university students to teach English at primary schools

This article says that Kansai University of Foreign Languages in Hirakata, Osaka, will send some of its students who have studied abroad for some time to teach English at local elementary schools. The article says that they will be teaching "English conversation and international communication."

The local Board of Education says that the experience will help primary school teachers by giving them "teaching know-how" from universities.

Nice idea. It would be great for the children to hear about young adults' experiences abroad and encouraging stories. I'm not convinced about the rest.

Slide show on Ise Shrine

Again, in searching for information on non-Japanese history in Mie Prefecture, I stumbled upon this slideshow about Ise Shrine. It partially answers some of the questions that I have had since I came here:
1. Why is the most important shrine in the country in Ise?
2. What were the economic/political forces that encouraged the building of the shrine?
check out this slideshow

ALL-JAPAN POW CAMP GROUP STATISTICS

I was surprised by this information. I never thought of Yokkaichi as being the location of a POW camp during WWII. I was doing a little research on the history of non-Japanese in Mie when this came up. ALL-JAPAN POW CAMP GROUP STATISTICS

Korean English students more active and confident

Looks like Korean students of Enlgish are more active and confident than their Japanese counterparts, says a study by the Benesse Group.

Looks like the results may be in the kinds of activities that they have in their classes.

Singing in class

Not me! Today, I went back over the "Blowin' in the Wind" lyrics today. We just read through it. After we finished, I had started another activity and noticed that two of the guys in class were singing the song on their own.

I was happy.

Games and Songs

As part of the projects that we are working on in the Yokkaichi Teachers' Initiative, I have decided to undertake an action research project. I will include games and songs in each of the classes that I teach in university classes.

So far I have tried games out in three classes. They seem to help students have some fun and seems to make the atmosphere more cheerful from the beginning of class. We had unit tests today, but everyone was cheerful.

Boy Scouts in Japan

I haven't blogged in some time, because I have been out in the woods with the Boy Scouts of Japan.

A little history first. I was a Scout in the American Scouting program from the time I was 11 to the time I became an adult, and then served as a volunteer for a few years until it became impossible with obligations at university.

Since I have been in Japan, I have not been tempted to return to Scouting activities, because my plate has been rather full. Recently, though, I have been back around Scouting in Japan, because my son showed an interest and joined a local troup. After hanging out with them for a while, I decided that I should volunteer some of my time. I spent a week with the troop last year at summer camp, and most recently I signed up for Wood Badge training here in Mie Prefecture.

Wood Badge training is adult leader training, and in the case of Boy Scouts, as they are still called here in Japan (America changed the name to Scouting some years ago when women were allowed to participate) Scout Master training.

I'll elaborate on the training event in more detail later, but I thought I'd share a couple of thoughts. First, I think the experience was related to the content of this blog, because is was all about education, the education of leaders who will in turn educate young people. Second, I got some insights into my teaching and learning.

New Stuff from Blogger!

Lots of great new features here at Blogger. I am really happy with the changes. I had been considering changing services, but this has satisfied me.

Thanks, Gentles at Blogger.