Doshisha International School website: http://www.dia.doshisha.ac.jp/disk/
7-31-1 Kizugawadai, Kizugawa City, Kyoto, Japan, 619-0225
Phone: (81) 0774-71-0810
Message from the school principal:
Doshisha International School, Kyoto (DISK) opens its new purpose-built campus to the world September 2011. We offer a reputed international curriculum for students Grades 1-12 and are currently a candidate school to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. We are located in southern Kyoto, central to the Kansai business centers of Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Jones
Principal
Doshisha International School, Kyoto
In addition to the above update, see earlier information from the Doshisha International School website: http://www.intnl.doshisha.ac.jp/english/pdf/explanation.pdf and (general HP) http://www.intnl.doshisha.ac.jp/english/index.html:
“In order to achieve founder Joseph Niishima’s vision of “Nurturing people of a common
conscience,” Doshisha* was founded in 1875 based on Christian ideals. Doshisha International
Senior High School in 1980 and Doshisha International Junior High School in 1988 were
established, endeavoring to carry on this tradition while answering the demands of an
increasingly internationalizing Japan.
Our school was set up to accept returnees (students who have spent some of their lives abroad
with their parents), and, utilizing the wide range of experiences they have accumulated abroad,
yet respecting their cosmopolitan minds, we train them in the Japanese language, to assist
them to become academically stronger and to become familiar with Japanese culture and
customs, while preparing them academically to fit into the educational and employment
framework of Japan. On the other hand, we also enroll non-returnee students who have never
been abroad and have studied in Japan all their lives. They study and live together with the
returnees, with both sides learning from each other, thereby achieving a widening of
international awareness and a heightening of foreign language ability.
Curriculum
Our curriculum has been designed so that returnees and non-returnees can study
together, drawing on each others’ talents and experiences for a heightening of mutual
understanding so that each student may become a truly cosmopolitan individual. Stress is
placed on individual initiative and responsibility in their student life. Because of the diversity of
the student body, the curriculum has been designed to accommodate this diversity. A variety of
classes, for example, has been incorporated to conform to the needs of all our students. In
order to bridge the knowledge gap, especially in the Japanese language that the students bring
back with them from abroad, the academic departments shown below also pay particular
attention to specializing their curriculum. In addition to individualized, small classes in various
departments, we also offer special instruction in the Japanese language. Departments providing
specialized instruction in small classes are:
Japanese English Mathematics Social Studies Foreign Language Bible Study Science
Media and the Future
In our uniquely designed Communication Center, desktop and laptop computers, scanning
equipment, digital media, various database access, and a dedicated Internet link for World Wide
Web are available for student and faculty use. Many classes are held here, not just for the
purpose of providing computer literacy, but as a venue for cooperative, small-group-based
learning projects for improvement in thinking and presentation skills as well. Computers are
used here not as an educational end in themselves but as a tool for maximizing interaction
among people. For a number of years now, students in classes here have been in contact with
other students around the world through the medium of telecommunications by using e-mail
primarily and, on occasion, teleconferencing. The walls of the classroom have taken on global
dimensions.
Foreign Language Proficiency
Superiority in foreign language ability in our students has repeatedly been borne out in
the high number of students attaining First Level and Pre-First Level ranking on the STEP
English Proficiency Exam, A-level ranking on the United Nations Test of English Proficiency, and
high TOEFL and SAT exam scores. Preparatory electives for the STEP and TOEFL are available
to eleventh graders, and for students whose background is in a language other than English,
classes in French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Korean are offered in all three grades. Of
course, non-returnees are also enrolled in all of these classes.
Update: Doshisha International Elementary School opened school from April 2011. The information below was from the pre-opening period.
:::
Earlier information:
With the Doshisha Educational Foundation (Kyoto) also making preparations to establish a new ‘international elementary school’ in the Kansai Science City (Gakkentoshi), internationalization is emerging as a new keyword in the drive to attract students.
The ‘international elementary school’ being planned by Doshisha is in Seika, Nishikizuchiku. This has been done with land being provided for the project by Kizushi, Kyoto, after strong calls for an international school to meet the learning needs of the children of the many overseas researchers working in Gakkentoshi. The plan is for a six year school to meet the needs of domestic and returnee students at the Doshisha International Elementary School (with a total of 60 students in 2 classes in each grade level), and foreign national students at the 12 year Doshisha International School (30 student class in each grade level). The schools are due to open, respectively, in April and September of 2011. In regard to the establishment of these new schools, Doshisha’s public relations department’s Chihiro Sumitani said that, “in the midst of continuing globalization, the aim, on a whole school basis, is to further internationalization. Founding an affiliated international school will help in raising overall standards in English ability.”
Source: Senri school website
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