grade 4 students’
dance number “Black and White”
choreographed by Mr Leroy. The parade on the field
was the highlight of the day as more students
compared with last year’s event had shown theirsupport by wearing their traditional costume andproudly waving their flags. For the first time, KIPS
students joined in the fun, too!
Teachers were encouraged to participate in the searchfor “Top 5 Best Dressed” challenge. Congratulations to
Ms Sheyla (K2), Ms Mac (K3A), Mr Smith (K3B), Mr
Vodden (G2A), and Mr Matsui (Japanese teacher)!
Thank you to all the teachers for showing yourenthusiasm by wearing your traditional costumes orculture-related outfits.

visited elementary classrooms to teach their motherlanguages, including Hindi, Chinese and Korean, andHabitat for Humanity’s Photo Booth for a Good Cause,World Languages Collection and Fusion Art exhibition
became an instant hit inside the MPR. Special thanks
to all the parents and students for viewing the artworks
and supporting the photo booth!

Grade 3 to Grade 8 students
heard rakugo performed in
English by one of only a few
women rakugo performers. Ms
Oshima performed traditional andcontemporary rakugo stories,
including some of her own
creations. We received a lot of positive feedback fromparents andstudents who saw
her performance.
To view the World
Cultures Day photo
album, please visit
the Elementary
Library or the LMC
Moodle pages.

2015 Sakura Reading Programme

Younger elementary students had the opportunity tohear books read aloud in a variety of world languages:
Korean, Chinese, French and American Sign
Language. Our students loved to listen to the stories
and learn about other cultures. Secondary students

This year, KIST is continuing participation in the Sakura
Medal program, which brings together international
school students all over Japan to vote on their favorite
picture books, chapter books and graphic novels in
English and Japanese. Elementary students at KIST
can submit their votes to the Elementary Library until
April 11. Please see Ms Leslie for details and apamphlet to cast your vote.
Continued on next page18

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Continued from previous page

Sakura Medal Book Bowl
Thanks to club leaders Ms O’Handley (G4B) and Ms
Patterson (G1A), KIST Grade 4 and Grade 5 students
have the opportunity to participate in the Sakura Medal
Book Bowl for the first time. This competition
challenges students’ knowledge of the Sakura Medal
chapter books. The competition will be held this year at
the International School of the Sacred Heart on April
10. Our students have been working hard to read andprepare for this event. Please wish them the best ofluck for their competition.

Kirkus and School Library Journal for suggestions, but
who knows our school community better than you? So
if you have suggestions of book titles and online
resources, please contact us via e-mail at
library@kist.ed.jp.
The KIST Library Team

Developing the KIST Library Collection
The Library Team aims to involve the KIST community
in developing our library collection. At the end of every
school year, we update our collection by acquiring
resources that will support our school curriculum andreading for pleasure from reputable book suppliers
such as Titlewave, IB Online Store and Scholastic
Books. We also use professional review journals likeWorld Cultures Day
KIST celebrated World Cultures Day on Friday,
February 20, 2015. The event was a great
success! All KIPS and Elementary KIST students,
teachers and staff enjoyed and participated in theactivities organized by the library team headed by
Mr Andi and the PTA members.
One Voice—a group of secondary school students
welcomed all parents and KIST students with their
opening song number entitled “Yesterday’s
Dream.” Some students joined in singing the song;others waved their flags as they sang the song.
A dance number choreographed by Mr Leroy for thegrade 4s was applauded as the students danced tothe beat of Michael Jackson’s “Black and White.”With much excitement, the students and teachers
displayed their national costume or traditional
costume as they all paraded around the field
carrying their flag. Parents and teachers cheered andapplauded with smiles and good words to all theparticipants, appreciating the different costumes wornas they walked around.
Concurrent activities were attended and enjoyed by ourstudents.
Here are the activities we had that day:
 Storytelling in different languages read byparents and translated to English by secondary
students
 An Exhibition in the MPR featuring cultural displaysof items brought in by KIST parents and students Rakugo which was held in the school gym

A Photo Booth for a good cause in the MPR
arranged by the Habitat for Humanity team
Teaching basic words in different languages
led by secondary students
Watching Disney movies in different languages
with English subtitles

The day ended with smiles and much appreciation to
all the effort extended by the school community and
the KIST Library Team.
Macrina Prado
K3A ELS Instructor

“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

Images clockwise from left:
Felix (G11A), Isabella (G10A),
Cindy (G11A), Sara S. (G9A),
Naman (G8A), Miu (G9A),
Mirabelle (G10A), Alia (G6A),
Yeonseo (G8A)

Artscape 2015
The annual Artscape exhibition was held
this year at Azabu Kids to Teens Hall. There
were 13 schools from the Kanto region thatparticipated with a large range of year
groups representing their school withdifferent artwork in 2D and 3D.
Students from grade 6-12 represented
Visual Art from KIST this year. Many
students and teachers commented on thequality of work that was selected from KIST
– with 2 students from ISSH writing a letterto 2 pupils about their artwork and how
inspiring it was!
Some comments from other teacherswere:

The use of detail and colour in some of thepaintings, as well as the skill in using
acrylic paint and mixed media.
The brightness of colour and interesting
abstract compositions.
We also featured some 3D concept
jewellery and body adornment designs
from 2 year 8 students!
Well done to all involved and I look forward
to presenting our wonderful work in next
year’s exhibition!
Mrs Emma Justice
MYP/DP Visual Arts Teacher

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“ T h e Co m e t ”

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15

“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

Staff 10!

Nurse’s Notes

In this month’s Staff 10!, weare pleased to present
Andrew Tulk who joined us
in 2014 as an MYP
Technology and Mathematics
teacher in the Secondary
School.

Administering medicine at school

Mr Tulk on the cold slopes of Tell us something
Mount Kinabalu, Borneo.
interesting about yourhometown.
St. John’s is the oldest and most easterly city in North
America.
 What is your favorite place in the world?
Home is where the heart is!
 Who would you like to meet if you had the chance
and why?
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. I would havesome choice words for him!
 Do you have any special skills or talents?
I can play the piano and the trumpet.
 Please share a little known fact about yourself.
I share my birthday with my parents wedding
anniversary. I was born exactly one year after theirwedding day.
 What is your most prized possession?
My collection of fridge magnets from all the countries I
have visited.
 What words would you use to describe yourself?
Easy going, easily distracted, friendly (I hope!).
 If you could live your life again, would you doanything differently?
I would have learned how to play ice hockey.
 Is there anything you are trying to learn/improveabout yourself at the moment?
I am trying tobecome a better
listener, more
focused.
 Do you haveany special
message for yourfans?
I have fans?

A view of St. John’s.

21

Medicine kept in the Nurse’s RoomStudents often visit the Nurse’s Room to ask
for cough drops or medicine for diarrhea,
nausea, cold or fever. As the Nurse’s Room is
not a medical institution, we cannot
administer medicine appropriate for each
student’s condition. Medicines we currently
store in the Nurse’s Room include: medicine
for intestinal disorders (Biofermin), painkillers(Buffarin for children and EVE-A). These
medicines are administered upon the nurse’s
judgement and approval from parents.
Bringing prescribed medicine to school
In principle, students are not allowed to bring medicine
to school as there is a danger of other students
accidentally using it. We ask for the cooperation ofparents in asking the doctor to prescribe medicine thatcan be taken twice a day (morning and evening) oroutside school hours. If medicine is prescribed for use
3 times a day, please arrange for the afternoon dose to
be taken after school and the evening dose at bed time.
If your child is required to take medicine during school
hours, please follow the procedures below.
 Parents should come to school to administer the
medicine to their child.
 If the above is not possible, parents must submit
the Permission to Administer Medication form
(available on the school website) to the Nurse’s
Room and leave the medicine in the care of thenurse. Students must not keep medication in theirbags.
 Students must visit the nurse room at theappropriate time to take the medicine.
Permission may be granted for students to keep
emergency medication such as inhalers for asthma or
Epi-pens in their bags after discussion with parents.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Makiko Whittaker
School Nurse

School Calendar 2015-2016

 First day of school: August 17, 2015

To assist families planning overseas trips,
the dates of school vacation periods forthe 2015-2016 school year are listed on
the right. Families are asked to makearrangements accordingly to ensure thatstudents are back in Japan ready to startschool after each vacation period on the correct date.
The complete calendar will be distributed in June.

 Autumn break: October 25 – November 1, 2015

 KISTival: October 24, 2015
 Winter vacation: December 19, 2015 – January
10, 2016
 Spring break: March 26 – April 3, 2016
 Last day of school: June 8, 201622

V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Spotlight on Clubs
Elementary Drawing and Illustration Club –Seeing the World in 2D
A professor I had in college once said: “All children
start out as artists. As kids, our parents gave us
pencils, big crayons and coloring books, but some of us
maybe started playing with a ball and forgot all about
the crayons.” This statement made a huge impact onme because, since I was little, I did nothing but draw
pictures, while the other kids were playing outside.
Now, as a professional graphic designer and illustrator
working in a school, the skills and talents that I
continuously witness from the students everyday makeme remember what my professor said, and I thought, “I
see a lot of little artists in the classroom every day, why
not help them develop their gifts?”

hope that
they
continue to
enjoymakingpictures,and neverstop trying
to makesomethingnew.

Satori and Ylana (G1A) in drawing club.

Julian DaveClub Leader

The Drawing and Illustration Club is for children with apassion for taking what they see around them, andputting it on paper. We’ve talked about different topics;
drawing figures from basic shapes, light and shadow(which was a little advanced, but they understood it
well!), drawing cartoons, and crosshatching. Besides
drawing techniques, I also try to teach them to look at
everything around them, and imagine how these things
will look on paper.
“Robot Snail” by Renzo (G2B)

The kids have fun learning to draw, and I love watchingthem improve in their art. After attending the club, I

An example ofcrosshatching by MinSeong (G2B)

Les Misérables Club
Since September 2014, students in Les Misérables
Club have been practicing towards their performance inJune. At first, some students felt shy and were scaredto sing in front of an audience. However, after having
had two opportunities to perform on stage, they started
to build more confidence and enjoyed a feeling ofaccomplishment.
KIST graduate, Kei Komaki (Class of 2012), who isalso the president of the drama club at International
Christian University, has been working with thestudents to create the musical and our Secondary
music teacher, Ms Babaeva, has been helping students
with the songs.

Les Misérables club members.

We will also be working with a few students from the
Elementary Performance Club from the next club cycle.
The final performance of the musical “Les Misérables”
will be on June 2 at Fukagawa Edo Museum Small
Theatre. It is the first musical production for KIST and
we would like to invite all members of the schoolcommunity to come and enjoy the show. More details
will be made available closer to the date.
Nanami Komaki
Club Co-Leader
Continued on next page

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5“ T h e Co m et ”

23

Continued from previous page

Elementary rock guitar club
ACDC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. Elementary
Grade 4 and Grade 5 students have spent thissemester learning classic rock guitar riffs and theimportance of turning it up to eleven.
Any students interested in joining thisclub should contact Mr Robert for
details.
Robert Collins
Club Leader

Athletics NewsOn January 16 and 17, both the highschool girls and boys competitivebasketball teams, coached by Mr
Leroy and Mr Abarca, participated in
the Yokohama Annual Invitational
Basketball tournament. After a brief absence fromparticipation we were invited to compete again thisyear against schools from all over Japan (Osaka
International School; Hokkaido International School;
Canadian Academy of Japan, Kobe; International
School of the Sacred Heart; Yokohama International
School and Saint Maur International School). Bothteams competed fiercely through the round robin
qualifying tournament and ended up playing for the top
honors.
The girls battled to an overtime victory over YIS in thesemifinal game to grant them a chance to play for thechampionship trophy vs their nemesis Saint Maur, theonly team they lost to in the qualifying rounds. The
girls played hard but fell to an extremely strong Saint
Maur squad that went undefeated throughout thetournament. The KIST Lady Comets finished the 2015
tournament in 2nd place and made us all proud!! The
girls have a history of great performances at thistournament—2012 2nd place and 2013 champions.

Our boys won all their qualifying matches with easeand met a very strong YIS team in the final. It was neckand neck through the entire game. The final quarter
was an intense back and forth competition that saw
KIST down by 1 point with 6 seconds left on the clock.
We inbounded the ball from our basket and drove
down the court breaking a full court press set by the
opposition. Our top scorer and best ball handler, Salam(G12A), ended up with the ball driving to the hoop andwas fouled on the layup…but the shot fell through thehoop and KIST Boys became the 2015 Yokohama
Invitational champions for the third time in the past 4
years—2012, 2013 and 2015 champions!
Congratulations Comets
Basketball for
representing the school
and our hard work intraining!
Coming next issue: 2015 ISTAA High School andMiddle School Basketball results!!
Jay Leroy
High School Boys and Girls Basketball CoachAthletics Director / PYP/MYP Physical Education
Teacher

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Secondary SRC
Student fund
The Student Fund is a new system that enables
students to request funds from the SRC budget to
implement their initiatives. Intended for possible
purchases or events/projects that benefit KIST
students, the Student Fund accepts requests from all
KIST students, and grants them depending on theirsuitability to the established criteria. With 50,000 yen
dedicated for every 3 months (January – March period,
April – June period), we are looking forward to seeing
unique ideas from our vibrant student community. It is
our pleasure to inform you that the SRC has alreadyaccepted multiple applications, in which one of theinitiatives (KISTeens Winter Wonderland Competition)
has been implemented with funds from the Student
Fund.

Student printerThe SRC has installed a student printer in the library!
Now, when a student is in the crisis of “I forgot to printout my assessment due today!”, he or she can simply
come to the library with a USB-stick and the Student
Printer will get him or her out of trouble. If you ever
have a chance to use the student printer, please keep
in mind that black/white printing is 10 yen per pageand color printing is 50 yen per page, and that it is only
available in the mornings from 8:15 – 8:40 a.m. andlunch times from 1:15 – 1:40 p.m.

successfully implement thissystem, a proposal had to be
written and submitted to the
SRC. A proposal must include
what the suggestion is, how thesuggestion will work and most importantly, how thissuggestion will help change KIST life. If the majority ofclass representatives in the SRC feel that the proposal
is a necessary suggestion that will benefit KIST
students, then the proposal will be implemented. The
system is now implemented and is used by students
frequently on rainy days!

Friday the <3thFebruary was themonth where the SRC
was very busyorganizing the famous
SRC dance. This time,
the theme of thedance was a mixture
between Valentine’s
Day and Friday the
13th; Friday the <3th(Friday theHearteenth). This time
we got the opportunityof collaborating with
the Habitat For Humanity team as well! We started fromdeciding on the theme to designing the layout of thegym, thinking of exciting events and advertising theevent. As always we got a lot of positive feedback fromthe students and teachers and the event was a very
successful event!
The Secondary SRC

Umbrella loaning system
The umbrella loaning system is asystem in which secondary students
are able to loan umbrellas from the
SRC during times of rain or snow.
When a student is loaning anumbrella, he/she must first make adeposit of 300 yen before receiving
the umbrella. Once the umbrella isreturned to an SRC member the 300
yen will be given back to the student. In order to“ T h e Co m et ”

V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

25

MUN Scrimmage
KIST MUN club hosts another successful
scrimmageThis year’s Model United Nations scrimmage was held
on February 7, 2015. As this was our first time
participating in the KIST MUN, the experience was truly
incredible. This year, we had a total of around 75
delegates in the scrimmage, and delegates from
Yokohama International School and the British School inTokyo.

KIST delegates and advisors Mr Erickson, Mr Cernak and Mr White.

The day started on an early Saturday morning with alldelegates gathering in the MPR. Each student took theposition of an ambassador, representing a country. We
also had Kouta (G12B) as the Chair for the General
Assembly II and Akiko (G10A) as the co-Chair.

KIST delegatesdiscuss their
proposed
resolution.

We all spent the day in our committees, and this year,
we had two of them. Both were General Assemblies andthe issues of both was ‘Effectively Reducing Cases of
Epidemics of Africa’.
Once the scrimmage began, each delegate gave their
opening speeches, talking about their position on theissue. From that point, we found the other delegatesthat had common focuses of the issue and formed agroup to create a resolution. This occurred during thecaucuses. The resolution submitted consisted of alldelegates’ draft resolutions, which was written prior to
the scrimmage. While working on the resolution, notonly were we only combining what we had, butdelegates got to interact and know each other.
Once the preparations for the debate ended, the funbegan; it was finally time for debate. The purpose of thedebate was to modify the resolutions; we had to make it
the best and most agreeable for each delegate. The
delegates debated on whether the solution was effective
or not and explained their reasoning as to why they
were either for or against the resolution. As this was our
first-time experience, we were both bundles of nerves,
but were still able to state our opinions. Being a part ofthe debate also gave us a chance to see how otherdelegates were able to quickly think of a point toaddress that would hopefully convince other delegatesto vote either for or against the resolution.

Natalie (G9B)[center] works
during thelobbying
process.

Selena (G9B) prepares her opening
speech.

Aishwarya (G12B), Rina
(G12B), and Keerti(G12B) reflect on their
final MUN event.

Lavanya (G11B)
presents her views to
the committee.

Following each of the debates, the committee moved
onto voting procedures, where the delegates raised
their placards to vote.
MUN was a way for both of us to develop many skills.
In addition to how we improved in debating anddeveloped our skills of interacting with new people,
taking part in the scrimmage this year also made us
more aware of the global issues we have in the world.
We encourage students to contribute in the MUN togrow as a person and be a more confident speaker.
Natalie (G9B) and Selena (G9B)
Photos by Tamami (G12A)

Arjun (G10A), Akiko (G10A), andMirabelle (G10A) collaborating
during lobbying.

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Language, Culture and Identity
KIST students and teachers share thoughts on language,
culture and identity
As part of KIST’s celebration of World Cultures Day, MYP students from
Grades 9 and 10 attended a seminar in the Library Media Center. Hosted by
Aska (G9A), the discussion drew on the experiences of two DP students– Jiaying (G11A) and Sara (G11A) and two teachers – Ms Christian and Mr
Hishiyama. All five of the participants have rich, complex relationships
to language and culture. During the course of the hour-long seminar, thepanelists spoke about personal experiences that helped shape theirunderstanding of the world and their place in it.
Mr Hishiyama’s education included timein France, America and Switzerland.

The MYP classes were a great audience and took advantage of theopportunity to explore key themes that form part of the IB experience: thecentral nature of language, the need to be internationally minded, and theconnection of international school students to host-country culture.

World Cultures Day Seminar Reflection
A student-led seminar was held during Advisory class for G9 and G10 last February
27th to celebrate World Cultures Day. Four panelists - two teachers and two G11students -- debated cultural diversity, international-mindedness and individuality.
The exchange of opinions touched a nerve as they evoked memories about mystruggle with cultural identity while growing up.
As a Filipino-Chinese adolescent born a “natural” Japanese and raised in abilingual environment, I have been exposed to various cultures and beliefs from avery young age. But growing up in a homogeneous society as Japan, I often
struggled with my cultural and social identity. Many people questioned me
endlessly about my ethnicity, trying to analyze why I speak fluent English despite
looking Japanese and having a Japanese name. My peers who were of pureJapanese ethnicity considered me an oddity, a puzzle to be solved. I remember
coming home from Japanese school crying, frustrated about having to explain myethnic background to curious classmates and their parents. I flinched insidewhenever someone would start to ask, “Where are you from?” I silently asked
myself, “Does it really matter?”I think many international students experience such internal conflicts about theiridentities. Moving to an international school and traveling around the world widened
my global perspective and showed me that being culturally diverse wasn’t bad, andis, in fact, a good thing. The panelists shared stories that mirrored mine, butchallenged me with opinions opposite mine. It was an eye-opening healthy
discussion that clearly showed cultural diversity and its influence on individuality.

Ms Christian spoke of her experiences
as an international school student.

Jiaying (G11A) spoke of her connection
to Shanghai and her parents’ culture.

I learned that international-mindedness is the key to intercultural understanding.
Being internationally-minded is not equivalent to being multicultural; internationalmindedness is about respecting other cultures, perspectives and values, and being
tolerant of each other's differences. By promoting socialand cultural acceptance, people can build better
relationships with a wide diversity of cultures andcommunities. This is what it means to be a truly
international citizen.
I hope that KIST hosts more events similar to the World
Cultures Day seminar to spread internationalmindedness, and to help those who are still in theprocess of finding themselves.
Hana (G10B)

Hana (G10B) reflects on the World
Cultures Day seminar.

Sara (G11A) recalled her first experiencesin English education at KIST.

Photos by Kazuya Michael (G10A) and Aika (G10B)

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

The Big Disconnect
Protecting childhood and family relationships in the digital age
As parents we rely on our own
experience, consider the advice ofothers in our communities, andeducate ourselves the best we canfor the most important task that life
presents us with – raising ourchildren. But past generations
have not had to raise children in
the technology centric context oftoday and that leaves many of us
wondering what influence ourconnected world is having on ourchild’s development and unsure of
how to manage our child’s techrelated activities.

Students spend an
average of 6.5 hours
per day using
electronic devices.

Children today are literally growing
up not only with technology, but ontechnology. Their social skill
learning and emotional
development is taking place not
only at home and school but alsowith the increasing influence of
online contexts and increasinglywith people who they ‘know’ online
but are in reality strangers.
The information provided from theplethora of experts wanting to sell
us their approach to parenting thechildren of today can be
overwhelming and often
contradictory. But there are somevery convincing experts offering
support and I would like to sharewith you as members of our KIST
community about one valuable
resource of information on the
topic of technology use by children.
The Big Disconnect by Catherine
Steiner-Adair is a powerful and(scarily) enlightening book that I
highly recommend to all of us
parents, regardless of the age ofour children. Presenting numerous
real-life examples from her work asa child therapist and school
consultant, and the results ofrecent research, Steiner-Adair

shares with readers the realities
our children face in growing up
with technology and better equips
us as parents to protect ourchildren from adversities related totechnology use (including TV andgames) and the dangers of having,
and being absorbed in, an online
presence.

Two thirds of teens
report they are also
doing somethingelse when ‘studying’on the computer.
While recognizing the benefits thattechnology brings to our child’s
educational experiences, SteinerAdair also alerts us to the fact that
our children are often ill-prepared
for the lures of technology and thefreedoms of the social media
context. She cites research thatshows scientific evidence of links
between media and social
networking and adverse
psychological development inchildren, including loneliness,depression, attention problems,and addiction. The book is an eyeopener for those parents who think‘it’s just a game’ or ‘they are only
chatting with friends’ and will
increase the awareness of allparents looking to ensure thehealthiest developmental
experiences possible for their child(ren).

One in three teens
who used social
media report thatpeople are mostly
unkind to eachother on social
network sites.
In addition to negative influences
technology can have on learning,
Steiner-Adair argues using
scientific studies that thesuperficial nature of technology

based communication is
weakening the development of
empathy in children. Providing
students with experiences that
nurture empathy are critical indeveloping compassion in students
and the ability to understandothers’ perspectives. Empathy is avalue at the heart of every
international community and assuch Steiner-Adair raises somevery real concerns for us about thewell-being of KIST students. As welook to review our Technology Use
Agreements and other related
school documentation, I invite you
to read the Big Disconnect andwork with us at home to support
your child in using technology in a
way that promotes healthy
development.
The Big Disconnect is available
through Amazon Japan.
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

27

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V ol u me 18 | I s s ue 3 | M arc h 20 15“ T h e Co m e t ”

Alumnus Report
Rishab Rawat is an alumnus of KIST’s “Class of2013.” He is currently studying for a Bachelor of
Science in Management degree at The London
School of Economics and Political Science in theUK.
University has been such afascinating experience altogether
for me. I have learnt that university
is all about initiative and striving foropportunity. You are not going to
get spoon fed anything whichmakes it very daunting andchallenging at first but then you get
used to it, you adapt to it and you
start loving it. It is going to be 2
years since I graduated from KIST
and I am pleased to say that I am
happy at LSE and in London.
The first year at LSE was the endof dependency and the start ofindependency. My first year at LSE
was all about settling into
university life and knowing more
about my own self. It was like astart of a whole new life. I had tomake sure I did laundry, took careof lunch and dinner, make sure I
was on top of things academicallyand also have a good social life.
This was very challenging at first

however as time passed
by, I adapted to my new
home and all of thisbecame just a routine.
A typical day in London is very
different to school back home inTokyo. According to your personal
timetable, you have classes andlectures at various times of theday. I have classes and lectures
every day of the week which keeps
me really busy. I sometimes also
have a large time gap between twoclasses. During these gaps I ameither studying in the library,
grabbing lunch or am with myfriends just chilling.
The days vary a lot in terms ofschedule because sometimes you
have group meetings, society
meetings or need to attend a talkgiven by a special guest who is on
campus. The coolest part about
LSE is that every day of the weeksome firm, diplomat, scholar,
economist or even Nobel
laureates are on campus. This
gives every student theopportunity to meet these
distinguished people and evenhave personal conversations withthem. I just recently attended atalk on entrepreneurship given by
Professor Zoltan Acs and HRH
Prince Abdulaziz Al Saud ofSaudi Arabia which I found to beamazing and interesting. These
kinds of events really makeuniversity life academicallystimulating and different.
Other than attending talks, I am
part of many societies at LSE
such as the entrepreneurshipsociety, finance society andRishab (left) spending time with friends.

strategic consultancy society toname just a few. I do not have acommittee position in any of thesegroups however I do regularly takepart in their events and meetings
which happen on a weekly basis.
Due to all of these various things I
do, I am usually really busy during
weekdays; however, on theweekends I make sure that I
hangout with my friends and playsome sports. I often go to nicepubs and restaurants around
London which is really cool as itallows me to explore this energetic
and vibrant city.
The end of high school and leaving
Tokyo was very hard andchallenging; however, it has
allowed me to start a whole newlife full of exciting newexperiences!
Rishab Rawat
The London School of Economics
and Political Science (LSE)
B.Sc. in Management “Class of
2016”
KIST Alumnus “Class of 2013”

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V o l u me 1 8 | I s s u e 3 | M a rc h 2 0 1 5

Secondary ELS

College Guidance NewsI am pleased to bring you this update on our English
language support centre! Our dedicated staff of ELS
instructors continue to help students who havequestions about essays, tasks and homeworkassignments. They have also been in classes working
with subject teachers to give students the best support
they can. If you have any questions about your work,
please feel free to stop by the ELS centre on thesecond floor in room 213, and our ELS staff will assistyou.

Please come to the events below to gather college
information and meet with representatives from major
universities around the world.

We are also into our third unit for the Academic Writingclass: Science! This unit has helped students better
understand how to write lab reports. Our final unit will
have an Individuals and Societies focus in which
students will learn how to write expository essays. The
expository essay is a genre of essay in which students
investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expand on an
idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea ina clear and concise manner.1 Students will learn how
to format and structure such an essay properly,
including the proper use of quotations and endnote
citations. If you would like to work on improving yourwriting skills in this area and for your other subjects
this would be an excellent opportunity. Students cansign up for the Academic Writing class on the school’s
homepage in the LEAP link.

KIST Spring College Fair

Should any students at KIST need any help, stop by
our ELS center in room 213, and as always my doors
are open.
William Miller
Secondary ELS Coordinator /Academic Writing Coordinator

College presentations at KIST
Parents also welcome to attend!
 University of Sydney (Australia) | Monday, March
30 | 2:45pm-3:45pm in LMC | http://sydney.edu.au Vanderbilt University (USA) | Wednesday, April 8 |3:45pm-4:45pm in LMC | http://www.vanderbilt.edu

Open to the whole KIST community!
Saturday, March 21 | 2:00pm-4:00pm | KIST gym
Once again this year, KIST will host 20+ universities
and colleges from Japan, UK, USA and Australia at ourthird annual fair. Please come to meet with theadmissions officers, professors, current students andalumni members from the universities listed on the flyeron the next page.

College events around Tokyo Study in Canada Fair – Spring 2015
Friday, March 20 (17:00 – 19:30) / Saturday, March
21 (11:00 – 18:00) | Embassy of Canada
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/japanjapon/study-etudie/events-evenements.aspx?
lang=eng
 Beo UK/USA/Australia International Education
Fair
Saturday, March 28 (13:00 - 18:00) | Sunsky Room,
30F Shinjuku L Tower
http://www.beo.co.jp/fair/english/index.html
 Education UK Fair 2015 Spring
Monday, March 30 (17:00-21:00) | British Council
http://www.educationuk.org/japan/articles/
edukfair2015spring/
Mrs Keiko Okude
College Guidance Counselor
keiko.okude@kist.ed.jp

1

Google. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, fromhttps://www.google.co.jp/#q=expository essay definition

29

London School of Economics presentation during
G11 Advisory on January 16, 2015.

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