High school English has little impact on Japanese

[gkanai]

6 years of mandatory English and the Japanese still have the worse English scores in all of Asia....
I'm of the opinion that Japan is bad at English for 2 main reasons:
- Japan has never been colonized (i.e. India, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, etc.)
- Japan is "too rich" to need to speak English. I.e. other nations who are less competitive have a greater need to speak English to do International business whereas Japan has been successful without much in the way of English for decades.

The need for Japan to improve its dismal standard of English was dramatically underlined by a private panel in a report to then premier Keizo Obuchi in January 2000, which recommended that English be made Japan's second official language.

...

But in a bid to ensure that Japanese students will not be left behind by their counterparts in China, South Korea and other Asian countries, the government is finally taking concrete steps to reinforce English teaching in schools.

...

Last year, the government launched a three-year project in which 50 schools were designated 'Super English Language High Schools'.

They were given the financial resources to research the use of English to teach certain subjects and to recruit foreign teachers to create opportunities for students to communicate in English - both inside and outside the classroom.

...

The use of teaching assistants, such as housewives proficient in English and the thousands of native speakers invited here under the 17-year-old Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme, has shown few results.

Most JET teachers are assigned to several schools each and get to teach a class only once every two to three weeks.

...

But Assistant Professor Tina Tajima, of Shirayuri College's English department, argues that teaching English in primary school is long overdue and must be done properly.

'We should have a structured curriculum and we must teach it every day,' she said.

'It would also be nice if we have competent teachers, not like those JET teachers or part-time housewives who come and teach English for 45 minutes once every month.'

High school English has little impact on Japanese [Straits Times]

[Big Booger]

The use of teaching assistants, such as housewives proficient in English and the thousands of native speakers invited here under the 17-year-old Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme, has shown few results.

Based on what research?

[Bongo]

[Neo-Rio]

'It would also be nice if we have competent teachers, not like those JET teachers or part-time housewives who come and teach English for 45 minutes once every month.'

Funny, but those exact same incompetant teachers teach the Koreans and the Taiwanese pretty well if they do a lot better at English.

Oh well, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear....as the saying goes. Thing is, the students are just not ready.

I agree. English in Japan is a novelty, or a status symbol.... and is treated as such. It is like a god, or a figure worthy of respect.
It is put on a pedestal and worshipped. The Japanese show due respect to it by not even daring to attempt to speak it properly, in case of making a mistake, and thereby insulting the Eigo gods.

[Big Booger]

Maybe THIS has something to do with it? hehehe Pervy teachers... pervy "educators"

[AssKissinger]

[gomichild]

Maybe it's because the lessons are so damn boring - the only kids I ever saw make an attempt to learn English had fun inspirational teachers.

(Used to co-teach with English teachers who couldn't speak English themselves)

[same]

The test results don't always reflect the level between countries because of the sheer number of Japanese sitting them. It tends to bring the average score down.

One huge barrier in language education, and not only in Japan, is thinking of English as a subject, not a language. You can't master a language by studying it, you have to live it. Even an eidetic memory won't help you survive amongst native speakers.

[kamome]

I recall from my experience way back when as an English teacher that the greatest impediment to learning English was Monbusho's insistence that teachers teach to the college entrance exams instead of focusing on communicative English. Every teacher told me that there was no time to work into the curriculum a holistic approach to language learning. It was all yomikaki and no eikaiwa.

That, and the fact that the teachers were lazy as hell, didn't want to spend the time making creative lesson plans, and hated having a gaijin exposing their lack of English ability.

[Mulboyne]

Cho does not equal fuck. More like 'Damn good!'

Whereas Greek athlete Voula Patoulidou, after winning a surprise gold in the 100m high hurdles in Barcelona did say in her first interview "For Greece, fuck it!" (...Ellada gamo to - not sure what "for" is in Greek).
It became such a popular catchphrase that Greek athletes were cautioned against saying anything similar in Athens.

[Andocrates]

[kotatsuneko]

try using take-chans old chestnut "manju" instead

[Andocrates]

[kotatsuneko]

hey buddy! thats take-chan's word, not mine! (pei-chan had much worse words when I met him in rondon..) and that paticular pic is weird, take-chan's euphemism relies on the spot in question being a healthy red whereas that one is pink on the outside white on the inside.. an albino manju?!'#

afaik terms like that are only used amongst the 35+ crowd anyhow (but at least their slang doesnt change every month or so )