The Latest News in ELT

April 2006

eigoTown.com Launches TIME Podcast for Japan

TIME Inc. executive Ichiro Kanasugi, eigoTown president Russell Willis and broadcaster Peter Barakan announce the launch of the TIME podcast at the Apple Store Ginza last week.

eigoTown.com, Japan's portal site for English learning and culture, in cooperation with TIME Inc. has launched a weekly TIME Magazine podcast for Japanese listeners. The podcast features short discussions of selected articles from each week's issue of TIME. The discussions use a new "paratalking" method which replicates a real conversation using both English and Japanese. eigoTown.com president Russell Willis commented "We are extremely honored to being working with TIME on this podcast and hope that we are able to encourage interest in world affairs through English." The podcast was launched last week at the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo and has already attracted over 20,000 subscribers. eigoTown's Classic Story Series podcast has over 50,000 subscribers and eigoTown.com is targeting 100,000 subscribers to the TIME podcast by the end of July.
TIME Magazine Podcast (iTunes)
Classic Story Series Podcast (iTunes)
eigoTown Podcast Channel
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No Need to Fear New TOEIC!
As many English language students are now aware, The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) will now be administered to include some new additions. But according to its designer, Educational Testing Service (ETS), the core quality of the test will be maintained, with the scale, the score range and degree of difficulty unchanged. The changes, designed to reflect real world usage include, but are not limited to; listening to numerous English accents, longer sets of dialogues and longer talks in the listening section.
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English Essay Competition
The International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun recently announced that it will be sponsoring an English essay competition to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the publication. College and graduate students are welcome to enter with topics that include; international exchanges, Japanese culture and tradition and information technology and college life. Winners will be announced in July with prizes ranging from 50,000 JPY - 100,000 JPY. The award ceremony will be held in Tokyo in July.
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New TOEFL iBT Course Available!
Independent Publishers International (IPI) announced that it now stocks the first two levels of a brand new preparation course for the TOEFL iBT from Compass Publishing. The 3 titles in the course, "Building Skills for the TOEFL iBT" for beginners, "Developing Skills for the TOEFL iBT" for intermediate learners, and "Mastering Skills for the TOEFL iBT" for advanced learners, familiarize students with innovative question types found on the test, and provide tips and strategies for each of the four skill-based test sections. The upper level is scheduled for publication in June.
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English Teachers Risk Losing Skills
It has been suggested that English teachers who repeat slow, exaggerated and simplified speech on a daily basis for an extended period, risk losing their native language skills. Former Korean TESOL president, Professor Robert Dickey suggests that "The loss of vocabulary and fluency is inevitable when there is a lack of educated native speakers around." Korea's Hongik University's Jochiwon campus teacher, Kevin Landry believes that it is dependent upon the person and stated that "I've seen foreigners drop their articles and use Konglish to connect with someone who doesn't know much English." It has also been suggested that this phenomenon occurs in numerous countries including Japan, China and other non-native English speaking nations.
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(April 20, 2006 )

Extensive Reading Foundation Award
At the IATEFL Conference in Harrogate UK on April 10, Alan Maley announced the finalist books for the 2006 Extensive Reading Foundation (ERF) Language Learner Literature Award. From new graded readers nominated by publishers, the ERF's international award jury chose six finalist books--three books for Adolescents & Adults, and three for Young Learners. Teachers can use the award to raise enthusiasm for reading in English among their students--by inviting as many of them as possible to read, vote for and comment on the finalist books over the next few months. In past years, some people have had difficulty buying the newly-published finalist books in time to vote, so this year the voting page has a link to an independent bookshop where people can buy the books online. Voting closes on July 14, 2006. The jury will take into account votes and voter comments from around the world in order to pick a winner in each category, to be announced on the ERF site.
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English for Lunch
(Japan) In Saku, Nagano Prefecture sixth graders in the city's elementary schools will commence learning English in their lunch hour this month. The city's school board is implementing the program using volunteer English speakers to introduce the children to the English language and allow them to become more familiar with it before attending compulsory English classes when reaching junior high school level.
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School Wins Prestigious Contract
(Japan) Shane Language Services recently announced that it had secured an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) contract with the Saitama Board of Education. Shane's Language Services Director, Mr. Jason Dominici stated that "This is an extremely prestigious contract for Assistant English Teachers” He also added that "Positions have been filling fast, but there are still a few positions available for interested parties who are both reliable and professional."
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(April 17, 2006 )

Indirectly Speaking - Learner Responsibility
(Japan) Recent opinion suggests that English learners take more responsibility for their study rather than relying on the teacher to give all the answers. "A curriculum based upon feeding one's students a series of language items makes us tellers rather than teachers" stated Mike Guest recently. He goes on to suggest that in current ESL/EFL teaching circles, many teachers who critique teacher-centered classes still fail to free up their learners for self-discovery. Guest is an associate professor of English at the Medical College of Miyazaki University.
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(April 14, 2006 )

Japan's Self-Defense Force Experience English
(Hokkaido) The Higashi Chitose Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) base recently held an English entrance ceremony for entry-class sergeants. The course conducted by GSDF education units, commenced in 1996 and is part of Japan's effort to train interpreting personnel who use English skills in support of overseas activities such as peacekeeping operations.
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IPI Announces 5th Anniversary Sellout!
Wholesale distributor of ELT materials, Independent Publishers International (IPI), recently announced their 5th anniversary stock sellout. To celebrate turning five in 2006, IPI is holding a massive sellout from April to the end of July on a huge selection of teacher support materials including photocopiables and reference books, as well as other general titles featuring stories, chants, idioms, grammar, TPR activities and more. Discounts of up to 75% are available on selected purchases.
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(April 13, 2006 )

Ministry Push for English
(Japan) The Education, Science and Technology Ministry, who recently organized the "English Forum 2006" held at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center, are keen to promote English throughout Japan. The forum which is held annually is part of the Ministry's 2003 action plan to cultivate 'Japanese citizens with a good command of English'. 40 students who had graduated from Nagano High School in Kawachi Nagano, Osaka Prefecture last month, performed an impressive 50 minute presentation in English. The school was chosen because it is one of the nation's Super English Language High Schools (SELHis).
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(April 07, 2006 )

IPI Announces 2nd Edition of TOEIC Analyst!
Wholesale distributor of ELT materials, Independent Publishers International (IPI) announced that; Following the release of the 3rd edition of IPI bestseller "Starter TOEIC" earlier this year, a further title from the Compass TOEIC Series, "TOEIC Analyst," has also been published in a new edition just in time for the introduction of the new TOEIC format to Japan. The new edition is designed to help students’ master TOEIC test-taking skills by giving them practice with both question formats and strategies for analyzing the answer choices commonly found on the test.
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(April 06, 2006 )

Corporate Japan - Embracing English
Corporate workers in Japan are coming to terms with the fact that in this modern age of foreign takeovers, there is a good possibility that they may one day find themselves working with foreigners. This presents a challenge for many, as not only will they be required to have improved language skills, but they may also have to review the way they do business.

Tomoko Gondo, author of the book, "Kokusai Business Seiko no Shinjoshiki (The New Common Sense for Success in International Business), states that "Japanese people look at a business card and think, 'So that's his title.' Foreigners, however, will look more closely at your possessions -- the clothes, the watch -- before making any judgments," Gondo provides a list of suggested conversational topics and also those to be avoided.
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