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Post by Otaku on Jan 9, 2008 15:01:28 GMT 8
Do you think ALTs should be a part of creating Japan's English education curriculum? Currently, Japanese JHS English teachers are included in creating this curriculum, but they have no experience teaching at the elementary school level.
ALTs are the ONLY 'teachers' who teach in both JHS and ES. While they don't have licenses, they most certainly do have the experience, so why are they not asked to help?
Personally, if I was going to create a Japanese language program back home and there were Japanese teachers in the same company and had experience teaching Japanese, I would definitely ask for their help and advice.
Is this just another example of racism, discrimination and/or nationalism?
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yopparaisaru
Englipedia Fana
I drink copious amounts of fire and piss excellence
Posts: 312
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Post by yopparaisaru on Jan 10, 2008 7:39:33 GMT 8
Yea, I think the ALTs should at least have a say in the curriculum, as you said we are the only ones who teach both ES and JHS, and we know the relative levels of both. The current curriculum is total joke, as it completely ignores any and all of the English taught in ES, it's such a waste I mean I've already been asked to teach 1st year JHS grammar points to 4th grade ES students. While I didn't stand at the front and lecture in japanese, I completely conveyed my point to the students and they understood just fine. Only later to have a visit from the 6th grade ES students to my JHS and my JHS teachers planned a whole lesson on the alphabet. Ahh Ahh Apple, Buh buh Bear, C(k)eh C(k)eh Cat, etc... for 45 minutes...
Naturally I don't think we'll be invited to offer even the slightest suggestion to the curriculum because obviously what would a non-japanese person let alone a non-licensed teacher know about teaching students. Naturally all were here to do is make games and activities. But in the end its just as well I could see any suggestion we might make to be answered with overly polite broken english remarks like "oh thats a good idea, but I don't think japanese children can learn like that." or "Oh thats great, we'll try that" only to completely ignore you in the end. But I wouldn't expect any less from the country that said they can't eat western food because they have a longer intestinal tract then everyone else or their only the country in the world that experiences 4 seperate seasons, or my personal favorite as I watched said person throw plastic bags and styrofoam containers into a fire, Japan is more concerned about the environment than anyone else, thats why they have so many recycling options...
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Post by junkdna on Jan 24, 2008 9:53:45 GMT 8
I am at odds with ES eduation... I think it's a great idea to have an ALT in ES, but I have huge reservations too. The biggest problem I have is that visits are too far and in-between (in most cases) to be effective. Sure the kids have a good time, but that's about all they remember. More than half forget everything taught to them, and they certainly never have chance to use it. So why bother? So that I can be a playmate? No. That's not good enough reason.
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Post by regi2 on Jan 24, 2008 10:44:48 GMT 8
The argument remains, that where would the time come from? Having speciality ALTs who jumped from one school to the next every hour could work, but what a pain in the arse.
The problem lies way back with why the ES teachers are so scared to use their English. We all know that they know more than they are letting on; I mean like after 10 years, they have to understand more than the average 1nen sho?
Maybe the key is to have the ES teachers doing the stuff they can do, like words and writing etc, and have the ALT focus on the pronunciation. But one hour block a week is not good enough for that. You need 10mins a day to make it stick... So the cycle continues....
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Post by Otaku on Jan 24, 2008 11:11:42 GMT 8
I think JunkDNA and Regi make some great points. Up until now, not enough time has been given to teach English at the elementary school level. The 'one-shot' visits are a waste of space, and I will even go as far as to say that even regular visits that teach non-sequitur topics could be better spent teaching English that builds upon the previous lesson. Also, Regi points raises two other interesting questions: Where will this extra one-hour-a-week come from? And, is one hour a week good enough to learn or are shorter times every day the better choice? Logic says that more regular time spent practicing something helps remember something more than a big blocks of studying. The sad fact is at the end of the day, Japan's education system will never become better until people STOP telling other people what to do (MEXT) and they all come together and DISCUSS different strategies and ideas about how to implement a proper English curriculum in elementary school. English in Japan is not unique, however the way it is taught is truely unique. It's the only place I've seen a country learn a language steadily for 6+ years and yet still not able to competently use it. It's not the teachers or students who are at fault. I believe the blame should soley be placed on the Japan's government, more specifically, MEXT. They force teachers to use horrible English books and teach the students the things they need to know in order to pass the English tests. Teachers are passively aggressively forced to teach this way, despite what their gut instincts tell them, because if their students receive bad test scores, the teacher is regarded by their co-workers as a failure. But any child not brainwashed by this type of system can easily see that it's not the teachers or the students to blame. The blame falls on at the top...MEXT. That being said, in Japan, if something is proven to be a failure, shouldn't the people in charge either retire or commit suicide to take responsibility? Another thing that reallly irritates me is that ENGLISH IS NOT THE OWNERSHIP OF JAPAN, so I don't understand why Japan feels like they need ONLY to include Japanese people in the making of the curriculum. This is an example of blatant stupidity in my opinion.
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