Kyoto International University Academy kiua. kyot oiu. ac ...parents.kyotoiu.ac.jp/sites/default/files/torch_pdf/2017-02-03... · Kyoto International University Academy kiua. kyot

Kyoto International University Academy kiua.kyotoiu.ac.jp February - March 2017

Upcoming Events KIU and KIU Academy will be having a variety of events which will be of interest to the KIU/KIU Academy community and to others. Please see the list below for the details. For more information, please contact the school. Feb. 10: Kanji Proficiency Examination Feb. 13-17: Parent-teacher conferences Feb. 21: TOEFL and EIKEN Exams Mar. 15-17: MS/HS Final Exams Mar. 17: Last day of school Mar. 18: Graduation (HS only)

2017-2018 School Calendar You will find next year’s calendar in this issue of the Torch. Here are the beginning and ending dates for each term: • Spring – April 10 to July 4 (7 for MS/HS) • Fall – September 4 to December 14 (Fall midterm break: October 10-13) • Winter – January 9 to March 20

Parent-Teacher Conferences Parent-Teacher conferences for the winter trimester are scheduled for Feb.13-17. We want to use this opportunity to inform parents of their children’s progress up to this point. Please return the reservation form to your child’s homeroom teacher as soon as possible to ensure your reserved time. If you are unable to meet at any of the times listed, please make arrangements with your child’s homeroom teacher to set up a different time.

Update from the Rohrers On January 16, the surgery to transplant part of Mr. Rohrer’s liver in his daughter Julia was successfully completed. They are now both in the hospital recovering. The Rohrers send their thanks to all of you for your prayers, financial gifts, and support.

KIU Academy

Mission Statement:

To provide, from a Biblical perspective, a safe, nurturing environment where students can develop physically,

mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and an academically challenging environment where students can

potentially become people of academic excellence.

Vision Statement:

To be the leader in quality bilingual education based on Christian principles.


2016 FALL HONOR ROLL At KIU Academy, students who demonstrate excellent academic achievement are recognized for inclusion in the Honor Roll. Students from elementary through high school are eligible to be on the honor roll if their grades meet the criteria stated in the parent-student handbook. This is most advantageous for high school students who are applying to western universities and colleges for admission and scholarships.

Principal’s Honor Roll Regular Honor Roll

Fujino, Ami Hirose, Airi Iwamoto, Hinata Shimada, Kento Sinivirta, Saku Tochimoto, Nozomi Tsubaki, Yuto Funakoshi, Momoka Sun, Min Duffy, Hayden Hayakawa, Rion Higashino, Manami Kanao, Yuki

Lee, Jason Deegan, Maiya Hirota, Mari Inukai, Kazuma Sasayama, Karisa Tsushima, Miyu Kita, Kaisei Tashiro, Ayano Thawonmas, Ran Ueno, Lucah Hutton, Joshua Wilson, Andy

Kawabata, Yui Tashiro, Yuri Blocksom, Jerry Ryu, Yeong Su Tamura, Rei Brahmbhatt, Meghna Johnson, Dan V Joung, Si Won Kyte, Shannen Mitani, Yukina Ono, Takaya Tei, Gin Yamaguchi, Chase Hirata, Hikaru Kawano, Futa

Maeda, Io Murata, Naoya Okuno, Masayoshi Sakihama, Janie Yoshimura, Junki Deegan, Jack Hamamoto, Kai Hamamoto, Riku Sakai, Mitsuki Nakamura, Haruki Uno, Kaori Maekawa, Nano Taylor, Kent Shibata Yamasaki, Shota Yoshida, Sera

KIUA Spelling Bee This year's KIU Academy Spelling Bee was held on January 16 after school for all grade 4 through 8 students who wanted to participate. Students from both elementary and middle school competed, and 5th grade Rino Yokoyama won. She will have the opportunity to go to the 8th Japan Times Bee in Tokyo as the KIUA representative on March 4. Way to go, Rino!

Congratulations!

The JICA International Cooperation essay contest for junior high school students and high school students 2016 was held by Japan International Cooperation Agency. The essay “Saving the earth by renewable

energy” written by the 9th grader Io Maeda was given an honorable mention out of 80,814 essays. Good job, Io!

English Testing This Winter TOEFL and EIKEN tests for the winter term will be on February 21 (Tuesday). Grades 2 to 4 will take the EIKEN, while the 5th graders and the secondary students will be taking the TOEFL Junior, Pre-TOEFL and TOEFL tests. Test results will be used in evaluating student progress and the needs of the KIUA English program.


Intensive English Speaking Course (Middle and High School) From February 7th to March 9th every Tuesday and Thursday after school, there will be a 90 minute Intensive English Speaking Course taught by Peter Blocksom. The goal of the class is to increase fluency and listening skills through intensive drills. Ideal candidates would have 380 or more on the TOEFL with 38 in the Grammar Section, those with lower grammar ability may find it too challenging, and students with both a Grammar score of over 45 and Listening score of 50 will not find the class to be that helpful. The goal is to raise the listening section TOEFL score by an average of 50 points (one section) over the month class. The sign up is on the window of Mr. Blocksom’s office. The sign up deadline is February 6th. The class is free of charge. Maximum number of participants is 12, the minimum is 5. The class will start at 3:45 and end at 5:15.

Elementary Japanese Class Announcement We are planning to have students in Mr. Luke’s Japanese classes perform a play. Parents are invited to attend. Please see more information below: Location: A-building basement Performances:

● February 23 (Thursday), 12:15 to 13:45, Japanese 2 and Japanese 4

● March 2 (Thursday), 9:55 to 11:30, Japanese 1 and Japanese 3

● March 9 (Thursday), 13:05 to 14:40, Japanese 5

Last Day Elementary Events On March 17, the last day of this school year, we will be having a brief farewell (9:00-9:20) for the 5th grade students as they finish elementary school at KIU Academy. This will be followed by a Japanese presentation (9:25-10:30) by all elementary Japanese classes. All parents are invited to join us in the basement of A building for this program from 9:00-10:30. If you come by car, please use B or C ground as parking. After the program, the students will clean their rooms and lockers. Then we will have a final party where students can use the bonus bucks they have saved to play games and buy ice cream. We will need helpers to supervise the games, so if you are willing to help, please tell the KIUA receptionist.

Charity Talent Show On Friday February 24, the student government will be hosting a charity talent show. The talent show is expected to take place in the A-building basement from 6:00 pm to around 7:30 pm. Performers will be KIUA high school and parents. All elementary students must have an accompanying parent at the show. Starting from 5:30pm tickets will be sold (500 yen for students and 1000 yen for adults). This year, the student government will be sending all the money raised to Save the Children, an organization that helps children who suffer from malnutrition and cannot receive education in South Sudan. We hope to support this non-government organization that has provided food, shelter, education, and medical attention to at-risk children in indigent communities for years. Also, donations are appreciated and the student government will have boxes available at the venue. Please note that this is a charity event- all proceeds will be sent to Save the Children. We encourage you to come and hope to see you there!


MS/HS Finals This term’s finals for middle school and high school students will be on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, March 15-17. Please note that student will be dismissed early on some days. See below for details:

March 15 March 16 March 17

AM Regular classes 9:05 - English Finals 9:00 - Science Finals

Regular classes 10:50 - Japanese Finals 10:45 - Math Finals

PM 13:05 - Social Studies Finals 13:00 - Students dismissed * BUSI 234 students and 12th graders remain on campus

13:00 Joint homeroom Awards ceremony

14:30 - University Class * BUSI 234

13: 05 ~ 14:45 Graduation Rehearsal (12th grade only)

14:00 ~ Homeroom parties

14:45 - Students dismissed * BUSI 234 students remain on campus

14:30 - University Class * BUSI 234

16:45 - MS Students dismissed 17:30 - HS Students dismissed

Please contact the school if you have any questions.

MS/HS Awards Ceremony On March 17 (Friday), KIU Academy will have its annual MS/HS Awards Ceremony. Awards will be given to students who have demonstrated high academic achievement, shown the most improvement, or are considered the best in a subject. Sports awards will also be given. Parents are invited to come to the awards ceremony. It will start at 13:00 at the main basketball court. If you come by car, we ask you to park your cars near the C ground.

HS Graduation – March 18 On Saturday, March 18, we will have the KIU Academy high school graduation ceremony in basement of A-building. The graduation ceremony will be for students graduating from twelfth grade. Along with issuing graduation diplomas, academic awards and speeches will be given. This year’s speeches will be given by the Valedictorian, Joshua Hutton and the Salutatorian, Nano Maekawa. All members of the KIU community are invited to attend the graduation ceremony. Relatives of the graduates are also welcome to attend. The ceremony starts at 10:00 AM. If you come by car, please use B or C ground as parking. For more information, please contact the school office.


KIUA Sports - Fall Season Summary MSB Basketball On December 2-3, the boys' A-team participated in the WJAA tournament at Marist. The tournament started off with a tough 1 point loss to Nagoya. The team found their footing in the second game and defeated the Osaka B team 32-2. In the final game of the night, the boys fought hard against a bigger Canadian Academy team before losing a close game. On Saturday, the boys finished their tournament with a win over Marist, finishing in 5th place. In the shooting contest, KIUA’s Shouta Horii displayed a good shooting touch, winning the contest in dramatic fashion, making a 3-pointer in a playoff. HSB Basketball The basketball season came to a close with the WJAA tournament held at Marist Brothers International School on January 20-21. This was the final tournament for three of the boys, Seiji Barrera, Joshua Hutton, and Andy Wilson. The team wanted to send the seniors off with a championship. In the first game of the tournament the team came out focused and ready to play hard. They defeated the defending champions, Nagoya, by a score of 60-29. The good play continued with a victory over the Canadian Academy-JV team. Their good play on Friday earned them a berth in the semi-finals where they again met the Canadian Academy-JV team. In a hard fought win the Flames were on to the championship game to face Sons of the Light. When the final buzzer sounded KIUA had won the game and the celebration was on. Seiji Barrera led the team throughout the tournament and earned the MVP trophy.

HSG Basketball This year - like last year - Lady Flames went to the WJAA Championship game and - like last year - lost to our arch rival Marist Bulldogs. It was a rough and tumble tournament in Nagoya with three games on Friday where KIUA beat Hokkaido Huskies in a come from behind close game to win 53-52, and though not close, none the less a very physical game against Nagoya Dolphins and the KCS Eagles. Due to illness and a player moving to Fiji we had a very short roster and most of the girls had to play in most of the 5 games we played within a 28 hour span. Our center Sarah Hemi (10th Grade) lead the team in scoring, while Nano Maekawa (point guard and captain) lead the team in steals. Hikaru Hirata joined the team late in the season and she with the other two were part of the tournament All Stars.


KIUA Sports - Winter Season

MS Season Underway The basketball practices for MS girls and soccer practices for MS Boys started January 5. Mr. King and Mr. Simoes are the respective coaches. Practices are at Yamashiro Kinrosha Fukushi Kaikan on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6pm. The teams are working hard and preparing for their season ending tournaments, March 3-4. The boys tournament will be at Canadian Academy and the girls tournament will be at Marist Brothers. HSB Soccer Ready for Kick-off HS boys' soccer started January 23, Monday, with full practices on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays from 4-6pm. The team is coached by Mr. Tony Barrera this season. The team will play matches in anticipation of defending their championship at the final tournament in Nagoya, March 10-11.

Looking Ahead to Spring The spring sports seasons will begin in March for the MS students. If there is enough interest, students can participate in boys' volleyball and girls' softball. The HS season begins in late March and everything will be outside on the baseball diamond, provided enough students want to participate. The boys will be playing baseball and the girls slow-pitch softball. Lots of fun in one of the best seasons of the year! If you have questions, please talk with Mr. King. More information will be shared in the coming weeks.


US (Canada) College Tour 2017 KIU is planning the annual US college tour from March 19/20th to about the 30th. We will visit 8-10 colleges and sit in lectures, take campus tours, eat in student cafeterias, participate in information sessions and meet with admission personnel in addition to meeting and having meals with some of our alumni who are studying or working in the US. Expected costs vary depending on the destinations and the number of students per hotel room. Usually the cost is about 250,000 yen for a 10-11 day trip inclusive of transportation, accommodations and meals. Last year we travelled from Boston to Nebraska then Los Angeles area. Places we visit this year will be determined by the needs and the desires of the participants. There is a minimum of 4 students and a maximum of 6 students for the trip. Students from 9th grade to college students are welcome to come along. Those who are interested need to let Mr. Blocksom know by February 15.

University Corner Welcome back Dr. Senyo Adjibolooso and Dr. Miki Tanikawa ! Dr. Adjibolooso, a professor of economics at Point Loma Nazarene University in California has visited KIU for teaching an intensive course on Macroeconomics on January 4-7, 2017. Dr. Adjibolooso is a founder of the Human Factor Leadership Academy (HFLA) in Ghana, where KIU and KIUA students visited in 2011 and 2013. This year the number of students is the largest since his first visit in 2005. Students enjoyed having time with him inside and outside class, including celebrating his birthday. Dr. Adjibolosoo also had opportunity to share message on the January 4th Joint Praise and Prayer about ‘Growing in God’s Quality’. Dr. Miki Tanikawa is coming back to KIU to teach International Business from March 1 to 17, 2017. Dr. Tanikawa is a productive journalist for the New York Times Group and editor for the Economist Group. He just received his PhD from the School of Journalism, University of Texas – Austin. While teaching at KIU, he would like to hold discussions with both KIU and KIUA students who are interested to learn international business, intercultural study and journalism. If you would like to learn more about the KIU Foundations Program, please view on our website (www.kyotoiu.ac.jp) or contact Ms.Bito (0774-64-0804).


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Kyoto International University Academy kiua. kyot oiu. ac ...parents.kyotoiu.ac.jp/sites/default/files/torch_pdf/2017-02-03... · Kyoto International University Academy kiua. kyot