News
TIS Open School Day: June 2011
Tsukuba International School has an Open School Day once per month to allow people to come and visit the school, observe some classes, and talk to the school staff. If you would like to have more information about the school, these Open School Days are a perfect opportunity for you to see the school in action. Click here to make a reservation to attend one of the Open School Days.
The Open School Day for June 2011 will be held on
Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
Schedule
9:30am: Introduction to Tsukuba International School
10:00am: Visit Language Arts Class
10:30am: Talk to off-duty teachers during recess time
11:00am: Visit Science or Social Studies Class
11:30am: Finish
Reservation
If you are interested in attending one of our Open School Days, please fill out this form to make a reservation. Or, if you would like to see the school, but you are not available on any of these days, you can use the form to request a private tour on another date.
Future dates can be seen on our school calendar.
Kamiyamori Concert in Memory of Mr. Kano
A concert will be held in memory of Mr. Masayasu Kano on May 15, 2011 from 2pm at Kamiyamori Loghouse (the Kano residence). The title of the concert is “Pipes and Harpsichord — Baroque Music for Mr. Kano” and the performers will be Youichi Henbo (music teacher at Tsukuba International School), Ms. Tomoko Kakuma, and Mr. Jari Puhakka.
Space is limited so please send an email to Youichi Henbo (nakal[at]hotmail.co.jp) to confirm your attendance.
Please see Kamiyamori Concert Series website for more detailed information in Japanese.
http://kamiyamori.wordpress.com/
TIS Open School Day: May 2011
Tsukuba International School has an Open School Day once per month to allow people to come and visit the school, observe some classes, and talk to the school staff. If you would like to have more information about the school, these Open School Days are a perfect opportunity for you to see the school in action. Click here to make a reservation to attend one of the Open School Days.
The Open School Day for May 2011 will be held on
Wednesday, May 18, 2011.
Schedule
9:30am: Introduction to Tsukuba International School
10:00am: Visit Language Arts Class
10:30am: Talk to off-duty teachers during recess time
11:00am: Visit Science or Social Studies Class
11:30am: Finish
Reservation
If you are interested in attending one of our Open School Days, please fill out this form to make a reservation. Or, if you would like to see the school, but you are not available on any of these days, you can use the form to request a private tour on another date.
Next Open School Day
- Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Message from Prime Minister Kan to Elementary School Students
At TIS, our school year starts in September; however in Japan, schools usually start their school year in April. Since the earthquake happened in March (at the end of the Japanese school year) and since many schools were damaged during the earthquake and tsunami and others are being used as evacuation centers, many students in Japan have had a first-hand encounter with the disaster.
The Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Naoto Kan, and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Mr. Yoshiaki Takaki, wrote a letter to elementary students in Japan to help them face the new school year with the right attitude.
Nature poses us with severe hardships as we have witnessed in this earthquake and tsunami, while at the same time she has the power to embrace us gently just like the cherry blossom front.
We ask all of you to pass the baton of kindness to your peers in the areas stricken by the disaster. This can be done through simple acts of kindness such as giving up your seat to the elderly on a train, or helping out the disabled in need. We believe such acts of kindness will gradually reach those in the stricken areas as the cherry blossom front proceeds.
Read the rest of Prime Minister Kan’s speech
At TIS, we have collected food to give to people in evacuation shelters and we have written letters to the people who have been affected by the triple disaster to help cheer them up. Also, as educators, we will do our best to help TIS students embrace the attitude outlined by the Prime Minister:
We hope that you will become a person who is always ready to help others by becoming physically strong, developing your decision-making abilities and building up a gentle heart.
We at TIS wish all students at Japanese elementary schools a safe and healthy new school year.
Seeking: Full-Time Elementary School Teacher
Tsukuba International School develops critical thinkers and lifelong learners by providing opportunities for inquiry, creativity, and discovery, where respect for self, others and the environment is a core value.
Tsukuba International School (TIS) offers an international education for children in Grades 1 to 8. We will eventually offer up to Grade 10. We are currently seeking a certified elementary school teacher to start in September 2011. The successful candidate will teach all core subjects (including Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies) in transdisciplinary units to Grade 5 students and will share responsibility for additional subjects (including Art, Physical Education, Music, and Information Technology) with the other teachers at the school.
As TIS is currently a candidate school for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate, experienced PYP teachers will be given preference, although certified teachers with a strong interest in inquiry-based learning, collaborative planning, and the PYP will also be considered.
Requirements
The following are non-negotiable credentials for applying for this position.
- Native English proficiency.
- University degree in education (preferably with elementary specialization, i.e. ages 6 to 12) from a country with an English language-based curriculum. (A degree in “Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language” is not sufficient.)
- Qualifications to teach in a jurisdiction with primarily English-based education. (This means that the candidate must be a certified teacher in a country such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or the United States.)
Preferences
We hope to find a candidate with the following range of experience.
- Experience teaching in an elementary school.
- Experience teaching the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate.
- Experience teaching at an international school, or in a multicultural environment.
- Experience teaching non-native speakers of English.
- Familiarity with inquiry-based learning.
- Experience with collaborative planning.
- Experience living in Japan, or living abroad.
Qualities
As we are a growing school, we are looking for a special kind of teacher who can help us move into the next stage of our development.
- Able to manage a dynamic classroom setting with differentiated lessons.
- Possess the flexibility to deal with new students and new teaching paradigms gracefully.
- Have a clear understanding of the importance of professional development, through workshops/seminars and independent learning.
- Able to work well with others in a small workplace setting
Working Conditions
Salary: based on experience
School Year: September to June
Vacation: 10 days paid personal leave, all Japanese national holidays plus winter, spring, and summer vacations
Visa sponsorship: available
Relocation: will pay for flight to Japan (for applicants who are currently residing overseas) and assist in finding accommodations
Please see our page on Tsukuba to learn more about living and working in the city.
Application Process
Submit a resume outlining your education and employment history (including your current position), and either attach three reference letters (preferable) or list three references who can be contacted. Attach a one-page cover letter stating why you are interested in this position and what you could contribute to our school. Applicants chosen for interviews will be required to submit copies of relevant degrees and certificates. Applications can be sent by email (preferred) or postal mail. Interviews may take place in person or by web conference. If you have a web camera and a Skype account, please mention that in your cover letter.
POSTAL ADDRESS
Tsukuba International School
Attn: Ms. Shaney Crawford
Kamigo 7846-1
Tsukuba, Ibaraki, JAPAN
300-2645
Please write: “Teacher Application” on the envelope.
EMAIL ADDRESS
Please submit your documents as PDF files or in plain text. Use the subject “Elementary Teacher: September 2011″.
Applications are due by April 15, 2011, but we encourage candidates to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be considered as soon as they arrive and the position will be filled as soon as a suitable candidate is found. We hope to fill the position by April 30, 2010.
Please note that Tsukuba International School is an elementary school and junior high school where all classes are taught in English, NOT a private company that teaches English conversation lessons to children and adults; therefore, we will only consider applicants who have proper teaching qualifications (i.e. a degree in education, preferably specializing in elementary education). A TESL/TEFL certificate and/or Bachelor degree in a subject other than Education would not be enough to meet these standards.
We apologize, but only those candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. Documents that are submitted to the school will not be returned.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Welcome Back!
The staff and students of Tsukuba International School returned to school today after two weeks away. We were lucky to have beautiful weather to greet us on our first day back.
Eulogy for Mr. Masayasu Kano, Principal of Tsukuba International School
The following is a longer version of the eulogy that was read by Shaney Crawford at the funeral of the principal of Tsukuba International School, Mr. Masayasu Kano, on March 24, 2011. (The version read at the funeral had to be shortened due to time constraints.)
つくばインターナショナルスクール加納正康校長への告別の辞（日本語訳）
Mr. Masayasu Kano was born in Chiba Prefecture. There were four children in his family, two boys and two girls. He was the younger boy and the youngest child. He attended Chiba High School and went on to do a bachelor’s degree at International Christian University in Tokyo where he met the woman who would later be his wife, Chieko.
After graduating from ICU, Mr. Kano decided to go to El Salvador as an overseas volunteer. (Chieko, meanwhile, went to Malaysia.) He taught Japanese there for about four years. Upon his return, he started to work as one of the founding teachers of Meikei High School, a new private school that had been established by graduates of the University of Tsukuba.
Mr. Kano continued working at Meikei for 29 years. He probably would have continued working at Meikei for the rest of his life if he did not somehow find himself attending a meeting one day in 2007 where people were talking about international schools in Tsukuba. Tsukuba had had an international school since 1992, but the person who had been running the school as a volunteer for 15 years had found out that he was being transferred to Kobe, and could therefore not continue to manage the school. For some reason, Mr. Kano decided that this was an opportunity he couldn’t resist and he decided to take over the running of the school.
As a result of that meeting and the decision that came out of it, countless lives have been changed. Tsukuba now has an international school with an impressive two-storey ten-classroom building made out of logs imported from Finland. The school now has 9 full-time teachers, 7 part-time teachers, 1 part-time office assistant, and two full-time administrators to support its 84 students from 61 families. Tsukuba International School owes its very survival to Mr. Kano, and every success that the school has celebrated over the past three years can be directly attributed to him and his passionate decision to adopt our school in 2007.
For someone who had no children listed on his family register, Mr. Kano certainly had a lot of sons and daughters. In the three years that I knew him, I don’t think a day went by when he didn’t mention one of his former students at Meikei. He was so very proud of all of their accomplishments, and he made a point of keeping the Meikei family informed about the activities of the school. If we ever needed help or advice, he always knew just the right Meikei graduate or staff member to ask. Also, whenever the members of the Meikei family visited our school, they would mention all the ways that Mr. Kano had helped them and inspired them in their lives. I truly believe that the Meikei network has played an essential role in the growth of Tsukuba International School. While my school has nowhere near the same size and distinguished reputation as Meikei, I hope that we can be thought of as its younger sister school.
During Mr. Kano’s time at TIS, he took a personal and passionate interest in the lives of every single one of the students. He interviewed every potential student and remembered their histories in great detail, although he had a funny habit of mixing up their names. (It was a funny quirk of his that he always had problems with names, but never forgot the people behind them.) He was also great at getting things for the school, although some might say we have too much stuff now! You could always tell that he was pleased by the way that he encouraged us with his particular way of saying “sure” and “good”.
I know that I am not alone in thinking of Mr. Kano as a father figure and a positive influence in my life. I cannot even begin to count the number of lives that Mr. Kano touched. In fact, after I sent out emails to tell people that he had passed away, an unbelievable number of people reported that they were completely shocked because they had just spoken to him that day or the day before. Even in the aftermath of the earthquake, Mr. Kano continued to take care of the school and his beloved home in the woods. I just found out recently that he had offered the principal of Tohoku International School in Sendai a place for his family to stay while they recovered from the shock of the quake. He was a tireless and quintessential networker, one of the most hospitable people I have ever met, and dedicated to making the world a better place.
In truth, Mr. Kano had thousands of children, and the people who make up Tsukuba International School were just the latest to benefit from his power, and vision, and passion. I am not sure that anyone will ever be able to match his contribution to my school’s community. However, despite this great loss, we, the staff and students of Tsukuba International School are committed to carrying forth his dream and his mission. As hard as this will sometimes be, we will do our best to build a school that Mr. Kano would remain proud of.
つくばインターナショナルスクール加納正康校長への告別の辞
以下は、つくばインターナショナルスクールのシェイニー・クロフォード［訳者注:二人いる事務局長のお一人です］が,2011年3月24日の加納正康校長の葬式において読み上げた原稿です(実際の告別式では、時間の制約から短縮した物が読まれました。)
Eulogy for Mr. Masayasu Kano, Principal of Tsukuba International School (English version)
加納正康先生は千葉県に生まれました。ご家族には4人の子供がいて、男の子二人女の子二人でした。先生は弟で末っ子でした。先生は千葉高校に入学し、東京の国際基督教大学において学位を取りました。先生はそこで、後に奥様となるちえこさんと会いました。
ICUを卒業後、加納先生は海外ボランティアとしてエルサルバドルに行くことに決めました（一方、千恵子さんはマレーシアに行きました。）先生は現地で日本語を四年間教えました。帰国した加納先生は、茗渓学園創設期の先生の一人として働きました。茗渓学園は筑波大学の同窓生が創設した新しい私立学校でした。
加納先生は茗渓に29年間勤めました。もし先生が2007年にある会議に出席していなかったならば、先生はそのまま定年まで茗渓に勤め続けたでしょう。会議ではつくばのインターナショナルスクールが話題になっていました。つくばには1992年以来インターナショナルスクールがあったのですが、ボランティアとして15年にわたり学校を運営していた方が神戸に転勤になり、学校の運営を続けられなくなったのです。何らかの理由によって、加納先生はこの機会を逃す手はないと考え、学校の運営を引き継ぐことに決めたのです。
この会議とそれに続く一連の決断の結果、多くの人々の運命が変わりました。つくばには、今、フィンランドから輸入された材木から作られたすばらしい2階建て10教室の建物を持つインターナショナルスクールがあります。学校には9人のフルタイムの先生と、7人のパートタイムの先生、そして一人のパートタイムの事務手伝いと2人のフルタイムの運営担当が、61家族からの84人の生徒を支えています。つくばインターナショナルスクールがここまで続いてこられたのも加納先生のおかげです。学校の過去三年間の全ての成果は,2007年に学校を引き受けようと先生が決断したことに負うものなのです。
ご家庭にお子さんがおられないにもかかわらず、加納先生にはたくさんの息子さんや娘さん達がいました。私が彼と出会ってからの三年間、彼が茗渓の元生徒達の話をしなかった日はないと思います。先生は茗渓生達の成し遂げてきたことに強い誇りを持っており、茗渓生のご家族に学校の活動について知らせ続けました。学校が助力や助言を必要とするときにはいつも、頼りに出来る茗渓の卒業生やスタッフを先生はご存じでした。又、茗渓生のご家族が私たちの学校を訪ねると、皆さんいつも加納先生がいかに皆さんを助け人生の指針を与えてくれたかを、話してくれました。私は、つくばインターナショナルスクールの発展において、茗渓のネットワークが欠かせない役割を果たしてきたものと信じています。私たちの学校は茗渓には規模でも卓越した名声でも及びません。それでも私たちの学校を茗渓の姉妹校と考えていただければと、望んでおります。
加納先生はつくばインターナショナルスクールにおいて、生徒全員に対して個人的かつ情熱的な関心を持っていました。先生は入学希望者全員と面談を行い,一人一人の歴史について詳細に記憶されておられました。ただおかしかったのは、先生が名前をいつもごちゃ混ぜに覚えていたことです(先生はいつも名前を覚えるのに苦労されていました。しかし名前は間違えても生徒本人について忘れることはありませんでした)。先生は又、学校に必要な物を集めるのに凄腕を発揮しました。実際のところうちの学校には物が多すぎるという人もいるかもしれないほどです！先生は｢大丈夫｣とか｢よし｣という言葉の言い方によって私たちに励ましを与えているのを見るにつけ、先生が喜んでおられるのがいつもわかりました。
私の人生において加納先生は,父として、そして人生に好影響を与える人物でした。同じように考える人が多いことを私は知っています。加納先生がどれほど多くの人々の人生に影響を与えたのか、数え切れないほどです。実際、私が加納先生がお亡くなりになられたというメールを出した後で、信じられないほど多くの人々が、先生とお亡くなりになられた当日あるいは前日に話したばかりでありとても強い衝撃を受けていると、知らせてくれました。あの地震の後でさえ、先生は森の中の学校と愛するお宅の手入れを続けました。これはつい最近知ったことですが、加納先生は仙台の東北インターナショナルスクールの校長に、地震から立ち直るまで泊まるように申し出られていたそうです。先生は疲れを知らぬ、典型的なネットワーク作りの達人でした。私がこれまでにあったもっとも親しみ深い人物であり、世界をよりよい場所にするために献身されていた方でした。
実際のところ、加納先生には何千人もの子供達がいます。つくばインターナショナルスクールの人々は、先生のパワーとヴィジョンと情熱の恩恵に浴した、一番最後の人たちだったのです。私たちの学校に先生が与えてくれた貢献の代わりになりえる人物がいるかはわかりません。しかし、この非常に大きな損失にもかかわらず、私たちつくばインターナショナルスクールのスタッフと生徒達は、先生の夢と任務を今後も実現してゆく決意です。時に大きな困難もあるでしょう。しかし私たちは、学校を発展し続けることで、今後も加納先生に誇りに思っていただけるよう、ベストを尽くしてまいります。
Classes to Resume on March 28
Classes will resume on Monday, March 28. We are looking forward to having the TIS family back together again.
TIS Open School Day: April 2011
Tsukuba International School has an Open School Day once per month to allow people to come and visit the school, observe some classes, and talk to the school staff. If you would like to have more information about the school, these Open School Days are a perfect opportunity for you to see the school in action. Click here to make a reservation to attend one of the Open School Days.
The Open School Day for April 2011 will be held on
Wednesday, April 13, 2011.
Schedule
9:30am: Introduction to Tsukuba International School
10:00am: Visit Language Arts Class
10:30am: Talk to off-duty teachers during recess time
11:00am: Visit Science or Social Studies Class
11:30am: Finish
Reservation
If you are interested in attending one of our Open School Days, please fill out this form to make a reservation. Or, if you would like to see the school, but you are not available on any of these days, you can use the form to request a private tour on another date.
Future Dates
- Wednesday, May 18, 2011
- Wednesday, June 8, 2011
These dates can also be seen on our school calendar.
