The Latest News in ELT

July 2004

Philip Scowen New Shane DoS for East Tokyo
Shane English Schools Japan today announced the appointment of Philip Scowen to Director of Studies, Higashi Tokyo District. A testament to the system of SESJ, Phil joined the company in 2001 as a teacher of Nishi Tokyo District, and was subsequently promoted to the position of Senior Teacher of Ebisu School, and then Assistant Director of Studies.

Higashi Tokyo District is one of nine districts in the Kanto region with its schools in prime central Tokyo locations such as Ginza. As DoS, Phil manages a teaching staff of 42 in a total of 18 schools; each of which currently have up to 375 students. His role as DoS includes training and supporting the teaching staff, via observations, workshops and progress reviews, and ensuring the high standards of the company are maintained through effective school monitoring and teacher scheduling. He is also responsible for the successful and profitable operation of the district. (July 30, 2004 )

ALC and Goo Form E-learning Tie Up
ALC, a major publisher of English language study materials, and NTT Resonant, which runs the popular goo portal site, have announced a business and capital tie-up up based on a new English e-learning service. ALC will provide content to goo, such as the Speaking Marathon on its Space ALC site and sell e-learning and other services through the NTT group. NTT Resonant will acquire of 5% share of ALC for around ¥200 million. With the national university entrance exams to incorporate a listening test from 2006, the two companies are predicting a shift in the English learning industry towards a younger client base, with a growing number of kindergarten and school children studying. They are looking to create a new ¥1-billion market next year. ALC currently has about 2 million students taking its lessons. The goo portal attracts about 10 million users per month. ()

Tougher English Standards to Enter U.K., U.S.
Both the British and American governments have announced plans for stricter English language tests for new immigrants. In Britain, tests designed to demonstrate a defined minimum standard of English are said to be tougher than previously expected. Failure to pass the tests will mean compulsory language and citizenship classes, with those who can afford it having to pay. The announced plans go against advice given to the government by experts last year, who argued against the idea of a minimum standard and recommended that applicants should simply be able to demonstrate having made progress in English.

The U.S. meanwhile has decided that current tests for new citizens vary too widely. It was announced earlier this month that new tests will be piloted next year and introduced in 2006. The revised standards would include getting applicants to participate in a conversation, give simple directions, express needs and preferences, respond to warnings, read and comprehend simple material and fill out forms. ()

BBC World Service Tuning Out of English Teaching
The BBC World Service is to cut back on its global short-wave broadcasts of English language lessons. There will also be a shift to working with local FM stations and delivering content via the Internet and mobile phones. Restructuring plans will lead to the creation of a new unit - BBC Learning English - by October and a reduction of staff from 41 to 25. The new service will focus on three key areas: learners in China, the "Islamic world" (mainly Iran and Egypt) and "global learners." Staff are concerned that ELT is being marginalized within the broadcasting network despite a recently announced increase in government funding, from $421 this year to $468m in 2008. The chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, ended the annual British Council lecture this month with the statement: "Our aim should be that that no one in any continent is prevented by poverty, exclusion or educational disadvantage from learning the English language." ()

Sign of the Times
The Christchurch Press newspaper in New Zealand reported sighting the following advertisement for a local English language school: "Where here to help you learnt." (July 29, 2004 )

Berlitz to Open in Shinyurigaoka
Berlitz announced yesterday the opening of a new language center in Shinyurigaoka, a "bed town" near Kawasaki in Kanagawa prefecture. The new school will open on August 4 and will have an opening campaign - new students who sign up between August 4-21 will not have to pay the initial fee of ¥31,500. It will focus largely on its Berlitz Kids program and organize events that can be enjoyed by children and their parents. The kids program is aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 12. For more information, contact the central Berlitz Japan information center at 0120-5-109-23. Berlitz operates 93 language centers and employs 1,600 staff throughout Japan. Its Tokyo headquarters moved from Akasaka to Minami Aoyama in May of this year.
Berlitz Japan web site ()

English Education in Korea (Part 2 of 2)
The Korean JoongAng Daily completed a two-part look at the problems with the country's English education system on Monday. The article looks at the extensive measures taken at both personal and governmental levels to acquire English skills, largely meeting with failure. In particular, the Ministry of Education's English Program in Korea (EPIK) is singled out for criticism. It is contrasted with the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program, highlighted as something of a success story, as is Japan's JET Program.
How schools fail to teach English (July 28, 2004 )

TOEFL Practice Online
Educational Testing Service (ETS), the U.S. company that administers the TOEFL test, has launched TOEFL Practice Online, which it describes as "a community for test takers preparing for the next generation TOEFL test being introduced in September 2005." It is the only Web site that has official test material from the new TOEFL test that will assess all four language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. By becoming a member of the new site, you can access helpful information, discussion boards, sample responses from a speaking test, and purchase a practice test. Without the speaking section, the practice test costs $20 and includes an unofficial score and feedback. The speaking test costs an additional $30, and sample questions can be viewed after free registration. This part of the test has six parts and takes about 20 minutes. After each question there is a 15-30-second thinking period before answering, and actual speaking time adds up to about 45-60 seconds in total. Answers are digitally recorded via a mic and assessed at the ETS test center.
TOEFL Practice Online ()

Babies Teach Scientists a Little Bit About Thinking
In an infant's knowing eyes scientists believe they have resolved one of the oldest debates in science and philosophy: which comes first, an idea or the language to express it?

Researchers at Vanderbilt and Harvard universities demonstrated through experiments made public last week in the magazine Nature that children do appear to think before they learn to speak. Moreover, infants seem to share fundamental ideas about the world around them that languages later alter. To determine if thought precedes the acquisition of language, two psychologists, Susan Hespos and Elizabeth Spelke, took advantage of a subtle contrast in the Korean and English languages.

In a series of tests, five-month-old infants were shown things nested within each other in categories corresponding to whether the objects fitted together tightly or loosely - a distinction important in the Korean language but absent from English. The researchers monitored how long each infant's gaze lingered, as a way of measuring whether the child noticed any difference. The babies could perceive those distinctions that, through the limitations of language, their English-speaking parents had learnt to ignore. "The babies were voting with their eyes," Professor Hespos said. "Adults were glossing over the distinction that the babies were actually detecting."

The research shows that there appears to be a universal core of meaningful distinctions that all humans share, at least in infancy. "The babies seem to be equipped with all the concepts, not only the ones we use in English," Dr Spelke said. (Los Angeles Times) (July 27, 2004 )

ESL Program Struggling in Korea
The JoongAng Daily reported at the weekend on English education in Korea, where it has grown into a $3-billion a year industry. But as in Japan, the results have been less than impressive, with Korea languishing in 110th in international ranking based on TOEFL scores. The English Program in Korea, or EPIK which was launched by the government in 1995 and modelled largely on the JET Program, was "marked from the start by disorganization, miscommunication and allegations of corruption by its foreign teachers." The program "currently employs fewer than 300 teachers, representing less than 3% of the foreigners who come to Korea to teach English."
Teachers give bad grades to state-run ESL program ()

Two Osaka Universities Plan Merger
Osaka University and Osaka University of Foreign Studies (known as Osaka Gaidai), plan to merge in 2007, according to the presidents of both schools. Both state-run, the universities have a combined total of 23,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Gaidai, the smaller of the two with about 3,600 students, has seen declining annual government subsidies and has been having difficulty keeping its 24 language courses going. After the planned merger, the school wants to increase the number of courses and open a research center. With reforms of the third-level education system picking up steam, twenty-four national universities have already merged, but this would be one of the largest in terms of students and faculty. "The merger will upgrade our human resources and allow us to set up new departments and research programs that are in line with the times," Osaka University President Hideo Miyahara said. (July 26, 2004 )

Student Shortage Coming Sooner Than Expected
Japan's universities and colleges are facing a student shortage crisis earlier than previously expected. According to a report submitted last Friday to the Central Council of Education, the number of places available is expected to equal or exceed the number of applicants from 2007, two years earlier than the eduction ministry previously predicted. While this could in theory lead to 100% student placement, the draw of popular and prestigious institutions and competition among the private sector will likely mean a growing financial crisis for less popular schools.

Ministry predictions in 1997 assumed an increase in the percentage of secondary students going on to third level study would partially offset the decling birthrate and lead to a parity of places and applicants at 707,000 in 2009. But the the number of high school students going to tertiary education peaked at 49.1% at the end of the last decade rather than increasing to the 60% expected by 2006.

In the 2003 school year, 718,000 of 854,000 applicants for universities and colleges were accepted. Based on the latest figures, the ministry estimates that 699,000 students (57.5% of high school graduates and about 45,000 students reapplying after failing in previous years) would seek to enter higher education in 2007, about the same number of places available. ()

TOEIC 730+ Needed For Most Public Teaching Posts
The vast majority of municipal governments are using TOEIC scores when evaluating prospective junior and senior high school English teachers. A survey carried out by the Tokyo-based Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC) found that 54 of the 60 prefectural and major city governments give favorable consideration to applicants who had reached cetain test scores. The education ministry guideline says that teachers should have a minimum TOEIC score of 730. Some regional governments, such as Nagoya city and Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, are even more demanding, requiring a score of 900 or more. (July 23, 2004 )

Lesson Plan Award Winners
Winners of the 2nd Lesson Plan Award sponsored by the British Council were recently announced. The competion sought the best English team-teaching ideas on this year's theme of "Environment." Over 80 submissions were received from Japanese teachers and JET Program ALTs. The winners were:

1. Yumi Ohnishi & Julianne Dowell (New Zealand) - Nagano prefecture - "Plastic Bags and the Environment"
2. Junko Iwasaki & Judy Austin (Canada) - Miyazaki prefecture - "Environment Internet Interview"
3. Kiyomi Izumi & Matthew Coslett (U.K.) - Kanazawa prefecture - "Conservation Measures in Japan and England"

Among the prizes for the winners were return tickets to London on Virgin Atlantic and financial support for the school projects. ()

NIF Buys GABA
Venture capital firm NIF Ventures has bought English school GABA through its wholly-owned subsidiary NIF Capital Management. Established by Hideki and Karen Yoshino in 1995, GABA specializes in arranging "man-to-man" lessons between Japanese students and native-speaker teachers. GABA has over 600 staff and 24 schools centered around its Tokyo base, and has plans to expand to the Kinki and Chubu regions. Company sales were given as ¥3.8 billion in September 2003. Current president Chutatsu Aono will continue to run the company and there will be no major personnel changes. According to the Nikkei Shimbun, the buyout was for an amount in the region of several billion yen.
GABA web site (July 22, 2004 )

New English Test Launched in Korea
Herald Media Inc. and On-Korea.com this week signed an agreement to jointly promote a new proficiency test of English. According to the Korea Herald web site, TOSEL (Test of the Skills in the English Language) "incorporates logical thinking into general English-language skills to reflect the Korean education trend." The test targets elementary, middle and high school students and is divided into three skill levels, though the article says "the advanced level in particular, is designed to test the English ability of college students and business people."

"With the new test system, Korean students will be able to measure their English proficiency correctly and sharpen skills more effectively," said Hong Jung-wook, chairman and publisher of Herald Media, at a signing ceremony held Tuesday in Seoul. The test will be started in September and will be held monthly from 2006. On-Korea.com, described as "a leading online English education site", is in charge of handling test applications and management. The test is jointly developed and certified by the Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics, Korea University and Hanyoung Foreign Language High School.
TOSEL web site (Korean only) ()

Popular Aoyama Book Center Closes Doors
Aoyama Book Center has closed all seven of its outlets in and around the Tokyo area. Parent company Kurita Shuppan Hanbai filed three companies in the group for bankruptcy on July 16. The stores were popular with young people and their eclectic range catered for customers with unique tastes. With its selection of foreign and art books and magazines, it also had many foreign customers, particularly at its flagship Roppongi (photo) and Hiroo stores in central Tokyo. (Click photo for large version. Copyright Shinbunka Tsushinsha) (July 21, 2004 )

Refusal to Teach English Led to Bomb Hoax
A man who posted a message on the Internet threatening to blow up JR Tokyo Station because an Australian woman refused to teach him English was arrested Tuesday, police said. Akihiro Yoshida, a 26-year-old unemployed man from Showa-ku, Nagoya, has admitted to posting the bomb hoax under the Australian woman's name. "The woman refused to give me English lessons," officers quoted Yoshida as saying. "I was out to get some revenge." Yoshida logged on to one of Japan's biggest Internet chat sites, Channel 2, from a computer at a public facility in Nagoya several days before the House of Representatives elections in November last year. Using the name of the Australian woman, Yoshida wrote on the site's message board, "I'm going to blow up the Diet building on the day of the election, Nov. 9. I have also planted time bombs at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government hall and JR Tokyo Station." Yoshida has been accused of disrupting business operations as the prank prompted East Japan Railway Co. to deploy extra employees at Tokyo Station. (Mainichi Shimbun) ()

Peace As A Global Language III
The 3rd Peace As A Global Language conference will be held at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto from Friday, September 24 till Sunday, September 26, 2004. The conference aims to bring together educators, students, activists and NGOs to discuss issues related to peace and global issues. PGLIII features 9 two-hour panel sessions, approximately 70 one-hour concurrent sessions, a variety of poster sessions, displays, peace-related entertainment and feature sessions. Among the featured sessions are "The Silent Killers: The Global Issue of Landmines and UXOs" and "Women As peacemakers." Conference fees are:
Advance Registration: 3 days - ¥3,000; 1 day - ¥1,200; Students: 3 days - ¥800.
Onsite Registration: 3 days - ¥4,000; 1 day - ¥1,500; Students: 3 days - ¥1000; 1 day - ¥500
More information ()

Learning and Forgetting
In his latest Practical Linguist column in the Daily Yomiuri, Marshall Childs continues his theme of how children learn - and forget - language. He presents some interesting case studies of Japanese children who have moved between different language environments at different ages. The main ideas he presents are that the idea of one language being able to "kill off" another in young children is a fallacy; that in order to maintain skill in a language a child must not undergo a prolonged period of not using it; and that learning and forgetting happen quickly at an early age but decrease after the age of 7 or so.
Kids learn and forget quickly (July 20, 2004 )

A Japanophile is Born
A regional news web site in Missouri, U.S.A. reported on a local high school teacher who spent two weeks on a study tour in Japan recently as part of a Toyota International Teachers Scholarship. The four themes of the program are: education, culture and history, the environment, and industry and technology. Sandra Bullington spent time at a high school in Kyoto and a Toyota Skills Academy (senmon gakko). She writes about her encounters with both the people and the culture.
Trip to Japan was life-changing experience ()

Nova Hasn't Learned Lesson
Nova has again been ordered to refund fees to a student for unattended lessons. A 44-year old Tokyo woman took Japan's largest eikaiwa school operator to court to recover the money after she cancelled her enrollment at the school. The company operates a system under which students buy points which can be used for lessons and are good for three years, though points unused one year after enrollment are reduced by one-third. The woman cancelled her enrollment at the school and expected to be refunded in full. The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the woman, saying "It's not permissible to claim that reimbursement for lessons purchased in advance can't be made simply because a certain time limit has expired." Nova received an almost identical rebuke last year, when a 37-year old man in Shiga successfully recovered ¥700,000 in unused tuition fees after he took the matter to the Kyoto Summary Court.
Earlier story
Discuss it (July 16, 2004 )

Japan's English Lagging Behind E. Asian Neighbors
A survey released this week shows that Japanese high school and university students lag far behind their East-asian counterparts. Conducted by a group of Japanese researchers on commission from the Cabinet Office between October last year and February, the survey included students at two to four top high schools and universities in Japan, China, South Korea and Singapore. A report in yesterday's Daily Yomiuri focused mainly on the great advances made by Chinese students in science subjects, but also had this to say about the English results:

"The team said the Japanese students polled showed the poorest performance when it came to English. The Chinese students were found to be especially good at English reading comprehension, while the South Korean students were superior to the others in English listening comprehension. The average marks for the Japanese first-year high school students surveyed were the lowest in all sections of English proficiency, including vocabulary and grammar. The team noted that so-called advanced placement tests designed to help high school students increase their English skills have produced good results in China and Singapore. Japan should employ such tests to help boost English proficiency, the research team said."
Study: Chinese beat Japanese pupils in science (July 15, 2004 )

Oita School Breeds Enthusiasm
Tuesday's Daily Yomiuri ran an article on a primary school in Oita that has succeeded in creating a successful English curriculum. A former pilot school of English education, it is the only one of Oita city's 52 primary schools to have an ALT for every class. The article describes the types of activities used in English classes and how students are helped to apply what they learn in other settings, both in school and in the community.
Oita School Breeds Enthusiasm (link will expire) ()

Brenner Appointed Head of OIST
Nobel laureate Dr. Sydney Brenner has been formally appointed as the inaugural president of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), a graduate university to be established at Onna-son in Okinawa in 2007. Brenner was officially named at a meeting held in Tokyo yesterday, after which he paid a courtesy call to the official residence of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Koizumi repeated his hope that the new university will be a great boost for Okinawa and its economy.

The OIST aims to become a world-class center of education and research specializing in the natural sciences. And with half of the faculty and students to be from overseas, it will be truly international. With this in mind, the government was keen to select a foreign Nobel laureate to head the school. The university will focus on cutting edge research into life systems, and because Dr. Brenner's work has had great impact in this field, he was the first choice for president. Born in South Africa, Dr. Brenner acquired his Ph.D. at Oxford University. He was one of the pioneers of molecular biology when it emerged as a field of study in the 1960s. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for his contribution to the establishment of genetic engineering. (July 14, 2004 )

So You Wanna Be An English Teacher In Japan Huh!
Yet another article aimed at those thinking about coming to teach English in Japan. Short on detail, to the point where there's not much useful information of any kind (it's on a site called "UselessKnowledge.com"!), it is simply one teacher's take on whether or not it's coming to Japan is a good move. Still, it may be of interest to those yet to make the jump.
So You Wanna Be An English Teacher In Japan Huh! ()

Obituary: Lexicographer R.W. Burchfield
Yesterday's International Herald Tribune carried an obituary for Robert Burchfield, renowned lexicographer and former Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1971 to 1984. He died on July 5 after suffering from Parkinson's disease for some time. Burchfield was best known for overseeing the OED's four-volume supplement, a 6,000-page project that took 29 years to complete. The supplement included obscentities and racial epithets, leading to a court case and even death threats against Burchfield. "He was also known for his unorthodox edition of the grammarian's bible, Fowler's Modern English Usage, which provoked heated, hyperarticulate debate when it appeared in 1996."
R.W. Burchfield, guardian of the English language (July 13, 2004 )

Hiroshima Comic Story Translated into English
"Hadashi no Gen" (Barefoot Gen), a well-known Japanese comic book series about a boy who survived the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, has been entirely translated into English for publication shortly in the United States, its translators said Saturday. The 10-volume saga, portraying the life of a boy named Gen before and after the horrific explosion in 1945, was translated by a group of mainly housewives in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. (Kyodo News) ()

It's Poring Rein!
Research for the new Concise Oxford English Dictionary, published last week, found that the most commonly confused homonym on the internet is diffuse/defuse, found in some 50% of examples on its 300-million word database.

Second commonest is uncertainty over when to use "rein" or "reign", found in 26% of examples, as in "A taxi driver had free reign to charge whatever he likes". Third most frequent (21%) is "tow" instead of "toe", as in "Some pointed to his refusal to tow the line under Tony Blair". Fourth (12%) is "pouring" instead of "poring", as in "He spent his evenings pouring over western art magazines".

Angus Stevenson, of OUP dictionaries, said: "This seems to be something of a new situation. These errors are occurring in texts that are otherwise quite well spelt, possibly because of the increasing use of spellcheckers. Spellcheckers can tell you whether a word is correctly spelt - but not whether it is properly used. "Also, we find that people are picking up words and phrases from the media and bolting them together into fully formed sentences." (July 12, 2004 )

Keio Tops Business School Rankings
Hitotsubashi University's Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, which teaches all its daytime courses in English, was ranked No.2 in a survey of corporations by The Nikkei Business Daily. The school was highly rated for its international orientation. Topping the rankings was Keio University's Graduate School of Business Administration. In third place was Globis Management School, the only school in the rankings that is run by a private-sector company. The survey was conducted from May 31 through June 11 and asked about 230 major Japanese companies to rate domestic business schools, with 85 firms providing valid responses. (From a Nikkei story) ()

Guide Dog Barred for not Speaking English
A blind Quebec student may sue a Canadian university that denied him entry to English classes because his guide dog responds only to French commands. Yvan Tessier was turned away from an English immersion course at the University of New Brunswick because he would be forced to give his dog, Pavot, instructions in French. Students in the course are expected to communicate only in English, at all times, during the intensive five-week course. That includes talking to the dog. "I feel a little bit frustrated and sad about the situation," Tessier said. "They don't have the openness of spirit to understand that it's better for me and my mobility to operate with my guide dog. It's only 17 commands in French, it won't compromise the English program." Tessier said he would file a complaint with the human rights commission if the university stuck to its decision.

The university said it turned Tessier away because it did not have enough time to prepare for his special needs. It said he can join the program once Pavot learns English commands. "In the past, the service has been provided that we do teach their guide dogs commands in English, so the dog learns English as well," a university spokeswoman told CBC Television. Tessier said it would take too long to teach Pavot English commands. It is also considered dangerous to teach the dog new commands just as Tessier arrives in unfamiliar surroundings. (From a Reuters story) (July 09, 2004 )

Can a Continuous English Curriculum be Realized?
Today's Japan Times reports on efforts to create an integrated English curriculum that will take students from elementary school right through university. The Central Council for Education, which advises the education ministry, is to decide by next March on whether English should be officially included in the curriculum for younger students. Already, according to the ministry, 88% of the country's 22,526 public elementary schools had English activities as of fiscal 2003. The JT article looks at the trials being carried out at a school in Chiba prefecture which is a state-designated research and development school. Results achieved by this and other pilot schools are being closely watched by both the government and academics. Some experts predict a difficult time ahead if an continuous curriculum for all grades is decided upon, saying that efforts over the last forty years have failed to produce a seamless curriculum between junior and senior high school.
Lack of continuity in English teaching hit (July 08, 2004 )

On This Day...
If you're looking for a teaching idea for today, you could make use of the fact that it was on July 8, 1853 that U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay with two armed frigates - the so-called "Black Ships" - to persuade Japan to open up to the West after more than 200 years of seclusion. Or for something a bit more gory, it was on this day in 1889 that John L. Sullivan took all of 75 rounds to defeat Jake Kilrain in the last bareknuckle world heavyweight boxing match, held in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Wall Street Journal first rolled off the presses on the same day. ()

Talking Picture Books Online
Two companies in the Softbank group have launched a new site that allows users to listen to "hyper picture books." Members can select titles from a library of picture books and can choose to have BGM with or without narration in Japanese or - in some cases - English. Softbank Media & Marketing and SBMM Creative launched the Ohanashi Ehon Club service on July 1. It is aimed at children aged 3-6 and their parents. Membership is ¥997 per month, reduced to ¥525 until September 30.
Ohanashi Ehon Club ()

Barely Managing
Yesterday's Japan Times carried on article that highlighted the trials and tribulations of Japanese management staff at English language schools. Citing GEOS in particular, the article pointed out that many school managers, the vast majority of whom are women, work under extreme and constant pressure to make sales and meet quotas. As the article says, "The dream of working in an international environment can become a nightmare for Japanese women." It mentioned one court case where GEOS was forced to shell out ¥300 million for unpaid overtime. A GEOS spokesperson defended its policies, saying the it gives women a chance to start a career.
(As an ex-school manager, my wife contributed to the article. - ed.)
Barely Managing (July 07, 2004 )

Matsuoka Creating Ace Students
A Japan Today profile of former top tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka (36) tells how he teaches young kids to play the sport using English. He hopes to help the children break down the cultural and language barriers that prevent many Japanese from reaching the top at an international level (Matsuoka himself reached No.46 in the world). He explains, "Their English doesn't have to be perfect. I want them to realize that making mistakes isn't anything to be ashamed of. I want them to be more confident about the power of passion hidden inside them."
Matsuoka serves a few aces at Japan's cultural barriers ()

Most Japanese Can Do Without "Initiative"
78% of respondents to a poll say they have been embarrassed over some loanwords or abbreviations that they cannot understand, according to the National Institute for the Japanese Language. The poll, taken last autumn, found that older people are far less familiar with loanwords - most of which are borrowed from English. More than half of respondents are against any further increase in loanwords, a policy that has the support of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Asked about the advantages of loanwords, respondents cited ease of communication, freshness and a sense of sophistication. Disadvantages mentioned included possible misunderstandings, the adverse effect on Japanese language traditions, the difficulty of pronunciation and adverse impact on English learning. In its latest report released last week, the institute's loanword committee provided possible Japanese alternatives for 33 loanwords including "initiative," "skill," "stereotype" and "domestic violence," in addition to 109 words covered by two earlier reports. It has given up trying to devise any Japanese alternatives for "online," "database" and "forum," leaving them to be used as they are. (from a Kyodo article) (July 06, 2004 )

Government-sponsored National Competition
The education ministry has announced a second period for applications to take part in the national "Manabinpick" (a combination of "manabu", to learn, and "Olympics"). The deadline for submissions is July 28. The event seeks to find the most effective ideas and methods for increasing student motivation that have been in practice since last year. A ministry approval stamp of approval can result in considerable proactive support. So far there have been 19 approvals, of which two relate to English: the 4th English Speech Contest, sponsored by Asia University; and "ThinkQuest@Japan", a national contest to develop Web-based educational content, sponsored by Japan Association for Promotion of Internet Application in School Education (JAPiAS).
Manabinpick (Japanese) (July 05, 2004 )

ETJ Events for Teachers of Children
Upcoming ETJ regional events for teachers of children in Sendai and Saitama this Sunday, July 4th.

ETJ-Saitama
Theme: 'Teaching pronunciation to young learners' (Setsuko Toyama)
Location: Sakuragi Kominkan,1-10-18, Sakuragicho, Omiya, Saitama
Time: 2-5pm
For more info, contact: Aurora Dobashi


ETJ-Sendai
Themes: 'TPR? It isn't that simple', 'English only? Is it that simple?', 'TPR theory', 'Practical usage of TPR in the classroom' (Chris Cuadra / John Wiltshier)
Location: 28F El Solar, AER Building
Time: 2-5pm
For more info, contact: John Wiltshier
ETJ Web Site (July 02, 2004 )

Everything to Live For
The story of Simon Britten is one that seemed so full of potential yet ended all too sadly. An English teacher in Hiroshima, the young triathlete from New Zealand died of a rare cancer earlier this year at the age of 22. A Business studies graduate and fluent in Japanese, he had recently been promoted to manager, one of the youngest for his company. He continued to train and race hard and, despite a series of mysterious ailments and the discovery of cancer, he made it a goal to become the first person to complete an ironman event on one lung. However, the difficult surgery he underwent in Sydney didn't go well and the next day the young man was dead. A memorial service was held for him by friends in Hiroshima, who floated paper lanterns, a New Zealand flag and a rugby ball down the river.
Everything to Live For ()

Window to the Seoul
In his regular column in the Korea Times - Korea, Up Close & Personal - Jeffrey Miller talks about his experiences as an English conversation teacher in Seoul. He sees his students as a "window on Korea" and enthuses about the advantages his chosen profession offers someone who wants to travel and see the world. He adds that he has seen an improvement in his students' English abilities over the last 14 years.
My Students ()

Website Design Service For English Teachers
Website Design Japan is a new service for English language schools and teachers who lack the time or expertise to create their own online presence. With a complete design, translation and hosting package costing only ¥57,000 for two years, the service is affordable even for individuals. "It all came about because I built and own a successful ESL kids website (www.eslkidstuff.com)," said spokesman Jeremy Cowling, a teacher in Kobe for over eight years. "I get so many emails asking me how to go about setting up and building websites - a lot of them are from foreigners who own small English language schools in Japan."
Website Design Japan (July 01, 2004 )

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