Look up at the sky for the celestial event of the century.

“Total solar eclipse” was observed in a wide range of area across the North American continent, from the state of Oregon in the West to the state of South Carolina in the East. There were a great number of people who enjoyed this enigmatic occurrence woven by the celestial bodies which reoccurred after 99 years this time. This is an event which is said to happen only once in hundred years in America. Unfortunately, Philadelphia had only partial solar eclipse, but even it was only partial eclipse, the enigma of the celestial bodies was fully enjoyable. In Japan, “annular solar eclipse” occurred on May 21, 2012. At that time, queer sunlight filtering through foliage created by the pinhole effect was also observed. This time, it was also fun to watch people get engrossed looking up at the unbelievably extraordinary view on the sky.
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Energetic voices from students echo throughout the school

The long summer vacation has finally ended. Today is the start of the second trimester here at JSLP. Even though we borrow the Friendﾕs Central School facilities just on the weekend, children really shine in this environment. Maybe itﾕs just me, but a school without lots of children just appears as a boring container. Today was a wonderful day, as it has been a while since I have heard all the exciting and enthusiastic commotion from the students. 続きを読む…

It Is Very Difficult to Know about Yourself

“Please leave me alone as I know what I am doing.” In general, we do not like being advised what to do by others. As a matter of fact, however, it is probably true that knowing yourself is very difficult.
Generally speaking, the majority of us tend to either overestimate or underestimate about ourselves because of the difficult nature of fair self-observation. Overestimation causes “overvalue/self-esteem” and underestimation causes “obsequiousness and loss of self-confidence”.
So, how do we get to know about ourselves? The objective evaluation by others is probably the ultimate way to achieve it. 続きを読む…

Don’t push your views toward others.

Human beings are social animals and unable to live outside the society. Living in the society amongst others means you are constantly being taken care of by others around you wherever you are. We are routinely disrupting others. For example, things you own, dress, use, pens and notebooks, pencils, pens etc… You can pick any one of those things and it is made by someone or has gone thorough some process made by someone. You may not know the name of the person but there’s nothing that is around us that did not involve other human beings. We benefit from works and efforts of so many people.
After all, we have to live in the society with others and more or less have to get along with them and getting along means not pushing your views or opinions toward others and while maintaining respect for others.
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Cooperate with your child’s stress!

“Study” (勉強) when written in Kanji, it can be read as “forced to strive”, and it could be a source of stress.
You study because you do not understand something. As you try to gain full comprehension, you will face many walls. In order to clear each obstacle, you deal with stress. It is quite natural to have worries and troubles, and children grow as they manage to overcome those worries and troubles.
There is no such thing as stress-free study, and if you let your child grow up without having them deal with stress, you should concern your child’s being when they are grown up.
The students at Japanese Language School of Philadelphia attend their regular school during weekdays where they experience different cultures, different life styles, and different languages. Being in such environment, you can easily imagine how stressful it could be for a child to face various subjects such as acquiring a new language, daily schoolwork, health, future path, and interpersonal relationship with others.
The key here is that the parents, guardians, and teachers know the level of stress or troubles the child is going through and be able to provide support and cooperate with the child.
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One for all, all for one!

As a school event, our field day is just as important as the school entrance and graduation ceremonies. There are two goals for field day. The first is to think deeply about your health and constitution. When you’re healthy, most people don’t think about what it’s like to be sick. The truth is, however, if you were not healthy, it would be hard to live your life and go to school. Physical education is not part of our curriculum, but today is a great chance for everyone to revel in being healthy and alive. Please be safe and do your best to be active and have fun today!

The second goal of field day is deepen your connection to friends and your class through teamwork. It’s important to work hard in sports and the arts, so please exert every effort to do your personal best and to help your teammates. Let’s cheer each other on! We also look forward to the efforts our junior high, high school, and Keisho Four students will be putting in as support staff – thank you! Field day is a prime opportunity to truly understand the expression, “One for all, all for one!” I hope that everyone can broaden their friendships by both making new friends, or even just seeing our friends in a new light!
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Kindness is…

Schools used to evaluate its students by using four levels of grades, 1:優(excellent), 2:良(good), 3:可(acceptable), 4:不可(not acceptable).
This Chinese character, 優(Yu) which is the highest score of all, has two different meanings. One of them is “superior” the other is ”gentle and kind”.
It might be thought of the people who are kind to others as superior.
Thinking of others each other will lead person to become superior as a human being.
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Making a Couple of Minutes into a Quality Time

To prepare for a soon to be held poetry reading, student A wanted her mother to see her practice, so the student asked to watch her. Her mother responded immediately “Yes my dear, go ahead, but do it quickly! I need to make a phone call soon.” The student felt rushed and depressed.
Your child can tell, when you are spending time happily and willingly together. Even if it is only for a couple of minutes during the day, if you are able to give full attention and spend time together, your child notices the difference.
It may be difficult to make time while you are busy. Still, do not forget, a quality time counts for your child, even if it is short.
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Earth Day

I saw a small sign for “Earth Day” on my way to work, so I looked into it.
“Earth Day” is considered as “the day of the planet earth,” when the people take action in order to protect the environment worldwide. The United States Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson made a declaration on April 22, 1970 about the severe ecological problems of the earth, and promoted activities to protect the environment.
The earth, where we live, was born 4,600,000,000 years ago. If I put 4 billion and 600 million years as 1 year, the era of human beings is equivalent to the moment of New Year’s Eve turning into the New Year. Since then, we have developed our cultures within a second, or the blink of an eye, and we have destroyed the natural environment, which is supposed to be our base.
Protecting the natural environment is the big theme of Earth Day, but I believe there are small things we can do in our own lives. 続きを読む…

Practice and execution build up your strength!

Parents and teachers encourage their children. They say “Why can’t you do it? You will surely accomplish what you set out to do, if you work harder.”, or “You can do it, if you keep trying.” It is certain that the “keep doing” mentality will lead to accomplishing what they set out to do. However, realistically not everything is possible. Effort will pay off but the important thing is that you do your best for what you want to accomplish.
When you started riding a bicycle, you had a strong will to accomplish it. You didn’t have the ability to do that by nature. You practiced, even falling down and getting bruised,　Those efforts will eventually lead to success of bike riding.
This is the same for everything in life. Even if it is a professional baseball player, a soccer player or a pianist, they make their best effort. They are practicing over and over and gradually they will be successful in an endeavor. Studying to excel in academics will definitely be the same. 続きを読む…