The Latest News in ELT

October 2003

Bilingual School in Demand
The special deregulated zone authorized this year in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, looks set to be a big hit. There is already great competition for places at a "preschool" due to open next April, set up to prepare students for the bilingual curriculum at a new primary school scheduled to start a year later. There is a lot of competition, with three applicants for every place, as acceptance is seen as a guarantee of entry into the new primary school in 2005. Among applicants aiming for the 1st and 4th grades, about a third came from outside Ota, from the neighboring prefectures of Saitama and Tochigi, and even as far away as Tokyo and Chiba. The preschool will have classes of 30 students, who will attend three 50-minute classes a week. Monthly tuition fees will be in the range of ¥8-10,000. The application deadline was the end of September, and the first entrance exam will take place on November 23.
Read the story in Japanese (October 31, 2003 )

How Do You Do, Cockatoo?
This was the title of a Daily Yomiuri article this week on an Australian teacher who works in Tochigi Prefecture. Allan Moore is one of three teachers from the town of Armidale employed by the Board of Education in its sister city of Kanuma and who teach at all 22 of the city's elementary schools. Moore's experience, training and enthusiasm ensure that he is a popular visitor to the schools, despite the fact that he uses almost no Japanese in his lessons. He also makes a point of introducing aspects of his country's culture into the lessons, aided by several hand puppets of native Australian animals and birds.
Daily Yomiuri article (October 30, 2003 )

New Wide Encyclopedia
ASCII Solutions and Gakken are to release a new software suite that allows teachers access to the entire elementary school and junior high school curriculum on a Local Area Network (LAN). The New Wide Encyclopedia is a LAN-enabled version of a CD-ROM released in June. The Japanese text is annotated with 'furigana' readings of all kanji, making the software accessible to even the youngest of school children. The software also includes many multimedia features, including sound files recorded by native English speakers in its "Big Apple" English-Japanese dictionary. The dictionary includes the roughly 2,000-word vocabulary of the JHS curriculum and also covers idioms and grammar. The software goes on sale Nov.5 for Windows only and retails for ¥120,000 for up to 11 users, ¥480,000 for an unlimited license.
Read story in Japanese (October 29, 2003 )

Google's Nifty New Feature
If you're looking for the definition of a word, you have a new, quick option - Google it. The popular search engine can easily be turned into a dictionary by preceding any word or phrase with "define:" The search operator works something like a corpus, delivering definitions and related results from Google's vast banks of data. The new feature follows on from the "what is" or "definition" operators, which return a definition as well as the usual search results. Looking up a proper noun like "define:ELT News" won't turn up anything, but when asked to define "ELT," the expected result (for us anyway) turns up fourth, preceded by three definitions of an Emergency Locator Transmitter!
Google (October 28, 2003 )

Education Minister to Address JALT Conference
Education, Science and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura will be one of several prominent presenters at the forthcoming annual JALT conference. The recently appointed minister will speak at an open forum about reforms in the national English language education system. Other speakers at the forum, to be held in Japanese and free of charge on the morning of Nov. 23, include Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. undersecretary general, Kiichi Mutsuhata, president of the Japan Society of English Language Education, and Mamoru Morizumi, vice president of the Japan Association of College English Teachers. The forum wil provide simultaneous translation between Japanese and English. An afternoon forum in English, for which there is a charge of ¥5,000, will feature five speakers, including Kensaku Yoshida of Sophia University and JALT President James Swan of Nara University. The annual conference will be held at the Granship center in Shizuoka Nov. 21-24.
JALT 2003 (October 27, 2003 )

World's Largest Lesson
English-To-Go, a Web site that offer resources for teachers, will attempt to break its own world record next month. On November 6, they are holding their annual World's Largest Lesson, working together with Adopt-A-Minefield to help to raise awareness and funds for people who have been affected by landmines, and with the support of patrons Paul McCartney and Heather Mills McCartney. The former Beatle and his wife said, "As Patrons and Goodwill ambassadors of Adopt-A-Minefield we are delighted to support the World's Largest Lesson 2003. Through the World's Largest Lesson thousands of students around the world will become aware of this most important issue and help raise funds to solve the problem."

The lesson is available at five language levels to cater for students with varying abilities and skill levels, and is available in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats. It is appropriate for learners of the English language and students whose first language is English. This is a charitable event and it is free so anyone can join in. Hundreds of thousands of teachers and students in 114 countries have participated in this worthwhile event in the last two years.
World's Largest Lesson 2003 (October 24, 2003 )

Yummy Box
NHK has released a series of picture books, CDs and DVDs based on the "casual bilingual" concept of its children's show 'Eigo de Asobo.' The 'Yummy Box' series, a joint project between NHK Educational, NTT Data and Obunsha, is aimed at children aged one and above. The channel 3 show switches frequently between English and Japanese - in the way bilingual people do - and focuses on simple, everyday language. This "casual bilingual" concept was developed by Keio University professor Yuji Suzuki. There are two levels: "Yum Yum Course" aimed at kids between one and four (¥42,800); and "Go Go Course" for kids three and above (¥45,800). These prices will be discounted until January 15, 2004.
Story in Japanese | Yummy Box (October 23, 2003 )

A Listening Upgrade
The English listening section of university entrance exams may soon get an upgrade, according to yesterday's Daily Yomiuri. The education ministry and the national testing center recently came up with a proposal to give each examinee their own audio player to improve sound quality of the exams, starting from 2006. The proposal was in response to the problem of varying sound quality in the facilities used by universities around the country. It is being considered as one of two possible solutions. The other is to move the exams to high schools, which generally have smaller and better equipped classrooms. But universities have objections to both proposals: they say it would be impractical to collect the disposable players after the test, thus creating huge waste, given the 552,000 people expected to take the test this year; there is the difficulty of dealing with individual technical problems or claims of faulty equipment; it would also increase the burden on examinees - the ¥2,000 cost of the disposable players would be covered by an increase in test fees from the current ¥16,000; and they want to continue carrying out the testing on their own facilities.
Daily Yomiuri article (October 22, 2003 )

Re-Training Underway
Yesterday's Daily Yomiuri carried an article on Japanese teachers of English who recently took re-training programs. The report focused on programs in Kobe, Sendai and Osaka, part of the government-mandated training that must be undertaken by all 60,000 public school English teachers by 2007. Speakers taking part included such luminaries as Prof. Kensaku Yoshida of Sophia University and Prof. Minoru Wada of Meikai University. Teachers were able to learn about the latest teaching methods, create networks with peers, and improve their own English skills. Some programs also encouraged the participation of non-Japanese ALTs. While some teachers who lack confidence are expected to try to avoid the programs, many participants reacted very favorably to them and called for follow-up sessions.
Daily Yomiuri article | Kensaku Yoshida interview (October 21, 2003 )

Eigo to a Reggae Beat
Last weekend, the Jamaica Observer carried an article on a Japanese high school that is using Jamaican culture, reggae in particular, to teach English. The classes are organized by Garcia Chambers, one of the 36 Jamaicans currently teaching on the JET Program, at the Matsudo Kokusai High School in Chiba Prefecture. He uses such resources as reggae music or clips from movies like Disney's Cool Runnings -- based on the true story of the Jamaican bobsled team to the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Jamaica Observer article (October 20, 2003 )

Teach's a Cheat!
The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education announced yesterday that a candidate in the recent examinations for aspiring school principals was caught cheating. The 47-year old public elementary school vice-principal was demoted and suspended for three months. He was caught referring to a palm-sized "crib sheet" containing a model answer to a composition question. He claimed that the sheet had accidentally landed on his desk when he took a towel out of his bag. The exam is open to vice-principals under the age of 55 with at last three years experience. The man was taking the exam for the third time. (October 17, 2003 )

New Test of Business English
The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (commonly known as Nissho) has started a campaign for its new Nissho Test of Business English. The test, due to begin in November, is an almagamation of two exisiting tests run by Nissho and already has about 2,000 people signed up. The test is carried out on the Internet and can be taken at three levels. Levels 2 and 3 will be available at various times and test centres nationwide, while Level 1 will be administered once a year. Level 3 testing is scheduled to begin next month, and the upper levels sometime next year. Each test takes 30 minutes and has a pass level of 70 points. The test focuses on practical business English as used in contracts or communications with foreign companies. The cost ranges from ¥4,000 up to ¥7,000.
Read this article in Japanese ()

Teach English in 200 Languages
The Washington Times ran an article this week about the growing numbers of ESL students attending schools in and around the capital. Currently such students attending schools in Maryland and the District of Columbia speak a total of 200 different languages. In some districts more than 10% of students are enrolled in bilingual programs. One reason for the number of non-native English speaking students in regular classes is the No Child Left Behind Act, enacted by the Bush administration. The act requires ESL students to be placed in mainstream classes as soon as possible and be subject to the same standardized testing as native-speaking students. There has been considerable controversy in recent years regarding this immersion approach as opposed to a dual-language curriculum.
Washington Times article (October 16, 2003 )

From Battle Creek to Takasaki
The Battle Creek Enquirer, a local newspaper in Michigan, USA carried an article recently on some of its residents who have taken up teaching in Japan. Specifically in its sister city of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, with which it has been running a teacher exchange since 1988. Some came for a short contract, but married, settled down and never got round to leaving. In the words of one teacher, Stacy Clause, "I think it is important to experience the world for yourself ... things like the Internet are merely interpretations of the world and will not help you understand how you fit into the world," Clause said. "Going overseas is one way to find out how much you can really accomplish on your own."
Battle Creek Enquirer article (October 15, 2003 )

Racist Teacher Sued
Last Friday's Daily Yomiuri reported on how the parents of a 9-year-old boy have filed a &#yen;13.2-million suit against a primary school teacher and the city of Fukuoka for mental and physical abuse. The boy's lawyer considered the case so serious that he called on colleagues nationwide to join him, forming a legal counsel of 503 lawyers. According to the complaint, the teacher, who knew that the boy's great-grandfather was an American, demanded during a visit to the boy's home in May that he kill himself, saying: "There's no reason for dirty people to go on living. Go jump off the roof of your apartment building." During class, the teacher verbally and physically abused the boy, saying things such as: "Americans are stupid. You should go away." The boy has suffered various injuries, including a bloody nose, cuts and broken teeth. He has been suffering from stomach pains and nausea caused by post-traumatic stress disorder, and can no longer attend school.
Daily Yomiuri article (October 14, 2003 )

Hat Trick For Let's Go
DynEd's multimedia version of the popular children's series Let's Go recently won the Seal of Approval (Reconnu d'interet pedagogique) from France's Ministry of Education. This give the software a hat trick this year - Let's Go was awarded both the Bessie and the Eddie in the US for Best Elementary ESL courseware. "This raises the total number of awards and recognitions our courseware has garnered around the world to, I believe, 34," said DynEd Japan President Bill Gatton. "So I have to change the web site...!" The company is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Let's Go is based on the world's most successful English language textbook series for children published by Oxford University Press.
DynEd Japan site ()

Ig Nobel Prize Winners
The annual Ig Nobel Prizes are run by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research and given out to honor people whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced." The Prizes are awarded at a gala ceremony in Harvard's Sanders Theatre. Among this year's winners were:
- Three engineers (the late John Paul Stapp, the late Edward A. Murphy, Jr., and George Nichols) who are credited with giving birth in 1949 to Murphy's Law, the basic engineering principle that "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, someone will do it" (or, in other words: "If anything can go wrong, it will").
- Yukio Hirose of Kanazawa University, for his chemical investigation of a bronze statue, in the city of Kanazawa, that fails to attract pigeons.
- In Literature, John Trinkaus of the Zicklin School of Business, New York City, for meticulously collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic reports about specific annoyances and anomalies of daily life, such as: What percentage of young people wear baseball caps with the peak facing to the rear rather than to the front; What percentage of pedestrians wear sport shoes that are white rather than some other color; What percentage of swimmers swim laps in the shallow end of a pool rather than the deep end; What percentage of automobile drivers almost, but not completely, come to a stop at one particular stop-sign; What percentage of commuters carry attaché cases; What percentage of shoppers exceed the number of items permitted in a supermarket's express checkout lane; and What percentage of students dislike the taste of Brussels sprouts.
Ig Nobel site | Award Webcast (October 10, 2003 )

New Kid's Store
Two Skip English Kid's Store is a new outlet opened in Shibuya that caters to the English needs of children, from newborn to seven years old. It stocks everything from picture books to imported sweets, and plans to host events - for example hosted by bilingual teachers - where children can experience English. The store is run by Star Enterprise, which operates 22 shops in central Tokyo with apparel makers such as Le Sportsac and Kangol.
Read the story in Japanese ()

Education Guidelines Not Working
The so-called "yutori kyoiku," or relaxed approach to education, looks likely to be overhauled next year. An advisory panel to education minister Takeo Kawamura has admitted that the system is not working and recommended a shift back to a more academic focus. The current guidelines have been in effect at public elementary and junior high schools since 2002 and high schools since this April. They outline advanced subjects that shouldn't be taught, in an effort to reduce "cram school" education and encourage individuality and self development. But there have been protests from both education experts and parents that the system has led to a decline in academic standards. The Central Education Council report covers several areas: ensuring that all students attain basic academic ability; stating clearly that teachers are free to teach subjects outside the guidelines; recommending a switch from the three-term school year to a two-semester system with a shorter summer vacation to allow for more class time. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is expected to use the report to revise the guidelines in time for next April. (October 09, 2003 )

UK ELT Industry Under Pressure
The UK welcomes some 120,000 immigrants every year, and the government faces the challenge of helping them adjust to life in their adopted home. An independent committee of experts has proposed that they be required to take courses in English language and civic knowledge. The Home Secretary, David Blunkett supports a compulsory citizenship programme of ten 2-hour classes followed by a test. The advisory committee favours assessment only on students' progress in developing language skills, with the minimum language requirement being that they move from having no English to Esol Level 1, based on the "English for speakers of other languages" curriculum. Their report also recommends providing the courses free and immediately on arrival, rather than the current system of a 3-year waiting period.

Esol has expanded greatly in recent years and hundreds of teachers have switched from private language schools or returned from abroad to join the public sector, which is seen as more lucrative and career-oriented. But there are worries that the rapid expansion of the program may be hindered by insufficient government funding and a lack of good teachers. (October 08, 2003 )

Thrown in at the Deep End
Another installment in the Guardian newspaper by Anna Francis, who arrived in Japan this summer to teach English. Entitled "Thrown in at the Deep End ," it begins: "It's a piece of cake," I was assured by my fellow teachers when confronted by the prospect of teaching my first kids class alone, but the problems began before the two boys had even entered the classroom.
Education Guardian ()

Another Dendai Exam Slipup
Ten students have been informed that they passed the entrance exams to a Tokyo university, in some cases more than a year after being told they had failed. Yesterday's announcement by Tokyo Denki University affects three students who took the exam for the engineering department before the 2002 academic year and seven this year. The error was discovered in July and was attributed to the computer program that assesses exam results. It was also revealed that a similar problem in 2002 with the English exam for the School of Information Environment led to eight students receiving their passes late that year. The university say they did not make the mistake public at that time as it had been satisfactorily resolved with the education ministry. (October 07, 2003 )

Canada Study Fair
The Canadian Education Alliance is organizing a series of fairs in several major cities this month for Japanese who are interested in studying abroad. The fairs will feature displays by between 30 and 50 universities, community colleges, language schools and others, the largest such event held to date in Japan. The events are free and one attendee at each fair will win a one-month, all expenses paid study trip to Canada. The fairs will be held in Osaka (Oct. 11), Nagoya (Oct. 15) and Tokyo (Oct. 19).
CEA site | Story in Japanese ()

Event Season
A quick reminder that the pick of the crop as far as ELT events are concerned is coming up soon. There's the Tokyo English Language bookfair this weekend in Ikebukuro, the first of the series of ETJ expos in Nagoya the weekend after that, and then there's the JALT conference in Shizuoka at the end of November. Among the presenters at the TEL bookfair will be several ELT News regulars, such as Marc Helgesen, Chuck Sandy and Setsuko Toyama. Also presenting will be Side By Side author Steven Molinsky, among many others.
TEL Bookfair | Chubu ELT Expo | JALT 2003 (October 06, 2003 )

English Teacher Busted For Child Porn
An English teacher at a Tokyo public high school has been arrested for violating the anti-child pornography law. 48-year old Hideaki Nakao, a teacher at Tokyo Metropolitan Ueno High School, was arrested at Narita Airport on his return from a trip to Cambodia and Thailand. While abroad, he made obscene films of children and tried to bring them back into Japan on a computer hard disk. The disk contained 90 such films as well as thousands more photographic images. Nakao claimed the material was for private use, but police believe he planned to sell it. He has been on police and customs black lists for some time. (October 03, 2003 )

What Else Was Lost in Translation?
The New York Times recently ran an article on "Lost in Translation," a new movie by Sofia Coppola, that will ring true with anyone who's had to deal with a Japanese interpreter. The comic melodrama stars Bill Murray as a washed-up movie star, in Tokyo to shoot a Suntory whiskey commercial, and the article looks at one particular scene where actor and director struggle with the communication barriers that we all face here in Japan at one time or another.
New York Times article | Review of Lost In Translation ()

A Call for TOEIC Research Project 2003
The Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC) is inviting research proposals from organizations and individuals that would make use of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), TOEIC Bridge and its related services. They are seeking research proposals for a variety of subjects, including score interpretation, natural language usage, curriculum development, innovative response formats, and the definition of language constructs. In an effort to continue providing quality research, IIBC has formed a research committee to establish and direct a program in support of TOEIC research.

TOEIC is an English language proficiency test for non-native speakers of English. Many schools and organizations around the world use TOEIC to evaluate the English ability of their students and employees. TOEIC Bridge is a newly developed test to measure the emerging English language competencies of beginning and intermediate learners, and to help them focus on areas of improvement. In Japan, the TOEIC and TOEIC Bridge are the responsibility of IIBC.

Proposals must be submitted by October 31, 2003. For additional information regarding the research agenda or procedures for submitting funding proposals for related research, see the TOEIC site. ()

Getting In On The Act
7act, a Tokyo-based company that arranges private lessons for English-language students, has announced a new service for celebrities. Classes are usually arranged at coffee shops, a setup that obviously doesn't suit most famous clients. The company has staff designated to the new service and ensuring their privacy by arranging for lessons to be held on filming locations or near TV stations. 7act has built up a student base of around 6,000 since 2000, largely by word of mouth and without using any paid advertising. Monthly student enrollment is restricted, allowing the company to grow at a controlled pace. Lessons cost a flat ¥3,000 per hour, though students must pay a joining fee and monthly service charge.
7act site (October 02, 2003 )

Conference to Feature CALL Pioneer
The JALT Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Special Interest Group (SIG) will hold its 8th Annual Conference at Kinjo Gakuin University in Nagoya this Saturday (Oct. 4) and Sunday (Oct. 5). With the theme "CALL for All," there will be presentations on a wide variety of topics. New topics that have been added this year include Pre-school, Elementary School, Business, Conversation Schools, Research, and Theory. There will also be debates, discussions and video presentations. One type of discussion, The Talk Show, will be held in the university's TV studio!

Among those presenting will be Dr Frank Otto, founder of ELLIS, a pioneer and industry-leader in the field of computer-based language learning and one of the original, founding members of JALT.
JALTCALL2003 | ELLIS software | ELLIS site (October 01, 2003 )

STEP To Work With Cambridge ESOL
The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP), which runs the Eiken test, is to collaborate with University of Cambridge English for Speakers of Other Languages (Cambridge ESOL) on the development of testing and teacher-training programs. The two organizations will work together in several areas: STEP will offer training in Cambridge for Japanese junior and senior high school English teachers; Cambridge ESOL will help improve the range of Eiken tests; and STEP will market one of Cambridge ESOL's business English tests, and develop a qualification test for teachers of English to elementary school students.
More details in Daily Yomiuri article | Cambridge ESOL site | STEP site ()

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