Editorial

The reputation of the English language teaching industry in Japan has been badly hurt by the dishonest practices of some schools and it has become necessary for schools and independent teachers that strive for higher professional standards and value financial honesty and transparency to get together, agree to abide by a code of conduct, and get the message out that not all schools and teachers put business before educational standards. This is why we have started E-Quality.

This does not mean that all members of E-Quality do everything perfectly. It just means that we are sincerely trying to make things better. The basic level of membership, which is available now, is available to schools and teachers who are willing to sign a basic code of conduct. Higher levels of membership, which will be introduced later, will involve agreeing to more detailed standards, and schools may receive the official endorsement of E-Quality.

All schools and teachers that join will receive benefits that will gradually be introduced over the next few months. Some of these will be free and some will involve a fee. All will be optional.

ELT Books has increased its discount on all English language teaching books that are available in Japan and published by western publishers in order to support E-Quality. The discount will be available for all ETJ members (membership is free) until May 31st, and it will then only be available for members of E-Quality.

Click here to go to the E-Quality web site.

Click here to go to the ELT Books site and receive a 20% discount on books.

Teaching children is a very big responsibility. We can easily have life-changing effects on their interest in learning English, on whether or not they will be curious about the world outside Japan, and on their attitude towards different cultures, races and opinions. Unfortunately, the training of teachers of children, particularly with regard to building motivation and long-term skills is sadly neglected. Many teachers of young learners have almost no specialist training.

For quite a few years, I have been trying to address this issue both in Japan and other Asian countries. Every year at this time, I travel around Japan running one-day certificate courses in teaching elementary school children. Personally, I find this the most rewarding thing I do all year.

One of the great things about teaching young learners is that we can focus on the long-term development of everything from their ability to communicate in English to their willingness to read English books by themselves at home to their attitude towards the international world. Instead of having to consider next week's test, we can scaffold their English skills and psychological attitudes step by step over a period of time.

In a way, we are spoilt compared with teachers of older students. We have a wonderful opportunity to make a real difference to the children's lives. But, what a responsibility this is! I think it's important that we all do everything we can to study and reflect deeply on how to make full use of this opportunity and help the children reach their full potential both in English and as future members of an international society.

If you would like to know more about the one-day courses, please visit this website. The dates of the courses are as follows:

Jan 24 Osaka
Jan 31 Nagoya
Feb 7 Tokyo
Feb 14 Sendai
Feb 21 Kanazawa
Feb 28 Fukuoka
Mar 14 Hiroshima

And what have we done? Well, most of us have survived, many of us have adapted to the recession, and some of us are looking positively at new opportunities. As an owner of language schools, I have to admit to being worried about the way things were going early this year. Our schools grew 10% last spring and shrank 10% this spring, but since the spring the local economy in Hiroshima has adapted better to the recession and we have benefited from this. I've been hearing similar stories from other owners around the country.

The attendance at the Expos was certainly very healthy this year and the volunteer spirit and grass-roots participation were stronger than they have ever been. The only symptom of the recession was the reduction in support by publishers, but this was more than made up for by the presentations and displays of self-developed materials by local teachers.

The year has ended with champagne. My long-term dream of starting a company that focuses on supporting the professional development of teachers in Japan finally came to fruition just last week. It's all very exciting and means that here at David English House we can look forward to an exciting 2010.

I wish all readers of ELT News a very happy Christmas and a successful 2010. Let's hope it's a good one without any fear.

The English language teaching industry in Japan has been suffering in many ways. The demographic and economic changes have hurt both employment prospects and the amount of money publishers and other ELT companies can put into teacher training and the professional development of teachers in Japan. Some of us are trying hard to fight this trend and we need your support.

Many volunteers around Japan put a lot of time and effort into the ETJ Expos that are held in six cities in October and November each year. Support from publishers has been declining for some time, but this has been replaced by increasing grass-roots support. There are more presentations by local teachers and more displays by teachers who have developed their own materials.

Not only do all these teachers deserve to be supported, but their energy and focus on the grass-roots realities that teachers are facing every day in the classroom guarantees some pretty dynamic events that all teachers should find extremely useful.

Fortunately, there are some publishers that continue to provide steadfast support for the Expos, particularly Oxford University Press, and this has made it possible to attract famous presenters as well as an extensive range of high-quality materials in the display area of each Expo.

Click here to see the dates and presentation schedules for each Expo.

These days, the development of computer software has made it possible for a teacher with reasonably good design skills to produce teaching materials that have the potential to be used by a lot of other teachers and schools. However, it is difficult to promote these self-made materials on a national scale. It generally takes years for a teacher to gain the national credibility that is needed before many schools will take a serious look at the materials, and building up a nationwide marketing network is beyond the ability of most individual teachers or schools.

David English House (DEH) has come up with a way of making the marketing of self-made materials very achievable. We are setting up a new company, David English House - Professional Development, which will focus on teacher training, distance learning, be the central office for ETJ and the Expos, and will put its marketing resources at the disposal of individual teachers, schools and small companies that take out shares in the company.

Since the early 1990's, DEH has been supporting the professional development of teachers in Japan, introducing and marketing quality courses and materials, and building up effective ways of communicating with teachers. This is why it was possible for ETJ (English Teachers in Japan) to start - DEH had extensive data on English teachers in Japan and had gained sufficient credibility to be able to launch a new organisation for teachers.

DEH has come up with a range of marketing benefits for those who sponsor the new company. We are not in a strong enough financial position to offer this support at a very cheap price - the minimum sponsorship is 500,000 yen - but for a one-off payment we are offering indefinite access to DEH's marketing channels and a share of the company's profits (even for those without materials to promote, it is a worthwhile investment).

A power point presentation outlining the benefits and plans for the new company will be sent to anybody who would like more details. Please click here to request this by e-mail.

• Adults
• Kids
• Teacher development (1)

• E-Quality launched to help improve the professional standards and image of language schools and teachers
• One-day certificate course in teaching children
• Another year over
• It's important to support the Expos
• Publishing and marketing your own materials
• Giving a presentation
• Working for a publisher
• Certificate courses in teaching Japanese students
• A tough year for language schools
• Why not help organize an ETJ regional group?