The Latest News in ELT

September 2005

Raising English-speaking "Toyohashi-ko"
The city of Toyohashi is the latest to apply for government approval to introduce English education to its public elementary schools, according to the Tonichi Shimbun. The city applied yesterday for special deregulation zone status, which Tokyo has been promoting over the last few years in an effort to give more powers to regional authorities. So far, 43 municipalities have received approval for English langauge-related zones. Toyohashi's application calls for the introduction of its own original curriculum, "Eikaiwa ga Dekiru Toyohashi-ko" (English-speaking Toyohashi Kids); increasing junior high school English classes from three to four a week in 2006; introducing English for all elementary school students in 2007 (currently students between 3rd and 6th grades have just 3 hours of English a year); and hiring more foreign ALTs to teach 5th and 6th graders. Non-Japanese make up about 5% of the population of Toyohashi, much higher than the national average.
Article in Japanese
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Love of English and Puppies
Does learning music have a positive effect on your language learning ability? Many people see a connection and the topic was addressed in the regular Making English Work column in the Daily Yomiuri today. The column "features interviews with professionals who use English in their jobs, experts and others interested in the language in the hope of offering insights into learning the language." Today's subject is 28-year old Chiemi Kyuno, who began playing the piano when she was 4. She also enjoyed singing and playing games in English from an early age and her father often used English when traveling abroad on business. During her students she had opportunities to study in the US. After graduating university, she worked in entertainment production, and managed TV personality Hikaru Nishida, who is proficient in English. She later moved to her present career, marketing in the Japanese subsidiary of the Hush Puppies shoe business.
Soft steps to learning English (link will expire)
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Former JETs Named as Goodwill Ambassadors for Nara
The city of Nara has appointed several former JET Program participants among 400 goodwill ambassadors appointed worldwide to mark the 1,300th anniversary of its designation as the nation's capital, according to Kyodo News. Tara Hohenberger was one of two people presented with certificates of appointment, a Nara badge and a goodwill ambassador ID card at a ceremony at the Japan National Tourist Organization in New York yesterday. A total of 12 people from the city were appointed, including many former JETs. Most of the appointees are based in East Asia, particularly in China.

Hohenberger taught at elementary and junior high schools in the city for two years. "Nara holds a very special place in my heart," she said. "My two years there were a wonderful experience. It's like my second home." The goodwill ambassadors will actively promote Nara during their tenures by providing information about its history, culture, nature and modern industry in their home countries, and will also serve as international liaisons by relaying news from their communities to Nara officials.
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More Than Half Of Startups Have No English Web Sites: Poll
Among emerging firms in which foreigners hold stakes exceeding 10%, only about 48% offer English-language versions of their Web sites, according to a survey released earlier this month by translation services firm Simul International Inc. Of the 158 companies that are listed on the three exchanges for startups and are at least 10%-owned by overseas investors, just 76 have English sites. And even among these sites, grammatical and spelling errors were found in about 68% and 59% of them. Only 11 use high-quality English on their Web sites, including Arrk Corp., Riso Kagaku Corp. and Livedoor Co., the survey found. Even in its survey covering Nikkei Stock Average component firms last November, some 37% and 49% of sites were found to have grammatical and spelling errors, according to Simul. (From The Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
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A Rising Star
On Sunday, Nippon Ham Fighters' young star Yuu Darvish became the first pitcher fresh out of high school in 39 years to win five games in his rookie season. The tall 19-year old Tohoku High School graduate has been closely watched since he pitched his school team to the final of the summer Koshien tournament last year. His first season as a pro got off to a late start after he was suspended for smoking during spring training (he's still a minor) and a knee injury. An interesting fact is that the pitcher's Iranian father Farusa (45), who spent his high school and university years in the US, is the owner of an English conversation school in Osaka, among several other businesses. He, along with several family members, friends and 50 students from his school, was in the crowd to witness the younger Darvish's latest win. (September 27, 2005 )

Graffiti-Spraying Teacher Arrested
28-year old Canadian English teacher Adam James Anderson was arrested last week on vandalism charges after he and a Japanese friend were caught spray painting a building in the trendy "ura-Omotesando" area of Tokyo. The two were said to have been drunk when caught in the act by police shortly before 4am on September 19. The arrest, which was made last Friday, made the news headlines because the Japanese person arrested was Mori Tsutomu (24), the grandson of world-famous fashion designer Mori Hanae. The younger Mori is said to work as a website designer. No details about Anderson were given other than that he is resident in Tokyo's Suginami Ward. Graffiti has become increasingly common in metropolitan areas in recent years, though few people are caught in the act. (September 26, 2005 )

Teaching Controversial Topics
In his latest Indirectly Speaking column in the Daily Yomiuri, Mike Guest looks at how, or even whether, to teach controversial topics in the English classroom. Should teachers use issues, such as the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine or whether school textboks whitewash Japan's past, in the EFL classroom regardless of how topical they may be? Guest has seen positive results in using such topics, despite the stereotypical view that Japanese students are reluctant to discuss them. But he cautions against teachers choosing "his or her pet social or political hot potato" as lesson material.
A controversial approach to teaching (link will expire)
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Elderly Eikaiwa Student Victim of Hit and Run
A 34-year old man was arrested on Friday following a hit and run incident the night before, in which he killed an elderly man returning from an English conversation class. 76-year old Akira Hayashi was hit by the light van driven by Miyazawa Takashi while crossing the road in Hachiyo City in Chiba Prefecture and died in hospital two and a half hours later.
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Speaking English With a Silver Tongue
The recent "Respect for the Elderly Day" national holiday saw a group of older Japanese taking part in an English speech contest in Kobe, according to the Kobe Shimbun. Participants, all of whom were over 60, spoke passionately and eloquently on the theme of "Japan's Past, Present and Future." They shared the experiences of their youth or offered advice for the younger generations. Sponsored by Kobe Sophia Silver Class, which is part of the same non-government organization as the Kobe Sophia English School, the event has taken place on the holiday every year since 1983. The organization, which is open to anyone over the age of 60, facilitates cultural exchanges between elderly people in Japan and several English-speaking countries. It also publishes a general introduction to English conversation for its over 2,000 members.
Article in Japanese
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Gaba Offers New Hi-tech Service
English conversation school operator Gaba has launched a new student counselling system. The aim of the "Client Care" service is to enable to students to more efficiently achieve their English language-learning goals. Counsellors at the company's head office or any of its "learning studios" can check and analyze a student's progress in detail and provide effective and specific advice. The service was launched in response to the increasing needs of business people to polish specific work-related language skills, such as giving presentations or preparing for a transfer abroad. "Client Care" is the latest high-tech application introduced by the company, which for several years has allowed students to schedule or cancel classes from a PC or mobile phone using its "myGaba" service.
Gaba website
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Let Their Deaths Not Be In Vain
The Hokkaido Shimbun recently carried a story about Swiss Alberto Stocki (49), who is travelling around the country in a personal search for justice. In May of last year, an arson attack on his home in Miyazaki resulted in the death of his wife and 12-year old daughter. The arsonist was a repeat offender and Stocki is traveling the country by motorcycle collecting signatures for a petition seeking "shushinkei" (life sentence without parole) for the 38-year old man. "I don't want their deaths to be in vain," he says, and is hoping that people across the country will agree that the law is in need of amendment. Currently there is no middle ground between the death sentence and "muki choueki," which literally means limitless imprisonment but which actually allows parole after ten years or so. Stocki hopes to collect 100,000 signatures and plans to present them to the Minister of Justice next autumn.

Stocki arrived in Japan in 1975 and graduated from Doshisha University. He moved to Miyazaki, where he became an English conversation teacher. He met his wife Kumiko when she was one of his students. They married in 1982 and had two daughters. He currently operates an import business.
Article in Japanese
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"Eraser Jar" Contest Winners
During the summer, we ran a simple contest in collaboration with Helene Uchida of Little America English Schools. In June, she wrote an article in her regular Kids' World column, confessing to being an "eraser bandit." She invited readers to guess how many erasers she had collected over the years and how much they weighed, with presents going to the three closest guesses. Well, no one got the exact numbers but a few readers were pretty close. We had a huge number of entries from students at a university in Fukuoka, and two of those were among the winners. So, congratulations to the three winners, who are:
Kent Miller, Osaka-fu; Aya Shibahara, Fukuoka Prefecture; Asami Tagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Kids' World article
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eigoTown Friends
eigoTown.com and Meta4 Networks announced their partnership and launch of “eigoTown Friends“, a unique service that helps users to find new friends with similar interests, on the eigoTown.com website, Japan's leading English conversation and English education information portal. eigoTown Friends is an online service that enables users to easily enjoy communicatiing with new friends in Japan and all over the world. Users can register free of charge and post a detailed profile including various personal interests and photographs. Users can perform detailed searches of the user base of 412,000 people and find those with similar interests such as “I want to make friends with people abroad“ or “I want to practice communicating in English.“ Users can also simply browse through the 116,000 photos posted by users.

“This service is particularly strong in catering to the interests of Japanese people who wish to practice the English language and make friends with internationally-minded people. Thus, eigoTown.com is very pleased to be working with Meta4 Networks to offer it to our community,“ said Russell Willis, President and founder of eigoTown.com.

“We're excited to be partners with eigoTown.com, one of the premiere destination websites about learning English. eigoTown's participation in our network highlights our ability to work with leading media brands and companies in our target areas.“ said Dominic Penaloza, chief executive officer and founder of Meta4 Networks.
eigoTown.com website (Japanese)
Meta4 Networks website
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Lowering the Education Ceiling
It is a little-known fact (at least, I didn't know it) that since the Meiji Era (1868-1912) there has been a government ordinance that school classroom ceilings must be at least "ichijoh" (a traditional measurement of about 3m) high. That is now set to change, following recommendations last week by an education ministry research council, according to asahi.com. The council reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that the Building Standards Act should be revised, and a revision of the ordinace is planned within the year. The change, after over a century of enforcement, came about largely due to the persistent efforts of Soukashi City in Saitama Prefecture.

Following the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, the city looked into the earthquake resistance of its 33 elementary and junior high schools. The majority have been renovated over the intervening years, but budget restrictions have left six schools still in need of work. The city applied for special deregulatory zone status last year to allow it to have 2.7m-high ceilings, which would lead to a 1.5% cost saving of the estimated ¥3 billion per school. In its application, the city cited examples of schools overseas with lower ceilings. But the transport ministry refused, saying there was no research to disprove any adverse effects on student well-being. The city persisted, applying three times but was refused each time. Finally, the ministry agreed to accept any findings by the education ministry research council. The result is a change that will affect schools not only in Sokashi but nationwide.

The ordinance was created in 1882, and survived revisions to the Building Standards Act in 1950, largely due to concerns about air circulation given the large numbers of students in classerooms. But the change is a logical result of the declining birthrate and reducing class sizes. In their study, council researchers asked students how they felt in classrooms with varying ceiling heights, from 2.4m to 3m high. There were only minor differences between ceilings of 2.7m and 3m, with students saying they even felt more relaxed with the lower height.
Article in Japanese
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False Beliefs About English in Japan
In his latest Practical Linguist column in the Daily Yomiuri, Marshall Childs addresses some of what he considers the misconceptions about English-language education in Japan. He applies theories of social psychology, saying that there is a "self-fulfilling prophecy that English teaching in Japan is of very low quality, and criticisms are too often aimed at people rather than at real situational causes." He questions the validity of surveys that place Japanese at the bottom of the pile when it comes to TOEFL test scores, saying there is an imbalance in the statistical sampling in different East Asian countries. Childs asks if it is fair to criticize Japanese pronunciation or willingness to speak English, especially when compared to the foreign language ability of high school graduates in the United States. He also insists that it is unfair to place the blame for the problem at the feet of teachers, referring to the social psychology concept of the "fundamental attribution error," a human tendency to seek to blame people rather than situations.
False beliefs about English in Japan (link will expire)
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Training Conference Organizers
Major travel agency JTB Corp. has teamed up with English-language school operator Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin to start a course to train professional organizers of international conference, according to the Nikkei Weekly. The class will "help students acquire the extensive knowledge and English-language ability required in the convention business." Scheduled to start next month, it will be the first course of its kind in Japan.
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Tokyo JALT Event: I Wanna Blog
As tools for collaboration and interaction, weblogs (blogs) have attracted much attention for the potential they offer for language teachers and learners. At this workshop you will get a chance to discover and imagine some of the emerging possibilities. Membership Chair for the Tokyo Chapter Scott Lockman will introduce you to some exciting no-cost blogging tools, provide examples of some current blogging practices in the EFL/ESL community, and guide you through the process of setting up your own blog. The course is free to JALT members and ¥1000 for one-day members. Participants will be admitted on a first-come first-served basis. Register early to reserve your place.
Date: Friday, September 16
Time: 6:30-8:30pm.
Venue: Columbia University Japan (access information) (September 09, 2005 )

Letting Students Loose on Composition
Tuesday's Daily Yomiuri included an article on a high school English writing class. The private Chiben Gakuen Wakayama High School has an integrated six-year secondary curriculum, and students have to reach an academic level one year ahead of the standard. The idea behind this is to give them time to focus on preparing for university entrance examinations. English writing classes are held three times a week, with a British ALT taking part once a week. Students practice free composition, which has become a more common part of exams, as well as the more traditional translation from Japanese. the article mentions many of the mistakes most commonly found in English writing by Japanese students, such as the lack of pronouns, insufficient understanding of collocation, and "word for word" translation with an over-reliance on dictionaries.
The power, peril of free writing (link will expire)
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New Contents for Portable Learning Device
Seiko Instruments this week announced new English language learning contents for its "Dr. VOICE neo" audio player/electronic dictionary. The five new cards, which plug into the player, contain a huge range of contents, including English vocabulary, idioms and listening series from sources such as Obunsha, CNN/Asahi Publishing, and Oxford University Press. Two of the cards focus on the new English listening section of the national university entrance examination, which is set to start next January. The OUP card contains no less than 100 titles from its Bookworms series of readers. The device, which can also be used to play MP3 music files, is being sold coupled with the individual cards. The sets are priced between $yen;48,000 and ¥54,000. In October, Seiko is also starting a free online service for users of the device that will allow them to download English conversation video.
Seiko's "Dr. VOICE neo" website (Japanese)
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Guiding the Locals
English conversation teachers who were guiding foreign tourists around the Aichi World Expo are now conducting an English tour for Japanese visitors, according to Asahi.com. Teachers from Ai For You, a local company which dispatches language teachers, came up wthe idea and started the tour in June. So far, about 30 people have taken part. The teacher/guides speak Japanese so the tour is good even for Japanese with low-level English. Different courses are available, with the "celeb" course providing a CD with a recording of the day's conversation.
Article in Japanese
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Running for Simon
22-year old English teacher Simon Britten was the picture of health when he arrived from New Zealand in 2003 to teach English in Hiroshima. His hobby was the triathalon, and just a couple of months after arriving he entered an event and finished second. The next challenge was to be the Olympic-length Sagishima Triathalon. But just three days before the event, he began having health problems and he had to withdraw. Still, he visited the island and promised to take part the following year. But the diagnosis was lung cancer and as his condition deteriorated, he returned to New Zealand in January 2004. He died the following March. This year, Simon's father and brother, later joined by six of his former teaching colleagues, decided to take part in the event in his place. The triathalon took place in Mihara City last weekend. ()

Longman's Osaka Office Moving
The Osaka office of Pearson Education is moving to a new location in September. Teachers who would like to contact a Longman ELT representative can reach them at the new address and numbers from September 26.
Address: Next-11 Kajiyama Building, Esakacho 2-8-8, Suita-shi, Osaka-fu 564-0063
Tel: 06-6310-8836
Fax: 06-6310-8808 (September 05, 2005 )

Seminar on Language Policy in a Globalized World
Australian Education International and the Australia-Japan Foundation are coordinating a seminar on language policy by Prof. Joseph Lo Bianco, to be held at the recreation lounge of the Australian Embassy Tokyo. The event will be held on Tuesday, 13 September from 7pm to 9pm. Professor Joseph Lo Bianco is the founder of the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia and the author of Australia's first language policy, The National Policy on Languages (1987). Prof. Bianco will speak on the topic of language policy in a globalized world, with a focus on Japan. No fee is required. If you would like to attend the seminar, please email or fax (03-5232-4119 ) with your name, organization, phone/fax number, and email address by Wednesday, 7 September.
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JALT Pre-registration Deadline Approaching
The pre-registration deadline for this year's JALT conference is just a week away! You have until September 9 to complete your pre-registration. Why pre-register?
-You make big savings on conference fees!
-You save time once you get to the site (ask anyone... the onsite registration queue is long and s-l-o-w!!)
-You WILL get a handbook and conference bag (this year, every pre-registered person is guaranteed to get both items!)
-Knowing how many people are likely to be there means they can plan ahead.
If you're still undecided about whether to attend, please visit the conference website. There you'll find the full conference schedule, plus lots of additional information.
Check our poll on who's attending the conference
Discuss this on our message board (September 02, 2005 )

Think You Know Your Idioms?
Those of you who watch the Discovery Channel may know the show Mythbusters. The official website for the show has a quiz that tests your knowledge of everyday expressions. Do you think you know the origins of such phrases as "let the cat out of the bag", "pay through the nose" or "jump the shark"? This isn't as easy as you might think and you're sure to learn a thing or two.
To Coin a Phrase quiz
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Afternoon Nap Helps Grades
A recent study carried out among high schoolers has found that a brief afternoon nap helps concentration and improves grades, according to Asahi.com. The study was carried out by an assistant professor at the medical school of Kurume University in Fukuoka Prefecture, with about 1,000 students at a local high school taking part. In May, students filled out a questionnaire on their sleeping habits. 61% said they didn't get enough sleep on weekdays and 88% said they fell asleep or felt very sleepy during afternoon classes. Over te course of 40 days, students were encouraged to take a 15-minute nap during their 45-minute lunch break. The school even piped Mozart into the classromms to help them sleep. Following the 40 days students filled in another questionnaire. Of the 208 students who took a nap at least once a week, about 60% said they felt able to concentrate or inclined to study. Of the 744 students who studied or played during lunch break, the figure was around 40%. The number of students who felt their ability to study or actual grades had improved was also similarly higher among those who had taken naps.
Article in Japanese
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ELT Newsletter Back in Circulation
Even if many students haven't got back to hitting the books yet, it's already been a busy week in the ELT world. The ELT News site has been back up and running for the last week, after the extended summer break. Yesterday, the newsletter went out, with circulation now almost at the 26,000 mark. Just in case you unsubscribed temporarily while you were away for the holidays, this is a quick reminder that you can read yesterday's issue online here and of course you can re-subscribe at any time at the top or bottom of any page. (September 01, 2005 )

A JET Program Pioneer
Tuesday's Daily Yomiuri ran an article on Kuniyoshi Shibahara and his role in bringing native-speaking ALTs to Japan. Shibahara has a 42-year career in teaching English and working with Boards of Education and was involved in the JET Program from the beginning, when he was a teacher at the influential Urawa High School in Saitama Prefecture. He believes the program has had a great influence on English teaching in Japan and on the growth in international understanding, even in rural areas. He sees the the next step to be getting away from "passive English" and moving towards a "hasshin" (outgoing) style, in which ALTs will play an important role in helping students speak out and express their own opinions. Shibahara is also a supporter of introducing English as early as possible into the elementary school curriculum.
ALTs help get rid of passive English (link will expire)
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