http://www.eltnews.com/ Keep up to date with all the news and developments in English teaching, in Japan and around the world.This page contains stories from the last seven days. Click on the calendar to the right to see any news stories from this month. They will open in a new window. en Copyright 2010 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:33:05 +0900 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The government aims to make public high schools free and give a subsidy of ¥120,000 per student to families with children at private high schools. It is still not clear whether this will include students at international schools. The government has talked about providing subsidies as long as the school curriculum is equivalent to the curriculum at public high schools, but it is not clear how similar the curriculums need to be.

Some of those who are opposed to subsidizing students at North Korean high schools have pointed out that textbooks at these schools do not mention the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea. If so, does that mean that international schools would also need to follow government textbook guidelines? Prime Minister Hatoyama has said that the decision on which students to subsidize should be based on fair and objective guidelines, but what those guidelines are is not clear. There is likely to be a heated debate on this issue over the next few months.

The Japan Times reports that subsidies will not make much difference to families with children attending international schools where lessons are taught in English because the fees are so high and ¥120,000 a year will not reduce them by a significant percentage, but the subsidy will make a significant difference to families with children attending international schools where lessons are taught in other languages.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/will_internatio.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/will_internatio.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:33:05 +0900

The University of Birmingham MA in Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language and the MA in Applied Linguistics start in April and October each year. There is still time to apply for the April start, but you will need to get your application in very soon.

These MAs are considered to be the most prestigious and internationally-recognized of the MAs through British universities that are available in Japan by distance learning. They have also been the most popular MAs among teachers in Japan for the last 15 years, so a lot of university teachers and others in key positions in ELT in Japan are Birmingham graduates.

For more information on the MAs click here. To ask questions, send an e-mail to Christine Watson, who supervises the MAs in Japan, by clicking here.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/if_you_want_to.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/if_you_want_to.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:48:19 +0900 Let's Japan, quoting from a report by Ernst & Young, has made a revealing and detailed report on why GEOS Melbourne went into administration. GEOS Melbourne had actually been profitable for some time before it went into administration. The problem appears to be that money was being used to support other GEOS operations in Australia and in other parts of the world.

Let's Japan states: 'According to the Administrators, a school that was profitable for the past two and half years was making loans to a GEOS holding company with no prospect of those loans ever being repaid. The money is gone, funneled back to Japan and to other parts of GEOS.'

Click here for the report in Let's Japan. ]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/why_did_geos_me.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/why_did_geos_me.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:10:36 +0900 THE ALT SCAM

For some time, the General Union has been warning about the negative effects of outsourcing ALT jobs to dispatch companies, but local Boards of Education throughout Japan have been paying little attention and even seem to be ignoring directives from the Ministry of Education. Boards of Education have been able to save money by switching from the JET program to teachers from dispatch companies, but this has led to a considerable deterioration in the pay, working conditions and job security of teachers.

The Fukuoka General Union has now launched a scathing attack on contracts between Boards of Education and dispatch companies, calling them 'The ALT Scam' and saying the practice is illegal. Their web page which outlines the details of the scam states: 'Since dispatch companies have been replacing ALTs from the JET program, working conditions have deteriorated. Pay has dropped, stability has been eroded, and the revolving door of non-JET ALTs shows that the system is in a mess. Local government BOEs have a moral responsibility to look after their employees. However, by outsourcing the ALT “service” they can let the dispatch company do their dirty work and claim impunity. BOEs need to abide by the law, take responsibility for ALTs employment and provide a better education for students in their care. '

To see the full information, click here.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/fukuoka_general.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/fukuoka_general.html Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:36:15 +0900 As was reported in ELT News in early February, Guideline 8, which would have required foreign residents to be enrolled in government health insurance in order to get their visas renewed, is being withdrawn. This is now official. The new guideline issued this week clearly states that although foreign residents will be asked to present their health insurance cards when renewing a visa, their visa applications will not be rejected for failing to do so.

This issue has led to strong feelings on both sides of the argument. Those in favor of allowing foreign residents to opt out of government health care, led by the Free Choice Foundation, have been arguing that 'foreign residents should be given the right to choose which type of health care (public or private) they participate in because of their unique expatriate needs.' Those against have been stressing that foreign residents should abide by Japanese Law. For example, Hoofin wrote this week: 'The joke is that Guideline Eight was never an actual rule about being enrolled in these (government health) programs. The real rule is in the labor and health statutes. The guideline was only to make sure that people who were granted the right to be in Japan were following the law.'

April is coming soon and there are a lot of foreign residents on private insurance. Immigration may renew visas, but nobody knows for sure whether other action will be taken or not.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/guideline_linki.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/guideline_linki.html Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:23:54 +0900

Parents sometimes spend large amounts of money on DVD-based English programs for their babies. In Japan, a high percentage of infants use DVDs to learn English. However, new research carried out by Rebekah A. Richert, Ph.D. and colleagues at the University of California indicates that these kinds of programs may be useless. The research is due to be published in the May issue of 'Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine'

The research concludes that among 12- to 24-month old children who view educational baby videos, there does not appear to be evidence that overall general language learning improves or that words featured in the programming are learned. In fact, children whose parents reported that they began watching infant DVDs at an early age scored lower on a later test of vocabulary knowledge.

The researchers write: 'We conclude by encouraging researchers, parents, practitioners and programmers to consider the variety of cognitive factors related to whether very young viewers should be expected to learn from a DVD, regardless of DVD intent. Many cognitive factors play a role in learning from screens at this age, including children's developing perceptual systems, their understanding of symbols and analogy and their developing abilities to discriminate how much they should trust different sources of information.'

The full text of the research can be viewed here, but it costs $15 to access the article.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/are_language_le.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/are_language_le.html Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:58:00 +0900

ELTBOOKS is now offering a discount of 20% on all English language teaching books that are published by western publishers and available in Japan. The discount is on everything from popular course books to reference books and even applies to very small orders.

The 20% discount is generally available until May 31st and will then only be for members of E-Quality - others will receive 15%. The aim is to encourage schools and teachers to join E-Quality and agree to basic professional and financial standards. E-Quality has been launched with the intention of supporting schools and teachers with a sincere attitude that want to distance themselves from the practices of schools that have hurt the reputation of the ELT industry in Japan and of encouraging all schools to improve their standards.

Click here to go to the ELTBOOKS site. Click here for the E-Quality site. ]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/eltbooks_increa.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/eltbooks_increa.html Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:39:38 +0900

E-Quality, a new association for independent language schools and teachers, was launched today. The first level of membership, which is now available, requires school owners or teachers to agree to a code of professional conduct. A second stage, which will be available in a few months, will give accreditation to language schools.

David Paul, President of David English House, said: 'The reputation of the English language teaching industry in Japan has been badly hurt by the dishonest practices of some schools. It has become increasingly necessary for those schools and independent teachers that strive for higher professional standards and value financial honesty and transparency to get together, agree to abide by a code of conduct, and tell people about this.'

The association is open to language school owners and independent teachers. This is probably the fastest growing demographic in ELT in Japan. More and more schools are opening all the time, and more and more teachers are going independent. E-Quality aims to provide support for these schools and teachers, encourage them to have high educational standards, and deal with students honestly.

Click here to get more information on E-Quality.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/new_association.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/new_association.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:36:08 +0900 New research carried out with children of various countries learning their native languages has important implications for teachers of English as a foreign or second language. The research, which was carried out at the University of Alberta, shows that it is more important for adults to read books to children learning English than to children learning some other languages. George Georgiou, the head of the research team, says this is because English is an orthographically inconsistent language - letters can have more than one sound each.

Georgiou notes that students are able to learn to read faster in languages such as Greek and Finnish, because there is one-to-one correspondence between a letter and its sounds. This difference with English, implies that Greek or Finnish adults do not need to read as frequently to children to give them an edge on learning the language. He stresses that a rich literacy environment is more necessary when learning English than when learning an orthographically consistent language.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/research_shows_2.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/03/research_shows_2.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:44:44 +0900 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?]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/the_robots_are.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/the_robots_are.html Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:19:20 +0900

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.']]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/benesse_expandi.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/benesse_expandi.html Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:05:09 +0900 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. ]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/ipod_touch_bein.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/ipod_touch_bein.html Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:57:44 +0900 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.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/dean_rogers_att.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/dean_rogers_att.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:44:32 +0900 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.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/eigotowncom_jap.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/eigotowncom_jap.html Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:43:59 +0900 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.]]> http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/think_tank_self.html http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/02/think_tank_self.html Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:48:22 +0900