What's Starbrains ?
We are an international pre-school that grows bright, globally minded little individuals.
Star Brains is a school well connected to local industries, and aim to help foreign and working families live and raise their children in Japan.
We have a unique structure for an international school.
Native teachers are in charge of their respective fields in every class. Our unique curriculum covers a 5 year educational program from ages 2 to 6 that focuses on English competency.
In addition, we provide various lessons for special right brain development, such as Science, history, two additional languages (Arabic and French) and Japanese), arithmetic, physical education, computer graphics, cooking, dance, violin, rock climbing etc. We nurture our pupils with an enriched education to develop their natural skills so they may become curious about the world and excel at learning.
Star Brains policy:
"We will become helpful people for the family, society and our communities", is our students' motto.
We teach our students to cherish each of these.
We think that it is important for children to be aware and to understand the importance of local activities and industries, and the history of their country and culture.
Furthermore, we encourage them to understand different religions, cultures, and countries through their relationships with the other children and collaborations with Kobe Winery, Nose Organic Farm, and the Kitano’s regional shopping street.
Starbrains School Philosophy
Honesty, Trust and Peace
We as Star Brains students will be resilient and self-motivated.
We as Star Brains students will respect our friends and family.
We as Star Brains students will value communities, people, culture and live in harmony with nature.
We as Star Brains students will appreciate every living thing on earth.
We as Star Brains students will be happy to have what we have now and accept the challenges of each day.
We as Star Brains students will be grateful to be able to study and keep on learning and creating new ideas and things.
We as Star Brains students will contribute to family, community and society as a whole.
Right Brain Lesson Studying English while training the right brain
The capacity to learn words with the ear comes from the right brain. The Left brain process information logically and sequentially.
The right brain process information intuitively, spontaneously, and is responsible for visual memory.
Remembering every single letter with the left brain during English lessons takes a lot of time.
By using the right brain it is possible to remember a lot of information in a shorter period.
It is important to use the subconscious of the children when teaching them, and that is why right brain exercises are used to remember English in each class.
In each class there are 20 students and 1 native english speaking teacher.
From ages 2 - 3 there is two school terms during the year and a report card is distributed to guage progress at the end.
From ages 4 to 6 there are 4 terms in the year and a report card with all 14 subjects and individual teacher notes are distributed every 3 months.
At the age of 6 our students reach the same level as England and America's grade 2 level of English, and the Japanese Grade 2 level in mathematics and Japanese. (This benchmark concerns students attending Star Brains from Monday to Friday, and have studied for at least 4 years from 3 to 6 years old)
I guess you already heard about "mental training" or "image training".
For example, for sport players, it is becoming able to represent their own ideal performance and to face difficulties with self control, surpassing themselves.
Or for a chess player, it is becoming able to imagine the following moves instantly.
This abilities are controlled by the right brain, and the kind of people we usually call "geniuses" are mostly people who have a very developed right brain.
This is why it is important to develop this natural brain's ability to nurture the potential of every individual.
It is said that the left brain is responsible for language and logic, and the right brain is responsible for the emotions and the images.
But the right brain is responsible for the logic understanding, memorizing, thoughts, and in general for conscious activities.
In general, the right brain is the centre of intuitive actions, unconscious memories, and gives balance between conscious and unconscious, pulling imagination, creative power and intuition abilities.
The language thoughts treated by the right brain's data processing can take time, but with the right brain can accumulate a lot of information in a very short time.
This wonderful ability is the key for the best development of one's abilities.
Education and Society
Unchanged Japanese educational situation, Changeable Japanese business enterprise
The Japanese educational culture with burden by claiming knowledge
To pass the exam for the target school, children commute to the cram school until midnight with their families' support.
A lot of elementary, mid school and high school students are seen every day.
We heard a lot of struggling and concerning about Japanese examination and studying system from the parents who are encountering to prepare for the examination.
Students are busy studying extravagant subject in the cram school; they are not only lacking of time for school study but also the school events.
They have to stop their enjoyable things like club and training for sports until the exam will over. Studying in the cram school goes over until midnight is unhealthy.
Once they go back to the home, sleepless night goes on with the homework from both cram school and school.
Is it possible to concentrate during the class in the daytime school next day?
They prioritized cram school. The daytime school is the second school.
Preparation for the exam is to mistake the mean to the end. However, Japanese educational situation does not improve; even parents notice of their children in this situation.
The number of children decreases, making lower number of high school graduates who has failed to enter a college.
Someone knows the latest news – One of the Japanese biggest cram schools for graduate student in the inner city were closed down to combine to a few schools in the urban area.
Some schools have closed, down with difficulty of ensured number of students because of the number of children decreased. Suddenly, two well-known schools were combined,
schools have to alter their statement of propose for education to survive and commit to the variety of industry.
The appearance is a legally incorporated educational school; however we need to pay attention carefully for the school which has a purpose for business.
In addition, there are some schools which ensure younger age of kids to expand their school with preschool and elementary school to survive.
On the other hand, Exam for entering school starts younger than before. Form this background the studying for Exam is getting more competitive.
No one can predict until when the Japanese educational situation will go on.
After their study with extreme unhealthy term and ineffective stressed way of studying, they will take a specific Japanese paper based exam and be graded.
Can their effort be successful in the future?
Development of needed human resource
In western schools in English spoken country and Europe like the US, Canada, UK , Australia and so on, there is no exam preparation system with prioritized cram school to have specific study like Japan. They focus on their grade in the school, assignment and dedication for the activity in the school like a sport team and student organization. Their outcome from the everyday’s school life is the criteria for going to the next school. Not only studying but also variety field of their personality and possibility are respected, the school is decided. The school is determined by their grade in the school, there is an interview to make sure their decision through communication and stating. there is no crammed study for memorizing a lot like Japan, and no one use a stand-in in an examination because it is not paper based exam.
Submitting an essay based on the theme and referring a valuation from the school are the general way of going to the next school.
In case of entering exam of Japanese high school and college, students take without be seen their face and in the group.
The answer in the test paper can judge their result and what they answered is the most important. If they have bad condition or feel sick, they might be in unavoidable crisis
On the other hand, in the other countries, administration office takes long time to decide who accept, there are only few case which has group text.
They are flexible to change the day of the interview in case of sickness or flight cancel which is though take it grated.
Most of Japanese college accept students by the result of paper test, therefore it is hard to enter but easy to graduate.
However most of education in the college does not have enough social business skill which is required from companies.
As a result, the Glacial Period for recruitment is still going on.
Meanwhile, in the northeast of Japan, there is a new university which gets a lot of attention from the whole country.
There is a lot of competition between applicants and only a few students are admitted into it. Until now, only the graduates from the universities considered as “noble” had 100% hire rate.
Major companies hire a lot in these universities, coming inside the campus to visit.
But in this university unlike Japanese ones, the lessons are reinforced. Every lesson is taught in English and the students have to aim a certain level to be able to go studying abroad.
They have to study very hard to study abroad, and this system makes the kind of people that major companies want to hire.
In this University the graduation rate is very low compared to Japanese campus. The system is based on foreign universities and the studies are very difficult and strict.
I other Japanese universities, students are able to graduate while playing around, and this university wants to be different. The students have to work a lot.
We can hope that more school like that will open in the future in Japan and match the world’s level.
Enterprises that change the world
Japan’s growth ended, the population is decreasing, the country is enduring the sub-replacement fertility, the population is ageing, foreign investors and foreign enterprises are retreating.
The Japanese companies will not be able to survive if their activity is limited to Japan, and it will get worst and worst.
For trading and negotiate with overseas companies, and as a matter of course the global language is English.
I heard a story from a pupil’s parent, about a company which the director changed to a foreigner suddenly. Foreigner employees increased inside the company, and started plans to open a branch overseas.
And being English speaker became indispensable. The employees had to start to learn English sometimes at advanced age.
It seems very difficult for the children to study so hard, but the Japanese situation is critical and it is necessary.
It is common to see parents unable to speak English, and who doesn’t want their children to suffer from the same disadvantage.
I see a lot of parents who tells me that they want to offer their children the chance to have a lot of opportunities and to enlarge their future.
I heard also a lot of worries like “if my child grows without being able to speak English his society will be reduces”.
They can feel more than before that the fact to be unable to speak English is a critical problem.
The actual situation is that, as the companies are making inroads in foreign markets, hiring people able to speak English is a matter of course.
And being able to respond to a written test in university does not mean that you are able to speak English.
This is not a correct level for the present situation, and the companies offering an English training are disappearing.
Negotiations while playing golf, being able to work long time without results and sidetracks employees belong to the past.
English is the global official language and the ability to speak English is very appealing.
