Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School

(International and Cultural Studies Course)

This is a high school located in Kyoto, Japan. It is a part of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies Group. It has four different types of courses. International and cultural studies course is a one of them. The mottos of this course are; to learn useful English, to understand different cultures, to respect the individual personalities of everyone, and to learn freedom and responsibility. The program is really unique. They have many more English lessons than usual Japanese high schools. Most of them are their original. Ten native English full-time teachers are there. They have two homeroom teachers, Japanese and native. Students in this course learn the tea ceremony to understand their own culture. In the first grade in winter, students go to New Zealand and study as a students of sister schools. In the third grade, they have a Model United Nations. They act as representatives of countries and also chairpersons and secretaries. It is a big event for them. They study a lot about the United Nations and global issues. About eight schools join. They also have some volunteers as a part of their program. International and Cultural Studies Course A is a course for entering Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. International and Cultural Studies Course B is a course for the purpose of entering other universities. Because of this difference, class A has a few more English classes and international studies classes than class B.