On April 2nd, 2025, 17 students from Japanese schools went to St Mary’s International School in Setagaya, Tokyo. The purpose of this event was to experience how different normal Japanese schools are compared to International Schools. During the event, so that the visitors can understand the class and have fun, about two students fluent in English and Japanese were selected by the teachers from each class to translate the content of the lesson. About 8 people, male and female, went to the 8th grade and learned together with the class. The visitors stayed for four hours, 10:00 AM~2:00 PM, and learned our core classes, Social Studies, English, Math, and Science together.
This event is hosted by the Suginami UNESCO group and St Mary’s International School. The event occurs every year where the Japanese students go and learn together with the 7th and 8th grade students. Ms San Ho Kim, the representative for the event at St Mary’s International School, indicated that the UNESCO event started in 1996. In 1995, Ms Itaguro, the person who is in charge of UNESCO, wanted people to experience internationalism and cultures of other countries after her kids got educated outside of Japan.
Due to people whom the students didn’t know came, there were lots of changes in how the students acted. Keisuke Kajisa, an 8th grader at St. Mary’s International School, says, “Students were being more respectful and causing less trouble. I think they acted differently because they want to represent SMIS in a positive view, and are also uncomfortable with strangers.” Naturally, humans try to have a good impression on people who are new or whom they don’t know. This behavior of students can represent human instinct.
The visitors who went to St Mary’s International School came from various schools in Japan. Ms Kim mentioned, “This event is a very popular event in the Suginami district.” Based on the survey of the visitors, 66.6% of the visitors said that they went to St Mary’s International School for a good experience. These students were in Japanese schools, and Japanese Schools and International Schools like St Mary’s International School have a lot of different properties. Experiencing these different properties between not just schools but also cultures could have been the main reason why the student came. Additionally, to the question of whether she thought that this 2025’s one was a success, Ms Kim answered, “I don’t know if this one was a success, but ordinarily the visitors are excited and they love their experience because everything is different in International Schools compared to Japanese schools. And they especially love subjects such as Art and Design and Technology.”
In the event, the translators mostly stayed together with the visitors, and although students that are not translators did not have that much involvement with the visitors compared to the translators, they also had some involvement through having classes together or talking to them. According to the survey, 23.4% of the students said that they wanted the event to happen again. Although 23.4% of the grade is a small number, considering that most of the students cannot even speak Japanese, 23.4% can be a success. Also, although St Mary’s International School’s students can have a good experience, the main purpose of the event was for the visitors and because they have fun in classes, even if the percentage of students happy with it is low, it is possible to say that the event was a success.
But some students cannot speak Japanese, which can make them feel the event kind of boring. But although it can be boring if they cannot talk, if the translator translates what the student is saying, they can maybe express each other and also know each other’s point of view or culture, which will give both of them a great experience, which is one of the purposes of this event. According to the article on the event in 2019, the students who went to the event indicated that the students in St Mary’s were very kind and friendly. Also, some people who were not their translators talked to them. At recess, they had fun playing basketball and dodgeball, and they did not feel that much difference with their friends in their school.” Although in 2025 we were not able to have recess together, by talking to them in class or in the hallway way students who cannot speak Japanese may have fun.
Finally, how fun these events are can differ by the person due to their ability. But by trying their best to some how communicate, and express each of their selfs, students can have a great experience through these events.