We've moved!

We are now located in Koizumi, about a 5-10 minute drive from our old place.  For details:

http://oc-english.com/location.html

Oh, and happy new year!

Start younger?

A lot of people assume that kids always have an advantage at learning languages.  The truth is that kids do, but only when they live in a country where most people speak that language.  There's no reason to think that kids learn languages better when they only have class 40 hours a year.

I don't think making kids learn English at lower grades is the answer to Japan's English problems.  The real problem is the outdated grammar-translation (yakudoku) method most junior high and high school teachers use.  The Center Test doesn't include translation questions (at least it didn't last year), and if the government starts using TOEFL then translation will be even more useless.

Man sues NHK for loanwords!

I saw this article on the Japan Times...

 Gifu Man Sues NHK for Distress over Foreign Words

To be honest, I don't disagree with him.  I actually think most English speakers in Japan find katakana English annoying.  Especially those of us who moved here to learn Japanese are disappointed at all the "English" that appears in the media.  It doesn't help our students' accents either...

Native-like fluency?

In the debate over English education in Japan, people often mention the goal of having "Native-like fluency" as a reason for starting English education earlier. Is this a realistic goal? High-level fluency and native-like fluency are very different things. People like Arnold Schwarzenegger are fluent English speakers, but are definitely not native. Do education policy planners in Japan honestly think any educational policy will make Japanese kids native English speakers? High-level fluency is a fine goal. At this point, even basic competence would be fine goal. It's neither productive nor realistic to hold up native speakers as a model for English education.

TOEFL

From the Japan Times:

Abe wants TOEFL to be key exam

I think this is a great idea. TOEFL is much more well-rounded than TOEIC, and the latest version of it includes both writing and speaking. However, I've heard this is not a very popular idea among high school English teachers in Japan. Can you imagine why?

The Course of Study (学習指導要領) documents published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (文部科学省) already call for an emphasis on communication and the 4 skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). If requiring TOEFL scores pushes high schools to actually begin taking this directive seriously, that can only be a good thing!

The Center Test...

Well, after being asked by some of my students, I tried the English portion of this year's Center Test. Remember, I grew up in the US, so English tests designed for non-native speakers are pretty easy for me, so I got a perfect score. Still, I have some thoughts on the test:


-The intonation and pronunciation sections seem like they would be hard for students who don't attend any English conversation (eikaiwa) classes outside of school. From what I've heard, most teachers in high school don't teach much intonation or pronunciation.

-There were a few points where I could tell that the people who wrote the test were not fluent English users themselves. In particular, there is one point where a character says "I have an image of deserts", which sounds like a direct translation of Japanese. A more natural way to say this might be "To me, deserts are..." or "In my mind, deserts are..."

-The topics for the readings have the same problems that a lot of language tests do - they're boring. I guess the writers tried to make the topics more relevant to test-takers by giving them Japan-centered themes, like the questions about the fictional Japanese movie, but I kept wondering why I should care. The WHO questions were at least based in reality, which made them more interesting.

-The names are hilarious. "Jack" "Anne" and "Carol" sound like names from a sitcom from the 1950s.

-Slightly off-topic, it's discouraging to see that the model language situation for the writers of this test is still "Japanese people talking to Americans about Japan". It would be nice to see more diversity in types of speakers and types of situations students are asked to imagine themselves using English in.


Well, that's it. I understand the whole test was harder this year than in previous years. Hopefully, it hasn't harmed your ability to enjoy your last 2 months of school too much!

Back again!

We're back! It's nice to see everyone again. We like our students, but the weather... well, let's not talk about that. If you ever get the chance, take a vacation in Arizona. It's beautiful and unique.