The Latest News in ELT

March 2003

Education Bureaucrat to be PM's English Spokesman
Yu Kameoka (42) is to become the first education ministry bureaucrat to take on the post of English spokesperson for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The government established the post, officially called "coordinator for foreign public relations," in 1998. Weekly briefings are usually given to dispatch information on government policies and measures, mostly in English, to correspondents with non-Japanese affiliations. After joining the ministry in 1986, Kameoka worked for the Center for Educational Research and became a senior official at the Lifelong Learning Policy Bureau. (March 31, 2003 )

Failing Grades For Public Uni's
According to a report by the National Institution for Academic Degrees, over 90% of Japan's universities need to improve their required liberal arts curriculum, based on a 2001 evaluation. The report was based on a survey of 90 public universities and 14 research institutions. They were asked to state their goals in 2000 and report on the results at the end of the school year. 28 institutions, including the University of Tsukuba and Shinshu University, received a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5, while another 66% could do no better than a 3. This grade indicates a program is "fairly effective but still in need of improvement." Only four universities, including Tokyo and Okayama Universities got a grade of 2. No schools received a grade of 1 or 5. Among the problems cited were that students are not developing foreign-language fluency. On the other hand, the vast majority of universities scored a top or second grade for efforts to build ties to the community or industry. A full list of schools and their grades can be seen (in Japanese) on the asahi.com site. (March 28, 2003 )

Saitama Backs Away From Coed System
The Saitama Prefecture Board of Education has formally decided against moves to make all public high schools coeducational. An independent committee recommended in March of last year that 16 schools in the region should be made coed. This is the current trend in eastern Japan, which has many single-sex school. Several prefectures, including Miyagi and Fukushima, are moving to make all schools coed. But Saitama authorities say their decision was based on public opinion. There have been strong protests from both PTAs and students, with 270,000 people signing a petition against any changes. (March 27, 2003 )

War Hits School Trips
Following the outbreak of war in Iraq, many schools are rethinking plans for student trips abroad, reports today's Daily Yomiuri. At least 54 schools had cancelled trips as of Monday, almost half of which were for English study in the US or Britain. Some schools changed their planned destination several times before deciding to stick to domestic travel. But even trips within Japan have been hit, with many tours to Okinawa being cancelled. The latest figures from the education ministry show that 1,131 high schools sent students abroad in 2001. (March 26, 2003 )

Showing the Way in Shiga
Today's Daily Yomiuri Society column carries a story on Maibara High School, located in a rural part of Shiga Prefecture and one of 16 Super English Language High (SELHi) schools chosen by the education ministry. Students took English debate classes twice a week during the last school year, one of several measures the school has introduced to develop a new approach to the English curriculum. Other changes in this experimental environment include halving class size, inviting guest speakers and participating in overnight English camps. (March 25, 2003 )

New Yorker Running for City Council
New Yorker Anthony Bianchi, 44, is to run in an upcoming city council election in Aichi Prefecture. He is head of the Native English Teacher program in the small city of Inuyama, known for its 16th-century castle. Bianchi first came to Japan in 1988 on the JET Program and has lived here for 11 of the intervening 14 years. His struggles with the local system while trying to set up the English language teaching program led him to consider politics. If successful, he will be the first North American ever elected to public office in Japan. "The Japanese bureaucracy, even on the local level, is like a monolith," he said. "Japanese have a tendency to back down to it. That is something that needs to be changed." (March 24, 2003 )

Govt. Backtracks on Daiken Plan
The education ministry said yesterday that it is freezing plans to allow graduates of 16 English-based international schools to bypass the college pre-admission tests. Earlier this month it was announced that graduates who are accredited by three Western education authorities would not have to sit the "daiken", currently compulsory for all graduates of schools not accredited by the School Education Law who wish to apply to third-level institutions. The change did not apply to the many international schools that do not teach in English. One of the main reasons for this was the perceived problem of pro-Pyongyang Korean schools in the current climate of tension between Japan and North Korea. The ministry hopes to finalize the plan by this summer, when most colleges and universities announce their application guidelines. (March 20, 2003 )

English Teacher Murdered at Home
54-year old English teacher Kayoko Osaki was found strangled to death at her apartment in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture last week. Police found her dead on her bathroom floor, with an electrical cord still around her neck, after being alerted by officials at Tsushima Prefectural High School. Finding the apartment locked, police and the school vice principal visited Osaki's 81-year old mother and asked her to let them in. The killer is also believed to have stolen Osaki's car. (March 19, 2003 )

Govt. Reveals English Plan
Yesterday the Education, Science and Technology Ministry announced its five-year plan to improve the nation's English skills. Goals include: teaching most secondary education English-language classes in English; the reduction of class sizes; an annual target of 10,000 students taking part in overseas exchange programs; the establishment of regional so-called "Super English High Schools;" providing special teaching licenses to non-teachers proficient in English; and creating English Web sites to introduce Japanese schools. The various measures were based on a strategic plan proposed by the ministry last year. On a related note, the ministry's curriculum guidelines for English can be read here. (March 18, 2003 )

TV Star Gets to the Heart of English
TV personality Risa Stegmayer has published a book of famous English phrases. Titled "Kokoro ni Nokoru Eigo" (English That Stays in Your Heart), the book draws from Mother Goose, the Bible and famous movies to put together a collection that is familiar to any native speaker. The book also includes a series of essays by Stegmayer and is accompanied by a CD. Asked why she wrote the book, she said, "There are plenty of useful books on English conversation. So I wanted to do something a bit different." (March 17, 2003 )

LET Deadline Tomorrow
A reminder that the proposal deadline for the LET (Japan Association for Language Education and Technology) 43rd National Conference is tomorrow, March 15th. The conference will be held from July 31 to August 2 at Kansai Gaidai University, Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture. See the Event Calendar for further details. (March 14, 2003 )

More Universities Closing Doors
The dwindling number of children in Japan has hit many colleges and universities across the country. In the last decade, the population of 18-year olds has dropped from 2.05 million to 1.5 million. The number of schools that have stopped accepting new students has climbed to 17 over the last four years. According to the education ministry, the number was just 1 in 2000, 4 in both 2001 and 2002, but jumped to 8 this year. Most plan to close after the current student body have graduated.

The closures have hit regional single-department junior colleges the hardest. The number of high school students hoping to attend a "tandai" has dropped to less than a quarter of the 1993 level. Seshin Gakuen Women's Junior College in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture opened in 1984 with English as its only department. Enrollment was limited to 100 students but in 2001 there were only 30 enrollees and no new students have been accepted since.

From the late 1990s, junior colleges were transforming into 4-year universities at a rate of 10-20 a year. But just three years after its formation, Risshikan University in Hiroshima became the country's first private university to close since WWII, without having produced a single graduate.

See our Special Feature on the future of higher education in Asia ()

Harry Potter Clogging Bookstores
Hundreds of thousands of Harry Potter books are taking up storage space in bookstores nationwide. The initial boom in sales saw six prints and 3.5 million copies sold of the "Goblet of Fire," the fourth book in the series, by the end of last November. But the books were distributed on a rare 'no-return' basis, and bookstores that over-estimated demand for the ¥3,800, two-volume sets have been left with as many as an estimated 700,000 unsold copies. Lack of space has forced many stores to return copies of other books. (March 13, 2003 )

From JET to Japanese Teacher
This week's "JET Stream" article in the Japan Times focuses on a former JET Program participant who now teaches Japanese to school children in the UK, a career option being taken up by more and more people after they leave Japan. ()

An Accidental Party Animal
A Japanese businessman trying to catch a flight out of Edinburgh airport in Scotland got on the wrong bus and ended up in an all-night birthday party. Zenko Kajiyama, 32, from Tokyo, was headed for a business meeting in London when he saw people boarding a silver coach marked Club Class. When he asked if the bus was headed to the airport, he was reassured by the replies but spent the rest of the night in pubs and clubs. "I have very much difficulty understanding how people speak in Edinburgh. I like the Scottish people very much, but their voices - it is difficult and strange to my ears," he said. "I missed my aeroplane. At first I was very angry. I felt stupid. But I was enjoying the bus - I have never been on such a thing before. So I stayed for the whole night because it was funny. And the girls were very pretty too." He caught a taxi to the airport the next morning but missed his meeting. (March 12, 2003 )

Last Call for JALTCALL
You are invited to participate in JALTCALL 2003, to be held at Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya, June 7-8. The theme is "CALL for ALL," and just to add a little fun to the event, the motif will be Hawaiian! The conference will have expanded services and presentation categories. The deadline for sending in proposals is April 1. See the CALL SIG Website for more information. If you are interested in volunteering for the conference, please contact the Conference Chair, David Kluge. (March 11, 2003 )

Pearson Has a Good Year
Pearson reported total book publishing revenues -- from Pearson Education and the Penguin Group -- up by 5% in 2002, to $5.68 billion. While the education division saw a drop in sales in the US and UK, this was offset by strong gains in ELT in Europe and Asia, including Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The biggest sales growth was seen in the professional division, led by the testing firm NCS Pearson, which increased by 41%. (March 10, 2003 )

Vanfu to Offer Speedy Translation
Printing company Vanfu is to start a new translation service from April 1st for people staying at Tokyo's hotels. Contracts, manuals and other documents will be translated from Japanese to English or vice versa. Documents of up to ten pages or less will be delivered within 24 hours, while those up to 30 pages will take two days. Typically this kind of job takes a week or longer. Estimates can be requested by fax and the standard rate is ¥9,500 per 200 words for an English to Japanese translation. The company has access to dozens of translators, 18 in-house and 120 outside, with an additional 20 proofreaders in the U.S. and Australia. (March 07, 2003 )

Graham Still Chanting Away
Monday's Daily Yomiuri carried an article on Jazz Chant originator Carolyn Graham entitled "Chanting teacher has still got the beat." Graham was an English teacher in New York in the 1960s and doing a side job as a ragtime jazz entertainer at a piano bar. It was when she put the two together that she came up with the idea of using jazz beats to teach English speaking and listening. Jazz Chants are now well established and celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. The Yomiuri doesn't keep its articles online very long so you'll need to be quick. The article is in the "Language Connection" section. (March 06, 2003 )

Digital Garage to Bail Out ALC
Japanese Internet pioneer Digital Garage announced recently that it will pay ¥600 million for a 20% stake in a new company planned to take over the business of troubled publisher ALC Press. The company is to start operating in June, with a board of directors from both firms, and DG is looking to double its shareholding in the next couple of years. The companies announced plans for a comprehensive business tie-up back in December, but the latest development comes in the wake of ALC's failed real estate dealings. The new alliance will bring DG's marketing, technical and e-commerce experience to ALC's website "Space ALC", a leading language portal that receives some 50 million page views a month. The companies plan to develop so-called "killer contents" for the rapidy expanding broadband arena, with online English learning at its core, to make Space ALC the "21st Century Digital Network Publisher." (March 05, 2003 )

Nova Cited for Rights Violation
A complaint has been filed with the Osaka Bar Association over a contract clause that bans fraternisation between teachers and students at the Nova English conversation school chain. Robert Bisom, 59, and a 46-year-old Australian former employee have called for the removal of the clause, which states teachers "should not have a relationship with customers outside the workplace" saying it is racial discrimination and an invasion of privacy. Yukitomo Ishimatsu, a Nova director, said that the contract clause is "necessary to prevent trouble between foreign teachers and Japanese students who have different cultures," adding "I can't believe that they are saying there is racial discrimination, when it is our policy only to employ foreigners as teachers." According to the complaint, so far six teachers have been fired for violating the rule. The Australian complainant is one of the six, and he filed a suit last December asking for his reinstatement. Bisom, who is Nova Branch Chairman of the General Union, has also petitioned the Osaka Prefectural Labor Relations Commission claiming that Nova denied him a pay raise because of his union activities. These and other restrictions on teachers' behaviour at Nova -- such as the planned implementation of drug testing several years ago -- have been well known for some time and have contributed to the company's poor reputation among foreign teachers in general. ()

Nova Usagi Sending the Wrong Message?
Love it or hate it, it's hard to ignore the "Nova Usagi" and its catchy jingle. The animated pink bunny that has been the central character in a series of TV commercials for the Japan's biggest eikaiwa school chain is enjoying a huge popularity boom. Nova claim to have sold some 260 million yen's worth of stuffed toys and other merchandise over the last three months. But for some the rabbit's welfare has been a cause for concern. The Japan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were not impressed when the second ad in the series showed the bunny having its ears lopped off by a passer-by on a (Shane English School?) double decker bus. "That commercial could only be perceived as mistakenly telling children it was fine for them to pull a rabbit's ears," said a JSPCA spokespeson. They filed a complaint in mid-January and a couple of weeks later Usagi-chan was transformed into a club DJ. Nova claim the ad was due to change anyway. (March 04, 2003 )

ELT Shake Up -- Yohan, Tuttle Shokai to Merge
In a major reshuffle of the English book distribution business in Japan, the two main players - Yohan and Tuttle Shokai - have agreed to merge from June 1st. The merger will give the new company -- to retain the name Yohan -- 70% of the general-interest Western book market, excluding specialty publications. With Internet book sales increasingly eating into the bricks-and-mortar business, the company will try to add direct sales routes to schools teaching English. The merger has been discussed behind closed doors since September of last year. Tuttle Shokai President Hiroshi Kagawa will become President and CEO while current Yohan boss Nori Watanabe will be appointed as Chairman.

Yohan is Japan's largest distributor of foreign books, including ELT materials, and has major contracts with such publishers as Longman, Oxford etc.

Tuttle Shokai specialize in the import of foreign books to Japan. Categories range from business and computers to children's and photo books. It also publishes books on Japan under the imprint of ICG-Muse, which bought the company from Tuttle Publishing in 1999. (March 03, 2003 )

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