Should English be compulsory in elementary schools?

An article in The Japan Times Online discusses the political and social environment surrounding the debate about whether to make English language classes part of the elementary school curriculum. It sounds as if it is not so much a question of if but now one of when.

My guess is that it will happen and teachers saddled with the responsibilities will be woefully unprepared.
The Japan Times Online

Public elementary school offering English class

An elementary school in Kanazawa has begun English classes from the third grade. The change at this school came as a result of Koizumi's initiative to pass some decision making power back to local school districts.

An English teacher has to applaud the initiation of such an ambitious program. You can read about it at the Japan Times Online. You can also have a look at the "curriculum" at the Kanazawa Board of Education site. I have translated some of the contents if you are curious about the contents but cannot read the Japanese

Elementary and Middle School Consecutive English Education Curriculum and Structure<>

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1st and 2nd grade Elementary-- Instruction ContentEnglish: speaking and listening centered instruction; Ability Aims-- English sound system and basic greetings, 10 contact hours

3rd and 4th grade Elementary-- Instruction Content English: speaking and listening centered instruction; Ability Aims-- be able to name familiar objects and simple self introductions, 35 contact hours or more

5th and 6th grade Elementary-- Instruction Content English: speaking and listing ability, progressing on to reading and writing, Ability Aims--to be able to introduce a person familiar to you and read and write simple sentences, 35 contact hours or more

6th grade Elementary-- move on to first-year Middle School materials

Pretty rough translation, but enough to get the idea.



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Jenkins may become an English teacher

What a day for the profession. Charles Robert Jenkins, a deserter from the American Army in 1965 who now resides in Japan after a slap-on-the-wrist sentence for desertion, is back among the Japanese population. In an article, US army deserter begins new life in Japan, it says that one option for the future is to teach English

Soga already has a job as a health worker in Sado and Japanese officials have suggested that Jenkins could teach English, although he left school at 15 and has a heavy drawl.

I'm sure he would be very good at showing young learners in Japan how to appear in propaganda films and how to effectively give up sensitive military intelligence.

Failing forth-years

It is happening, the forth-year students ("seniors" where I came from) in my class for students repeating first-year English are all failing. This is a situation that I would like to have avoided, but they just don't show up. And when they do, they just kind of sit there and do as little as possible. This strategy is not one that I encourage, mostly because it doesn't work, but also because it is not any fun for anyone at all. It can't be fun. It would be a much better way to spend 90 minutes to just play a little bit with the language. It would probably help them learn something as well as get them a passing grade.

I don't want to deal with sobbing 22-year-olds who finally realized that I have never been joking, and that the job that they have found, which necessitates a degree from a four-year university, will go to someone else.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Another beautiful day at the foot of the Suzukas. It was a wierd warm day yesterday, but today it is back to its seasonable chilly. There ws sleet on the car this morning, actually. As I was driving to the U, there was a beautiful rainbow over the town that I live in. Just magnificent.