The Latest News in ELT

February 2004

From ELT to Booker
The Guardian ran a story last weekend that shows that a career teaching English in Japan need not be a dead end. From the early 1990s until last year David Mitchell was an English teacher in Tokyo, but his recent success as a novelist has allowed him to move on. His second novel, No.9 Dream, was nominated for the 2001 Booker Prize, but the expense of life in Japan meant he had to continue teaching to feed his family. He now lives in Ireland with his Japanese wife and young daughter. Mitchell's third novel, Cloud Atlas, a tale about a 19th-century lawyer, an investigative journalist and a doomed clone from the future, is due out next week. He describes it as "a book about predacity and predation, individuals preying on groups, groups preying on individuals."
Apocalypse, maybe (February 27, 2004 )

Nara to Give Kids English Head Start
The Nara Prefecture Board of Education has decided to hold extracurricular English classes for first and second graders at 10 public elementary schools on a trial basis in the 2004 school year starting in April, prefectural officials said Thursday. Nara may be the first Japanese prefecture to independently introduce English classes for such younger children at public schools, an education ministry official in Tokyo said. In Japan, schoolchildren usually start English classes after they leave elementary school and enter junior high school. (Kyodo News) ()

Shane Expanding into Nagoya
Shane English Schools Japan has recently started expanding in the Nagoya area. With over 200 schools in and around Tokyo, Shane opened its first Direct Teaching Establishments (DTE) in the Gifu region in November 2003. Following its success, a second Shane English school was opened in January of this year in Fujigaoka, to the east of Nagoya city. A third school in Hirabari opened on February 19th and with further expansion anticipated, another two schools in Ueda and Irinaka are set to open in the next few months. Shane plan to have a total of six DTE schools open in the region this year. According to Senior Administrative and Sales Director, Megumi Urahama, "We have high expectations for the schools in the coming months and are confident of the success and growth of Shane English Schools in Nagoya." Shane English School is also keen to hear from anyone interested in opening a franchise school. Interested parties should contact Franchise Director, Makoto Takazawa .
Shane English school ()

Fighting Back - Stop Violence Against Women
Amnesty International is organising an exhibition in central Tokyo to display over 250 artworks from around the world which express thoughts, feelings and reactions to violence against women. The artworks include painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, embroidery and film. Although many of the images on display are thought-provoking, they are not distressing, making the exhibition suitable for children accompanied by an adult. The exhibition will be held from March 16th (Tuesday) - 22nd (Monday), 2004. Admission is FREE. For further information, a MAP to the gallery, and a downloadable POSTER, please follow the English link on the left hand side of the Amnesty International Japan website.
Amnesty International Japan ()

Nova Teachers - Date Who You Like
The Osaka Bar Association on Tuesday urged Osaka-based Nova Co foreign language school to lift a ban on foreign teachers dating students and to nullify past dismissals of teachers for breaking the rule. The management of Nova, however, said it "does not plan to remove the ban as it has been set in order to protect both the teachers and students from trouble as they do not know each other's cultures and customs." One case cited was that of an Australian English teacher who was dismissed in April 2001 for dating a student. (Kyodo News) (February 26, 2004 )

Upper or Lower Class English?
The Osaka Municipal Board of Education has announced plans to apply a tiered English class system based on students' abilities. The system is to be implemented for second and third year junior high school students over the next three years, with 60 schools starting from this April. Students will be assigned to one of two tiers for English classes following consultations with teachers. The plan, which also covers Japanese and math classes in elementary and middle schools, will involve the hiring of an additional 120 part-time teachers. It is based on a 2003 survey that showed students roughly divide into two levels of achievement. Classroom improvements were observed when the plan was tested at one primary and one middle school last year. ()

SELHi in Action
The Daily Yomiuri this week ran the latest in its series of articles on the Super English Language High Schools. Okayama Joto High School recently ran an all-English program, including an Intensive Training Camp (ITC) during which students put on a 50-minute musical. Students did everything themselves, from choosing the theme to writing the script and songs in English without help from their teachers. The ITC is mandatory for second-year students of the international studies course, one of four courses the school offers. The school's SELHi project focuses on developing speaking over the other language skills, and includes debating and discussion activities. Students found speaking English with their friends in "authentic" situations initially daunting but eventually enjoyed the freedom it gave them. The program is also being used to develop the school's own in-house oral examination system.
Daily Yomiuri (link will expire) ()

McEnglish For the Masses
Yesterday's Japan Times ran a feature article on the "McDonaldization" of the English language teaching industry in Japan. In it David McNeill focuses on how ELT in Japan has evolved over the last decade or so, generally for the worse. Describing much of the English taught here as "about as nutritious as a bag of salty fries," he looks at how the decline in standards is spreading from the big eikaiwa chain schools to public schools and even universities. Among the industry experts quoted in the article are ELT News editor Mark McBennett and Dennis Tesolat, vice-chair of the General Union.
McEnglish For the Masses." (February 25, 2004 )

Give Us More English!
A recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey shows that most Japanese want English taught as a regular subject at public elementary schools. The survey, taken in late January, asked 3,000 adults (1,889 respondents) about their opinions on the teaching of foreign languages and their own language skills. At present, about half of the country's public primary schools have included English as part of their general studies classes from the third grade.

87% of those surveyed were in favour of promoting further early English education, of which two thirds said it should be acquired as a skill for future employment. Over half believed it would help children improve their English skills, while 39% said it would help students feel more comfortable with foreigners. Of the respondents who were against further expansion of the English curriculum, 62% said children should study other subjects, such as Japanese and math, harder; 34% believed it wouldn't really help raise English language levels; 27% said it would place an additional learning burden on students; and 14% said it wouldn't help the future job prospects of all students.

67% of all respondents believe universities should become more serious about giving students the foreign language skills needed to play a role in the international community. Of the languages considered most important, English came out easily on top, chosen by 89%, followed by Chinese (58%) and Korean (31%). Asked about what they would do if they got a phone call in English from a native speaker, less than 2% said they would have no problem handling it alone. More than half said they would struggle just to explain their insufficient language skills and almost a quarter said they'd just hang up. (February 24, 2004 )

Last Call For JALTCALL 2004
Presentation proposals are invited for the JALTCALL 2004 conference, to be held at Tokiwa University, Mito, Ibaraki, June 4-6. The theme is "Human Computer Interaction." There is just over a week before the deadline for sending in proposals - March 3. Scheduling/facilities preference will be given to early submissions. See the CALL SIG Website for more information. If you are interested in volunteering for the conference, please contact the Conference Chair at conf-chair@jaltcall.org.
JALTCALL (February 23, 2004 )

Will the Real Prof. Richardson Please Stand Up?
It's not related to ELT or even Japan, but not a few English teachers here will be able to relate to the following article from The Telegraph, entitled "I blagged my way through, reading a torn-up textbook and ad libbing." (February 20, 2004 )

EFL Books Flying Off Baghdad Shelves
Ever since the US-led occupation of Iraq was established last year, English learning textbooks have been in huge demand. Mohammed Hayawi, a Baghdad publisher and distributor, related how 30,000 copies of a series of EFL texts sold out over the last four months of last year at a price of 750-1500 dinaris (¥60-120). A estimates to have sold a further 9,000 copies in January. "Most of the people buying the books are looking for work connected with the American military or foreign companies," he said. English books were formerly considered only for the privileged classes, but now EFL texts and US bestsellers vie for prime shelf space.
Story in Japanese (February 19, 2004 )

Copycat Shinshu Lecturer Suspended
A member of the English Education faculty of Shinshu University has been suspended for six months for copying a student's work. A thesis published in 1996 by Takumi Ihara (57) was found to have been largely plagiarised from an unpublished work by one of his graduate students. The thesis was originally presented orally to the Chubu English Language Education Society in June, 1995. Ihara's written version did not credit the original presentation, used more than half of its content and included 12 of the original's 17 bibliographic references. It was also found that since 1997 Ihara on nine seperate occasions had 4 of his graduate students substitute for him in lectures with hardly any advance notice. University vice-president Kenichiro Fujisawa gave a press conference last week to apologize. ()

Pedophile Teacher Nabbed Again
An English teacher whose pedophilic activities made news last year has been arrested again. Hideaki Nakao (48), a former teacher at Tokyo Metropolitan Ueno High School, was arrested on Monday at Narita Airport on charges of having sex with two 16-year old Vietnamese girls last year. He is believed to have paid for at least eight child prostitutes - some as young as 12 - in Cambodia during last year's summer vacation. Nakao, who told police "I couldn't tell their age," is a known sex tourist who over the last seven years has visited Southeast Asia 19 times during school holidays. He was arrested last August for trying to smuggle a hard disk with over 6,000 pornographic images and video files. He was fined ¥500,000 and set free by the Chiba Summary Court. He was fired by the metropolitan education bureau last month. (February 18, 2004 )

Sub Shortage Hits DODDS
The Stars and Stripes Web site carried a story Sunday on the acute substitute teacher shortage at Department of Defense Dependents Schools, with the focus on Japan. One surprising case was that of Ryan Hopp, a graduate of Kinnick High School on Yokosuka Naval Base and now subbing there - at the ripe old age of 19. Hopp already has a few college credits to his name, ensuring that he more than passes the minimum qualification for a sub - a high school diploma. A requirement for at least 60 college credit hours has been whittled away in recent years. Hopp is paid $87.50 a day for filling in for an absent teacher, not a huge amount compared to what teachers make at eikaiwa schools off base. This disparity is cited as a major reason for the staff shortage.
Stars and Stripes ()

Junior Winners
The finals of the 26th National Junior English Speech Contest were held recently. Winner of the elementary school category was Makoto Izumi, a sixth grader at a school affiliated with Joetsu University of Education. The junior high school category was won by ninth grade Sachiko Nakajima, a student at a school affiliated with Sacred Heart University. The competition is organized by the Japan LL Education Center foundation. About 18,000 students nationwide took part. Speeches by previous winners can be seen on the LL Center Web site.
Japan LL Education Center (February 17, 2004 )

Shizuoka's Online Study Room
Shizuoka Prefecture's Comprehensive Education Center has started a free Internet study system. Called "Asunaro Gakushushitsu," it provides resources to study English, math and science. The English "classroom" has three parts: Activity Box, Story Box and Tool Box with several different activities in each. The Activity Box, for example, includes a version of the game Jeopardy for practicing listening and grammar as well as general knowledge. In the Story Box, exercises are based on stories divided into 7 levels (though there seem to be technical problems with this section today - ed.). The contents were all developed by center staff who are active teachers, and there are plans to incorporate teachers' lesson planning ideas and gather input from parents and students. ()

Ferris Off Day
The English listening section of a recent university entrance examination was mistakenly written out on the test papers. The test was held on February 3 for the faculty of Global and Inter-cultural Studies at Ferris University in Yokohama. No one noticed the error, and none of the 388 applicants said anything, until it was picked up by an administrator five minutes before the exam finished. The mistaken section will be considered as a reading exercise and no adjustments will be applied to test scores. The test was prepared last autumn by a team of five English teachers.
Ferris University (February 16, 2004 )

Educational Exchange
A local US news Web site ran a story yesterday on an English teacher who participated in a program in Japan last autumn. The Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program, funded by the Japanese government, brought 200 American teachers on a three-week educational exchange. It gave them a chance to learn about the education system and culture of Japan. In Tokyo, they visited a sumo "beya" and the Tsukiji fish market. They also had a chance to actually teach at local schools, in the writer's case at a junior high school in Okayama Prefecture.
Germantown Appeal ()

Should I Stay or Should I Go?
On Tuesday, the Tokyo metropolitan government wrote to faculty members at the four metropolitan universities to ask if they are willing to stay on when they are integrated next year. Letters were sent to 518 professors, assistant professors and instructors, but not those who plan to retire by next year. Confirmation letters must be submitted by late April this year in order for the new school to receive staffing approval from the education ministry. The Tokyo government has been criticized for its closed-door approach to the planning of the new university, set to open in April 2005. There have been letters of protest and even resignations by faculty members who fear they will lose their jobs in the realignment or who want more openness in the decision making process. Plans for a new law school had to be postponed when teachers who had intimated that they would continue teaching resigned in protest instead.
Previous story (February 13, 2004 )

Twin Study Helps Map EFL Brain
A Tokyo University professor's research on 7th grade twins has shed light on how the brain's development is affected by EFL study. In a paper entitled "Correlated Functional Changes of the Prefrontal Cortex in Twins Induced by Classroom Education of Second Language," Professor Kuniyoshi Sakai focusses specifically on a cerebral region called the Broca's Area, located in the frontal lobe of the left side of the brain (an area long known to be responsible for the articulation of speech). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, he was able to show visually for the first time how the brain's "bunpo chusu" (grammar processing) ability changes during the course of an English lesson. There was a high correlation in results between the twins, which strongly hints at the importance of genetic and environmental factors in the educational effectiveness of a lesson. The research is to be published this year in the US magazine Cerebral Cortex.
Research details (Japanese only) ()

ALC's Virgin English "Mook"
Publishers ALC have put out a new English language-related entertainment publication, of a type that in Japanese is referred to as a "mook"*. Aimed at female readers, Virgin English appeared on the shelves on February 6. It includes interviews with celebrities such as popular model Ai Tominaga, who also graces the inaugral cover, and jazz singer Chie Ayado. It also has an English vocabulary corner, with words and phrases taken from western women's magazines. Virgin English is in bookstores nationwide for ¥780. ALC doesn't currently have plans to publish the "mook" regularly but will make a decision based on the response to this edition.
* (mook = thick illustrated publication on a single topic printed to look like a magazine; magazine and book) | Story in Japanese ()

Victory For EFL Teachers in Italy
After years of discrimination despite European Court rulings, foreign university teachers in Italy may finally see justice done. Teachers of English and other languages earn only a fraction of the Italians' salary and often have to teach classes of up to 150 students. Successive court cases, and victories, over the last 18 years have only led to further discrimination, suspensions and dismissals. But now the court has slapped a €310,000-a-day fine on Italy, the first ever for discrimination. About 40% of the 1,000 foreigners teaching at Italian universities are English teachers. They have never enjoyed the open-ended contracts given to locals, and until 1987 were employed on one-year contracts, renewable up to five times. This was challenged in the Italian courts in 1986 and in 1989 the European Court gave a clear verdict against the practice. But Italy routinely ignored the ruling for 13 years. The latest move by the government was to pass a law putting foreign teachers in the same category as the lowest level part-time Italians for salary calculations. (from a story in the Independent) (February 12, 2004 )

Hello English Free Online
The Hokkaido Education Research Institute is now offering free online access to its Hello English resource. A guide for Japanese elementary school teachers of English, it was developed and tested in the classroom by two dozen teachers during 2001-02. It includes materials on lesson planning, sample sentences with illustrations and other practical resources. Available as downloadable PDF files, the resources will be freely accessible at least until March 2005.
Hello English ()

Remember That English
Baseball player Tsuyoshi Shinjo might have to use his English after all. A former outfielder for the Hanshin Tigers, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, Shinjo is back playing in Japan again. He's shagging fly balls in practice for the upcoming season with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. "It's great to be able to speak Japanese again," Shinjo said. "I didn't think I'd have to worry about English until I realized our manager is American." The Fighters, who recently moved from Tokyo to Hokkaido and are managed by American Trey Hillman, hope the popular and charismatic Shinjo will boost the team at the gate and in the standings. (February 11, 2004 )

Japan's First EFL Teacher
Columbian.com, a local news Web site in Washington, recently ran a piece on the little-known story of one of Japan's first EFL teachers. American adventurer Ranald MacDonald (1824-1894) arrived in Hokkaido in 1848, 20 years before Japan ended its period of isolationism. He planned to be an interpreter and teacher and that he could make his fortune when Japan finally opened up to the outside world. As an "illegal alien," he was captured by samurai but ended up being allowed to teach English to the Imperial court. After ten months in Japan, he was allowed to leave. He travelled the world for several years before returning to the US, where his memoirs remained unpublished until after his death. One reason for his failure to make the history books is thought to be his American Indian parentage - he was the son of the Chinook princess Raven and Archibald MacDonald, a Scot. He was buried in Washington state, near the Candian border. The recently published book "Native American in the Land of the Shogun" (Frederik L. Schodt, Stone Bridge Press) has finally brought us one of Japan's earliest EFL adventure stories.Columbian.com | Article by Frederik L. Schodt ()

New Kenkyusha Online Dictionary
Kenkyusha recently announced a new and improved version of its online Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary service to be launched this spring. The Kenkyusha Online Dictionary (KOD) is described as "evolving" and provides access to 12 constantly updated dictionaries, including those specializing in computer, business and scientific terms, an increase from the three dictionaries used in the previous version. The new KOD has over 2 million keywords and examples, making it the biggest online dictionary in Japan. A limited trial version (only entries beginning with A) is currently online and a full version will be available from March 1 for one month. The KOD service will begin from April by subscription for ¥3,000 for six months.
Kenkyusha Online Dictionary (February 10, 2004 )

New Children's Book About Ainu
A pair of English teachers have translated a children's book based on the childhood memories of a prominent member of the Ainu people. Peter Howlett (48), a teacher at Hakodate La Salle High School in Hokkaido, first came across "The Ainu" in 1989. Written by Shigeru Kayano (77), the first Ainu member of the House of Councillors and the director of the Sisirmuka Nibutani Ainu Museum, it tells of his upbringing in the traditional culture, with scenes such as his grandmother telling folk tales and his family eating salmon around an open fire. Howlett was surprised to find that many of his students were unaware of the culture of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido. Working together with colleague Richard McNamara (45), now teaching in Kumamoto in southern Japan, and with the advice of former teacher Noriyoshi Owaki, Howlett finally got the 32-page book into print through US publisher Charles E Tuttle. It goes on sale this week for ¥1,700. (February 09, 2004 )

TOEFL Required to Graduate New University
The new Tokyo metropolitan university will require all students to achieve a minimum TOEFL score in order to graduate, the first time such a condition has been applied in Japan. Students will have to sit the test immediately after they enter the university and again at the end of each term. A high score will allow students to be exempt from English classes, while failure to achieve the required score will mean students having to take English classes outside their department. Students will also have to complete an internship in order to acquire practical skills appropriate to their field of study. The new university, set to open in spring of next year, is an amalgamation of four existing institutions. There have been protests from faculty members at the universities about the nature of the decision making process (see below).
Previous story (February 06, 2004 )

Correction
In a story on January 29th, it was said that Mark O'Neill had been promoted to General Manager at Cambridge University Press. It should have read "has been promoted from General Manager to Director, Japan." (February 05, 2004 )

ELLIS Unveils New English Training Software System
English Language Learning and Instruction System, Inc. (ELLIS) released a substantially upgraded version of its flagship software and training system today. With over 1,300 hours of instruction, the ELLIS Academic 3.0 suite combines digital audio and video, voice recording, role-play, and native language support to create an engaging, research-based environment for every level of English language training. The latest version consists of Basics, a completely new product that focuses on building a solid foundation for pre-literate and/or beginning learners; Intro, with all-new tutorials in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar; Middle Mastery, with 25 lessons that allow learners to choose different outcomes for every situation; and Senior Mastery, which aids in TOEFL preparation and facilitates communicative fluency. ELLIS is offering special short-term discounted pricing for current customers who want to upgrade to the new product. For more information about ELLIS and its products, e-mail sales@eigotown.com. eigoTown is the ELLIS distributor in Japan. ()

RIC Releases Major Kids Reading Program
RIC Publications Asia will release the Early Learning Friends (ELF) Reading Program in Japan this month. A major addition to the reading program area for kids, it is only the second fully fledged reading scheme and the only one available in American English. Written by two leaders in this field, Peter & Sheryl Sloan, the reading scheme consists of 40 little books, 5 big books, a teacher's guide and an audio option for teachers and parents.

"Reading is a most complex intellectual task and it is not learned in an instant," says RIC president John Moore. "Learning to read occurs over many years at different speeds for each learner. The variables that influence this achievement are wide ranging and make the teaching-learning task one requiring sensitivity as well as knowledge of the process involved, which I feel the ELF Reading scheme has achieved." Moore also feels that teachers will be delighted to have a highly-structured reading program taking young learners from two words through to finishing at three sentences some forty books later. In addition, they have a teacher's guide with over 80 photocopiable activities for the complete scheme.
Early Learning Friends ()

English To Be Compulsory at Primary Level?
The education ministry is considering making English a compulsory subject in primary schools, according to a source mentioned in yesterday's Daily Yomiuri. A panel will be established to examine the results achieved in 16 deregulatory zones that have introduced an English curriculum over the last two years and make a decision based on its findings by the 2005 school year. The most often quoted "special reform zone" is that of Ota City in Gunma Prefecture, which was granted government approval last year to open a new elementary through senior high school with a curriculum taught largely in English. The Yomiuri article mentioned that over 50% of public primary schools were providing English classes as of the last academic year. It also pointed out that there are those who question the introduction of English at an earlier stage of the education system, fearing it will cause further deterioration in Japanese language skills and clog up an already busy five-day school week. (February 04, 2004 )

SELHi in Action
Yesterday's The Language Connection in the Daily Yomiuri featured the latest article on the government-designated Super English Language High School (SELHi) pilot program. The feature focused on the use of computers and the Web as a teaching resource at Sumidagawa High School in Tokyo. One teacher had his students access the Web site of Harvard University and retrieve information as part of his class on cross-cultural understanding.
Daiy Yomiuri article (link will expire) | Sumidagawa High School ()

OUP Kids' Club Tour
The OUP Kids' Club Tour, organized by Oxford University Press, kicks off this weekend in Sendai and runs until February 15. The tour features presentations by three of the most renowned children's educators in Japan - Setsuko Toyama, Carolyn Graham and Ritsuko Nakata. They will present useful ideas, phonics, storytelling, and fun activities for incorporating reading into children's to senior high school classes. The tour, which is free of charge, will take in ten cities nationwide in eight days. This year's theme is "Reading is FUNdamental."
OUP Kids' Club Tour (February 03, 2004 )

Tokyo Forum to Discuss Building Peace After War
How to start again at the end of a war or civil conflict? How to repair the social fabric and rebuild physical and institutional infrastructures of failed countries and devastated regions? These are among the questions that will be addressed by the fourth EU-UNU Tokyo Global Forum, which will take place on 5 February 2004 at UN House in Shibuya. The theme of the forum is "From Civil Strife to Civil Society: Post-conflict Reconstruction, Peace-building and Reconciliation."

The forum will bring together a diverse group of politicians, EU and UN representatives, scholars, NGO and media representatives as well as members of the public. Discussions will focus on issues related to education, peace-building, reconciliation, democratic governance and development in post-conflict societies. The conference will be simultaneously translated into Japanese and English.

To attend please register at the conference homepage. ()

Wanna Enter Kyodai? Listen Up
Kyoto University announced last week that it is to start using English listening test results in its admission decisions from 2006. Universities nationwide use results of the tests administered by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations (known as the "senta shiken"), but are free to determine which subjects are required for admission. From 2006, the center will add a listening test to its English exam. The exam will then be made up of a written (80 minutes, 200 points) and a listening section (20-30 minutes, 50 points). The latter will use a disposable audio device, one for each student taking the test. For a list (in Japanese) of which KU departments will require the listening results, see the Kyoto University site. (February 02, 2004 )

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