General Information

The International Leadership Course was started in 1993 as a two-year intensive program designed to teach students how to succeed in an international environment. In 2005 it became a three-year course. It is taught by two bilingual, native English teachers and one bilingual, Japanese-English teacher. Most of the classes are taught in English; however, the development of students fluent in English is only one of the course's goals. The course's other main goals are teaching students how to communicate effectively, think logically, and solve problems by themselves.

The International Leadership Course's teaching philosophy is best described as TSL : Tell the students how to do something; Show them how to do it; and then, Let them do it.

The essence of the teachers' philosophy is that students will rise to meet the expectations of the adults they respect. Therefore, those expectations should be as high as possible, but not impossible.

The course is very goal-oriented and gives the students as wide a variety of experiences and goals to accomplish as possible. Through accomplishing these goals, students discover their own talents and interests. They also come to believe in themselves through the successes they experience.

A few examples of what the students do are opinion speeches, made-for-TV news presentations, debates, and research papers. Students also experience a one-week camping trip in Australia and a six week home-stay in conjunction with our sister high school Trinity Lutheran College in Gold Coast, Australia . For further information, please see the curriculum and activity sections of this web site.

When the International Leadership Course was started, most of what was planned was considered impossible for students of a foreign language to accomplish. Fortunately, we never told our students that, and so they have successfully accomplished these goals year after year, each year doing better than the year before. The teachers of the International Leadership Course and its students have learned that, with careful planning, good teamwork, and a lot of hard work, nothing is impossible.