Author: billkralovec

Three OIS students were recently thrilled to learn that they appeared in a video gone “viral”. OIS elementary students Emily, Kia and Moa performed the Disney classic song, “Let It Go” in the lip sync contest at the International Fair. Emily’s cousin posted a video of the performance on her Twitter feed. The video was instantly shared on other social media platforms around Asia and the world.

The Twitter post had 188,000 likes, 89,000 re-tweets and generated 160 comments. When they put the video on YouTube, as of Friday, it had 88,170 views. The video was picked up by traditional media sites also and appeared on television shows in Hong Kong and here in Japan. It was also featured on a Korean website.

In speaking with the girls, they never thought that their performance would be seen by so many people. During a recess on the field, Emily was describing the dance she was preparing for the contest, sponsored by the International Fair committee. Kia suggested using her white sweater as snow, like the character does in the Disney film Frozen. They started laughing about it, but it eventually became part of the performance, with confetti spray being the ice and snow. It was a creative way of recreating Queen Elsa’s ability of shooting ice and snow from her hands.

The girls learned a lot from the experience, including, once something is put on social media and the internet, they lose control of it. For this time, it was for a good reason. Emily laughed when a Senri International School high school student recognized her from the video in the cafeteria. She felt a bit like a celebrity.

The experience showed me the power of creativity and the potential of the internet. 10 years ago, a performance like this would have been seen only by our community, but with social media, people from literally around the world, could see it. The girls original performance was recognized by the outside world for its excellence. Emily, Kia and Moa really lived up to our mission statement of, “contributing to a global community” and demonstrating creativity. Congratulations to them!

 

The Senri & Osaka International Schools in conjunction with the Australian Stuttering Research Centre of the University of Sydney, hosted a stuttering (kitsuon in Japanese) workshop specifically for local speech therapists November 3-5, 2017. Leading the conference were Dr. Brenda Carey, a distinguished speech & language pathologist in the area of stuttering and Yokohama International School Learning Support teacher and speech & language pathologist. Over 50 Japanese speech therapists and researchers received training in the Lidcombe Method, a therapy for young children that reduces stuttering. This was the first of its kind in the Kansai region.

The early intervention therapy for stuttering is new to Japan, so these types of workshops are critical in treating children. It is the goal that the highly successful Lidcombe Method will be used regularly in Japan.

Dr. Carey and Ms. Yandeau graciously delivered professional development workshops to our teachers and met with students and parents about speech development.

The workshop resonates with one of the SOIS belief statements, “We believe that one of our goals is to demonstrate new ideas, practices, techniques, and systems to other schools around Japan and the world.”

 

 

We are proud to have supported the Australian Stuttering Research Center and the University of Sydney in their work in Japan. A big thank you to Dr. Carey and Ms. Yandeau for helping our community and speech pathologists in Japan.

 

 

 

The elementary school students were thrilled to learn the skills of American football from former National Football League (NFL) player, Adam Seward. Besides teaching them some basic fundamentals of throwing and catching a football, he emphasized the smart choices he made with nutrition and training for him to excel at the highest level of the sport. Adam made many sacrifices to be the best and the students looked to him to be a role model for them developing physical fitness and a healthy diet. The elementary school is placing a special emphasis on healthy eating this year and this effort is being led by physical education teacher, Ms. Leanne Entwistle. Adam’s example of healthy choices left a powerful impression on the students.

 

 

He is shown above during his career with the Carolina Panthers. Adam graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and was a special teams star and linebacker for the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars during his 4-year career. After his playing career, he worked for the NFL in Mexico and China, promoting the sport and commentating on games.

 

Mr. Seward is completing a physical education teaching program with the education department of California. He is an intern teacher in our middle school and high school physical education department this trimester. Our students have benefited from his energy, enthusiasm and professional sports experience.

American football is quite popular with Kwansei Gakuin schools and the university team is the most successful in Japan, with 27 national titles. “The Fighters” are undefeated this season and play archrival Ritsumeikan University Panthers Sunday, November 19 at Expo Memorial Stadium at 13:00. Tickets are available at the game or via the website.

Thanks to Adam for taking time out to inspire the elementary school students and PE teacher Ms. Entwistle for facilitating the visit.

 

 

 

All students, teachers and parents are invited to attend the presentation by a representative of the Asian Rural Institute on Monday November 13 at 3:45 PM in the 3F conference room.