The Latest News in ELT
January 2002
One-day Homestays for Japanese in Tokyo
A small citizen's group is promoting international understanding by organizing overnight homestays for young Japanese at houses of volunteer foreign residents in the Tokyo area. See Japan Times story. (January 23, 2002
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Skirmunt to Petition Supreme Court
Barbara Skirmunt, a part-time German teacher at Tsukuba University Foreign Language Center from 1994 until a heart attack and diagnosis of leukemia in mid 1996, is petitioning the Supreme Court to hear her case. Her contract was not renewed following diagnosis of her illness by her doctor even though she had resumed work in 1997 and was diagnosed in complete remission in 1998. Tsukuba University officials noted her condition at that time as a reason for non-renewal. Skirmunt is claiming that the university violated her privacy by contacting the doctor to find out about her condition, a violation of Article 13 of Japan's Constitution. Skirmunt's appeal to the Tokyo High Court was rejected in October 2000 with no mention of her rights to privacy. Petition deadline is the end of January. (January 22, 2002
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Kelman Wins Booker Prize
James Kelman, has won this year's Booker Prize for his new novel Translated Accounts, which uses English that has been translated from foreign languages, according to the preface. Kelman's previous Booker prize winning novel in 1994 was the only one not to make bestseller lists in the previous 22 years. (January 15, 2002
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Oxford Moves
The Tokyo branch of Oxford University Press has moved to increase display and event space in a more central location.
Oxford University Press
English Language Teaching Division
Edomizaka Mori Bldg. 6F
4-1-40 Toranomon,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8529
03-3459-6481 Telephone
03-3459-0390 Fax (January 14, 2002
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UCLES PET and KET Reviewed
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is responsible for the Key English Test (KET) and Preliminary English Test (PET), which is undergoing its first review since 1994. Results show that users are very satisfied with the tests (average 4 out of 5 possible points). Possible changes may include adding short messages similar to email or post-it notes, constricting the numbers of words and changing the writing task on the PET, and testing vocabulary as part of reading on the KET. (January 08, 2002
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New Online Directory of ESL Resources
The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) and Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), have created a new online directory of ESL resources. See the Top
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