The Latest News in ELT

October 2006

English Boot Camps in Osaka
A program by education authorities in Osaka has seen hundreds of junior high and high school language teachers head off to intensive immersion programs. This campaign is part of a bigger effort to ensure that students are getting the most out of their English classes. The push began in 2002, with the national government's often-cited program to enhance English-language education in the country. In Osaka, approximately 600 teachers will have taken the intensive lessons by 2007.

One beneficiary of these regulations has been eikaiwas (English conversation schools). As governments raise the bar on education, and provide funding for extra training, many school boards have been turning to eikaiwas for solutions. NOVA, the largest eikaiwa chain in the country, is currently working with about 30 local governments to provide English courses to junior high and high school teaching staff.

Read the full article at Asahi.com
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(October 31, 2006 )

Survey: 286 Schools Providing Inappropriate Education
In the wake of recent scandals brought to light over the quality of high school education in Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology conducted an investigation. The MEXT survey was conducted up until this past Friday (October 27th) and the results, released Saturday (28th), revealed widespread problems. 33 out of 61 local school boards in Japan that responded to the survey had, within their areas, public high schools that were labeled "inappropriate cases", in that their educational offerings were problematic. Of those 286 "inappropriate case" schools, 284 of them had been found to have submitted false reports to their local school board.

Amongst the problems cited were students not having the required amount of credits needed for graduation, and schools reporting a curriculum that didn't reflect what students had actually studied.

Read the full article at the Mainichi Daily News
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(October 30, 2006 )

The Cambridge Corpus Tour: Osaka (Nov. 7) and Tokyo (Nov. 8)

What is a corpus, what insights can be gleaned from them, and how can they inform classroom materials? These questions and others will be answered by a panel of speakers at these special events in Osaka on November 7th at the British Council, and in Tokyo on November 8th at the Hilltop Hotel. Each event begins at 6pm and finishes at 9pm (9:10pm in Tokyo).

Professor Anne O’Keeffe, from the University of Limerick, will discuss insights into English grammar that can be gained from studying a corpus of English usage. Examples will be drawn from the Cambridge Grammar of English with suggestions for further classroom research and teaching.

Helen Sandiford, the author of Touchstone, will draw upon examples from her book to show how grammar is used in spoken language, and what strategies speakers use to manage conversations. Richard Walker, the Commissioning Editor of Cambridge University Press, will lead a presentation on insights gained from the Cambridge Learner Corpus, and how they can be applied to the development of teaching materials. Professor Yukio Tono (Meikai University) will be at the Tokyo event to give a presentation on examples of corpus applications to L2 education.

Admission is free. An e-mail address is provided below for reservations to either event.

E-mail for Reservations
Map to the British Council in Osaka
Map to the Hilltop Hotel in Tokyo
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(October 27, 2006 )

New Chiba School to Attract Foreign Businesses
A new international school is slated to open in Chiba city's Makuhari area, in the spring of 2008. This school will be truly unique in Japan. Not only will it boast a curriculum taught entirely in English (save of course for Japanese language classes), but the curriculum will also be given approval by the central Japanese government.

Chiba city is a special education "de-regulation" zone. This means that the new school will be approved as a regular school - the first international school in the country to be treated as such. Previously, international schools went unrecognized, as their curriculum did not meet official government standards.

The international school will hope to attract Japanese students who were brought up overseas into their program. By doing so, the prefecture hopes to grow the number of foreign companies establishing headquarters in the area. As of now, the number of foreign companies based in Chiba amounts to just 60, while Tokyo on the other hand has some 2,600.

Read the full article at Asahi.com
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(October 26, 2006 )

Lecture Training on the Horizon for Teachers
Beginning in April 2008, university and junior college teachers will need to take training to improve their lecturing proficiency, according to officials at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

A 1999 initiative called on schools to begin faculty development programs and since that time many have. However, some education experts have more recently called into question the effectiveness of these programs, as many schools have simply been having meetings or discussions about lectures and course curriculum, rather than adopting more practical measures.

The new measures are also a result of the declining birth rate. As competition to enter universities wanes, business leaders have expressed concern that the quality of graduates may suffer as a result. Any measures to improve the quality of the educational experience would therefore be welcomed. Read the full article at the Mainichi Daily News
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(October 25, 2006 )

eigoTown.com Releases Results of English Learning Poll

eigoTown.com has released the results of a poll asking visitors to the popular site about their primary method of learning English. The poll, which concluded on October 13th, shows that the eikaiwa (English school) reins supreme in the world of English language education in Japan, having received a full 25% of all submitted votes. Other popular choices include books (24%) and radio shows (14%).

Podcasts garnered a full 13% of the vote, showing clearly that they are gaining ground on more traditional media (television shows came in fifth, with just 11%). eigoTown.com is a leading producer of cutting-edge English related podcasts in Japan.

View the full poll results at eigoTown.com
eigoTown.com Podcasting Portal
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(October 24, 2006 )

JALT Election Results Announced

The results are in, and Steve Brown has retained his position as NPO JALT President via a recent vote conducted through the end of September. Brown has pledged in his second two year term to "ensure that JALT remains a diverse and interactive organization, and to work towards greater collaboration". He is a Professor at Faculty of Letters, Konan Women's University in Kobe. Cynthia Keith, President of the Kagoshima JALT Chapter, was elected JALT Vice-President. Kevin Ryan, a long-standing JALT member, was elected the Director of Treasury, while Donna Tatsuki, associate Professor at Kobe City University, retained her position as Director of Records. Click on the link below for the full list of new JALT officials.

See the full results at the JALT website
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(October 23, 2006 )

Australia Eyes Japanese Senior Citizen Market
Now is the time to enter the Japanese market with products aimed at the country's growing ranks of senior citizens, according to a recent report from Austrade, the export promotion agency of the Australian federal government. The potential exists for Australian businesses to either target Japanese senior citizens interested in traveling abroad, or reach out to them in their home market, via recent initiatives that have made it easier to set up business within Japan. According to Phil Ingram, Austrade's Tokyo-based senior trade commissioner, "The kinds of export opportunities for ... businesses are vast and include anything to do with hobby or recreational pursuits that target the elderly from learning how to knit, or yoga to amateur photography."

Read the full article in the Sydney Morning Herald
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(October 20, 2006 )

46 of 47 Prefectural Education Boards Don't Meet Disability Quota
The vast majority of Japan's prefectural education boards are facing pressure to drastically increase the percentage of their employees who are disabled. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has issued a directive to all labor departments chiefs that they meet the mandatory quota for employing people with disabilities. Under a law designed to promote the hiring of disabled people, both central and local governments (in all sectors, not just education) must have at least 2.1 percent of their workforce consist of people with physical or mental disabilities. At the current time, only the Kyoto prefectural board meets that standard - out of the 47 education boards around the country. In comparison, more than 70 percent of all central and local governmental non-education related organizations have managed to meet the quota.

Read the full article at Asahi.com
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(October 19, 2006 )

New Poll Touts Early English Education
A recent survey conducted by Nichiban Co. shows that learning English from an early age remains a popular concept in Japan. The survey polled 1,582 adults in their twenties to fifties. Almost 80% stated that English education should start from an early age. 36.6% felt that English language education should start in nursery school. When asked why they felt English education should be started from a young age, 54.4% of respondents answered that they felt it would help young children to be less resistant to learning a new language.

Nichiban Co. is an office equipment maker that also produces English educational products. The poll was conducted between June 26 and July 31 of this year.

Read the full article at the Japan Times
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(October 18, 2006 )

English Speaking Test Forum 2006: Monday, October 30th
English is increasingly a vital skill in the day-to-day activities of international firms. Clearly, the onus is on Human Resource managers as well as teachers to be able to accurately evaluate the English ability, especially the oral ability, of non-native employees and students. Given this, the Teikyo Study Abroad Center of Teikyo University will be providing a seminar aptly entitled English Speaking Test Forum 2006 at Teikyo University's Itabashi Campus on Monday, October 30th, starting at 3pm.

The list of presenters is impressive, and amounts to a virtual "who's who" of language testing service providers in the Japan market. Representatives of Benesse will discuss the Global Test of English Communication (GTEC), a four skill online English test. ALC Press will present their Telephone Standard Speaking Test (T-SST) and Ordinate Corporation will discuss Versant (previously known as PhonePass). The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the official representative for ETS in Japan, will discuss the TOEFL iBT. Additionally, the Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC), a non-profit that administers the TOEIC exam, will discuss the TOEIC.

The seminar is free, and will be conducted in Japanese, although non-native listeners of Japanese are encouraged to attend.

English Speaking Test Forum 2006
E-mail for Inquiries (English/Japanese)
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(October 17, 2006 )

eigoTown Launches New Study Abroad Section

Japanese Universities Turn to Foreign Students, Senior Citizens
University enrollment is expected to plunge over the next few decades, and early signs are already appearing as the effects of Japan's dropping birthrate starts to produce challenges for some universities in the country. One such school is Tohwa University, in Kyushu. It received a total of 140 applications for 160 openings this past year. The school is planning to close its doors permanently in 2009. "It's time to quit before things get even worse", noted Yonosuke Fukuda, the chancellor of the university. Tohwa is not alone in this situation, as about 40 percent of colleges were not able to realize their enrollment targets for the year.

The lack of students is making some colleges re-consider their recruitment strategies, and even causing some to take stock of the programs they offer. Some are turning to China for an influx of foreign students. Others are making new offerings that might attract the growing number of retirees in Japan.

Read the full article at Bloomberg.com News
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(October 13, 2006 )

The Cursive Fallout
American SAT exams for the class of 2006 had a handwritten component. The ratio of test-takers who chose printing their essays to writing in cursive was staggering. A full 85% printed their essays in block letters. That leaves just 15% who wrote in cursive: a writing style that would appear to be quickly falling out of favor.

Students in American schools are receiving less than ten minutes per day in handwriting instruction. As a direct result, more students are having difficulty both reading and producing cursive handwriting. In the days of keyboard lessons for children as young as four years old, this is an unintended but very real by-product.

"Many educators shrug. Stacked up against teaching technology, foreign languages and the material on standardized tests, penmanship instruction seems a relic, teachers across the region say. But academics who specialize in writing acquisition argue that it's important cognitively, pointing to research that shows children without proficient handwriting skills produce simpler, shorter compositions, from the earliest grades."

Read the full article at MSNBC
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(October 12, 2006 )

NPO JALT National Conference: November 3-5, 2006

This major annual event runs from November 3-5, 2006 (with some pre-conference skills workshops on November 2nd). Still on the fence about attending the National Conference in Kokura, Kitakyushu this year? Here are some facts and figures that very well might sway you towards attending:

The completed handbook of the event, which holds the full descriptions of the conference, weighs in at 100 pages, and will soon be going to print. It features 527 sessions that involve a total of 787 presenters. Last year's handbook apparently held just less than 490 presentations.

Clearly, this year's JALT conference is shaping up to be a banner event in the world of language teaching in Japan. Links to the schedule as well as a pre-registration form can be found in the links below. Attendees are encouraged to register in advance of the event.

JALT2006 Schedule
Registration
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(October 11, 2006 )

Sharp Reveals New Translator

A new translation device, which translates English to Japanese and vice-versa, will be released commercially by Sharp towards the end of the calendar year.

The machine is portable: it is reportedly as small as a personal digital assistant. A user simply speaks into the translator in either English or Japanese. A transcription of what they said registers on the LCD (liquid crystal display) and then the speech is translated on the screen. If Japanese is translated, the user can have the device pronounce the resulting English using text-to-speech.

The machine only works for English and Japanese. Pricing has not been decided, and the device is reportedly to be sold only in Japan.

Read the full article at CIO Magazine
Read the full article at PC Advisor
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(October 10, 2006 )

Geisha and English: The Lessons Begin
In order to be able to communicate with foreigners about the history, atmosphere and culture in the Geisha district, beginning this past month, the Ookini Zaitan (ookini means thank you in the Kyoto dialect, and Zaitan means foundation) began dispatching language teachers to five Geisha districts. The language instructors will provide forty-five minute lessons ten times per year. The contents of the lesson will allow Geisha to explain their customs, dress, and manners to English speaking tourists. In addition, they will be taught how to respond in English to commonly asked questions.

Read the entire article at Asahi.com (in Japanese only)
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(October 06, 2006 )

Japanese Castles and iPods: The Connection
Himeji castle is a World Heritage site. The residents of Himeji city have created an English-language voice guide of the castle for foreign tourists. They are also creating a homepage that will be launched in November. The voice guide will be made available to tourists at the site via an iPod they can borrow for the duration of the tour. In addition, the English language guide will be provided through their upcoming website as a downloadable podcast.

Imamura-san is credited with having coming up with the idea. He worked with Andrew Richardson, a 25 year old American, on creating the English language guide. The entire project has taken a year and a half to complete. The voice guide lasts for two hours, and it has been suggested that tourists listen to the guide starting at Himeji station and then all the way through the tour around the castle.

Read the entire article at Kobe Shinbun Web News (in Japanese only)
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(October 05, 2006 )

Thomas Kantha: Doing Good for Others
Thomas Kantha, an English teacher in Osaka, repairs old wheelchairs destined for the garbage heap here in Japan, and sends them to countries where they're needed. He's been living in Japan since 1984, and has been repairing wheelchairs since 1994. Four times per year, he ships a 20-foot container loaded with wheelchairs and other goods to South Africa, as well as other countries.

What started as late-night rummaging around garbage piles the night before collection has become more of a community event: neighbors and other residents of the town he lives in often help him. He pays for shipping costs of goods he sends out of his own pocket, using money gained from the sales of poetry books he has authored, as well as fees from lectures his gives around the Kansai area.

Read the full article at the Daily Yomuiri Online
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(October 04, 2006 )

Suspect Sought in Murder of English Conversation Teacher
Roberto McNeill, an English conversation teacher in Japan, was found murdered in a public restroom in Yoyogi park this past April 12. Police, this past week, filed an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old son of a former Colombian ambassador to Japan, on suspicion of committing the crime.

The man, who as of yet has not been identified by name, left Japan after the murder of the American man was discovered. Since that time, DNA test have implicated him to the crime. He will shortly be entered onto an international watchlist through Interpol.

Read the full article at the Japan Times
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(October 03, 2006 )

English: Cake or Sweets?
Bunmei Ibuki, Japan's new Education Minister, reflected upon his views towards English education in public schools again this past Friday. He noted that core subjects such as Japanese should come first in a young one's education, referring to such fundamental courses as "protein and starch". English classes, in contrast, were "delicious cakes and Japanese-style sweets", to be had only if Japanese students still had an appetite for them after learning the core subjects. He noted again that, "Children should be taught English conversation from the alphabet only after they have acquired the minimum good grounding in Japanese."

Read the full article at Asahi.com
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(October 02, 2006 )

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