The Bolles community welcomed four students from the Keio School, our sister school in Japan, and their faculty chaperone Masashi Otake with a mid-morning reception in Bolles Hall on the Bolles Upper School San Jose Campus February 24. 

The next day, the group traveled across town to visit with Bolles Lower School Ponte Vedra Beach Campus Kindergartners and second graders and teach them about the Japanese language and Kamishibai, or Japanese paper theater, alongside Ponte Vedra Beach Campus librarian Christina Karvounis.

Kamishibai is a form of storytelling that uses illustrated boards and a wooden, stage-like device for narrators to place slides and switch between them as the story progresses. The Kamishibai stories available in the Ponte Vedra Beach Campus library feature captivating, colorful illustrations and text in both English and Japanese. Kindergartners enjoyed a particularly engaging story that invited them to say Japanese words and get louder as the story progressed, and the second graders learned lessons in compassion, integrity and honor.

The Keio students are staying with Bolles families and auditing classes on the San Jose Campus until their departure on March 8. Special thanks to Bolles Director of Global Learning and Engagement Allison Chandler and upper school academic travel programs coordinator Kristin Hong for their work arranging the Keio School visit! #BollesGlobal