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Objectives
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There are three basic important roles for education, which also fulfill the expectations of student's families and society. These are: basic group lifestyle skills, how to interact with others (coexistence) and basic academic ability. Although these are essential for children to become independent, none of them are inherent skills. Therefore, they need to be taught with the close cooperation of children's families. Furthermore, some children are wary of the process involved in acquiring these skills as sometimes such skills are hard won through experience. Even though children don't realize it now, the future benefits of learning these skills are enormous. We emphasize cheerful greetings and gentle language use.
In Primary School we have rephrased the school motto to "For God and for people," to make it more easily understood by our young students. We place this motto at the center of daily school life. It is expected that the children will grow to be thoughtful individuals, recognizing themselves as loved and protected by God. In addition, despite being located in central Tokyo, we have a soft earth play ground where children can build up their strength. Furthermore, we aim to cultivate character through educational programs related to religion, art, exercise and history.
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Characteristics
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In 2001, we commenced a new teaching system for fourth, fifth and sixth graders, with them now having different teachers for each subject. This system gives children the opportunities to interact with many teachers. In addition to this, a team teaching method is employed in mathematics classes. The aim is to balance the comprehension levels within the class, as ability in mathematics can vary widely among students. Furthermore, in English classes, children are divided into two groups. The lower grades are team-taught by a native English teacher and a Japanese teacher in one small group. Presently, the team teaching method is also used to varying degrees in physical education, life environment, art, and other classes. The focus is on detailed and attentive instruction.
Each grade has overnight camps at our school dormitory in Oiwake, Nagano prefecture. The facilities are for primary school use. The first, third, fourth, and fifth grades camp with their classes, while the second and the sixth grades camp together. The fourth grade camp is held in June and the fifth grade camp is held in September, making full use of our facilities throughout the year. In recent years, alumnae have been working as volunteer camp leaders.
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The Mothers' Association has been an important part of the school for over seventy years. In addition, the Fathers' Association was inaugurated in 2002 to provide strong support for school events, crisis management and other areas, an association for which we are deeply grateful. Debates between six graders and their fathers commenced in 2003 and fathers of the fifth graders act as hosts and judges. This is an excellent skill-building event that gives students more opportunities to increase their communication skills.
School lunch is held daily in the school lunchroom, with all teachers and students in attendance. The sixth graders serve as hosts for the first and second grades, giving them opportunity to practice serving others. Occasionally, children from different grades are seated together to promote cross-grade interaction.
International Exchange
In February 2001, we sent a letter and information material introducing our school to Ewha Womans University Elementary School in Seoul, Korea, our closest neighbor. The elementary school is attached to Ewha Womans University, which is a partner university of Toyo Eiwa University. In the letter we expressed our desire to have some kind of exchange with our students. The school's principal willingly agreed with our request.
The sixth graders have continued to exchange letters written in English and children of both schools have exchanged their art works. Following preliminary visits by the teachers of each school, Ewha students then came to Toyo Eiwa in January of 2007 and 2008. Our sixth graders and fifth graders spent a productive half-day of fellowship with them, enjoying various activities together. Our hope is that we will have the opportunity to be able to visit their school in the near future.
Additionally, we would like to initiate other exchange programs with Canada, which would put us in closer touch with the nation of Toyo Eiwa’s roots.
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