Seiritsu International Education

Hi, I am Zoya. I am from Pakistan, but now I am living in Japan. I am studying at Seiritsu Gakuen Junior High School. This school is very big. They also do sports, trips, and many other things. In my class my friends are so good. They always help me in my studies even if they don't know how to speak English, they try hard to speak with me. They always let me go first in everything. Also my teachers are very kind, loving and caring. Japanese teachers always help me in my studies. They teach me very nicely. My international teachers are also very good. Their good names are Brent and JC. They both are so good. They try to help to understand Japanese. Also they are so funny and always try to make me laugh. I feel so blessed that I'm studying in such a good school, where friends and teachers are so good, kind, and loving. I love to study in this school so much. This is the best school in my life. Thanks Lord, for these blessings.

writer: staff  date: 12:28 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Today I went to Imohori with my class. Since it was my first time doing imohori (potato digging), my friend helped me. It was very exciting when we found some big potatoes. We were able to take home some of the potatoes we pulled out and the rice from the rice harvesting we did a little while ago. Afterwards everyone was really tired, and a lot of my friends ended up sleeping on the train ride home. Doing Imohori with my class was really fun and I wish I can do it again.

writer: staff  date: 9:01 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Self-care Teresa" is back to welcome you to "Taking Care of Yourself 101."

You know it's time to winterize your home when the wind nips your skin.

Let's start off with your home's doors. If you place your hand between the cracks, do you feel a breeze? That's how it feels to have your heating bill skyrocket. Let's keep the cash in the bank by sealing the cracks with weather strips (室内引き戸すきまテープ)!

Now that the door is cozier, the window is the reasonable next step. Touch the panels. Does it feel cold like you're Anna in the movie "Frozen?" That means you need some bubble wrap or even trash bags. Grab some tape and stick a layer of bubble wrap or trash bags on the window panels to insulate your home.

Besides home insulation, let's focus on your body. At home, be sure to wear slippers or wear fuzzy socks! Those socks are good to keep you warm and to give as presents if you're in a pinch this Christmas. We've all been there before.

Here's a notice that should be shouted each single day: wash your hands! Went to the loo? Wash your hands. Sneezed? Wash your hands. Going to cook/eat? Wash them, for goodness sake. All you need is water, soap, and a only 20 seconds. You read that correctly. It's only 20 seconds to prevent a possible week of influenza, headaches, and coughing.

Without further ado, winterize your home and protect yourself!

writer: staff  date: 1:34 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Last weekend me and Teresa Sensei stayed with a host family in Aomori, whilst we were there we prepared and ate various Japanese foods, went to Onsen, admired all the autumnal trees and even went apple picking.

Here are my top tips for apple picking in Aomori

1) Dress in warm because Aomori is COLD...
2) Use gloves because it hurts your fingers after a while (I'm clearly not used to manual labor)
3) Pick the apples slowly and make sure you use the correct technique so you do not lose the stem (Apples are worth 50 yen more when they have the stem still intact)
4) Also the bruised and less pretty apples... These can be used for juice
5) Regular snack breaks are essential (various types of apples and apple juice is a necessity)
6) Help time pass by singing songs (Junko (our host mother) sang us some well-known Aomori apple picking songs)

writer: staff  date: 8:39 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Many of our students are taking the Eiken tests and so many of them have passed on to the interviews. All of our English teachers are working non-stop to help the students do well in the up-coming interviews...

Good luck everyone!!

writer: staff  date: 9:34 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On Thursday, we had another International Department excursion. This was our biggest group yet!
Recently we have been including Japanese students who are going abroad or have been abroad. As these numbers increase overall in the school, the number of participants on our excursions also grows.

Part of the aim of these excursions then is to help the Japanese students take another look at their own country and culture. And it helps to think about the words that they learned or will need to learn in the classes overseas. Most social studies classes talk about government to some extent or another, so we decided to visit the National Diet building.

We were treated very well by the office staff who helped arrange our visit. One of the staff members helped guide us around the facilities. He made things go very smoothly and provided some interesting information, too. He also took our group photo in front of the building.

National Diet

Another major goal is to have the students interact a lot with each other. The international students can speak with the Japanese students and the Japanese students who are going to go abroad can get advice from the students who went before. To help get them mixed up a bit more, in the afternoon, we took them to Tokyo Tower and Zozoji temple. We had some challenges to try out at Zozoji.

Temple

Finally when they were mixing well, we let them hang out together in Tokyo Tower. We gave them a short talk about the history and nature of the tower first, of course. I wonder how many of them will remember the real name of the tower?

If you have a chance, you should stop by this area. It is well worth the time.

writer: staff  date: 12:02 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Our Zebra Halloween parties are all done. Every year we have a lot of fun in our special event classes. Well, we have fun in all of our classes but the event classes are even more enjoyable. Students bring friends and family and we enjoy the event all together. Check out the Zebra website and the English page to see the pictures and write ups.

writer: staff  date: 9:34 AM | Life at Seiritsu

In this excursion, we went to the National diet of Japan, Zojō Temple and Tokyo Tower. It was a great trip.

I like the architectural style of the National Diet, which is not similar with the traditional Japanese style; it's more like a western style.



When we entered the National Diet, I saw a lot of primary school students visiting there too, which showed the good education system of Japan.

Zojo Temple was a very traditional Japanese structure. There were a lot of small Bodhisattvas in the Temple, which were pretty cute but it was a little stinky around them.

Tokyo Tower: still beautiful, still gorgeous, and still standing in Minato-Ku with greatness. The Halloween decorations created a different style on the second top room of Tokyo Tower, which gave it a festive atmosphere. I ate a vanilla ice cream under the giant of Tokyo. It was very delicious.

Nice trip, no?

writer: staff  date: 10:33 AM | Life at Seiritsu