The Latest News in ELT

July 2005

Eikaiwa on Your iPod
Sourcenext yesterday announced a pair of new software products for learning English conversation on an Apple iPod and other MP3 players. "MP3 Eikaiwa Bijinesu-hen" and "MP3 Eikaiwa Puraibeito-hen" can be used on a computer or audio player. Localized from products created by American company English Vitamin, they are aimed at Japanese who want to simulate or prepare for life in the US. The "business" version includes a "Business Trip to Silicon Valley" among its total of over 126 hours of lessons. The "private" version focuses more on daily life and includes the "Road to American Social Skills." It has over 156 hours of lesson content. Both versions include texts in PDF format, with Japanese translations. Some iPod models can also allow the text material to be viewed on screen. The products will go on sale August 26 and retail for ¥1980.
Sourcenext MP3 Eikaiwa
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Interprog Release New Book for Leap Pad
Interprog this week announced a new book for the Leap Pad ® learning system aimed at 5th and 6th graders. The "Junior Horizon Hi, English! Book 2" is a follow up to Book 1, aimed at 3rd and 4th graders and released last year. The company envisages the product being used in school classrooms as part of the ongoing expansion of English in the elementary school curriculum. The Leap Pad ® system (created by US company Leap Frog) uses special books and cassettes which are connected to a player and, using a stylus pen, allow for interactive reading and listening activities. The book and cassette retail for ¥5,040 (player sold separately).
Interprog website (Japanese)
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Yohan to Launch Extensive Reading Series
Book distributor Yohan Inc. is to launch a library of English readers aimed at beginner to intermediate students. The titles in the "Yohan Ladder Series" include classic titles from Japan and abroad, such as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Kenji Miyazawa's The Night of the Milky Way Train, but also modern best-sellers and even business titles. The 40 books are published by Tokyo-based IBC Publishing, and a further eight titles will be added in August. The books are categorized into five color-coded levels, with Level 1 aimed at junior high school students with a 1,000-word vocabulary, a TOEIC score of 300 or a STEP Level of 4; Level 2 (1,300 words - TOEIC 350 - STEP Level 3); Level 3 (1,600 - TOEIC 400 - STEP Pre-Level 2); Level 4 (2,000 - TOEIC 470 - STEP Pre-Level 2); and Level 5 (TOEIC 470 - STEP Level 2) has no vocabulary limit. Each book has a vocabulary list with Japanese translations. The titles retail from ¥735 each or the full series of 40 books can be purchased for ¥33,915. Some books also have audio support available online.
Yohan website (Japanese)
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Private Universities Struggle to Fill Classes
The ratio of applicants to places at private universities fell again this year, according to Asahi.com. The latest figure, released on Monday by a group that supports private schools, dropped for the third year in a row to 109.9%, more than 10 percentage points down from 1990. The figure was calculated from the total of 473,714 applicants for 431,037 places (though the number of new students was actually up by 0.8%). An all-time high 160 schools, 5 more than last year and about 30% of the nationwide total, were unable to achieve full enrollment. Junior colleges, which last year had a placement ratio over 100% for the first time in six years, fell back below that level again to 99.6%. Historically the highest ratio for a private university has been 243%, while this year has seen one university filling only 14% of places.
Article in Japanese
Daily Yomiuri article - 160 private colleges fail to fill student rolls (link will expire)
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18-year Old Prodigy Arrives on JET Program
At age 18, Raka Banerjee is not only already a graduate of the University of Washington, she is also believed to be the youngest ever participant on the JET program, according to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. After graduating last month with a double major (international studies and comparative history of ideas), the gifted daughter of Indian emigres arrived Saturday to become an assistant English teacher at junior high schools in Kasai City, near Kobe. She was one of 60 JETs arriving from the Washington area. While in Japan, Banerjee plans to apply to law schools back in the US.
At 18, gifted UW grad youngest ever chosen for Japan exchange program
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Shane Opens More New Schools
Shane English School Japan has a number of new schools opening around the country. The new Shane locations include Kyodo and Odakyu-Sagamihara in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which opened in June and July respectively. A school will also open in Tsurukawa next month. August will also see the opening of two more schools in the Nagoya region, at Mikawa-anjo and in the central PARCO department store next to Nagoya Station. The company envisages that with its predominant location, the PARCO school will become the flagship Shane English School for the Nagoya district.

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ELS to Open Prep School for High-Flying High Schoolers
ELS Japan recently announced that it will open a preparatory school for the growing numbers of high school students hoping to enter US or top-level Japanese universities where strong English ability is a requirement. In addition to a standard English curriculum, students will study such topics as interview technique, discussion and presentation skills, and essay writing, as well as TOEFL and SAT test preparation where necessary. ELS aims to have about 100 students enrolled within the first year and expects the annual expense to be between ¥600-700,000. The school is scheduled to open in the autumn in the Shinjuku Green Tower Building in Tokyo.
ELS Japan website (Japanese)
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Listening Test Audio Devices Unveiled
The audio devices which will be used from next January in the English test of the national university entrance exams were recently unveiled. The "IC Player" was demonstrated to members of the media at the Meguro Ward, Tokyo test center last Thursday. The device measures 9cm x 6cm x 2cm and has just three buttons - a power switch, a "check" (kakunin) button and a "play" button - and a volume control. Students will receive a memory card which they insert into the device. The playback-only device allows students to listen to the test questions twice. While most listening tests have used a broadcast system over speakers in the testing rooms, the new system will ensure that every student can enjoy the same sound quality. Any student who experiences technical problems with the listening device will be allowed to retake the test on the same day. The new 30-minute listening section of the test accounts for 50 points, and will be taken after the 80-minute written test (200 points). The new section has caused a shift in focus for teachers and students preparing for the so-called "sentaa shiken," which is taken by over half a million students every year. (photo copyright Yomiuri Shimbun. Click here to enlarge)
Article in Japanese (link will expire)
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Kagoshima Hoteliers Brushing Up Their English
Hotel staff in the hot spring resort of Ibusuki in Kagoshima Prefecture are brushing up their English conversation skills in an effort to lure more foreign guests, according to Asahi.com. Classes are taught by Andrew Murrell, a 31-year old Englishman who came to Japan as an ALT in 1997 and runs an English school in the town. In the first lesson, students practised the rhythms of English with the aid of a drum. They will also learn how to take reservations by telephone, give a tour of their facilities, and explain the menu in English. Currently, 17 students are taking lessons once a week, which will continue until October. The course was organized by the local hotel business cooperative.
Article in Japanese
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First Wave of New JETs Arrive
The first orientations for new arrivals on the JET Program started in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo at the weekend. The Tokyo Orientation began on Saturday and will continue until Wednesday, after which the participants will spread out to their posts across the country. There will be two further orientations, later this month and into August. This year, there will be a total of 5,853 people from 44 countries taking part in the program, including the usual 3,000 or so new arrivals. The total is down from 6,103 in the 2004-05 year. The participants are divided into three categories: Assistant Lantguage Teachers (ALTs), who make up about 91% of the total; Coordinators of International Relations (CIRs), who account for about 8%; and a couple of dozen Sports Exchange Advisors (SEAs).
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Getting Off to a Good Start
Today's Daily Yomiuri includes the latest "Indirectly Speaking" feature from Mike Guest. He looks at the problems inherent in assuming that all sentences in English begin with a subject that is a concrete noun or personal pronoun. Such an assumption can have Japanese speakers getting off to a "false start" in forming a sentence, and result in stilted or mistaken sentence patterns. He looks at the difficulty students have with becoming comfortable using "existential or dummy" sentence heads -- "There were..." or "It's..." -- and how teaching them "thematic markers" ("In terms of X..." "As for...") can help them be more flexible and worry less about sticking to S-V-O sentence patterns.
English and the art of making a good start (link will expire)
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Many Students Not Prepared for University Study
A recent survey has shown that over 60% of private third-level teachers think that their students lack basic academic abilities, according to the Daily Yomiuri. The number is an increase of more than 20% over the last survey six years ago. The survey included responses from 28,000 full-time teachers at private universities and junior colleges, about 36% of the national total, and was carried out by the Japan Universities Association for Computer Education.
60% of university teachers say students lack basic abilities (link will expire)
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Materials Writing Contest for English Teachers in Japan
The Materials Writers Special Interest Group of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) has organised its first contest of original ideas for English teaching materials. To submit an entry for the contest, it's necessary to sign up to be a member of the contest website in order to be able to upload and download files. An entry should be one complete unit or lesson and all entries must include at least one image. An image can be chosen from those on the site or can be your own pictures or clip art images. All entries must include information regarding the age and level of the students the lesson is for, as well as the goals and duration of the lesson.

Entries will be judged according to how well the lessons match the above, clarity of directions, and other criteria. The renowned author and teacher trainer, Marc Helgesen, will comment on submitted material. One of the judges is an editor from Thomson Publishing, and organizers are looking for teachers to also volunteer to act as judges. Prizes, which have yet to be decided, will be awarded to winners. The deadline for submitted ideas is Sept. 15. For more information, see the website below or send e-mail to the organizers.
Materials Writing Contest
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One-stop Forum for Publishing Research Work
Minnesota-based Global Commerce & Communication, Inc. (GCCI) this week announced the launch of a one-stop efficient forum for publishing research and creative work from all disciplines. Scientific Journals International's open access electronic journals are available online free of charge. Unlike other online journals, SJI does not limit access through registration or subscription. The initiative is driven by a desire to "assist researchers, writers and artists to cope with the publish or perish reality that has been created by the policies of the academia and funding agencies." According to several surveys, a large majority of authors and researchers cite slow review process and publication delays in the current system as a major obstacle to their publishing objectives. Many have also expressed concerns about the fairness and integrity of the peer review process in traditional scholarly publishing. Some scholars have argued that there is a need to free the publication process for broader and fairer access.

Scientific Journals International (SJI) is the first global initiative that aspires to accomplish this objective. Due to its massive database and electronic archival capacity, SJI will maintain a significantly higher acceptance rate for research papers and creative works. GCCI believe that "researchers, writers and artists who have devoted months or years to a research/creative project, should not be shut out of the publication world simply because they did not follow certain procedural or stylistic rules and guidelines or because their work did not fit in. All traditional journals have very rigid stylistic or procedural policies that unduly create artificial barriers and in effect retard innovation and creativity."
Scientific Journals International website
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Reclusive North Koreans Tackling English Test
The news these days on North Korea tends to focus on nuclear threats and economic deprivation. But it seems that a growing number of its citizens are realizing the importance of English, according to the New Kerala website. North Koreans first encountered English at school in the 1960s, as part of a "knowing the enemy" programme that taught them phrases such as "capitalist running dog." But a fivefold increase in the last years in the number of North Koreans sitting the TOEFL test (almost 5,000 in July 2003-June 2004) indicates a somewhat more accommodating attitude. But only those living abroad can actually take the test, as it is administered in the US, with which the country has no diplomatic relations. Since 2000, state television has broadcast a weekly 10-minute English language learning segment. Soldiers are reportedly taught basic English and Japanese phrases, though the emphasis seems to be on phrases such as "Raise your hands." and "Don't move or I will shoot."
Reclusive North Koreans tackling English test
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Mother-Child Study Tours
Another article on parents -- usually mothers -- taking extended trips abroad so that their children can study English in its natural environment, this one from Asahi.com. The boom started almost as soon as plans were first discussed for introducing English into the elementary school curriculum. The mothers often leave husbands behind and can spend anything from two weeks to a year or more pursuing their own interests or working abroad, mostly but not entirely to give their kids a head start in foreign language learning.
Taking the overseas plunge into native English with mom in tow
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Okayama Seniors Speaking English - Without Using English
The head of a clinic in Okayama City has published a book for seniors that enables them to speak "English" without even knowing their ABC's, according to Asahi.com. The book, titled "Ima kara Osokunai, 80-sai no Eikaiwa" (It's Not Too Late, English Conversation for Over-80s), is written entirely in Japanese, with pronunciation approximating the English phrases. For example, "Good Morning" is written in a combination of kanji and hiragana, coming out as "Gu Mou-nin." The word "Welcome" is "Ueru-kamu" while "I introduce myself" is a stretch, but becomes "Ai Indo-no-Juusu Mai-Serifu." Clinic owner Tadashi Fujii has been teaching English conversation to visitors -- average age 83 and most of whom had never learned English -- since January 2003. The book is published by Bungeisha and sells for ¥1575.
Article in Japanese
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Kyushu Students Off to California
An Oita prefecture news site reported recently on an exchange program that sends junior high school students to the US for a month each summer. Later this month, ten 9th graders from schools in the town of Kusu will leave for Manteca in California. They will study English each morning at the local academic center, while afternoons will be spent visiting local schools, old people's homes and other field trips to places like Yosemite National Park and the state capital of Sacramento. Weekends will be spent with host families. The trip costs around ¥500,000, of which 40% is covered by the local government. The students spent two evenings a week over the last couple of months taking preparatory English conversation classes at the town hall.
Article in Japanese
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English Classes Not Being Taught in English
Public schools nationwide are not teaching English classes in English anywhere near to the extent set out in government guidelines, according to yesterday's Daily Yomiuri. The front page article reported on a recent education ministry survey which found that "only 4% of public middle schools...conduct a good portion of English lesson in English." Even high school classes that are supposed to focus on English communication skills are still predominantly taught in Japanese.

The February survey of about 10,200 middle schools and 3,800 high schools found that the number of schools where English was used in English classes more than half the time accounted for just 30%. For English 1 classes, a compulsory course for 10th graders, the number was a pitiful 1.1% (excluding those students studying international relations). Even the Oral Communication 1 course, which is meant to help 12th graders with their speaking and hearing skills, only 25.1% of high schools conducted classes in English.

The fundamental cause for the current situation can also be seen from the survey results. The standardized test scores of Japanese teachers of English clearly indicate that most are not equipped to communicate in English. Just over 8% of junior high school teachers and less than 20% of high school teachers have managed to reach the 730-point threshold on the TOEIC test, the level set by many companies for employees claiming to have "good English." Similar statistics were seen for teachers who have passed the pre-level 1 or level 1 of the STEP test (eiken).
Ministry survey finds schools' English teaching falling short (link will expire)
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English Listening Test Prep
Online education solutions provider Alps System Integration (ALSI) has a developed program to help students prepare for the English listening test on the national university entrance examination. Developed with Obunsha Digital Institute, the "Senta Shiken Eigo Listening Kanzen Koryaku" comes in two formats. One is compatible with ALSI's "SMART-HTML" e-learning system, used at many high schools, and will be sold on a licensing basis; the other is available through the company's educational portal site CHIeru.net for a ¥340 monthly fee. The program includes some 375 questions and allows for practice at two levels as well as mock tests. It goes on sale on August 19. The so-called "sentaa shiken," which is sat annually by some 520,000 applicants to over 560 universities and junior colleges, will include an English listening section from next year.
ALSI website
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Kids Can Study English Online During Vacation
Fourhalf Inc. is to launch a new service aimed at helping elementary school students brush up on their English at home during the summer vacation. The company's "English Channel" provides an online English conversation learning service using Internet video conferencing to link students in Japan with teachers in the Philippines. For a flat fee of ¥4,000 students can take unlimited 50-minute sessions for 30 days, and lessons have from one to a maximum of five students. Windows Media Player, a microphone, headset and web camera are all required. The new service, "Rajio Taiso no Ato wa Onrain Eikaiwa," will run from July 20 till August 31. During this period, the usual ¥10,000 registration fee can be reduced for two or more students enrolling at the same time. The usual kids-oriented service allows a maximum of two sessions per day, but during the summer vacation, this will be extended to allow full access between and 10am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. Fourhalf say they have a target of 200 member signups during the summer campaign.
English Channel website
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Shinagawa Moves to a 4-3-2 Beat
Shinagawa Ward in Tokyo is to revamp the standard 6-year, 3-year elementary-junior high school program at all public schools from next spring. It will create a new 4-3-2-year continuous curriculum that includes teaching English from the first grade. The system of different teachers for each subject will be introduced from the fifth grade. A major reason for the change is the recent increase in truancy among students who have just graduated from elementary school to middle school. The fifth and sixth grade curriculum will return to the number of classroom hours that was standard before the "yutori kyoiku" system was introduced in 2002. The ward is making the change under its special deregulation zone status.
Article in Japanese
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Otoha Student #1 at New Gaba School
Celebrity Otoha (24) was named as the first student at the new Gaba "learning studio" in Ginza on Tuesday. Speaking at the PR event to promote the opening of the school, the pin-up "idol" said she hopes to develop enough English conversation ability to be able to interview Hollywood stars and to travel abroad alone. This despite the fact that she and popular comedian Takashi Fujii (33) recently gave a highly publicized press conference to announce their engagement. They will hold their wedding reception on July 30. Fujii has become even more visible in the last couple of years with his Matthew Minami character, even appearing alongside Bill Murray in the Hollywood movie "Lost in Translation."
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From Texas to Chiba
A Texas news site ran an article recently on local women who will soon be doing a stint as ALTs in Yachiyo City in Chiba Prefecture. Each year, the Sister Cities International program sends a small group of young women from Tyler, Texas to teach English. They "help teachers in Japanese municipal schools teach proper English. The teaching contract is for a year, but it can be renewed to allow them to spend up to three years in Japan." (though the article doesn't specify, this would appear to be part of the JET Program).
Assistant Teachers Prepare for Japan Trip
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Conference on World Englishes at Purdue U.
The 11th annual meeting of the International Association for World Englishes Conference will take place at Purdue University on July 21-23. According to a university press release, "about 200 writers, scholars and teachers in communication, language, education, rhetoric, sociology and political science will talk about language rights, economic and cultural globalization effects on language, English language media effects, literary creativity, English educational policies and linguistic purism and discrimination." The conference theme is "The Multiple Expressions of World Englishes," and it will specifically focus on the role English is playing in Third World countries.
English Sounds Like One Language, but It's Really Not
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Kagawa Gov. Bids JETs Farewell
Kagawa prefectural governor Takeki Manabe bade farewell Tuesday to 28 JETs from five countries who recently completed their contracts in the region, according to the Shikoku News. "Through English education, you taught our children about the outside world. I hope you will continue to be active in many fields," he said before presenting each JET with an olive medallion. One American JET, who worked for five years at the Tosan Board of Education, said "Kagawa is the smallest prefecture in Japan, but it has broadened my horizons. I'll always remember and treasure the last five years." The governor also presented a thank-you letter and mementoes to American David Gotsill and Briton Samuel Rosen, who worked in international relations for the last three years.
Article in Japanese
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GKA English-Immersion School Tackling Problems
Yesterday's Daily Yomiuri carried a feature article on the Gunma Kokusai Academy, one of the first projects launched under the government's special deregulation zone scheme. The school, in Ota city, is one of the very few in Japan to offer an English immersion program for elementary school students. Indeed, Vice Principal Haruki Inoue is a former employee of Katoh Gakuen in Shizuoka Prefecture, the country's first such school. Most lessons, other than Japanese and social studies, are taught by native-English speakers. GKA currently has 106 students in first grade and 59 fourth graders, with both grades divided into three classes. First-grade classes have proved the more difficult to manage, as the students are new to the primary school system and have to get used to spending half the day speaking in English. The school ultimately plans to provide a unified 12-year program that covers primary to senior high school.

One of the problems the school has faced has been the difficulty of finding enough qualified teachers, and Principal Eugene Cooper has had to help out in some classes. According to Inoue, a high turnover rate of teachers was also a problem at Katoh Gakuen, with the average teacher staying just 18 months. Another serious issue is funding. The prefectural government usually provides subsidies amounting to ¥270,000 per pupil to private schools. But as GKA was the brainchild of Ota Mayor Masayoshi Shimizu, it was decided that the city should bear the brunt of expenses, and the prefecture provides just ¥43,000 per student. As yet, there is no campus for the high school, so the question of funding looms large for both staff and parents.
Gunma Pref. school pioneers English-language immersion
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Genki English Puts Video Workshops Online
With all the teaching workshops available in Japan, traveling to them can be very time consuming. So Richard Graham from GenkiEnglish.com has recorded his entry level workshops and has put them online as broadband videos. "It's always fun doing workshops", said Richard, "but I want to start doing new ideas and techniques. This way people can watch the basics online, then come along to a live workshop to see all the new and exciting stuff." The videos last an hour and cover warming up, introducing new material, as well as songs and games. They are expected to be popular with new ALT teachers who will have to start teaching in September with little or no help or training.
GenkiEnglish.com
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¥100,000 in Prizes in "Amazing English Hunt 2005"
The hunt is on! The "Amazing English Hunt 2005" is a search for the most remarkable, silly, incomprehensible or inspiring English in Japan. Called the "Bikkuri Eigo Tankentai" in Japanese, the competition is an attempt to raise awareness of how and where English is used all round us in this country. The hope is not only that poor or inappropriate English usage will be reduced, but also that good and creative usage will be recognized. Examples can be submitted through the ELT News site or by fax (or in Japanese at eigoTown.com) and should, wherever possible, include photographic or print evidence. The competition is sponsored by ELT News, eigoTown and the English-Speaking Union of Japan (ESUJ), who will be providing a total of ¥100,000 worth of prizes. Entries are accepted until October 31, and winners will be announced in November.
Amazing English Hunt
Bikkuri Eigo Tankentai(Japanese)
2003 competition winners
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May the Force be With You (in the Classroom)
With the new Star Wars movie -- "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" -- breaking box office records in Japan, teachers may be interested in directing their students to a new article from eigoTown, "Everything About Star Wars," and perhaps basing lessons on the Star Wars movies and the culture that has grown up around them. The article contains a lot of information about Star Wars and English-speaking culture, and has a lot of language work and a Star Wars quiz in English.
eigoTown.com
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Think Tank Columnist Challenges the Tsuyu Blues
Does tsuyu (rainy season) have you and your students feeling down? Think Tank columnist/ English Firsthand author Marc Helgesen challenges it with a smile. He has posters in his university classroom that say, "Please smile. You're probably the only sunshine we'll see today." (Click here to download your copy). Marc says, "I don't think this is going to cure the blues, but it at least points out that we can be in charge of our own feelings. I'm mean, the birds still sing during rainy season. Why don't we? Have you ever noticed that smiles are as contagious as yawns? If you smile, the other person smiles back."
Marc's most recent Think Tank column on "Happiness"
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Misawa First Aomori City to Become Special English Zone
The city of Misawa is the first in Aomori Prefecture to be granted special zone status related to English teaching. The city applied in May for government approval to introduce English conversation lessons into the elementary school curriculum, and was one of a total of 61applications, in various categories, approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. The city will introduce English at all elementary schools from next April. Students will have lessons once a week, or about 35 classroom hours of English per year.
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Former Nova Teacher Wins Court Decision
A 48-year old Australian former teacher at Nova has won his lawsuit against the major language school operator, who fired him in 2001 for socializing with a female student in contravention of his contract. According to the Asahi.com website, the Osaka High Court recently ordered the company to rescind its disciplinary dismissal of the teacher and pay him ¥1 million in compensation. The teacher had been seeking ¥5 million, claiming that the dismissal was a human rights abuse.

According to the findings of an earlier trial at the Osaka District Court last December, the former teacher had been socializing with a female student since 2000. But the following year, the student complained to Nova that the teacher had turned up at her home, leading the school to fire the teacher. The district court ruled that a comprehensive ban on socializing was not socially acceptable, but that as the teacher had reportedly telephoned the student repeatedly, the contract clause could be upheld. The teacher appealed that decision to the high court. In June, the presiding judge advised a settlement, which was reached on July 4. In a statement, Nova said, "We don't have a practice of forbiding all socializing between teachers and students, and we think the first court decision recognized the propriety of our regulations. The woman and the former teacher have already reached a reconciliation, so we see no need to consider with the court case."
Article in Japanese
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Teacher Caught Red-Handed Painting the Town Black
Police in Fukuoka arrested a 26-year American last Thursday on charges of "damaging a structure," according to Saturday's Mainichi Shimbun. Antonio Reed Jnr., who police say gave no address and claimed to be an English teacher, was caught spray painting graffitti on an apartment building in the center of the city at about 4:50am. The building is in the Daimyo area of Chuo ward and is occupied by personnel from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. Reed is said to have painted an area some 2m high and 8m wide in black paint. He says he recently arrived in Japan and has no idea about the "rakugaki." The report said he wasn't in possession of an airline ticket or an alien registration card.
Article in Japanese
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More English Mustering
In his latest "Practical Linguist" column in the Daily Yomiuri, Marshall Childs continues his theme of "mustering up" a second language, looking at the teacher's role in helping students to achieve success. He sees confidence, or lack of doubt, on the part of both the teacher and the student as a vital requirement. Quoting a teacher who is developing an ABLE (action-based language empowerment) teaching approach, he says it's necessary to get learners ready to "tolerate" a new way of communicating. In particular, using something that the students likes - a type of music, for example - can help break down psychological resistance to learning a "difficult" subject. Childs also talks about the importance of interjections, grunts, murmurs and other language chunks that facilitate conversation but are often dismissed as grammatically insignificant. He sees them as empowering tools that allow even beginner level students to feel part of an English conversation.

Teaching learners to muster up a second language (link will expire)
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Learn English With Manga
Toy and card manufacturer MegaHouse is to release a set of card for anime fans who want to learn English. "Gundam Seed/Destiny" and "Bleach" are two of the most popular manga/anime series of recent years, and MegaHouse will release a set of cards for each that uses visuals and lines from famous scenes to teach English vocabulary. The English content of the cards, which are aimed at junior and senior high school students, was compiled with the cooperation of major eikaiwa school operator ECC. The cards also come with a red see-through overlay card to allow students to check their memorization of keywords. The Gundam cards retail at ¥357 for a set of 10. The Bleach set has 31 cards, 30 of which have English, and sells for ¥1050. Both go on sale at the end of July. (July 08, 2005 )

Seminars a Survival Tool for English Teachers
An article in the Japan Times last month seemed to slip through our net, but is still available online. It looked at the popularity of seminars for English teachers in Japan seeking to improve their skills and qualifications. The article cites a rapid decline in the popularity of English learning, saying this is the main reason for an increasing number of teachers "fearing for their livelihoods." The seminar featured in the article was the regular one-day "Certificate in Teaching Japanese Students," run by the 7000-member English Teachers in Japan (ETJ). Presenters David Paul, Rob Waring, Maurice Jamall and Tim Murphy all gave their comments on the current state of ELT in Japan, the declining fashionability of studying English, and the move away from teaching adults to teaching more and more young students.
Seminars help teachers survive tough times
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Kurobe to Apply for Special English Zone Status
Kurobe City and the town of Unazuki, both in Toyama Prefecture, are planning to apply to the national government for deregulatory zone status focusing on English from the elementary school level, according to the Chunichi Shimbun. Board of Education members from the two municipalities, which are planning to merge under the name Kurobe City next year, recently produced a leaflet explaining their plans and sent it to all homes in the district with young children. The plan calls for one class a month at first and second grade, once a week for third and above in elementary school, with an emphasis on songs and games. In junior high school, there will be one "eikaiwa" lesson a week. Assistant teachers who specialize in English will be employed as well as native English-speaking ALTs at all levels. The two BoE's formed a planning committee in May and a group of 17 teachers are creating the curriculum. There will be an open symposium on August 7 in Kurobe, and the official application for special zone status will be filed in September.

The deregulatory zone scheme was launched in 2002. For an example of a typical application document, which includes background on the reason for the application as well as details of the plan, see this one submitted earlier this year by Suginami ward in Tokyo: view/download PDF file (in Japanese only).
Chunichi Shimbun article (Japanese)
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Award, Networking Event at British Council
Teachers are invited to attend an event at the British Council centre in Tokyo on Friday July 15 from 18:00 to 21:25. The event will feature two award ceremonies and will offer headteachers, teachers and people working in the field of education the opportunity to network informally over food and drink. The first award ceremony is for the EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges Video Clip Competition, which was co-financed by the European Commission and organised by the British Council, the Embassy of Ireland and the Goethe Institut. Students at junior and senior high schools all over Japan were asked to submit a 3-minute video clip explaining why they wanted to go to a European country. The winning entries in both the group and individual competitions will be shown, and participants will be asked to give their comments.

This will be followed by the award ceremony for the British Council's national lesson plan competition for teachers of English. This is an annual competition for participants on the JET Programme to work with their Japanese teachers of English on producing excellent and original lesson plans for team-teaching. Videos of the winning lesson plans being used in the classroom will be shown, and Ministry of Education judges will give their evaluation of the entries.

If you are interested in attending this event, please send a confirmation email with your name and name of your workplace to the British Council today, Wednesday July 6th.
Details of the lesson plan competition
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Chubu U. Students Spend Semester Down Under
A group of 20 second-year students from Chubu University in Nagoya recently returned from a semester at the University of New England in Australia, according to the The Armidale Express. The semester was a compulsory overseas-study component of their English language program, for which they will receive credit at Chubu. They spent a total of 288 classroom hours at the UNE's Language Training Centre. They also joined UNE linguistics students for lectures and discussions in an undergraduate unit called ‘cross-cultural communication study'. Professor Tadashi Shiozawa, Chairman of Chubu's Department of English Language and Culture, and Professor Taijiro Nonaka, director of the university's Centre for International Programs, travelled to Armidale in New South Wales for the students' farewell ceremony. The two colleges plan to begin student, and possibly staff, exchanges as early as next year.
The Armidale Express - Japanese students wowed by UNE
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More Bad News for Korean EFL
A couple of stories from South Korea. The Korea Times ran an article yesterday on "shocking" test scores, referring to a significant number of supposedly "excellent" English teachers who scored lower on the TOEIC test than the average for middle-school students. The article, subtitled "Incompetent Teachers, Wrong Methods Ruin English Education," cited the poor quality of many public school teachers as the main reason behind the growth on the private school industry and the increasing number of students going abroad to study.
Korea Times - Shocking Test Scores

A group of Korean students studying English in Canada were among those arrested in a recent major drug bust. 18 people, including seven EFL students, are being held by authorities in the Korean city of Suwon. Another eight Korean students were arrested in Canada and Japan, and are accused of trying to smuggle cocaine and methamphetamine into Australia and Japan. They are believed to have been hired to act as "mules" by organized crime operators in Canada. The street value of the drugs involved totals about US$250 million. Authorities in the three countries are working together with Korean prosecutors in a continuing investigation.
JoongAng Daily - Authorities bust up major drug smuggling ring
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9th Graders Get a Peek at What's Ahead
Students from Daigo Junior High School in Kyoto are getting a glimpse of what's ahead of them in their academic careers. Groups of 9th grade students are making brief visits to high schools in the city, studying topics not covered in their school's curriculum, as part of their "sogo gakushu" (integrated studies). Last Friday, a group of five students visited Nishi High School, which is affiliated with Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. In lessons given by foreign teachers, they learned practical English - including slang - which is a characteristic of the school's curriculum. The lessons were conducted entirely in English. They also heard from high school students about their experiences studying abroad. In the autumn, students will have to give a presentation on their findings at various schools during their own school's culture festival.
Discuss this on our message board (July 05, 2005 )

Seiko to Release New SR Dictionary
Seiko Instruments recently announced a new model of electronic dictionary with speech recognition capabilities in English, Chinese and Korean. The SR-V7130KR goes on sale on July 12. The various dictionaries and word compilations come on a separate card which is inserted into the dictionary. While the main sales point of the new unit seems to be its Korean language functions, it also includes Genius English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as well as the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (6th ed.) and the Concise Oxford Thesaurus (2nd ed.). It has an "open" price but retailers are expected to price it slightly above ¥40,000.
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Golfer's English Lets Her Down on World Stage
Speaking about her performance at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, Japanese pro golfer Shinobu Moromizato said the thing that struck her most strongly was her lack of English conversational skills. In matchplay, one important aspect is for player pairs to decide who should shoot first. Also in this particular tournament there is a local rule that practise putting is not allowed once players have holed out. The 18-year old Moromizato - the only amateur in the 64-player field - was scolded by her playing partner Emilee Klein on the latter point, but had trouble understanding. She felt that both she and her partner were irritated by the communication breakdown and promised to study English more on her return to Japan. She won on the first day but was knocked out on the second by Korean 13th seed Jeong Jang.
Discuss this on our message board (July 04, 2005 )

JET Program Orientations
Orientations for new arrivals on the JET Program will take place in Tokyo later this month and into August. The schedule is as follows:
Tokyo Orientation A: Saturday, July 23rd to Wednesday, July 27th
Tokyo Orientation B: Saturday, July 30th to Wednesday, August 3rd
Tokyo Orientation C: Wednesday, August 17th to Friday, August 19th

CLAIR Work shops, conducted in English, will include such topics as Behind the Scenes at School, Community Involvement & Making Friends, Independent Japanese Study, Japanese Etiquette for Beginners, Life as a Female JET, Life as a JET of African/Asian Descent and Thriving as a Rural JET. Workshops for SEAs, which are bilingual, include Your First Year as an SEA and Office Relationships.
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A 12-Year Old's Week in Japan
There was a feature article at the weekend in a local New York news website on a sixth grader's experience on a recent exchange program to Japan. 12-year old Ben Morrison spent a week in the city of Osa (presumably the one in Okayama Prefecture) including time at the school attended by the son of his host family. Ben was impressed by the good behavior of his Japanese counterparts and the niceness of the local people in general. As with many people his age, he was thriled to be in the land of anime and feudal castles. He learned about toilet slippers and yakiniku parties. What surprised him most about Japanese school life? The fact that students rather than janitors clean up after school.
Adventures in Japan
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Student Arrested in Knife Attack
One of the main stories on the national news last night was the arrest of a 17-year old high school boy for the attempted murder of a classmate. The 12th-grade boys are both in the English Course at the Kokusai (International) campus of Meitoku Gijuku High School, a prestigious school in Tosa, Kochi Prefecture. The boy, considered a capable and popular student, has admitted stabbing a classmate with a knife during a classroom fight, not killing him as he says he intended but leaving him seriously injured. The victim was rushed to hospital where he is said to be in serious but stable condition.

A fight broke out between the two at the end of a morning Japanese language class when the assailant sprayed his classmate from behind with a waterproofing spray. As the boys were fighting, the assailant pulled out a knife with a 7-cm blade and stabbed the other boy in the stomach and back, according to police and school officials. The student was overpowered by a teacher, who called an ambulance. The student was arrested 40 minutes after the incident. (July 01, 2005 )

Open Day at Meisei Elementary
Regional news website Oita-Press.com this week carried an article on a recent open campus day held at the Meisei elementary school in the local city of Beppu. The main focus was on English classes, which are taught twice-weekly in all grades. On Fridays, the morning greetings are done in English and all students enjoy English conversation and songs. The school says students have clearly benefited from starting in first grade, in particular developing good pronunciation. During the open campus, Canadian ALT Chris White taught a first grade class, practising pronunciation and songs and playing games. The children seemed very relaxed and able to enjoy the lesson.
Article in Japanese
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