The Latest News in ELT

January 2004

Mobile Publishing
There have been some personnel changes in the ELT publishing business over the last month or so. At Cambridge University Press, Mark O'Neill has been promoted from General Manager to Director, Japan and will be heading both the ELT and Academic lists, while Ivan Sorrentino has been promoted to ELT Manager. Over at McGraw Hill, Yoshio Kimura has left his position as General Manager, and Naoto Ono will jump from his post as Managing Director at Pearson Education Japan to take on a new position which will handle East Asia. Peter Scheutz has left Macmillan Language House, where he was ELT Sales Manager. Thomson Learning Japan's ELT Sales Manager Stuart Bowie and Steven Black have left to open a sports bar! We wish them all the very best of luck. (January 30, 2004 )

General Union vs. Berlitz
The General Union is once again dealing with a complaint by one of its members against Berlitz Japan. The teacher complained that he received only ¥130,000 for the pay period of December 18th 2003 - January 17th 2004, during which he had to be available for a total of 354 hours. The instructor was given 65 units, which are made up of 45-minute traveling and 40-minute teaching periods, at ¥2,000 per unit. But based on his availability, the rate calculates at ¥367 per hour. The General Union has challenged Berlitz Japan for several years about what it refers to as an "illegal contract." The two sides will be meeting in February to negotiate a change to the company's current range of contracts. Berlitz Japan has informed the union that they have an offer to make. ()

Foreign Teachers File Complaint Against Nishinomiya
A labor union grouping foreign language teachers in Japan on Wednesday lodged a complaint against the Nishinomiya city government in Hyogo Prefecture for allegedly interfering with union activities of nine foreign nationals working for municipal schools. According to the complaint filed by the General Union, the nine English-language teachers working for primary and secondary schools in Nishinomiya asked the city government to provide them with an office for union activities but the request was never met, and the city repeatedly disrupted strikes. (Kyodo News) ()

English Financial Statements to be OK'ed
The Financial Services Agency plans to allow foreign companies listed on Japanese stock exchanges to disclose their financial statements in English by fiscal 2006. By lifting the burden of translating such reports into Japanese, the agency hopes to reverse the decline in foreign firms on the exchanges. There are specific rules on form and vocabulary for listed firms' financial statements, which have been required to be in Japanese to protect domestic investors who cannot read English. The number of foreign firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell from 125 in 1991 to just 32 in 2003.
(From a Nikkei Keizai Shimbun story) (January 29, 2004 )

ETJ Expos A Big Success
The ninth and final ELT Expo, organized by English Teachers in Japan (ETJ) and co-sponsored by Oxford University Press, took place last Sunday in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Some 420 teachers attended presentations by such speakers as Steven Gershon, Ritsuko Nakata, Chuck Sandy and ETJ founder David Paul. There were also displays by all the Japan-based foreign ELT publishers. Paul was very happy with the turnout, for this Expo and the whole series, adding, "I don't think any more people could have fitted into many of the presentation rooms!" Talking about the series as a whole, he said, "The Expos were certainly our biggest project so far. We had almost 2,000 teachers in attendance, from Sapporo to Kagoshima. We have things to learn and improve on, but the overall impression I am left with is of an incredible step forward for ETJ and a groundbreaking contribution to English teaching in Japan." And on the volunters behind the events, "It was wonderful to see ETJ volunteers work so hard from early morning to late in the evening to make the events such a success. The Expos wouldn't have been possible without such committed support." Asked about plans for the future, he added, "Well, we have even bigger plans for next time!" Stay tuned for more. (January 28, 2004 )

Library, ELT Helps Heal a Broken Heart
On Saturday, The Age Web site carried a tragic love story about Australian Glen Goulds and the library he built in Indonesia in memory of his Japanese wife-to-be, Natsuko. The couple met in Indonesia in 1996 and a couple of years later were planning to marry. They returned to their respective countries to break the news to their families. While at her home alone, Natsuko was killed when the house was crushed by a huge pile-driver from a building site next door. It was August 31, 1997, the same day that the world was shocked by Princess Diana's death. A grief-stricken Goulds became an EFL teacher, moved close to Natsuko's family in Sapporo, and taught there for three years. He got to know more about his fiancee, her family and her culture. With the family, he decided to build the library in the place where the couple had met. It is now a center for adults and children near the town of Yogyakarta. In Gould words, "It's 61/2 years now and I am continually faced with the dilemma of wanting to remember and needing to forget. She was like sunshine, she was my soulmate."
The Age ()

Staking a Claim to English as an International Language
An article published last week on the Guardian's education Web site looked at English as an International Language (EIL) and how it is perceived thoughout the world. In particular, Jennifer Jenkins of King's College London is critical of the tendency to look down on Englishes other than ENL, English as a Native Language, and to see their variations as errors. This, coupled with the idea that English alone functions as the international language, results in the widespread assumption that "international = English = standard British/American English." The article also looks at the pressures this places on learners and non-native teachers worldwide, leading to such things as language "therapy" in Japan and even surgery in South Korea. It also talks about "sugarcoated" EIL, a phrase coined by Ayako Suzuki, a researcher at King's College - "By 'sugarcoated EIL' she means the English advocated by those who claim allegiance to the concept of EIL but who, beneath the sugar coating, are in fact promoting native-speaker norms."
Full Guardian article (January 27, 2004 )

Students Dislike Study But Recognize Importance of English
The results of an education ministry survey published last Friday show that three quarters of high school seniors dislike studying, but also that most understand its importance. While 79% said they considered study "important" or "fairly important," only 4.6% said they like to study, and 15.4% said they "fairly like" it. When asked about subjects they considered important regardless of their role in university entrance examinations, more than 75% of students chose English and Japanese, while less than 40% chose mathematics. When something they do not understand comes up during class, 25.7% said they ask the teacher after class, 45.3% said they look it up later by themselves, and 35.7% said they do not do anything about it. Another statistic, reflected in all test scores, showed that students who have breakfast before going to school do better than those who skip it. 41% of students said they do little or no study outside of school. The survey of 105,000 students - about 8% of the national total - randomly selected nationwide was carried out in November 2002.
Asahi.com story (in Japanese) (January 26, 2004 )

Life As a TEFL Slave
The following are brief excerpts from an article on being an TEFL teacher in Europe, published last week on the Telegraph Web site. Titled "The slavery of teaching English," it paints a picture far bleaker than what most teachers experience in Japan, though it does have echoes of the big eikaiwa chain schools and no doubt some will be able to sympathize.

"So while teaching English is fine if you want to spend a year abroad, and great for meeting pretty foreign girls, considered as a career that might offer some degree of professional fulfilment, it fails on every count. No one with a scrap of ambition can possibly consider it. As the philosopher Alain de Botton says: "You become a TEFL teacher when your life has gone wrong."

"Some TEFL slaves have been so thoroughly defeated that they don't even realise what has happened to them. I can sniff out the "lifers" a mile off . . . scruffy figures, utterly out of synch with the modern world, any style or sex-appeal they once possessed squeezed out of them by years of drudgery, exploitation and poverty."
Full Telegraph article (January 23, 2004 )

Krashen Strikes Back
Just when the debate in the Daily Yomiuri over early bilingual education had seemed to fade away, the paper published another article by Steven Krashen on Tuesday:

Beginning English instruction 'super-early' not really necessary

In my letter of Dec. 2 in The Daily Yomiuri, I argued that parental use of English with their children in Japan was unnecessary, that there could be drawbacks, and that there were easier ways of ensuring high levels of English development. I respond here to several responses to my letter.

I stated that parents' use of a foreign language with their children can backfire when parents do not speak the language well and communication is imperfect. Imperfect parent-child communication can cripple emotional and intellectual development. Marshall R. Childs (Dec. 7) asked if I was saying that language must be grammatically perfect to be effective for communication. No. My concern is the quality of communication. I agree with Mr. Childs that language that others may judge as "imperfect" does not, by itself, cause bad communication. (January 22, 2004 )

Little Change in English Test Scores
The average results from last weekend's "senta shiken" university entrance exams were announced yesterday. The exams were held over two days at 640 schools across the country. The most popular tests were in foreign languages, sat by over 536,000 students. In the English test, the average score was 129.74, out of a maximum 200 (64.87%). This was up by about 3.5 points from last year. Averages for other languages were 141.09 for French, 144.56 for German (way up from last year's 106.58), 154.70 for Chinese and 156.72 for Korean (down from 174.28). The text of the English exam is available on the Asahi.com Web site. ()

EFL Teachers Fall Prey to Human Traffickers
The latest issue of EL Gazette has a story about EFL teachers caught up in human trafficking in South Korea. The case came to light when New Zealander Alex Wyer, 26, was discovered unconscious on the street, wearing nothing but a g-string, after a fire at the gay club where he had been held against his will. Wyer was one of four men who answered an ad and had interviews in London. The four, including one from Spain and two from Italy, came to Korea ostensibly to teach Russian college students, only to find themselves forced to work as go-go dancers and escorts in the club, which catered for foreigners only. They had their passports destroyed, and were beaten and imprisoned in the club. Wyer said, "I know that people think that something like this could never happen to them. I can't even believe that this happened to me... I just want to be able to walk down the street like a human being again."
EL Gazette (January 21, 2004 )

Hokkaido Online Journal - Call for Papers
The JALT Hokkaido Journal invites submissions to its yearly, refereed, online journal that features theoretically grounded reports of research and discussion on central issues in foreign language teaching and learning. The focus of the journal is on Japanese contexts. Especially encouraged are investigations that apply theory to practice and include original data collected and analyzed by the author. The submission deadline is June 30, 2004. Visit http://journal.jalthokkaido.org for submission guidelines and more information and to view papers from Volume 7. ()

It's the Private Life For Me
It's true - working at a private university is cushier than the equivalent job at a public institution, at least in terms of working hours. A survey by the education ministry has shown that faculty at national universities work an average of 350 more hours a year than their counterparts in the private sector. The average number of hours worked annually was 2,985, compared to 2,631 at private universities. When it comes to time spent on research, there is a 400-hour gap, despite the fact that education is emphasized more at private schools by an average of 100 hours a year. The results may further fuel calls from the private sector for national universities to concentrate more on education and turning out socially useful graduates. The survey was sent out in November 2002 to 20,000 randomly selected faculty members, of whom about 11,000 replied by March of last year. (January 20, 2004 )

Your Bilingual Partner
NEC have developed the world's first robot with Japanese-English-Japanese speech-to-speech translation ability. PaPeRo (Partner-type Personal Robot) has the ability to automatically translate from English to Japanese and vice versa, combining NEC's own speech recognition technology with a dictionary of 50,000 Japanese and 25,000 English travel/tourism related words. The robot can translate simple conversations about travel or sightseeing input through a microphone. PaPeRo has been under development since 2001, and has the ability to both hear and see. The concept is for it to one day become a "partner" to the family at home.
NEC's Papero site ()

Takara Releases Memory Tool
Toy maker Takara, in conjunction with mobile content developer Index, has developed a handheld device that helps users memorize information. The first software package made available for the device is a game-like program that helps students memorize English vocabulary for university entrance exams. It takes the form of a multiple-choice quiz with pictures and sound. The program's Artificial Intelligence analyzes answers in real time to adjust the rate and difficulty of questions. Users can also set a deadline for completing a set of vocabulary, which the program uses to create a study schedule. The device is set to go on sale this autumn. The two manufacturers teamed up in the recent past to bring you the dog translation tool Bowlingual, which Index recently made available for mobile phones. (January 19, 2004 )

JALT2003: International Atmosphere Dominates JALT Conference
The 2003 annual conference of the Japan Association of Language Teachers (JALT), held last November 21-24, had a decidedly international flavor, according to a JALT press release. Events developed to attract language teachers who might otherwise not have attended included JALT Public and domestic and international forums. There was also an International Food Fair, which proved very popular with attendees. The conference attracted 1,650 paid guests over the holiday weekend, who came to attend hundreds of presentations including those by plenary speakers Jack Richards, Simon Greenall, and Dave Ellis. Greenall commented that he was "very impressed by level of professionalism and the sense of community obvious at the conference." JALT2003 may turn out to be something of a turning point for the organization, which has been beset with falling membership and, some would say, marginalization. In the words of President Jim Swan, "After years of being marginalized, I think that 2003 will be remembered as the year that JALT was finally admitted into the mainstream of Japanese academic society." JALT2004 will be held at Tezukayama University, Nara, on November 19-22 and the theme will be "Language Learning for Life."
Full JALT2003 Press Release (January 16, 2004 )

R.I.C. Site Relaunched
R.I.C. Publications - Asia has relaunched its website. The newly designed site highlights the range of materials and services offered by the ELT publisher, (both in English and in Japanese for the first time), under the guidance of its President, John Moore. The company is particularly strong in areas such as grammar and vocabulary development, but also has a constantly-growing range of other language titles.In the past 12 months, R.I.C. Publications - Asia has released over 100 titles, covering all areas of language education, in addition to having the fastest-growing list of photocopiable resources in Japan. The website features sample pages and a content listing for every title the company offers. Of special note are Let's Begin (a complete kindergarten/elementary school program), Early Learning Friends (a 40-book reading series), English Writing Workshop (first college level writing materials with CD-ROM options for students), Listen In! (a new 2-level listening series in American English), the Active Learning Dictionary and, with a new graded reading list, Headlights! for high school to college level students.
R.I.C. Publications - Asia | Active Learning Dictionary (January 15, 2004 )

Enthusiasm Counts at AIU
The new Akita International University, set to open in April with an entirely English-based curriculum, is to admit some students even if they fail the entrance examinations. Similar to the "Challenge Admission" system in places such as Tokyo Metropolitan or Tama Universities, up to ten students who score close to the admission level but who show an enthusiasm for learning will be accepted with a special status. If they perform as well or better than their peers during their first year, they will be accepted as regular students from the following year. The admission requirements are not yet finalized, but a minimum of all B grades is being considered. All lectures will be given in English and students will undertake a mandatory year of study abroad. The required English level for admission is set around pre-Level 2 on the Eiken test, or a TOEFL score of over 450. 100 students will be accepted each academic year to study at the new campus, located in the town of Yuwa. The university will accept a total of 50 international students.
Akita International University | Story in Japanese (January 14, 2004 )

A Clip of the Tongue
A trend among South Korean parents to have their children's tongues surgically altered in an effort to improve their English pronunciation has been in the news recently. The growing popularity of the practice forced the government to commission a film that shows the operation in progress. A frenulotomy involves clipping the thin tissue beneath the tongue, and is mistakenly believed to make it easier for children to pronounce English correctly, in particular the L and R sounds. "Tongue-Tie", made by the National Human Rights Commission, shows a young boy screaming as his mother and nurses hold him down during the procedure. The mother says "it's all for his future," a comment that reflects an increasingly common attitude among young Korean parents since compulsory English lessons were introduced from the third grade four years ago. Local media say the practice is widespread among wealthy parts of the capital, Seoul, though doctors insist the reports are exaggerated. (January 13, 2004 )

"Last Samurai" Star & Genki English in Fuji TV Drama
Popular actress and star of the Hollywood epic "Last Samurai" Koyuki is playing the role of a private English Teacher in the new Kansai TV drama "Boku to kanojo to kanojo no ikiru michi". She plays a successful career woman who gives up her job in a foreign securities company to become a home English tutor. The producers wanted some lively materials for her to use in the series, so Tuesday night's episode featured her teaching the GenkiEnglish.com "How are you?" song. GenkiEnglish.com's Richard Graham knew the song would be used in the program but was surprised to see the teacher played by such a high-profile actress. "It's all very exciting," he was heard saying. "Hopefully this will help in getting the general public genki about learning English!" The show also airs on the Fuji TV network (ch.8).
GenkiEnglish.com | Kansai TV (January 09, 2004 )

Call for Presentations to PGL III
The Peace as a Global Language Conference (PGL) invites educators, students, activists and others interested in peace and global studies to submit presentation proposals. The third annual conference will be held September 24-26, 2004 at the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Especially welcome are presentations that include innovative teaching/learning approaches developed on such themes as Education, Peace/security, Environment, Global issues, Human rights, and Alternative Education. The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2004. All submissions should be sent by e-mail to Dr. John T. Denny, Kyoto University.
PGL III (January 08, 2004 )

Freedom of Speech
Debito Arudo (aka Dave Aldwinckle) wrote in yesterday's Japan Times about ongoing discrimination in English language competitions. It seems the precedent is being set by the All Japan Inter-Middle School English Oratorical Contest, Japan's largest English-language competition. The rules specifically bar children of the more than 40,000 international marriages in Japan each year, those with a foreign grandparent, or even students who have spent a minimal amount of time abroad. The bizarre aspect of the rules is that they don't even specify that the foreign "element" be related to English, just that it's not Japanese. The fact that the competition is connected to the Imperial family, through its sponsorship by the late Prince Takamado, means that its rules are "beyond question" and set the standard for other, regional competitions. The Japan Times' chief rival, The Daily Yomiuri, is also a sponsor of the Prince Takamado Trophy and has not covered the topic of protests over its rules. Debito is an American-born naturalized Japanese and an outspoken critic of racial discrimination in Japan.
Japan Times article (January 07, 2004 )

In Memory of a Geisha
Kiharu Nakamura, who gave up a career as a top geisha to teach traditional Japanese music and dance in the United States for nearly half a century, has died at the age of 90, according to her Tokyo publisher. Soshisha published her 1983 autobiography, The Memoir of a Tokyo-born Geisha, in which she described herself as the only geisha who could speak English in pre-World War II Tokyo. Among her illustrious clientele were Jean Cocteau, Charlie Chaplin and Babe Ruth. Nakamura went to the US in 1956 and lived the rest of her life in New York.
Article on Geisha ()

Geos, JTB to Start English Study Camps
English conversation school Geos is to team up with a major travel company to create an opportunity to "study abroad" without leaving Japan. "Tobidase! English Camp" will provide a foreign environment for students unable to travel overseas, with native English-speaking teachers provided by Geos and travel, accommodation and meals organized by Japan Travel Bureau. JTB is a leading provider of school tours but has had to come up with new strategies in the face of the nation's declining birthrate and the increased difficulty of overseas tours. The new service is expected to start in July, with applications being accepted from this spring. The sales target for the first year is 300 customers.
Story in Japanese (January 06, 2004 )

"Hard Time" For English Students?
Masaru Yoshitomi, a research fellow at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation Institute, has called for "imprisoning" college students in order to make them master English. In an interview with The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, he spoke of how he suggested the idea to a university reform committee in his home town of Nagasaki. In the "English prison," students would be locked up for six months with foreign roommates, totally banned from using Japanese, and forced to speak only in English. They would be forbidden from carrying mobile phones so they could not speak with family members or friends in Japanese. Foreign instructors and students would be the only people they could speak with. "Six months of imprisonment under such conditions would dramatically improve their English-speaking ability," said Yoshitomi. When asked how the committee responded to his idea, the former Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute replied, "Many said it is an interesting idea. But I'm not sure what official response they will give at a meeting early (2004). I understand they must solve many problems, such as how to integrate the scheme into the curriculum, secure competent instructors and prepare the facilities for the program, before implementing the proposal." He also suggested that the government implement a similar "conscription" system for senior or even junior high school students as part of its strategy for the 21st century. (January 05, 2004 )

Almost Half of Governors Unhappy With Education Boards
Almost half of the nation's governors say they are unhappy with local education boards and that they should be overhauled or scrapped altogether. In a Kyodo News survey of the 47 governors carried out in December, 19 said the boards should be restructured, 2 felt they should be scrapped, while another called for a new system to boost local educational reforms. The current decentralized system was implemented in 1948 to wrest control away from a central government whose policies before and during the war were seen as totalitarian. Many of those polled felt that the boards, whose mebers are appointed by leaders of local government, are politically neutral and successfully incorporate the views of people in local communities. However, five of the governors critical of the system say they believe the regional boards are still too influenced by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The ministry plans to carry out reforms later this year. ()

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