The Latest News in ELT

August 2004

Expert on Early Reading Education Dies
Theodore W. Clymer, an expert who successfully challenged many common myths of early reading education, died after a long illness at his home in Carmel, California, on July 25. He was 77. (photo dates from around 1967, copyright University of Minnesota).

In 1963, Dr. Ted Clymer made a big impact in the education community with his study on phonic generalizations. He analyzed 45 such generalizations commonly used by elementary teachers to teach children to read and found that only 18 of them were accurate more than 75 percent of the time.

The example often used to explain his study is... (August 19, 2004 )

Shane Wins Government Contracts
Shane Language Services, the arm of Shane English Schools that specializes in outside-lessons training, has won its first ever government contracts‚ to place Assistant Language Trainers (ALTs) into the Japanese school system. The first was to supply 16 high schools in the Saitama area - Shane was chosen above 5 other competitors who also tendered for such business. The second was to supply 19 elementary and junior high schools in the Funabashi area. In total Shane now provides tuition to over 20,000 students in 39 schools. Shane teacher Roderick Campbell was described by a member of the Funabashi Board of Education as "the best ALT the school has ever had." Jason Pietro Dominici, Director of Shane Language Services, said, "When a Board of Education requests training for their teachers in EFL methodology, this is indeed a major recognition and endorsement of Shane's quality standards in the industry." (August 06, 2004 )

Watch What You Write
A Japanese man on a domestic flight in the U.S. was arrested after he was seen writing down the words "suicide bomb," but he was released without charge after explaining that it was an impromptu English exercise. The 60-year-old businessman told investigators he came across the words in a newspaper and wanted to look up their meaning, said a police spokeswoman. "He teaches himself English by reading newspapers," she said. "It was all just a miscommunication." The man was aboard United Airlines flight to Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday when a fellow passenger spotted the words and alerted an attendant. The flight returned to Chicago, where the man was taken into custody and all of the other 120 passengers were taken off the plane and rescreened. Investigators also searched the plane. "Nothing panned out and he was released," police said. (August 05, 2004 )

Yohan to Bail Out Aoyama Book Center
Nippon Yosho Hanbai, known by the abbreviation Yohan, is to take over management of Aoyama Book Center, which recently filed for bankruptcy under the Civil Rehabilitation Law at the Tokyo District Court. Yohan, as Japan's largest distributor of Western books, was hit by the closure of ABC's seven stores in Tokyo and nearby Kanagawa prefecture, and plans to rehabilitate the debt-ridden company. According to a statement yesterday by Yohan president Hiroshi Kagawa, the company will acquire 80% of ABC's issued shares from distributor Kurita Shuppan Hanbai, whose bankruptcy filing was accepted on July 30. Yohan has already injected capital to cover personnel and rent fees and plans to reopen four of the stores for business sometime during August or September. The acquisition of shares is to take place following the settlement of asset values and the agreement of creditors. The acquisition amount and any changes in staff have yet to be decided. (August 03, 2004 )

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