This past summer was hectic but enjoyable for Ms. Mehta and Ms. Shiozawa, directors for the EFL Summer Program 2014. This year the number of attendees exceeded the usual standards. Last year 405 students attended EFL, but this year the number dramatically rose to a record-breaking 607.

Some students came from other international schools in Tokyo such as BST (The British School in Tokyo). Many students came from Sacred Heart schools all over Japan, and a few came from places like Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Akita, Hyo-go, Shizuoka.

The program provides a variety of courses in English for students in Grades 1 to 6. There were three week-long sessions this year from July 21 to August 8. Each session had a distinct theme. Session A with the theme, ‘Our World’, Session B with the theme, ‘Food and Body’, and Session C with the theme. ‘Time Travel’.

On a side note, one of the children unfortunately contracted chicken pox. This affected the directors greatly as they had to notify every assistant, teacher, and parent, because the symptoms of the virus may not appear until two weeks after exposure. Thankfully, the directors said that no additional students contracted chicken pox, suggesting that it had not spread.

Despite the scare, this year’s EFL Summer Program was a great success. One of the assistants, Sarah (11), said that, “It was my first time experiencing teaching. At the beginning of the whole process, it was really hard to do, but by the end I had a great time. It was great being able to learn skills such as how to handle kids.”