Thank You

The Tokai Study Abroad Summer Programme for 2016 has come to an end. All the boys are now safely back with their families in Japan. This year has been a very eventful learning journey for them all. The boys have been fantastic. In each of the three locations that I visited, Edinburgh, Marlborough and Malahide, I was told that this year’s group was the most outgoing and friendly group that had come from Tokai in all the years we have been running these trips. There was a really fun atmosphere in the air led by some particularly energetic and big-spirited individuals. Their courage allowed the whole group to be lifted to new heights.

The group at Marlborough College in England was enthusiastically led by Mr Bond and Mr Kiuchi and the two weeks passed safely and productively. This year Learning Journeys was well represented by Lottie Colquhoun and Bella Duncan who really developed the programme to new heights winning everybody’s hearts with their cheerfulness and excellent care for the details of the day to day running of the programme. We hope that they will be able to lead future Learning Journeys groups.

One of the highlights of the trip to England was the London Visit. The group had the chance to spend a whole day getting to know the famous historic and modern sights of that incredible city and thoroughly enjoyed their experience of riding on the London Underground as well as a Thames cruise to the 950 year old Tower of London. It was fun to eat at Macdonalds in Paddington Station before heading back to Marlborough after a great day out.

One of the strengths of the Marlborough College Summer School programme is that the boys get to choose from a range of fun and educational activities. This year we had boys doing all sorts of things from Mountain Biking to Photography. Some of the groups had a chance to perform at the end of the week and the Dance and Rock School courses put on a great show. 

We got very good feedback from the Summer School staff about the Tokai boys’ conduct in their English lessons and their activities. Meg Dempster, the evening activity coordinator described them as ‘lovely’. We also got very positive feedback from the homestay families. It is so beneficial to the boys to experience life in a regular English family. Overall, this year the boys integrated with the other groups and individual students very well and they made friends with students from a wide variety of other countries. That’s one of the most important goals of the programme – to build bridges with the rest of the world and for students to understand that they can use their English to communicate and to make friends. 

We can see this very clearly at Japan Corner. That’s when the boys have a chance to show off Japanese things such as origami, happi, kendama, furoshiki and so on. People always love seeing their own names written in kanji and learning how to use chopsticks and folding fans. This year, the event was a triumph. The other teenagers, young kids and adults are fascinated by this display of cool Japanese culture.

This year’s group should be very proud of themselves. They have been excellent ambassadors for their families, for Tokai, and for Japan. I hope that their experiences will have a positive effect on their further English studies and that they will continue to broaden their minds through study abroad and developing friendships with people around the world and with foreigners living in Japan. I also hope that they will keep in touch with us and with the people they met in England, building up their network of contacts and friendships. Some of them may even want to join the Tokai programme next year.

This year we celebrate that 500 Tokai boys have studied abroad during the past 13 summers. That is something that the Tokai teachers who have made this possible should be very proud of. Without their energy and dedication none of this would have happened. Particular thanks go to Mr. Tatsuya Ito who has been an inspiration to the whole programme. He makes close friendships everywhere he goes and that makes him the best role model of all for the boys. We hope that those students who have enjoyed themselves will share their adventures with their families and ‘kohai’ back in Japan. This will ensure that the programme goes from strength to strength.

Finally, a great big thank you to all the parents and grandparents back in Japan who have supported this project. I can assure you it is a wonderful gift to your sons and grandsons.

It’s a Learning Journey!

A Lovely Message

Thanks to our host Karen for a lovely message and these great photos:

Thank you for bringing such wonderfully positive and entertaining boys to Marlborough again this year. We were even treated to 2 LOVELY Japanese home-cooked meals this year!

Bye Bye From Bella

Hello! Its Bella here and this will be my last blog post as the Summer School comes to an end and all the boys head back to Japan. I have been looking after the boys for the last week and I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed it! It has been so much fun from start to finish and a lot of laughs. It has been so satisfying to see the boy’s progress with their English from shy one word answers to asking me questions about where I’m from and my family in conversation! They have made so many new friends here in England and I know that they have all enjoyed themselves. I have loved getting to know them and learning about Japan from the boys and Mr Kiuchi. So a big thank you to them for having made my week so enjoyable and I will miss you all a lot! I hope you come back to England if only for the delicious tea and scones! 

Farewell Marlborough

Horse Fun

Thanks to the Allport family who sent us these great pictures of Ryoji and Dai having fun with their horses.

Japan Corner

Happy memories of Friday's 2nd Japan Corner which was a great success again. Well done to the boys for spreading interest in Japanese culture.

Farewell to our Hosts

The boys will soon be taking off from Heathrow Airport. They said their good byes to their wonderful host families this morning. What a wonderful experience they have had. They can be so proud of the way that they conducted themselves in the UK. They are truly Tokai Ambassadors!

School of Rock

Here is a short video of the group practicing their rock performance.

We Survived!

Some of the boys have been studying survival skills just in case they are ever lost in the jungle!

Dance!

The dancers have been having great fun. Look at Ryoji! He is really a great dancer. Unfortunately Kazuki twisted his ankle and had to retire from dancing and change to the printmaking course which he also enjoyed Better to be on the safe side and he has now made a good recovery in time for Japan Corner tonight.

 

Rock School!

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed yesterday. The boys had another full day on their courses, and the sun was shining all day! After practicing their English in the morning or trying some rock climbing the boys headed off to have lunch outside in the sun. The afternoon consisted of the On Target activity, where the boys learn how to fire a bow and arrow. Some boys played Multi-Sports an activity where the boys have the opportunity to learn new sports with other teenagers. Mr Kiuchi and I dropped in on Satoshi’s rock school activity, which was extremely fun. He is performing in a band today in front of a big crowd, playing the guitar. In the evening a few boys were taken off to Oxford for a meal out by their homestays, to see the city. Most wanted to stay and play Jail Break, the favourite evening activity. The boys are split into teams with all the other children of the school of all ages and have to catch their tutors who are hiding all around the school, which is very entertaining to watch!

What a Wednesday!

The boys had an amazing time, back on the inflatables doing team building exercises with the other teenagers. It was great to see them start conversations and meet new people throughout the day! They were great representatives for Japan as they won most of the races, with Ryota being the best at an inflatable sweeper jump challenge! They had an excellent tea- time with all the boys enjoying scones and English tea especially Tomoki and Dai. The evening was very busy as the boys played three different activities. They played Capture the Flag, a traditional English game. A variation of handball, and rounded off the evening with the Slip and Slide. They all loved the waterslide but were a bit chilly by the end, and headed home to warm up! 

Adventure Swamp

Yesterday was another fun-filled day at Marlborough Summer School, despite the English weather. The boys really enjoyed their activities, some headed off to do dance in the morning. Others to EFL to improve their English further. The last group off to Outdoor Activities, where they entered the Adventure Swamp! They had to negotiate bogs and rivers, Reiji fell in the river and Justin fell in three times, which everyone found very funny. In the afternoon the majority of the boys played badminton which got very competitive. The boys were impressive ambassadors for Japan, finishing their sodoku first and helping others. They finished the day playing a variation of volleyball which the team leaders had created. That had everyone rushing around! 

Thank You, Mr. Kiuchi

A BIG THANK YOU to Mr. Kiuchi for leading the boys and being such a great role model for them. For those of you who don't know, Mr Kiuchi is a great expert on English history and culture as well as Baroque Music. He is full of enthusiasm as you can see from this interview done by Bella and Kai.

London Memories

Cornish Pasties

Ryoji is having a lovely time with his host family, the O'Reilly's. Here they are eating Cornish Pasties which they made themselves. Cornish Pasties are a type of meat pie popular in this part of England - a Meibutsu! Ryoji is lucky that his host family have young children. Of course they aren't shy and that's a great opportunity for him to learn English and also for the kids to learn about Japan.

An Interesting Japanese Gentleman!

Team Building

One of the most fun activities at the summer school is the team building. The boys have to work together to overcome various challenges. It's a fantastic way for them to improve their English through making real connections with each other.

other in real situations.