International bilingual school in Tokyo, Japan

New International School, Tokyo:
At New International School, located in Tokyo, east Japan, the children learn bilingually in both English and Japanese through team-taught multiage classes; a resource and thematic-based curriculum; and a combination of whole group, individual, center-based and project-based activities.

Preschool
The preschool, called the Teddy Bear Class, accommodates children ages 3 and 4 of any nationality. The program runs from 8:40 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 8:40 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. The teachers are highly trained and experienced in child-centered and developmentally based approaches to education, where every child can progress comfortably from where he or she is both academically and socially, in a combination of teacher-led whole group and small group activities, and open center times where the children can choose from a variety of activities in a free play environment.

Primary School
The New International School primary school is multiage by design, after the model advocated by Dr. Sandra Stone, author of the books Creating the Multiage Classroom and Playing: A Kids Curriculum. The classrooms are richly resourced with computers, smart-boards, listening centers, and an abundance of books and manipulatives for active learning, and each class is team taught by two teachers. The three Primary A classes each accommodate 5 to 7 year olds (Grades K~2), and the three Primary B classes accommodate 8 to 10 year olds (Grades 3-5). The children learn from each other as well as from the teachers. Uncompared, they thrive, and experience multiple perspectives in being one of the younger students the first year, in the middle the second year and one of the older students the third year in the same class. There is also no ceiling on what they can learn. The teachers get to know the children so well over the three year period, better and better to facilitate their progress. An integrated thematic approach with the skill development guidelines given in the Scottish curriculum (another resource) enables depth in what is learned, and breadth in skill development. In a three month study of Egypt, for example, the culminating activity may be a museum built in the classroom, with the children giving presentations about what they have created. Over 23,000 books, including Big Books, and an abundance of guided reading and library books, are among the schools resources. Chinese is offered an elective, and all of the children from Grade Three up learn the violin by the Suzuki Method.

Middle School to Grade Nine
The middle school continues the multiage design, but with two grades instead of one in each classroom. The school has two Primary C classes (Grades 6 &7) and one Upper School class (Grades 8 & 9). The program continues the dual language and multiage model of the Primary School, with two homeroom teachers in each class of under 20 students.
To assure smooth transition to high school, the children complete Algebra One, Geometry, or Algebra Two by the time they graduate, which assures they are on or above grade level in math at their next school. Graduates have gone on to international schools with high schools, Japanese private high schools, or to boarding or day schools abroad, the latter of which include St. Johnsbury Academy, the Putney School, and Northfield Mount Hermon School.