S&S Bilingual Education (Hodogaya, Yokohama)

Website:  http://www.sands-kinder.com2-79

Katabira-cho, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-0013
Phone: 045-331-3301 (Office/Enquires) Fax: 045-331-4675 Email: sandsbilingualedu@gmail.com

The aim of S&S is to offer a flexible and comprehensive educational program where children are encouraged to learn English in a friendly and caring environment. The unique curriculum aims to be comprehensive and incorporates science, math, geography, history, art, music, reading and writing. At S & S Bilingual Education encourages children to learn English through creative crafts and fun projects. 

All classes are conducted in English. S & S Bilingual Education offers a unique range of bilingual programs for children ages 0 to 14.

S&S programs use a unique, creative and imaginative curriculum that will help and encourage children to achieve academic success.

S&S’s quality teaching staff provides a well-structured program which considers the individual needs of the children.

9:00 – 1.30 pm classes to classes of varying hours for children aged 0-5 years, and afterschool classes for students to 14 years. Lunchbox is provided for students who stay all morning. Weekend school is also available.

15 thoughts on “S&S Bilingual Education (Hodogaya, Yokohama)”

  2. I just wanted to say that I had the wonderful honor of being able to teach at the S&S International Kindergarten from 1998 – 2001, back when my husband and I were stationed at NAF Atsugi. I am so very proud of all the children I had taught, and their moms and dads as well. The children that I taught are now pre-teens, but I’m sure that they have siblings that are now going to the school as well. Mrs. Nakamura is such a wonderful person and a great mentor to both students, parents, and teachers. I often think of Mrs. Nakamura and everyone at the school, along with the staff as well. I haven’t heard from Mrs. Nakamura in awhile, and hope that she is doing well. I’d also like to say hi to Julie Smith and hope that she is doing well too. Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful and blessed week!

    1. Hi Bonnie. I also taught at S and S between 2005 and 2008 and worked with Julie as well. I was recently informed by the students I taught that Mrs. Nakamura has passed away on July 23 2014. I have heard the school is going to be shut down. I heard that Julie had left Japan shortly after the 2011 earthquake.

      1. Hi! I am Aoi and I am a former S&S student. I would want to ask if S&S was ever active after the 2011 earthquake because I left S&S after the earthquake.

      2. I had heard that as well about the passing of Mrs. Nakamura. She was such a beautiful lady and a wonderful Mentor. I will always remember her. I have so many wonderful memories during my time teaching at the S and S, and am so saddened to hear that it will be closing down. Lots of beautiful memories have flowed through those walls. Julie was a wonderful person as well and I enjoyed working with her.

  3. I am so sorry to hear about Mrs. Nakamura’s recent passing. She was such a wonderful lady and will always be remembered. Thank you for letting me know. I had been trying to reach her for awhile now, and had felt that something was wrong because she would always respond to me, even if it was just a short note. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. My thoughts and prayers are also with the parents and the students of the school. I know that they loved Mrs. Nakamura so very much and she was very much respected. Also, thank you for letting me know about Julie. I was wondering if she was still at the school as Head Teacher. She was a sweet heart as well. We use to work together at the Navy Exchange on NAF Atsugi, and then she went to the S&S School first and told me about the school and how much she really enjoyed working there.

  4. Dear Bonnie and ks212,

    I am trying to get in touch with former S and S teachers. I recently started teaching a former S and S student. His English level is quite incredible,. I have been teaching for nearly seven years, but I have never seen such skills in a student without experience of living in a native speaking environment.

    I also heard about the passing of Mrs Nakamura from the student’s parents. I am very sorry to hear this … She was obviously doing an excellent job.

    I would be very grateful for any information you can give me about study methods or perhaps contact details for other former S and S teachers still working in Japan.

    Best regards,

    Andrew Stanley

  5. Good morning Andrew. Thank you so much for the condolences on the passing of Mrs. Nakamura. Yes, she was a fine lady and she put her heart and soul into the teaching and education of all the kids at the S and S. I had taught there for several years, and loved every minute of it and all the kids and parents. I found that getting the parents involved with the children’s education is very important. I use to teach the 2 year olds, and I found that if the parents would write the words and have the children trace them, was a very good practice for them. Eventually, the children would be able to pick up easy words write them themselves. Also, flash cards were very helpful. The kids use to love the flash cards. The kids use to love to play word games as well. I would reward my little ones with a game that we would sit in a circle and would pass a bean bag around, and when I said a specific word such as apple, or something like that and who ever had the bean bag when I said it would have to use that word in a sentence, depending on the age group. I use to get the parents involved as well, and it would be a great time. Andrew, I hope that this helps you some. With you having seven years of experience teaching, I’m sure that you are a wonderful teacher and that the kids totally adore you. Many best wishes with your teaching. Not everyone can be a teacher, and it takes a special person to be able to reach out to children from a foreign country and be able to teach them a second language. I do stay in contact with some of the teachers who I worked with at the S and S Kindergarten. I am not able to give out their contact information, but I can for sure ask them if they wouldn’t mind sharing some of their teaching methods and I’ll post them on here for you to see from time to time. I’ll do my best 🙂 Andrew, have a great week.

  6. Bonnie,
    Thank you very much! It seems like the methods you yourself were using are great, but I have used similar methods without having seen the sorts of results that I encountered last Monday. Perhaps it was the frequency of the lessons that enabled the students to do so well? My student is 5 and he is doing well with a textbook that I would hasten to use with an 8 to 10 year old native speaker. How many hours each week were the students studying?

    Thanks again,

    Andrew

  7. Hi, My name is Nerida and I worked at S & S from around 1996-1999.

    I’m so sorry to hear that Mrs Nakamura has passed away. I saw this post by chance. Such an amazing woman with an incredible life force- so sad to hear the news. One of the last times I saw her was at my wedding party

    I started a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/422995207756869/?fref=ts “S & S Language school Hodogaya” for teachers and students who would like to connect again. I mainly taught in the conversation side and not the kindergarten. Love to hear from everyone !

    Nerida

  8. Hi Nerida, this is great about the facebook page for the S&S School. I joined as well. Thank you for creating this page. It would be wonderful being able to get back in touch with the other teachers who had taught there. There’s a day that doesn’t go by when I don’t think about Mrs. Nakamura. She was a very special lady and friend and is for sure deeply missed. You have a great evening, Nerida, and looking forward to talking with you on facebook 🙂

    Best regards,
    Bonnie 🙂

  9. Hello Aoi, I had spoken to Mrs. Nakamura through email right after the earthquake in 2011 and she had told me that the school had been closed down for a little while due to most of the teachers leaving, but that the school had reopened not too long after the earthquake. That was the last time I had heard from her. I have found out since that Mrs. Nakamura had passed away on July 23, 2014 and that the school is now closed down. Your name sounds familiar. What years were you a student at the S and S?

    1. Hello. I don’t know that much about that time because it was long time ago but I was in S&S until the 2011 earthquake so I was probably in S&S from 2009-2011. I still don’t remember that much from that time but it sure does bring back a lot of memories. After the earthquake, I just mostly forgot about S&S and started going to a different school. Then, I left Japan and went to Chennai (India) and that’s me now. I heard about Ms. Nakamura died after I came back from Japan (vacation) so I was sad that we could didn’t know about it. Well, anyway I don’t want to write about my entire life story so I’ll just make it easier.. I’m here now in India for my 4th year and well that’s it, I guess.

  10. Hi Everyone! I also taught at S&S (2006-2008) and stayed in touch with Julie for a time after I left. After the Earthquake, she started teaching at a different school because the trains were shut down and was essentially forced to leave S&S.

Leave a comment