About us
Our Purpose
Rainbow Bridges
We inspire curiosity in students, help them find happiness in growing and learning through communication in English, and enable them to connect positively to the global community—all in a manner conducive to them becoming lifelong active learners.
We do this through offering classes led by caring and skilled teachers in a philosophy of adventure, tapping curiosity in students leading to communication skills, and building a community that fosters meaningful experiences and lasting relationships with a global reach.
Our mission
Rainbow Bridges is an English language school that provides an educational environment that inspires in students curiosity about the international world and fosters their passion for learning and communicating.
An Unusual Origin for an English School
Rainbow Bridges English Academy is rare in that it was founded by two Americans—native speakers of English and dedicated teachers—who wanted to give back to the people of Japan and create an adventurous community of learning.
Our Vision
By developing open-minded, active learners who can thrive in English-language environments independent of the school, with lifelong positive attitudes towards challenges and the abilities to engage them, Rainbow Bridges builds a more sustainable, peaceful, and progressive world, one person at a time.
Core Values
Studying English is like a series of puzzles – a world of personal discovery.
We are dedicated to helping inspire motivation, initiative, confidence and self-esteem through active and enjoyable learning. In a controlled environment, our teachers set up achievable, step-by-step language targets in an appropriate sequence for maximum learning efficiency.
We are furthermore committed to encourage awareness of other cultures, languages and peoples, and to engage them productively.
Moreover, we are devoted to helping students develop a love of thinking, wondering, questioning, discovery, and meeting challenges with creativity.
Core Competencies
- Providing guided and structured access to the international community and the world.
- Making learning English personal, achievable, and engaging.
- Making the study of English fun and empowering by using a 4-skill, cumulative, student-centered, communicative, achievable questioning approach to language learning
- Understanding how a foreign language is mastered—not only speaking ability (eikaiwa) and not only understanding about English from within Japanese (public school system).
- Creating an fun "need" for students to learn English—they learn because they want to.
- Creating an environment for every individual child to find happiness in growing and learning through communication in English.
- Ability to recognize students as individuals with unique combinations of talents, skill sets, characters and personalities.
- Understanding the psychological, emotional process of learning.
- Developing open-mindedness in combination with critical thinking skills.
- Recognition of the state of rapid change in the 21st century that will require new skills to succeed in the decades to come that are beyond what was necessary for previous generations of educated people to be successful.