Phonemic Awareness Training THRASS

Teachers are back to school with fully charged batteries! These 5 days, they are attending a week-long professional development programme at Hikarigaoka campus that brings a full week of courses, trainings and discussions.

Christine Cougan, Master THRASS Trainer is is visiting us both Tuesday and Wednesday. THRASS is an acronym for ‘Teaching Handwriting, Reading And Spelling Skills’. THRASS is a phonetics teaching-tool that has made a paradigm shift in the teaching of phonetics. It has a phonographic, multisensory focus, complemented by an analogous learning model that makes reading and spelling acquisition much simpler, faster and more sustainable than conventional ‘phonic’ approaches. As a classroom strategy THRASS is fun, systematic, explicit and linguistically correct.

Read more about THRASS.

Alumni visit at A-JIS

There’s no better way to celebrate being a jaguar than returning to campus! A group of 10 alumni visited us recently in Hikarigaoka campus, where they were warmly welcomed by Ms. Endo, head of the Japanese department and beloved teacher from our graduates.

The homecoming event took place on Saturday, July 8th. A small encounter planned for those Alumni spending their summer vacation in Tokyo. After the exciting first meeting of those who were seeing each other after so many years, they had a cozy lunch buffet while talking about their current lives. Lots of laughs came out when they found themselves again in the year books, showing how much they have grown since then.

As a really close group, they walked through the classrooms in search of memories or names of teachers that taught them. As some began at A-JIS in their early years, when the school was still located at Suginami, they were really marveled when they got to know the campus of Hikarigaoka.

A big thank you to Yuki, Marisa, Yoshiaki, Momoko, Riona, Natsuki, Karen, Haruki, Neiju and Vincent for coming (back) and sharing their impressions and memories with us!

We look forward to organize a bigger Homecoming event soon, to meet a greater group of A-JIS Alumni, being able to gather many international students as we can!

 

Watch the group interview

 

 

 

 

 

Go to the photo gallery

 

 

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Neiju and Yuki

 

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Haruki

 

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Karen & Natsuki

 

 

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Vincent

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Riona & Yoshiaki

 

 

 

 

 

Watch the interview

Momoko & Marisa

 

 

Meet Mr. Tanaka, our Bus Services Coordinator

Toshiyuki Tanaka is our School’s Bus Services Coordinator. He has been part of A-JIS since 1987, that’s already 30 years ago! Back when Mr. Tanaka started as one of the School Bus Drivers, A-JIS Campus was still located in Shibuya. Indeed, Mr. Tanaka grew together with us, moving from our Campus in Shibuya to Suginami and later to Hikarigaoka, as our student’s population expanded. Nowadays, he is coordinating the bus services for both our A-JIS campuses in Hikarigaoka and Meguro, is responsible for the bus operations, bus maintenance and the students’ schedule adjustments. In his free time, Mr. Tanaka enjoys hiking as well as reading and visiting museums around Tokyo to keep expanding his knowledge. Thank you for sharing your smile with us everyday!

 

Meet Chasen Stahl, our System Engineer

Chasen Stahl is our School’s System Engineer. He is managing IT infrastructure for our various campuses and also developing online and blended learning educational platforms in partnership with BBT, our parent company. Part of A-JIS since 2015, he enjoys being here since “it’s exciting and extremely rewarding to see how our work directly impacts the school”.

Where are you from and how long have you been living in Japan / Tokyo?

I am originally from Los Angeles, California and have been living in Tokyo for three and a half years.

Have you lived or worked in other countries?

While I have traveled to other countries, I have only lived and worked in the U.S. and Japan.

What did you study, why, and what did you like the most?

My formal education background is in Economics and Japanese language.

The most enjoyable thing about Economics, for me, is the interdisciplinary nature of the subject.

While studying Economics, one is simultaneously drawing on research from various fields such as anthropology, history, politics, finance, law and more.

What are your relevant work experiences until now?

Before joining A-JIS, I worked for a Japanese firm designing and building websites for corporate clients in Tokyo.

Since when are you working in A-JIS?

I have been working for A-JIS since 2015.

What are your roles here at A-JIS?

My work at A-JIS involves managing IT infrastructure for our various campuses and, more recently, developing online and blended learning educational platforms in partnership with our parent company, BBT.

What do you like most about your profession?

IT and technology in general is in a permanent state of evolution.

Keeping abreast of new developments and figuring out how to implement technology at A-JIS is a constant challenge, but it is always exciting and extremely rewarding to see how our work directly impacts the school.

Plus, computers are cool!

What do you do for fun?

When I’m not in front of a computer screen, I enjoy doing anything on the ocean; surfing, sailing, diving, swimming, fishing, barbecuing or otherwise hanging out.

I’m also usually in the middle of reading a novel or two at any given time, and will never turn down a trip to the onsen (Japanese hot springs).

Do you have any special sayings or expressions?

Try to have a net positive impact on the people and places around you.

You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control your reaction to it.

Relax.

Is there something interesting about yourself you would like to share?

My last name means “Steel” in German.

I love Mexican food.

I’d like to visit the natural hot springs in Iceland.

Meet Nami Taguchi, our School’s Registrar

Nami Taguchi is our School’s Reigistrar. She studied English Literature in Tokyo and Secretarial Administration in UK and has a wide range of working experience in different fields. Being part of A-JIS since August 2003, she mostly enjoys to communicate with people of different nationalities and cultures; “they make me realize what I believe is only right and proper is not always so from their different points of view”.

 

Where are you from?

I was born in Tokyo, but my family moved out of Tokyo when I was one year old.

Have you lived or worked in other countries?

I studied in UK for 3 years at several language schools and a vocational college.  One good thing about British language schools is you can easily move from one school to another.  In fact, I travelled from Devon in the west to Scotland in the north for 2 years going to these schools.

What did you study, why, and what did you like the most?

I studied English Literature at a college in Tokyo.  I love literature both classic and contemporary.

Although I always managed to get decent jobs after graduating from the college, at some point in my life, I felt urgent necessity of furthering my career and decided to go over to UK to study secretarial administration at a college in Surrey.

What are your relevant work experiences until now?

I worked as a personal assistant to the director of the research department at a securities company for 6 years.  I was fascinated by the job because almost all of the clients of the company were from other countries and I could learn how to deal with people from different backgrounds.  Previous to that, I worked for a bank for 5 years where I gained good organization skills.

Since when are you working in A-JIS?

I joined A-JIS in August 2003.

What are your roles here at A-JIS?

I started as an academic secretary and now I am a registrar.

What do you like most about your profession?

I am excited to communicate with people of different nationalities and cultures, including parents, students, teachers, and also visitors and enquirers, and sometimes they make me realize what I believe is only right and proper is not always so from their different points of view.

What do you do for fun?

I love nature and enjoy hydroculture and veranda gardening at home.  Recently, I have participated in trekking tours, but I am only a beginner and no good at rambling along long trails.

Do you have any special sayings or expressions?

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Is there something interesting about yourself you would like to share?

If you want to know about the temples and shrines in Nara, please ask me.  I have visited Nara once a year for over 10 years.