On November 12, New International School hosted an all-Japan conference for international school Japanese language teachers in Japan. The presenters were Professor Emeritus Kazuko Nakajima of the University of Toronto, an expert on bilingual language acquisition and heritage language education; and Yoshio Yoshimoto of Rikkyo University, an expert on innovative methods for teaching kanji.
Over 70 teachers attended, representing 23 schools, including those as far away as Sapporo and Fukuoka. The Japan Council of International Schools fully funded the presenters.
An increasing number of the students at international schools are children of Japanese parents or of international marriages where one parent is Japanese, for which such professional development opportunities for the Japanese language teachers are invaluable. The conference was overwhelmingly well received by the attendees.
The Japan Council of International Schools aims to promote, support, and improve English medium member schools serving the international community in Japan. For more information see http://www.jcis.jp.
