The Latest News in ELT

November 2003

What's Your "Bikkuri English"?
In Japanese, "bikkuri" means surprise, and the "Bikkuri English" Expedition is a competition to find the most surprising English in Japan. The English can be humorous, inspiring, or downright embarrassing. Sponsored by eigoTown.com and the English Speaking Union of Japan, the competition aims to increase awareness of the English all around us here in Japan. The distinguished committee of judges includes former Deputy Secretary of the UN Hisashi Akashi, British Ambassador to Japan Sir Stephen Gommersall, and broadcaster Peter Barakan. The competition is open to anyone, Japanese or non-Japanese, and runs until the end of December. The winners will be announced in February 2004. Bikkuri English | eigoTown (Japanese version) (November 28, 2003 )

Students to Grade Teacher Candidates
A newly created deregulation zone is to allow students to take part in the teacher hiring process. The central government recently approved plans by the city of Gyoda in Saitama Prefecture to reduce first and second year elementary school and first year junior high school classes to a maximum of 30 students. The plan will require the hiring of more teachers, a process that will take two stages. The second stage, scheduled for next February, will involve an interview and giving a mock lesson to students. One male and one female student, in addition to the principal and an education board member, will then grade the teachers on ease of understanding and other factors. The city's board of education say they plan to hire 13 elementary and 7 junior high school teachers on a one-year contract. But unlike other contract teachers, they will be "homeroom teachers," and have responsibilty for a class. (November 27, 2003 )

Future Not So Bright For Grads
The number of university seniors who have found employment after they graduate stood at a record low as of Oct. 1. According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 60.2% of students due to graduate next spring have found jobs, down 3.9% from the same time last year. Male students have a slight edge, at 61.1%, as opposed to 59.1% of females. Businesses are said to be applying stricter recruitment standards, such as a minimum level of English ability, rather than competing for students as they did in the bubble economy years. The rate for next year's high school graduates stood at 34.5%, up marginally from 2002, while things look even bleaker for junior college students, only 29% of whom have been promised jobs. (November 26, 2003 )

Grandson Shot After Homework Row
A man shot his grandson to death and then killed himself with a shotgun after quarrelling over the boy's schoolwork, police said. Kojiro Ohashi, a 69-year-old farmer, allegedly shot 15-year-old Kazuya in the stomach after an argument at their farmhouse in the northern town of Marumori, said local police spokesman Koichi Hashiura. Ohashi then rushed to his bedroom and shot himself in the head. Hashiura said Ohashi often called Kazuya a delinquent and told his grandson to study harder, causing harsh quarrels. The grandfather had a licence to possess the shotgun for hunting. Kazuya's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were at home at the time of the killing, Hashiura said. ()

Plan for English Learning Discussed at JALT Confab
Plans by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry to help students acquire communication abilities in English were discussed by six panelists at an open forum of the annual conference of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) held at Granship Shizuoka convention center in Shizuoka on Sunday morning. The panelists included Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. undersecretary general, Kiichi Matsuhata, president of the Japan Society of English Language Education, and Hitoshi Nara, head of the ministry's international education section. Organized as a special program, the forum is a part of the four-day JALT 2003 conference that ended yesterday. (excerpt from Daily Yomiuri story)
Daily Yomiuri article | JALT (November 25, 2003 )

CALL-EJ Online Papers
The submission deadline for papers for the 2004 January issue of CALL-EJ Online has been extended to November 30. Papers and reviews related to Language Education and Technology should be submitted to the site below, a refereed online journal.
CALL-EJ Online (November 21, 2003 )

English With Chibi Maruko-chan
Chibi Maruko-chan is the latest popular TV animation character to take to English teaching. Internet content provider Contents Japan has made its "Chibi Maruko-chan no Let's ABC" program available on the @nifty service. Aimed at children from pre-school to elementary school age, it covers writing the alphabet and simple greetings. The fee for a 3-month "Free Pass" course is ¥1,400 and six months costs ¥2,700. Free samples are available for download. The programs are available only on @nifty for the first two months but will be more widely available next year.
Chibi Maruko-chan no Let's ABC (Japanese) | This story in Japanese ()

Rethinking the JET Program
The Guardian newspaper ran an article a while back on the changes afoot in the JET Program. Recently, more and more municipal boards of education are looking to hire trained teachers rather than young, enthusiastic but inexperienced JETs. The article cites as an example the fact that of the 61 teachers employed as ALTs in Yokohama this year, 65% are privately hired. It also quotes the board's program co-ordinator Elizabeth Knight, "Give us another two years and we won't be hiring any more Jets." Some boards are looking to the big eikaiwa chains, such as Nova and ECC, to fill their teaching needs. The JET Program is still the largest of its kind in the world, but 16 years after it began it looks to be heading for a difficult adolescence.
Guardian article (November 20, 2003 )

No Surprises in JALT Election Results
The 2003 NPO JALT National Officer Election was held during September and October, 2003. Balloting officially closed October 24. A total of 128 ballots were received, of which 124 were valid. The following posts were either uncontested or had only one or two write-ins for other candidates. President: James Swan (122 votes); Vice President: Ishida Tadashi (123); Director of Membership: Hugh Nicoll (123); Director of Records: Mary Christianson (121). All newly elected NPO JALT National Officers' terms are for one year beginning immediately after the Ordinary General Meeting at the JALT 2003 Conference in Shizuoka.
JALT site (November 19, 2003 )

The 'Miracle' JET?
Jacque Rainwater has never given up on her dream of teaching English in Japan. A recent TV documentary in the US is the latest of many to tell the story of her miraculous survival of a horrific accident almost ten years ago. At the time, in February 1994, she was coming to the end of her term as Miss University of North Alabama. She and a friend were injured by a falling tree in an ice storm, Rainwater critically. After surviving a slew of devastating injuries and a coma that lasted a full month, she had no memory of the event or her identity and could not speak. After extensive occupational therapy, she recovered sufficiently to think again about her teaching dream. She teaches conversation to a mother and daughter in her hometown of Cullman, AL and has applied for the JET Program. She first visited Japan on a mission program in 1991 and decided that English teaching was the career for her.The Cullman Times article (November 18, 2003 )

Memory and Mastery Worlds Apart
Last Friday's "Language Labo" feature by Mike Guest in The Daily Yomiuri looked at the difference between memory and mastery of a language. He examines how memory works at four levels and how many teachers fail to distinguish between rote memorization and actually being able to master and use language. As he puts it, "many teachers think of memory as merely a matter of recognition and hence tend to teach language "facts" or "rules" that later reappear on tests as multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions." Teachers are often unaware that they're dealing with only recognition, the lowest level of cognition, and such learning is neither deep nor long-term.
Daily Yomiuri article (November 17, 2003 )

Is "McTeaching" Next?
The fast food chain that inspired it consider it a "slap in the face" to the millions who work in the industry, but the word "McJob" is 'official.' The 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary includes the word, defining it as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement." Publishers defended the inclusion of the word, saying it has been in use for more than 17 years in a wide range of publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine. It is also currently included in the American Heritage Dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary. (November 14, 2003 )

Rock Between The Lines
A new book by British broadcaster Peter Barakan helps Japanese students of English get to grips with the lyrics of the most famous rock standards. "Rock Between The Lines" looks at the expressions, grammar, hidden meanings and social influences behind the lyrics of 36 songs, including such classics as John Lennon's "Imagine," and The Eagles' "Hotel California." The book also has a section that looks at the use of idioms, both in the songs and everyday English. The London-born Barakan is a veteran of Japanese TV and radio. The book is published by Shueisha and retails for ¥1,600. ()

Girls On Top
A recent OECD survey has shown that girls are out-performing boys at every level of education in developed countries worldwide. According to Andreas Schleicher of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, "the success of girls is a complete reversal of what would have been expected a generation ago." Girls also have more confidence about their future. In the UK for example, 63% of girls expect to have "white collar, high-skilled" jobs by the time they are 30, compared to only 51% of boys. Such figures are also seen in the US, Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Australia. In terms of literacy skills, 15-year old girls are ahead of boys in every one of the 43 countries in the survey, with a gender gap of 26% in the UK. These figures continue to be reflected in the numbers of students who go on to third-level education. In New Zealand, 89% of women enter university, compared to 62% of men; in Iceland, the numbers are 80% and 42%; in the UK, 49% and 41%. A major trend seen in the survey results is that boys' academic performance seems more likely to be affected by external influences, such as peer pressure or problems at home. (November 13, 2003 )

Foreign Students Exceed 100,000
According to figures released by the education ministry yesterday, the number of foreign students studying in Japan is close to 110,000. The number has finally exceeded the 100,000 target set by the government in 1983, thanks to an increase of more than 14% in the last year. It includes a rapid increase in Chinese students, who make up over 60% of the total. Altogether, Asians make up 93.2% of the total. Among non-Asian students, the largest number - 1,310 - came from the US. Japan's declining birthrate makes attracting foreign students a necessity for many universities and colleges. But perceived increases in crime and visa violations by students means that in future the government will focus on the quality rather than quantity of students. (November 12, 2003 )

Tokyo to Clamp Down on Foreign Students
The Tokyo metropolitan government recently announced plans for stricter controls on Japanese language schools, in an effort to control crimes by foreign students. The stricter measures will include background checks on students looking to enter the country and inspection of the methods used abroad to recruit students. Cases where students enroll but are later repeatedly absent from class will be investigated. (November 11, 2003 )

Noddy Goes Back to School
Noddy, the character created by writer and school teacher Enid Blyton, is to be used to help children studying English in South East Asia. Two packages - Learn English With Noddy and Noddy Early Learning - have been developed by Chorion, the company that owns the rights to the character beloved by generations of kids around the world. Chorion sold the rights for Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia for GBP1 million, and will put the packages on sale next year. Noddy books have been translated into 40 languages and annually sell over 2 million copies worldwide. Of the 700 books written by Blyton, 200 were educational. (November 10, 2003 )

Canterbury Tales Dot Com
The original editions of one of the earliest classics of English literature are finally online, half a millenium after they were first printed. The originals of William Caxton’s two editions of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, believed to have been printed in 1476 and 1483, are both in the British Library. Chaucer began the Tales in 1387 and died - before they were complete - in 1400. The British Library Web site has extensive information on the works and their author, but in particular about Caxton and the first print editions.
British Library (November 07, 2003 )

Kawamura Outlines Plan
The minister for Education, Science and Technology Takeo Kawamura told the Daily Yomiuri in a recent interview that implementing English-language education for primary school students is "a must if we want to help cultivate Japanese who have a practical command of the language. The sooner, the better -- although we first have to deal with the issue of how to train instructors." The ministry has a five-year plan that aims to help Japanese acquire a "practical command of English." One of the keys to the plan's success is the ongoing training of Japan's 60,000 Japanese teachers of English. He also said that native English-speaking ALTs should be given more autonomy and even allowed to teach classes on their own. The maximum period they are allowed to work is to be extended from three years to five. Kawamura added that a measure to allow them to develop full-time careers as instructors should be implemented as a "matter of course."
Daily Yomiuri article (November 06, 2003 )

Underperforming Teachers Face Pay Cut
The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education announced recently that it will reduce the pay of underperforming teachers, possibly as early as next year. Those who lack leadership ability and spend too much time training, and away from the classroom, will suffer a pay cut of 4%. This will mean a cut in the monthly salary of between ¥6-20,000. Currently there is a uniform pay structure for teachers at all metropolitan schools, as it is difficult to gauge the overtime hours put in by teachers. (November 05, 2003 )

NEC Software Reads Handwriting
NEC has developed computer software that it says can read handwritten English with a high degree of accuracy. The software reads from left to right, forming a general idea of what is written, then applies patterns of typical usage to check and refine its guess. After further refinement, the company sees the software being used in post offices, where it can be used to sort handwritten addreses. Previous attempts to produce such software attempted to break text down into individual letters, but separating them from "connectors" resulted in frequent errors. (from a story in the Nikkei Business Daily) (November 04, 2003 )

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