ELT World » japan

Japan: Why do English teachers have to be native speakers?

david — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:09:42 +0000

In Japan, non-native English-language instructors from South Asian countries are challenging cultural stereotypes and putting a new face on the industry, exclaims the Japan Times. It hasn’t been any easy task, but is this a good thing?

Read the full story if you dare…

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Japan & United States: Multicultural Awareness in Okinawa

david — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:10:41 +0000

The AmerAsian School in Okinawa (AASO) is unique in that it enrolls almost exclusively biracial American-Japanese students, and has developed an original bilingual, bicultural “double” curriculum. Founded in 1998 by five Okinawan mothers, the privately run, K-9 school of 80 students contends that “Amerasian” children have the right to study in both Japanese and English, and aims to secure governmental funding.

Although no official statistics exist, academics estimate that about 250 mixed race American-Japanese children are born every year in Okinawa, the result of the numerous U.S. military bases here. These children, the AASO argues, are often unsuited for public schools, which offer little language support and allow too much discrimination toward racial minorities.

Read on…

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Japan: Schools cancelling overseas trips because of swine flu

david — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:44:45 +0000

Japan: According to a report in the Daily Yomiuri, many schools may cancel or postpone summer trips aborad because of swine flu. Some schools may make trips inside Japan instead of going overseas. Both parents and teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about the dangers of sending students overseas especially because the four Japanese nationals who have been infected by swine flu were all on a school trip to Canada.

‘The ministry (of education) has received calls from schools asking if they are allowed to send students to foreign countries on school trips and if there are any stipulations under which they should cancel such trips…..The ministry had instructed prefectural boards of education to report by Thursday on how many schools had decided to cancel or postpone trips.’

Read more…

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English for Career Development: Japan and the English Language

david — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:32:47 +0000

Japan: Yomiuri notes that with the rapid progress of globalization, the English language is playing a growing role in people’s lives. This special section takes an overview of how Japanese interact with English, by featuring several individuals who utilize their expertise in this widely used lingua franca.

Read more…

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What would happen if there was a major earthquake in Japan?

david — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:32:22 +0000

Guest piece from David Paul, editor of eltnews.

The British Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate in Osaka have been making a concerted effort to get British nationals in Japan to register with them. They are worried about what will happen if there is a major earthquake or some other kind of emergency. Information on how to register was posted on ELT News last week.

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They are quite right, of course. It is very important for foreign nationals in Japan to register with our embassies. If we don’t register, we can’t expect any support. I was always told there would never be a serious earthquake in Hiroshima and almost everybody here believed this myth until one day in March 2001. Very few people were killed that day, but we were certainly shaken out of our false sense of security. Most people in Kobe also believed they were not in any danger and so were woefully
unprepared when the Hanshin Earthquake hit in 1996. The tremors only lasted 20 seconds, but over 6,000 people were killed.

It’s going to happen again, and it could easily happen in your area. At the very least, those of us who are foreign nationals need to register with our embassies so we can be contacted and supported if anything does happen.

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English classes face cash crisis in Japan

david — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:27:14 +0000

Some local governments can’t afford native speakers for primary schools

Japan: Yomiuri.com notes that, though many municipalities plan to employ native English speakers or bilingual people to teach public primary schools’ fifth- and sixth-grade students’ English classes in April, a recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey showed that some cash-strapped municipalities are reluctant to do so for financial reasons.

Read the full story…

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Raising bilingual children in Japan takes time, effort and money

david — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:57:22 +0000

Japan: Notes the Japan Times – ‘An American friend recently asked me a difficult question: How do you bring up a bilingual child?’ Asks Roger Pulvers. ‘She and her Japanese husband now have a 2-year-old son, and they are keen for him ultimately to be fluent in Japanese and English. This is a complex and multifaceted issue. In the very early years of the child’s life, the parents may very well be convinced that they are having success. The child will easily distinguish between languages and learn quickly to speak unaccented English with their mother and perfect Japanese with their father. The parents will rejoice, believing that they have licked the problem. But hold on. . .’

Read on…

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NIC opens doors to curious teachers in Japan

david — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:17:32 +0000

Japan: December’s unexpected announcement from the Education, Science and Technology Ministry that high schools would be required to teach in English as much as possible also acted as an impetus for Ochi, notes the Daily Yomiuri.

The ministry’s proposal was finalized last week, and the revised teaching guidelines for high schools are due to be implemented as of 2013. In response to the revised teaching guidelines, NIC opened up its classes for observation by high school teachers and education officials.

Talking the ‘right language’ to beat the recession

david — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:46:42 +0000

Scotland and Japan: Trainee architect Michael Gilchrist had one year to go before qualifying in his chosen profession… then recession struck and the former Charleston Academy pupil found himself redundant from the Glasgow firm for which he was working. With prospects running out he decided to cast around for something different to fill the gap until the recession eased.

Subsequently he signed up to a TEFL course and is now waiting for his visa to be processed before heading off to Japan at the end of this month. Joe Hallwood — managing director of TEFL Scotland — says growing numbers of people are heading all over the world to teach English as a means of escaping the recession. While jobs may be in decline here, the demand for English teachers overseas isn’t.

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German troupe brings English plays to Japan schools

david — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:20:20 +0000

Germany and Japan: Yomiuri notes how ‘The White Horse Theatre’, a theatrical troupe based in Germany but specialising in English-language theater for students, will make its third tour of Japan this autumn.

Established in 1986 by British playwright and drama teacher Peter Griffith, Europe’s biggest educational touring theater performs annually for 40,000 people learning English as a second language mainly in schools in Germany.

The theater group has seven troupes comprising native English speakers and has performed in seven other countries, including France, Denmark and Poland. “Our plays work mainly because of people’s motivation [to study English],” Griffith said during his recent promotional visit to Osaka.

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