The robots are coming!

February 27, 2010

Korea is investing heavily in robot teaching assistants for English classes. As a first step, the robots will be used in 500 preschools in 2011, and 8,000 preschools and kindergartens in 2013. Many are predicting that the robots will replace native English teachers.

The Korea Times reports KIm Shin-hwan of the Hyundai Research Institute saying that '"by around 2015, robots should be able to help teachers in English classes. By 2018, they should be able to teach on their own while communicating with students." He also said: "Before such sophisticated English-speaking robots debut, teaching by native English speakers will be conducted by video-conferencing with teachers in their home countries." He considers that many native English teachers working at English language schools in Korea will lose their jobs because of this trend.

Next stop Japan?

Benesse expanding into China in a big way

February 26, 2010

Benesse Corporation, the Japanese provider of educational materials, and owner of Berlitz and Simul, has announced plans to expand into China in a big way. Tomoko Fukushima, President of Berlitz, said: '“We’ve fought against declining births for the past 20 years. We must localize our products we’ve developed in Japan for overseas markets including a promising market in China.”

According to a report in Business Week: 'The company, based in Okayama City, Japan, projects 2 million Chinese subscribers within eight years, up from about 200,000 at the end of September, according to President Tamotsu Fukushima. As of April last year, Benesse had 1.22 million customers in Japan, representing about one-fifth of the nation’s preschool children.'

iPod Touch being distributed to elementary schools and used in English classes

February 25, 2010

The iPod Touch is being distributed to elementary schools in Wakayama Prefecture and being used in English classes. The Japan Times reports that 'an elementary school in Wakayama has recently had an open English-language lesson using iPod Touch, with students watching video images of a native speaker on the small display of the digital handset.' A student commented that "This is better than the blackboard because we can get lots of information."

Is this the shape of things to come? Many schools in the US have been integrating the iPod Touch into the elementary school curriculum. There is now even a K-12 section within Apple store's iTunes University. Apple says that 'colleges, universities, PBS stations, museums, and other cultural institutions on iTunes U have created content especially for K-12 students. And hundreds of programs, documentaries, and exhibit tours are added all the time, keeping your classes far more up to date than any textbook ever could.'

Click here for more information on setting up mobile learning for your class or school.

Dean Rogers attacks the management style of English schools in Japan

February 24, 2010

In an article in Japan Today, Dean Rogers, President &CEO of Dean Morgan, argues that bad management practices are at the root of many problems at English language schools in Japan. He analyses some of these practices, looks at the differences between positive and negative company cultures, and suggests how dissatisfaction among English teachers could be greatly reduced.

Dean writes: 'My question to managers who are constantly blaming employees for underperforming is; “Who hired them?” You did, or your company did, and you are a manager within that organization. If that is the case, then you are the person who is ultimately under performing in your role as a recruiter, mentor, and team leader. You choose the employee, or your company did, and you either made the wrong decision or you have not created an environment that is conducive to the individual or the teams growth. '

Dean stresses the importance of a winning company culture, saying: 'The approach of successful schools in handling foreigners and their own Japanese staff that I have seen and tried to model our businesses after, has been to focus on creating a great work environment. This sends the message that management sees them as an important asset for the company. Caring is not a “strategy” it is something you do. It is shown in every action management takes towards its employees. It is usually clearly indicated by direct and consistent feedback, and honest sincere recognition from management. Failures are dealt with fairly and used as learning experiences guided by senior people who care for the development and well being of the employee.'

Click here for the full article.

eigoTown.com Launches Interactive Readers for iPhone and iPad

February 23, 2010

eigoTown.com, Japan’s most popular portal site for Japanese learners of English has launched the first in its new line of interactive readers for the iPhone and iPad. Russell Willis, president of eigoTown.com commented: “The first of our applications is based on the story of the Three Little Pigs and includes the text of the story (especially written for Japanese learners) along with top quality audio that really immerses the listener in the world of the story. Users can click on a word or phrase to get the definition and look through words in the glossary.”

Stories can be read and listened to page-by-page. When set on automatic, a story plays continuously. In addition, there is an interactive, scored quiz on the vocabulary from the story. “Our test users have been amazed that a product of such quality and functionality is available for only 115 yen” said Willis.

eigoTown.com is no stranger to publishing content for Apple’s mobile platforms having previously created hugely popular podcasts with TIME magazine and The Nikkei Weekly. The company created the number one podcast in Japan for Tokyo University and Benesse. eigoTown’s audio books have been listed in Apple’s “Best of…” annual review for two years running.

“This is just the start of a large publishing program for the iPhone and iPad. We are looking forward to a very successful year on Apple’s mobile platforms” said Willis.

The Three Little Pigs superReader
http://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id353959189?mt=8

Goldilocks superReader
http://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id347230094?mt=8

eigoTown.com Limited is a publisher of websites, books, magazines, audiobooks, iPhone applications and more. Its main site, eigoTown.com has over 300,000 unique visitors per month and reaches over 100,000 people through its email newsletters.

Think Tank: Self study - six positions to get you thinking

February 22, 2010

In the latest Think Tank, our panel of experts discuss ways to study by oneself. Marc Helgesen recommends talking to oneself, saying 'students can do it anywhere and at any level of proficiency'. Curtis Kelly stresses the importance of extensive listening stating that 'It makes sense that if we acquire language primarily through input, that extensive listening would be just as effective as extensive reading, maybe even more so'.

Peter Viney looks at the feasibility of complete self-study programs Chris Hunt focuses on the need for children to choose what they study, saying 'when children have an overwhelming passion for something then they will focus on it, so, the notion of how to get them to self study becomes moot'.

Rob Waring, a guest participant in this month's Think Tank, focuses on how reading by oneself can build language independence.

You can see the discussion for yourself by clicking here.

The reputation of the English language teaching industry is suffering from the scandals

February 20, 2010

All the evidence points to a decline in confidence in English language schools among consumers. Although the collapse of Nova provided some initial benefits to other English schools around Japan, most schools report that it led to a decline in the reputation of the industry. The coercive practices of Fortress Japan are likely to reinforce this negative reputation.

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, it is not just Fortress Japan that has been coercing potential students into signing up for English classes. University students have been particularly targeted. The Daily Yomiuri reports: 'In many instances, students were told they would not be able to find jobs unless they had certain skills the salespeople were selling, making the students anxious.'

English language school ordered to close because of coercive sales practices

February 19, 2010

Fortress Japan, which operates English language schools under various names around Japan, has been ordered to suspend operations by the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Tokyo metropolitan government. Last spring, the company admitted using coercive sales practices in the Osaka District Court and promised to offer refunds and halt its unlawful practices, but, in fact, carried on in the same way as before.

The Daily Yomiuri reports: 'The Kansai Consumers Support Organization ... said Fortress Japan solicited students who gathered at job interview meetings, telling the students that they could attend the schools' lectures any time at their convenience without any limit on the number of classes. The company had the students sign contracts for eight-to 10-month courses for 500,000 yen to 600,000 yen. But the lectures were offered only on limited dates and some students complained they could attend lectures only about once a month.'

The Daily Yomiuri also gave the following example: 'Last April, a man in the Kansai region who was then a third-year university student was approached by a female employee of Fortress Japan in front of his university campus. She asked him to fill out a simple survey about English conversation and job-hunting activities. He wrote his name and phone number on the sheet, and was frequently called about attending an introduction meeting.

He finally agreed to attend a meeting, but ended up being confined in a small room together with a male employee of the company for three hours and was cajoled into signing a contract for lessons. When the student tried to refuse, the employee looked down at him and demanded he sign the contract, telling him, "You'll never survive in the business world with such a carefree attitude."

Russell Willis interviews Setsuko Toyama

February 18, 2010

In the latest ELT News interview, Russell Willis, President of eigoTown.com, interviews Setsuko Toyama, the author of several textbooks, including the "English Time" series from Oxford University Press. The interview focuses on the introduction of English into elementary schools.

Setsuko advises elementary school teachers that 'the expertise of the homeroom teacher is key to success in the elementary classroom. They know the children’s names and can control the classroom, something that is almost impossible to do if you are a guest teacher. Another key is to design lesson plans that incorporate activities that appeal to various learning styles. My observation is that every class has a few children with some difficulty and often, these children benefit from English instruction that appeals to different intelligences that they bring to the classroom but are not appreciated in other subjects.'

Click here for the full interview.

New Research shows that bilingualism develops even during pregnancy

February 17, 2010

According to new findings in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, infants born to bilingual mothers (who spoke both languages regularly during pregnancy) exhibit different language preferences than infants born to mothers speaking only one language.

Two groups of newborns were tested in these experiments: English monolinguals (whose mothers spoke only English during pregnancy) and Tagalog-English bilinguals (whose mothers spoke both Tagalog and English regularly during pregnancy).

Results showed that English monolingual infants were more interested in English than Tagalog. However, bilingual infants had an equal preference for both English and Tagalog. These results suggest that prenatal bilingual exposure may affect infants' language preferences, preparing bilingual infants to listen to and learn about both of their native languages.

Click here for more information on this research.

Household spending on education actually increased in 2009

February 16, 2010

Japan's average household spending fell by only 0.2% in 2009, and spending on education by households with two or more people actually increased by 0.5%. Average salaries declined by 1.5%, and average disposable income fell by 1.9%. These figures have been adjusted for inflation, so the increase in spending on education is a real increase.

According to iMarketNews.com: 'The drop in real spending by households with two or more people in 2009 was led by lower spending on food (-1.2%), utilities (-0.5%), clothing and footwear (-3.3%) and other consumption expenditures (-1.9%). Meanwhile, spending rose on home maintenance and repair (+0.8%), furniture and household utensils (+2.1%), medical care (+3.0%), transportation and communication including automobiles (+2.2%), education (+0.5%) and culture and recreation (+2.3%). Real spending on durable goods by households with two or more people in 2009 rose by an average 10.5% from a year earlier... Durable goods sales were boosted by tax breaks and subsidies for buying low emission vehicles.'

Do you want to be an ELT TV star?

February 15, 2010

The British Council / IATEFL are looking to recruit someone to join the team of live online presenters for the live broadcast from the IATEFL Conference in Harrogate, April 2010. The plan is to showcase the best of the conference and provide live interactive web coverage for remote participants around the globe with video interviews with presenters, recorded sessions, moderated forums and much more.

The successful applicant should possess a sound knowledge of current issues in ELT, excellent communication skills, an adventurous attitude and be able to demonstrate an ability to work well under pressure. It is not necessary to have TV or media experience. The conference fee, flights and connecting travel, hotel accommodation and subsistence will all be paid for. In addition, the successful applicant will be paid £500. The winner will need to arrive in Harrogate on 5 April for a briefing; and will depart from the UK on 12 or 13 April.

To enter, create a 60 second video application in English explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the job. You are encouraged to use your creativity and really stand out from the crowd to get noticed! Upload your video entry to YouTube and send the link by email to this e-mail address. Remember to include your full name and contact details in the email. Please include your address, phone numbers. Applications close at 0900 (UK) on 1 March 2010.

Watching movies with subtitles improves listening ability

February 13, 2010

New research indicates that watching movies with subtitles improves listening ability as long as the subtitles are in the same language as the movie. Subtitles in one's native language seem to have a negative effect. The research was carried out by Holger Mitterer (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) and James McQueen (MPI and Radboud University Nijmegen).

In the study, Dutch students who were unfamiliar with Scottish and Australian English watched either an episode of the Australian sitcom Kath & Kim or a shortened version of Trainspotting with English subtitles, Dutch subtitles or no subtitles. Participants were then asked to repeat back as many words as they could from 80 audio excerpts taken from each source, half of which had already been heard and half of which were new.

The researchers found that English subtitles were associated with the best performance on both previously heard and new material, but although Dutch subtitles also enhanced performance on the old items, they led to a worse performance on the new materials.

The conclusion is that DVDs for learning a foreign language should include subtitles in that language wherever possible, but should not include subtitles in a student's native language.

Study Japanese and circumnavigate the world with a Peace Boat scholarship

February 11, 2010

Peace Boat is a Japan-based international non-profit organization that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment. It carries out its main activities through a chartered passenger ship that travels the world on global voyages. The ship circumnavigates the globe over 100+ days each voyage and typically travels to 15-20 countries.

From this year, Peace Boat is offering scholarships to students of Japanese language through a 'Global Friendship Award'. Japanese language students enrolled at universities are invited to apply. Recipients will study everyday as they travel the globe in a total immersion environment of 600-900 Japanese, with the goal of promoting and fostering friendship and spreading goodwill around the world. The programme is designed to complement students’ current courses of study.

For more information on Peace Boat, click here. For more information on ths Global Friendship Award, click here.

GEOS announces free English lessons for students affected by the closing of its Australian schools

February 10, 2010

Many students were left stranded when GEOS closed its eight schools in Australia at the end of January. GEOS has now offered all students affected by the closure of its Australian schools free lessons for six months at any of its schools in Japan.

Let's Japan commented: 'GEOS's announcement of free lessons is worse than a half measure: It costs them nothing while it will cost any non-Japanese student taking up GEOS's offer everything. They will have to pay for their flight to Japan, arrange a visa and accommodations on their own, and probably have to find a part-time job, too. Since these students probably don't speak Japanese and their visas may not allow it, finding a job will be difficult if not impossible. Moreover, why would they want to work in a job that will require them to interact in Japanese? It's also not clear how many hours a week they will be studying. One or two classes a week will do nothing to improve their language skills. GEOS's offer is really no offer at all. At best, it's a way for GEOS to look like it's acting in good faith when it really isn't. '

MASH looking for teachers/researchers to write papers for a book on fluency in EFL

February 08, 2010

MASH Collaboration are working with Paul Nation to produce an edited volume of papers on fluency in EFL and are looking for teachers/researchers who are interested in submitting papers.

The call for submission states: 'The objective of this volume is to gather the voices of teachers/researchers in EFL to help explore fluency in their contexts and how that informs ELT theory, practice, and methodology. In EFL, fluency as a classroom goal has been largely neglected, for a variety of contextual and motivational reasons, including: 1) a focus on test preparation, and 2) a perceived lack of authentic opportunities to use English. Due to a number of relatively recent developments, fluency has been increasingly recognized as an important classroom objective and essential component of learner competency.'

To get more information or submit an abstract, please send an e-mail by clicking here. The deadline for abstracts is May 31.

John Lowe interviews Miyu Ishiwata

February 07, 2010

In the latest ELT News interview, John Lowe talks to Miyu Ishiwata who is involved with Eikoh – one of the largest jukus in Japan – which was founded by her father. She is also Director of Little Steps – a private school for children in Tokyo.

Miyu talks about her education in Japan and in Phoenix, her work for Eikoh and the distinctive features of Little Steps, the school for young learners that she established. She considers it to be very important for Japanese children to learn English, and says: 'Children are so receptive at this age, and their listening skills develop very quickly. Also, the innate ability to mimic with accuracy and conviction the unique phonetic sounds of a foreign language soon deteriorates with age and continued conditioning.'

The Tokyo one-day certificate course in teaching children is this Sunday.

February 05, 2010

The David English House one-day certificate course in teaching elementary school children is coming to the YMCA Asia Youth Center in Sarugaku-cho, Tokyo, this Sunday. Click here for a map showing how to get to the venue. This course has built up a very high reputation over the years. Thousands of teachers have taken the course and gained the certificate.

The trainer is David Paul, author of 'Teaching English to Children in Asia', 'New Finding Out', 'Communicate', 'Communication Strategies' and other books.

Topics covered:
* How do children learn?
* Using games effectively
* Building reading and writing skills
* Developing communicative skills
* Integrating songs
* Lesson planning
* Developing international attitudes

All sessions are interactive. Methodology is underpinned by theory, but the emphasis is on how this theory can be applied to the teaching of elementary school children in the Japanese classroom.

The dates of the other courses are as follows: Feb 7 Tokyo, Feb 14 Sendai, Feb 21 Kanazawa, Feb 28 Fukuoka, Mar 14 Hiroshima

The course costs 12,000 yen, but it is 9,000 yen for ETJ members - teachers can join ETJ for free on the day of the course. Click here for more information on the course and maps for each venue. Click here for information on ETJ. Click here to send an e-mail to register for a course.

Interactive textbooks coming to the iPad

February 04, 2010

The Wall Street Journal reports that McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Pearson, and Kaplan have made deals with Apple to bring interactive textbooks to the iPad.

Vator News comments: 'Not only will students be able to color-categorize while highlighting words on the page, but they will also be able to write text notes or record audio notes directly onto the device. Further, the third-party developer will likely be implementing videos and interactive practice quizzes into the applications. Probably the most useful tool will seem the most basic: the ability to search the text ... With all these features combined into one device, the iPad could potentially revolutionize education.'

PC World reports: 'Features that may make it into the iPad textbooks include video, interactive quizzes, the ability to record lectures, highlight and search text, and take notes ... Amazon's e-reader is a little disadvantaged against the iPad since the Kindle's e-ink screen can only display text and pictures, as opposed to integrating animations and video like the iPad'

Government withdraws rule linking visa renewal to health insurance

February 03, 2010

Last year, the Ministry of Justice announced that a list of new Immigration Bureau guidelines would go into effect beginning in April 2010. One of these guidelines would have required visa applicants to provide proof of enrollment in Japan's social insurance system as a prerequisite for application approval. This guideline has now been withdrawn.

The Immigration Bureau may still ask visa applicants to present their health insurance cards, and those who do not have one may be given a brochure that encourages them to enroll in government insurance, but not doing so will not affect the renewal of their visas.

The campaign to get the guideline withdrawn has been led by the Free Choice Foundation. On their website, they say: 'We brought the matter to the attention of more than 300 lawmakers at both the local and national levels. One of the biggest breaks came after the Free Choice Chairman addressed the Kobe City Assembly about the issue. He was able to garner a majority of Assembly votes in favor of sending a communique to the National Government expressing strong concern about the intent of the guideline. The Foundation also initiated an online petition drive, the results of which were submitted to the government in January.'

ABAX announces release of the World's first Creative Commons ELT text

February 02, 2010

ELT publisher ABAX has just released a world first in ELT publishing: A free-to-share, DRM-free eBook under a Creative Commons license. The title, Fiction in Action: Whodunit, is the first in a series of 'Narrow Reading' textbooks which attempt to bridge the gap between extensive and intensive reading approaches. The complete text is available for download on a pay-what-you-want basis by clicking here and will also be available in a traditional printed version from the spring 2010 semester.

The Creative Commons license means that teachers who download the eBook can print it out, share it with colleagues, even try out the whole course in their class. If it works for them, teachers are encouraged--but under no obligation--to either pay a fair amount through the abax.net website, or to simply order the print edition in futu re semesters, as they would any other textbook.

Creative Commons, a non-profit organization, was created in 2001 to provide greater licensing flexibility to creative works of all kinds. Unlike the traditional "All Rights Reserved" copyright system, CC licenses have been described as "Some Rights Reserved". The CC cause is championed by a number of progressive artists and organizations, including Wikipedia, TED Talks, Flickr, Nine Inch Nails, and bestselling author Cory Doctorow.

Co-authors Adam Gray and Marcos Benevides hope that their experiment will lead to more innovation regarding digital distribution and rights management by other ELT publishers in the future.

ELT Books discount increases to 20%

February 01, 2010

From today, all ETJ members placing orders of any size for any book through ELT Books will receive a 20% discount. The discount has been increased to support E-Quality, a new association for language schools and independent teachers sponsored by Oxford University Press and David English House that will be launched next week. The 20% discount will apply to orders made by all ETJ members until May 31st. After that, only E-Quality members will receive the 20% discount and others will receive 15%.

ELT Books is well-known for offering discounts on all English language teaching materials that are published by western publishers and available in Japan. They are especially popular among members of ETJ, a free association for English teachers in Japan. ELT Books is the official book seller at the ETJ Expos each year.

There is a lot of excitement leading up to the launch of E-Quality next week. The change in the ELT Books discount is only the first of the benefits for schools and teachers that will be introduced. ELT News will report on further developments as soon as they become available.

Click here for the ELT Books site. Click here for the ETJ site.