Rave Reviews From
Kids & Parents
“Melissa, this has been so incredibly joyful for me to see. It is exactly what I wanted from the week—for my daughter to be interested in reading and writing in English, and to use her creativity through writing! I am seeing the fruit of your hard work. Thank you!!”
“Through the activities in camp, my son quickly realized that writing was just putting his words down on paper. Although he is still unsure about his spelling and grammar abilities, he is willing to just try putting his ideas down and has found that rather than feeling like he wants to just get it done and finish something he actually wants to add, expand and show more in his writing.
On one of the last days the homework task was to write a little about something in their dinner and I thought he would probably only write a line but in fact he had more he wanted to say and pushed himself to include more details - it is that desire to share more in his writing that I’m most thrilled about.”
“At first, I didn’t talk to anyone, but now I talk to everybody! I loved this camp and I can’t wait to come back again next year. Thank you, everybody, for being a good friend.”
—Camper
The theatre camp was the highlight of my daughter's summer! I'm just very grateful that you created such a dreamy and creative space for my child and all the other kids in Tokyo.
—TKW Parent
“Having a strong focus on the real, tangible, expressing what the kids were seeing/feeling/tasting, this camp moved her idea of writing in a more realistic direction and I think she is now seeing it much more as communication than task.
She is now keen to challenge herself to write in more interesting ways but is not seeing the writing itself as the hurdle.”
“Before I came here, I thought that there would be many kids from international schools in Tokyo who were already friends. I was worried that I would feel like an outsider for a whole week. But after the first day of camp, I made lots of new friends and laughed at so many AWESOME things. It was the first time in days that I laughed so hard. In the writing exercises, there were so many things I had not done before. It was very fun and it encouraged me to write more and especially in diaries. Every day of camp was so much fun. It got me excited for the next day. The book, Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth was one of the most interesting novels I have ever read and I liked it a lot. The coolest thing about it was that we got to meet the author and got our books signed by her. I would love to read more of Holly Thompson’s novels and start writing short stories, myself.”—Camper
“Well, I thought this was summer school about writing and reading, but I was surprised we made cookies. We went to a field trip to the ballet class, made ice pops, and even met an author! I really enjoyed this summer camp and I didn’t regret going in this summer camp. In fact, I made some cool friends from different countries! I’m really glad to have friends because I thought I wouldn’t have such cool friends as them! The first day when I came here, I was really shy, but when I got to know all of my summer camp friends, I just felt so confident to speak up! I had so much fun being with Holly. I never saw an author in my whole life! I was really happy that Holly signed my book. I showed off to all of my friends that an author signed my book and they were really jealous. It was so much fun! I will miss my friends. They were nice to me. I never knew I would be friends with all of the classmates here in our Best Living Japan space.”
—Camper
“I wish we had one more month of this camp. I will never forget the good experiences in the writing camp. I liked it when we went back from the ballet studio in the MK taxi. We also met Holly, an author, who signed our books! Ms. M was a fabulous teacher. I hope to see everyone soon! Also, this camp should invite more kids–more kids should have this exercise! It’s different because I didn’t have my friends there…but I made new friends, too!”
“My son came home happy every day as he had been engaged and had fun. Reading is his favorite, so getting a book and meeting an author was superb. Overall, he had a blast and we would definitely recommend it; in fact, he told several of his new friends about it already and he is looking forward to the next one you have!”—Parent
“Things I liked: It boosted my confidence a lot by making me answer questions and read out loud. It improved my writing by making me think about different words. I made loads of friends! It was very fun!”—Camper
“Overall Score: 9/10! See you next year. Thank you so much!”—Camper
“I really really, really x 100 loved this writing camp. I got to meet authors, people from different nationalities. I made many friends! Because of the camp, I’ll become a better writer. The vocabulary will make my writing more interesting. I had lots of fun! Thank you so much!”—Camper
“If I had taken a writing camp like this when I was your age, I would be a much better writer!”—Leza Lowitz, prolific, award-winning author and the star-author of our 2018 camp
“Most importantly he really liked you as his teacher and that is probably the most important thing that I can look for as that is what will keep him open and engaged with learning. So a very big thank you for that!”—Parent