Hello. I’ve recently been offered a job back in Japan (currently living in the US) and I’m pondering if accepting it or no. I lived/worked in Japan already for 5 years in the past and can speak Japanese (business level).
My daughter will start kindergarten in September, and I would like to enroll her in an International School in Tokyo. I already took a look online to several ranking sites, but I was wondering if someone could share some direct experience, with particular schools or in general also about other schools with an English program.
My main concern would be in the beginning to maintain her English. She is half Japanese but got a nice American accent when she speaks English. If I find a good school could potentially continue with it until high school and then is going to be up to her if she wants to stay in Japan or continue study abroad.
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Been offered a job back in Japan. Searching for good International Schools.**
Hello. I’ve recently been offered a job back in Japan (currently living in the US) and I’m pondering if accepting it or no. I lived/worked in Japan already for 5 years in the past and can speak Japanese (business level).
My daughter will start kindergarten in September, and I would like to enroll her in an International School in Tokyo. I already took a look online to several ranking sites, but I was wondering if someone could share some direct experience, with particular schools or in general also about other schools with an English program.
My main concern would be in the beginning to maintain her English. She is half Japanese but got a nice American accent when she speaks English. If I find a good school could potentially continue with it until high school and then is going to be up to her if she wants to stay in Japan or continue study abroad.
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From a teacher’s perspective the only ones I’m familiar with are ASIJ, BST and YIS. I know people who work/ed in the first and last, and I was once offered to work for BST. They’re all legit and seem pretty good. No idea from a parents’ perspective though.
>My main concern would be in the beginning to maintain her English.
One thing you need to accept ***right now*** is that her English *will* slip. If you’re not ok with her losing her “nice American accent when she speaks English” you need to reject the offer and not take her to Japan for all of her formative years.
Your daughter will be growing up in Japan, speaking/learning Japanese at the same time she’s learning English. By the time she gets to middle school she’ll probably be speaking more Japanese than English, even if she goes to an international school.
But honestly: The fact that one of your main concerns is your 4-5 year-old’s “nice American accent” and not, say… The quality of her education says pretty much all that needs to be said.
Serious question. I’ve been looking at the salaries in Japan (less than half what I make in the US) and expensive international schools (25K USD/year) there. It’s difficult to add up.