Friday, May 16
ETS is now using the PhonePass technology to conduct speaking test using
the telephone. See below.
Dear Colleague:
Looking for a convenient and reliable way to determine your students' English
speaking skills? With the new TOEFL Academic Speaking Test (TAST) from
ETS, you can test their ability 24/7 using the telephone!
TAST, the new speaking section of the next generation TOEFL test, integrates
speaking with listening and reading to provide a more realistic measure
of how well a student can communicate in an academic setting.
TAST can help you
--build
studentsEconfidence in their speaking skills
--assess student progress so that you can focus on improvement
and determine academic readiness
--save time and money on scoring
To learn more about TAST and to find out how you can save 20% on your order,
visit us today at:
www.toefl.org/tast.
We look forward
to serving you.
The English Language Learning Program
Educational
Testing Service
Friday, February 28
The Ministry of Education is sponsoring a forum for the Strategic Plans
to educate Japanese who can use English. As you can see, I've been
asked to give a presentation as well.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/15/02/030221.htm
Ken
Yoshida
Wednesday, February 12
This is from Mr. Yamamoto (of another ML). It looks like Kyoto Prefecture
is going to require all English teachers to take the TOEFL--as a measure
to see how much effect the new teacher training program will have on its
teachers.
http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/K2003021002959.html
This is from Mr. Irinoda. The Ministry is thinking of conducting
summer and winter English immersion camps in several districts around the
country for elementary school students. One good thing is, the program
does not necessarily have to be in English, but can also be in other languages
which might be more relevant to the needs of the district.
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/news/article/200302/09m/032.html
Ken
Yoshida
Friday, January 24
From Ken Yoshida
The COE program (what used to be called the Top Thirty) began last year,
and is heading into its second year. This is the Ministry of Education's
incentive for universities to create international level academic programs
at the graduate school level..
Now a new program will start. This is called the COL (Center of Learning)
which will focus on 'unique' undergraduate educational programs, which
will be collected as 'model cases' for other institutions to emulate. This
includes not only 4-year universities, but also junior colleges.
http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0124/004.html
Also, and interesting news item from the Ministry of Education shows an
international comparison of educational factors (including government expenditure
on education--lowest among OECD nations). One thing to note is how
much Japanese education owes to private institutions (expenditures).
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/15/01/030114.htm
Wednesday, January 22
From Ken Yoshida
This academic year's final ASTE meeting will be held on the 25th (this
coming Saturday), from 3 pm to 5 pm in room 311 of Bldg. 6 of Sophia. It
will basically be an open discussion about the recent developments in English
educational policy in Japan.
In relation to the above, I have been working with professors Fujita, Watanabe,
Mori and Ms. Suzuki and Ms. Osada (with the cooperation of the graduate
students in our applied linguistics program) to create a questionnaire
to find out about how English is currently being taught in junior and senior
high schools in Japan. This is a part of the research we are conducting
for the Monkasho's "Eigo ga tsukaeru Nihonjin no ikusei ni kansuru
Senryaku Koso."
The Monkasho will be sending out the questionnaires to randomly selected
junior and senior high schools via the prefectural boards of education.
Also, Benesse Cooperation has also offered to help out in distributing
the teacher's questionnaire, and in creating with our committee a new CAN-DO
questionnaire for the students to answer.
Although we hope to get a fair amount of data through these means, we would
like the cooperation of as many teachers as possible (both public and private
school teachers who are not included in the Monkasho list), and so have
set up a WEB questionnaire at the following site (
http://cgi.jrc.sophia.ac.jp/~tfujita/cgi-bin/questionnaire/). Our job is to come up with concrete plans with which to 'change'
the way English is taught in Japan, and we would like your cooperation
in this matter. If you know of other English teachers' mailing lists,
we would appreciate it if you could pass this message on.
Thanks in advance,
and looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.
Ken Yoshida
Wednesday, July 17
The official report of the Asahi Shimbun article I sent you yesterday is
on the Ministry of Education and Science website.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/020/sesaku/020702.htm
The
content is basically the same as that reported in the newspaper.
Monday, July 15
1) The Minister of Education and Science has announced a grandiose plan
to improve English education in Japan. All English teachers will
be required to have at least a 550 on the TOEFL, or a 730 on the TOEIC,
60000 teachers will be given intensive in-service training in the next
5 years, the Center test will include a listening component from the year
2005, the number of high school exchange students will be increased
from the present 4000 to 10000, there will be full-time native speaker
teachers of English in both junior and senior high schools, 1/3 of the
elementary school English courses
will be taught by ALTs, and more.
http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/K2002071201557.html
Looks wonderful, but...we'll have to wait and see how much of this can
be realized.
2) I sent you the Japanese article a while ago, but here's the English
article from the Asahi.
http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2002071300202.html
Ken
Yoshida
3) The number of JETs for the coming year has been announced. There's
an increase of about 80 compared with last year.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/020/sesaku/020701.htm
4) An interesting article about Global English. What would your thoughts,
as a non-native speaker of English, be to this issue?
MAGAZINES & JOURNALS
A glance at the spring issue of "ADFL Bulletin": Could global
English mean the end of progress?
Global reliance on English has placed humankind at risk of "extinction-level
boredom," so it's up to foreign-language professors to save the species,
writes Michael Geisler, an associate dean of the faculty and a professor
of German at Middlebury College. If English continues to dominate such
forms of international communication as the Internet and the mass media,
the world could be facing the end of innovation, progress, and evolution
-- a "global freeze" -- according to Mr. Geisler.
English is becoming a greater force in international colleges and universities,
while American students are becoming increasingly indifferent toward foreign
languages. This "new intercultural illiteracy threatens to close off
entire subdisciplines," he argues. Furthermore, a world debating in
English is doing so at the "lowest common denominator" --
a meeting ground for those who do not share a primary language. This lowers
the level of discourse, Mr. Geisler explains, because of the gap between
the perceived and actual English skills of non-native speakers.
Language professors can offer some hope, however, if they "take seriously
their role as not merely linguistic but also cultural mediators,"
he writes. "By reclaiming the cultural expertise we have ceded to
other areas of the curriculum, foreign-language departments across the
country can help prevent a global freeze and other gloomy forecasts."
The article is not online, but information about the journal is available
at
http://www.adfl.org/bulletin/ --
Roderick A. Jacobs, Ph.D. Tel: 404-378-7365
Author/Language Consultant
Formerly Dean of College of Languages, Linguistics, & Literature
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics & Second Language Studies
University of Hawai'i
225 East Ponce de Leon Ave, #523
Decatur, GA 30030
rjacobs@townesquare.net
Thursday, June 27
The summaries of all five breakfast meetings with the Minister of
Education is now available.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/f_020201.htm
Thursday, June 6
1) Sophia University Lectures in Applied Linguistics
Sponsored by Center for the Teaching of Foreign Languages in General Education
Lecture title: Reconceiving Argument in Academic
Writing
Lecturer: Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda (Assistant Professor of Composition Studies,
Department of English, University of New Hampshire)
Date: June 20, 2002 5:00pm-6:30pm Room: L-921
Free of charge
Language: English
For more information contact:
Rimiko Takamatsu at the Center for the Teaching of Foreign Languages in
General Education
e-mail:rimiko-t@sophia.ac.jp
tel:03-3238-3997
2) Here's a Call for Proposals from TIRF (TESOL International Research
Foundation). You can apply for funding to do research in TEFL/TESL.
If you know of any teachers' organizations who might be interested, please
pass it on.
Ken
Yoshida
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call
for Research Proposals 2002-2003
The TESOL International Research Foundation (TIRF) invites proposals for
Doctoral Dissertation Grants and Standard Research Grants in the field
of applied linguistics/English language education.
For the first round of competitions (2002-2003), proposals are solicited
for research directly related to the following research priority:
The relationship between the age at which English is introduced in public
schools (as a second language, foreign language, and/or as a medium of
instruction to speakers of other languages) and educational processes and
outcomes.
Proposals are sought that examine such issues as the relationship between
age, duration, intensity of instruction, and learning outcomes; the impact
of policies regarding age of initial English instruction on teacher education;
and the relationships among first language/literacy learning, English language/literacy
learning, and age, either in English-dominant or non-English-dominant countries.
Grants will be in the range of US $5,000-$ 25,000 each, with $25,000 the
maximum award. Doctoral Dissertation Grants of up to US $5000 per proposal
are available. For Standard Research Grants, priority will be given
to proposals that involve partnerships between researchers in institutions
in more than one country, ideally involving at least one partner in a non-English-dominant
country. Research involving multiple sites and multiple research
methods (e.g., qualitative and quantitative approaches) is encouraged.
The application deadline (for receipt of proposals) is Friday, August 16,
2002. All applications must be submitted electronically by email
using Word attachments, with "TIRF Research Grant Application"
in the Subject heading. Faxed or mailed applications will not be accepted.
Notification of results will be made by October 15, 2002. Please consult
TIRF's website (
http://www.tirfonline.org) for more information and for the required proposal format.
Short
Announcement:
The TESOL International Research Foundation (TIRF) invites proposals for
Doctoral Dissertation Grants and Standard Research Grants in the field
of applied linguistics/English language education.
Proposals are solicited for research directly related to the following
research priority:
The relationship between the age at which English is introduced in public
schools (as a second language, foreign language, and/or as a medium of
instruction to speakers of other languages) and educational processes and
outcomes.
Proposals are sought that examine such issues as the relationship between
age, duration, intensity of instruction, and learning outcomes; the impact
of policies regarding age of initial English instruction on teacher education;
and the relationships among first language/literacy learning, English language/literacy
learning, and age, either in English-dominant or non-English-dominant countries.
Doctoral Dissertation Grants of up to US $5,000 per proposal and Standard
Research Grants of up to US$ 25,000 per proposal are available. For
Standard
Research Grants, research involving multiple sites and multiple research
methods (e.g., qualitative and quantitative approaches) is encouraged.
The application deadline (for receipt of proposals) is Friday, August 16,
2002. All applications must be submitted electronically by email using
Word attachments. Notification of results will be made by October
15, 2002.
Please consult TIRF's website (
http://www.tirfonline.org) for more information and for the required proposal format.
Ultra-short
Announcement:
The TESOL International Research Foundation (TIRF) invites proposals for
Doctoral Dissertation Grants (up to US $5,000 ) and Standard Research Grants
(up to US $25,000) in the field of applied linguistics/English language
education.
Proposals are solicited for research directly related to the following
research priority:
The relationship between the age at which English is introduced in public
schools (as a second language, foreign language, and/or as a medium of
instruction to speakers of other languages) and educational processes and
outcomes.
The application deadline (for receipt of proposals) is Friday, August 16,
2002.
Please consult TIRF's website (
http://www.tirfonline.org) for more information and for the required proposal format.
Tuesday, May 21
1) Announcement from ETS about the new TOEFL. Looks like things are
beginning to move.
I talked with a person from CIEE yesterday, and she expressed her regrets
about the ETS closing down so many CBT sites in Japan. She told me
the paper test will resume from the next TOEFL, but it seems that they
are having difficulties getting institutions to allow th use of their facilities
for the administration of the TOEFL. If you can't find a test site
near you, that seems to be the reason. Hopefully, things will get
better as time goes on.
I'm wondering, however, how the new generation TOEFL is going to be administered
if everything is going back to the paper version...
By the way, don't forget, the next ASTE meeting is this coming Saturday,
May 25th (Rm. 310 from 3pm to 5pm).
Ken Yoshida
ETS has begun the first of a three-part launch of the next generation of
TOEFL. It will premier in 2004, TOEFL's 40th anniversary year, and
will more closely reflect the speaking, listening, reading and writing
test takers need at the university level and in their professional careers.
The first phase begins September 2002, when ETS unveils LanguEdgeE Courseware,
a CD-ROM instructional tool that will help build communicative skills in
English and give teachers and their students a glimpse of the next generation
of TOEFL. The second phase begins in 2003, when we will introduce
a new TOEFL speaking test. Then, in 2004, the next generation Internet-based
TOEFL (iBT TOEFL) , with integrated skills, will be unveiled.
For additional information please view the press release at
http://www.ets.org/news/04230201.html . We also encourage you to check the ETS and TOEFL Web sites
www.ets.org and
www.toefl.org, where we will post updates and new developments.
TOEFL
EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE
2) There has been a lot of problems with computer viruses recently, but
here's a site where the viruses are explained and advice given to teachers
as well as students.
http://www.sophos.co.jp/virusinfo/explained/schools.html
Also an announcement from Kawaijuku to the effect that they are looking
for contributions of used high school English textbooks to send to South
Africa. (forwarded by Mr. Irinoda)
http://www.kawai-juku.ac.jp/kawaijuku/volunteer/volunteer-s.html
Thursday, May 16
1) The Tokyo Metropolitan board of education is planning an experiential
college summer program for high school students. (in Japanese)
http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/INET/OSHIRASE/2002/05/20C5E600.HTM
Sophia was also asked by Tokyo Kokusai High School last year if it would
be possible to have their students take some of our classes for credit
last year. Our department said okay, but there seem to be departments
that are against the idea. Don't ask me why. So, I sometimes
go to high schools to give lectures related to courses I give here at Sophia
to high school students. I've personally found this to be a very interesting
and rewarding experience.
2) Here's an interesting site (in Japanese) dealing with various problems
Japanese mothers face in terms of educating their children in the U.S.
http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/schoolil/index.html
Wednesday, May 15
Looks like e-learning is taking off in the U.S. There are still many
issues to resolve, but this is an interesting study.
http://www.edweek.org/tc02/
Tuesday, May 14
1) Language Policy: Lessons from Global Models has been published,
and can be downloaded and read electronically from the following site.
http://www.miss.edu/news-pubs.html
My
article is also included.
2) Below is an announcement of ALC's seminar for English teachers.
As you can see, I will be one of the speakers.
http://www.alc.co.jp/catc/bu/bu020616.html
Also, TESOL International Research Foundation has just put out an
announcement about it's new trustees. Both Neil Anderson and I are
among the newly elected.
1.
Go to
www.tirfonline.org
2. On the home page you'll see an item for "What's new?"
about the new Trustees.
Wednesday, May 8
This is an interesting story about the United States importing foreign
teachers to teach in American Schools--mostly Spanish. It's for three-years,
and these teachers are being recruited as bilingual teachers.
A little different, maybe, but it sounds somewhat similar to the JET program
in Japan.
http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/392419p-3117360c.html
Friday, April 5
Here's some more information from TOEFL about the closing of CBT Centers.
-----------------
As follow up to the press release you received yesterday, additional information
on the international testing center reorganization is available at:
http://www.ets.org/news/02040303.html.
The following announcement came from TOEFL. There will be quite a
lot of CBT testing sites which will close. In Japan alone, the Sapporo,
Sendai, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Okinawa CBT sites will be closed.
Instead, applicants will be taking the paper test version. See below
for details.
-----------------
Yoshida Kensaku
Princeton, N.J. (April 4, 2002) -- Educational Testing Service (ETS) announced
today that it will reorganize and refocus its international computer-based
testing (CBT) operations to increase efficiency and improve access through
multiple ways of testing.
Currently, ETS CBTs are offered to more than 1.5 million people worldwide
through some 400 domestic centers and 195 international centers operated
by Prometric. Over the next twelve months, ETS will phase out operations
at 84 non-U.S. CBT test centers. To ensure continuity of service, ETS will
establish paper-based testing centers at educational organizations such
as colleges, universities, schools and advising centers in the affected
areas. Less than 15 percent of international test takers are affected by
the change. For a list of the centers being closed, check
http://www.ets.org/news/02040302.html.
(snip)
Saturday, March 30
This is the interim report concerning the subjects which will be included
in the Center test from the year 2002.
http://www.dnc.ac.jp/18kyouka-chuukan.html
The
ASTE Newsletter 46 is on the WEB
http://www.bun-eido.co.jp/aste/aste46.html
We
sent the hard copies out yesterday as well.
One other piece of new: The Sophia Seminar for High School Teachers
of English will, unfortunately, be canceled this year. In cooperation
with UTS, we tried to get the necessary funding, but came up short this
year. We will try to get it back in business next year.
Saturday, March 9
1) Here are some possible examples of classes based on Monkasho's assessment
Criteria. (Gumma Prefectural Board of Education)
http://www.pref.gunma.jp/kyoi/05/hyouka/index.htm
If you want to know what we talked about at our meeting with the Minister
(in our session, the Minister could not come because of the problems in
the Diet), here are some very topics we discussed. Unfortunately,
it's very skeletal.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/f_020201.htm
Also, you can read the newest issue of the Monbukagaku Jiho (bulletin of
the Ministry of Education and Science) at the site below.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/kouhou/020228/01.htm
Saturday, March 2
The Monkasho has released a report on the Assessment Criteria for elementary
and junior high school subjects.
http://www.nier.go.jp/kaihatsu/houkoku/saisyu.htm
(in Japanese)
Tuesday, February 26
1) The Ministry of Education and Science has released proposals by the
Central Education Committee concerning teacher accreditation criteria.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/020202.htm
2) The Committee has also released its views on liberal arts education--there
is mention of high schools in this documents as well.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/020203.htm
3) Another, completely different site which may be of interest is a site
provided by the American Library of Congress. It's called Portals
to the World. It's a good way to get to know about the world.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html
Saturday, February 2
1) Here's a report of a survey done with Japanese children. It seems
the percentage of elementary school children attending Jukus is on the
increase.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/14/01/020122.htm
2) This is the newest issue of the Monkasho Newsletter.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/kouhou/020130/01.htm
3) At this ESL Listening Lab, you can download some very good listening
comprehension materials. Try them yourselves.
http://www.esl-lab.com/
Thursday, January 31
Here's an interesting article from the Boston Globe about a new way of
assessment. It gives examples of schools where electronic portfolios
are now being used. Something to think about in Japan as well?
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/025/metro/Click_on_progress+.shtml
Monday, January 28
1) If you have questions about the new study guidelines, here's site which
answers some of those questions for you.
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/youryou/111/020101.htm
2) Also, for anyone who wants to read the Tales of Genji in English, here's
a good site.
http://webworld.unesco.org/genji/en/index.shtml
3) This is an announcement from our institute concerning Paul Hopper's
lecture to be given at Sophia. It's on February 25th.
Speaker: Prof. Paul Hopper iDepartment of English, Carnegie Mellon University)
Date: Monday, February 25
Time: 3:00PM to 5:00PM
Place: Conference Room 6 (5th floor of Jochi Kaikan), Sophia University
Title: "The Fragmentary Nature of Linguistic Data"
I will discuss the implications of conversational data for the notion of
a construction and for ideas about language change. The talk will include
reference to the recent work of Sandra Thompson and myself concerning transitivity
The use of language: English
*Free admission
Wednesday, January 23
This is from another ML that I belong to. The Minister of Education
and Science is asking about 20 people to give their opinions concerning
English education in Japan, and the first of 5 meetings (4 people each
per month) was held today. Two points mentioned in this report:
English should be taught in elementary schools and more subjects in universities
should be taught in English. Sophia's president, Fr. Currie, was also at
the meeting today. I'm on next month. We'll see what comes
out of this.
The ASTE Meeting is this coming Saturday (January 26th), from 3-5 pm, room
311 of the no. 6 building of Sophia. This is the final meeting for
the 2001 academic year.
See you then.
Ken Yoshida
Tuesday, January 22
Some of you might know this site already, but with the Monkasho beginning
to create rubrics for the criterion-based assessment it has decided to
implement, the following Council of Europe scales as well as a free web-test
might be of interest. You can take tests in 14 different languages
if you want to try.
http://www.dialang.org/english/index.html
Thursday, January 17
A very interesting and useful site to get materials for the Course in General
Studies (Sogotekina-gakushu no jikan)
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/sougou/main14_a2.htm
Friday, January 4
Happy New year to you all!
An interesting article in the Yomiuri (couldn't find it in English) says
that ALTs will have a chance to become full-fledged lecturers in Japanese
junior and senior high schools. The ministry is also contemplating
changing the teacher accreditation procedures--opening doors to those who
have teaching licenses from their home countries, and also providing in-service
opportunities (5-10 years) in Japan as well whereby the emphasis will be
placed on actual teaching and interviews. These are really good signs.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/01/20020101i501.htm
*****************************************************************************************
Sunday, December 23
The Japanese TOEFL average score is now 504- -3 points better than the
last time.
http://www.cieej.or.jp/toefl/toeflsemi/mailmaga4/toefl-data.html
(These are data from CIEE)
Thursday, December 20
Interested in Japanglish? Here's an interesting web site.
http://www.jun-gifts.com/others/japanglish/japanglish.htm
Saturday, December 15
The monthly Monbu Kagaku Koho has been released. Articles on the
JET program report, as well as an announcement for a position opening for
International director of the the Japanese school in San Paulo is on the
last page.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/kouhou/011212/01.htm
Thursday, December 6
Some of you have probably read newspaper reports about the Japanese high
school students' high achievement in math, science and reading comprehension
in comparison with students in other parts of the world. Here's the
report (there's an English version as well).
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/toukei/001/index28.htm
Tuesday, December 4
From Mr. Irinoda. Mr. Akashi proposes need for half year study abroad
and half year international volunteer activities for all college students.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/07/20011129wm06.htm
Wednesday, November 28
1) The Monkasho News 14 has been released. Interesting article about
the increase in foreign students in Japan.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/kouhou/011121/02.htm
Tuesday, November 27
1) The following was sent to the CALPS ML. It talks about the lack
of Japanese language teachers in Korea. They're making German and
French teachers take 1 year training courses in becoming Japanese language
teachers
http://www.asahi.com/international/jk/011125a.html
2) Here is another very interesting article about American high school
students' applications to take part in exchange programs rising, as a result
of the September 11th incident. As Mr. Sasaki asks, what's happening
in Japan??? Has there been any positive changes in the mentality
of the Japanese youth as a result of the incident?
Exchange Student Applications Surge From: Daisuke Sasaki <daisuke@e-mail.ne.jp>
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011124/us/exchange_students_1.html
3) The following is a report on the state of Japanese youth, conducted
by the government.
http://www8.cao.go.jp/youth/kenkyu/seikatu2th/top.html
Friday, November 23
1) CIEE (Council) has an interesting table showing how many prefectures
are now using TOEFL scores as criteria for hiring new teachers.
http://www.cieej.or.jp/toefl/toefl/kyouikuiinkai.html
2) The following is a review of the JET program conducted by the Monkasho.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/13/11/011121.htm
Thursday, November 22
1) The following is an announcement from Prof. Tamura of our Dept. of Electrical
Engineering. It's about a session on the use of computers in language
teaching. If you're interested, you might want to look it up.
http://www.elc.or.jp/
2) If anyone is interested in learning about "TOEIC Junior,"
here's an interview and an introduction of it referred to me by Mr. Irinoda
http://www.toeic.or.jp/bridge/01/index.html
http://www.asahi.com/english/weekly/study/toeic.html
Wednesday, November 21
Hakuhodo has released the results of an international comparison in the
way young people think and behave.
http://www.hakuhodo.co.jp/news/20011116.html (in Japanese)
Friday, November 16
If you want to read Japanese folktales in English, here's a good site.
You can also use it for your classes.
http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/folk.html
Thursday, November 15
This site be of interest to you. You'll find a lot of very practical
lessons you might be able to use in your teaching.
----------------------
Yoshida
Kensaku
Dear JACET
Teacher,
As a fellow member of JACET, I would like to introduce you to English To
Go
http://www.english-to-go.com/English/index.cfm?referer_id=115
Each week, we create Photocopiable Lesson Plans for English Teachers that
are based on current Reuters News stories. We create 5 levels of
Lessons to suit the needs of your students, ranging from Beginner (Eiken
Class Three) to Advanced (Eiken Class 1). Currently, we have more
than 20,000 teachers in over 100 countries using our materials each week,
and we're now beginning to expand our efforts here in Japan. In addition
to these Instant Lessons, we also have other weekly Teaching Resources
available on our website ranging from Grammar and Vocabulary information
to Classroom Warm Up Exercises. Over the coming weeks, we'll also
be adding a Japanese language section to our site, Japanese Translations
of some lower-level Lessons, and a special area highlighting Lessons based
on news from Japan.
I would like to invite you to become a Free Guest Member of English To
Go to learn the many benefits that we can bring to your teaching.
And if you and your colleagues are interested in becoming paying members,
we offer volume discounts for groups of 2 or more teachers.
If you have any questions or comments about English To Go and our efforts
here in Japan, please feel free to email me at your convenience. Also,
if our materials currently do not suit your teaching needs, I'd love to
hear your feedback as to how we could improve.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Kind
Regards,
Philip
Philip Sidel
General Manager
English To
Go, Japan Representative Office
"For Teachers of the World"
www.english-to-go.com
Wednesday, November 14
1) The is from Prof. Yoshia: Here's a very useful site full of free references
of all kinds compiled by the American Library Association.
http://www.ala.org/rusa/mars/best2001.html
Thursday, November 8
Children today watch more television than 10 years ago, don't want to go
on to college as they used to, would like to stop going to school after
junior high, but like to use the computer to study, etc., etc. Very interesting
results, ranging from elementary school children to senior high students.
http://www.crn.or.jp/LIBRARY/GAKUSHU/
Yoshida Kensaku
Wednesday, October 31
Here's an article from the New York Times that Mr. Irinoda sent me. The
situation is the same in Japan, too. I remember back during the Gulf
War, Ms. Marie Nishimori, who was on our NHK English Conversation
Program,was called on by many different television and radio stations to
interpret Arabic for them. She was a graduate of the University of Cairo
as well as the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, fluent in Japanese,
English and Arabic (and I don't know how many other languages). It
seems there just wasn't enough people who could do it then--and, most probably
now also.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/27/opinion/27BARO.html?ex=1005202932&ei=1&en=
Yoshida Kensaku
Friday, October 19
1) Here's some interesting results of a survey conducted by the government
concerning university education. For those of us involved, or interested,
in the restructuring of the university, I think the results shown here
are very interesting. (in Japanese)
http://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h13-daigaku/index.html
2) An article in the Yomiuri shows that Japanese children are watching
more television, are studying less, enjoy life less, and do not have high
aspirations to attain social success when compared with children from three
other countries. (in Japanese)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/00/20011018i301.htm
Yoshida Kensaku
Monday, October 8
1) Here's an article saying that the Central Committee on Education (Chuo
Kyoiku Shingikai) is recommending the sending of junior high school teachers
to teach elementary school science and social studies. The reason
is because Japanese children are not doing as well in the sciences as they
used to, and a need to have specialized teachers teach these subjects in
elementary schools is being considered.
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/news/selection/archive/200110/08/20011008k0000m040124000c.html
They're also talking about doing the same thing with English teachers in
the future as well. What are your thoughts on this?
Yoshida Kensaku
2) Here's an online journal you can subscribe to for free. Mr. Irinoda
studying at Hawaii right now forwarded this information to me.
> From: llt@msu.edu
> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001
12:36:23 -1000
> To: cdoughty@hawaii.edu
> Subject: LLT
volume 5 number 3 is now available!
>
We are happy to announce that Volume 5, Number 3 of Language Learning &
Technology is now available at http://llt.msu.edu. This is a Special Issue on "Using Corpora in Language Teaching and
Learning" and was guest edited by Chris Tribble and Michael Barlow.
The contents are listed below.
Please visit the LLT Web site and be sure to enter your free subscription
if you have not already done so. Also, we welcome your submissions of articles,
reviews, and commentaries for future issues. Check our guidelines for submission
at http://llt.msu.edu/contrib.html.
Sincerely,
Mark Warschauer and Dorothy Chun, Editors
Language Learning & Technology (http://llt.msu.edu)
***Feature Articles***
1 Genres, Registers, Text Types, Domain, and Style: Clarifying the Concepts
and Navigating a Path Through the BNC Jungle (David Lee)
2 Text Categories and Corpus Users: A Response to David Lee (Commentary)
(Guy Aston)
3 An Evaluation of Intermediate Students' Approaches to Corpus Investigation
(Claire Kennedy and Tiziana Miceli)
4 Looking at Citations: Using Corpora in English for Academic Purposes
(Paul Thompson and Chris Tribble)
5 Lexical Behavior in Academic and Technical Corpora: Implications for
ESP Development (Alejandro Curado Fuentes)
6 Teaching German Modal Particles: A Corpus-Based Approach (Martina Mollering)
7 The Emergence of Texture: An Analysis of the Functions of the Nominal
Demonstratives in an English Interlanguage Corpus (Terry Murphy)
8 Exploring Parallel Concordancing in English and Chinese (Wang Lixun)
9 A Case for Using a Parallel Corpus and Concordancer for Beginners of
a Foreign Language (Elke St. John)
***Columns***
From the Editors (Mark Warshauer, Dorothy Chun, and Pamela DaGrossa)
From the Guest Editor (Christopher Tribble and Michael Barlow)
On the Net "Finding Song Lyrics Online" (Jean LeLoup and Robert
Ponterio)
Emerging Technologies "Tools and Trends in Corpora Use for Teaching
and Learning" (Robert Godwin-Jones)
***Reviews*** Edited by Jennifer Leeman
1 Multilingual Corpora in Teaching and Research by Botley, McEnery, &
Wilson (Eds.) (reviewed by John Lawler)
2 Patterns and Meanings: Using Corpora for English Language Research and
Teaching by Partington (reviewed by Jozsef Horvath)
3 Exploring Academic English: A Workbook for Student Essay Writing by Thurstun
& Candlin (reviewed by Paul Thompson)
4 MonoConc Pro and WordSmith Tools (reviewed by Randi Reppen)
***Call for Papers***
Theme: Distance Learning
***Corpora Research Bibliography***
Friday, July 13
Here's an interesting site that tells you 'How to' do virtually everything--the
American way? Good for thinking of topics and tasks for your classes, and
teaching materials.
http://www.ehow.com/
Tuesday, July 3
If you're interested in the results of the 2000 Census, visit the
following site. There are some very interesting figures.
http://www.stat.go.jp/data/kokusei/2000/sokuhou/index.htm
Thursday, June 21
Our next ASTE meeting is this coming Saturday, June 23rd. As always
the meeting will be held in room 311 of building no. 6 of Sophia, and it
will be from 3 pm to 5 pm. This time we're having Professor Shinichi
Izumi of our department of English Language and Studies give a lecture
on Focus on Form and the teaching of grammar/form. It should be interesting.
I'm not sure if he'll be using English or Japanese in his presentation,
though. I think all his classes are conducted in English.
Another announcement. I went to NHK again today to videotape another program
on teaching English for the Kyoiku Today (Education Today) program.
Last time the topic was teaching English in the elementary schools.
This time, it is about teaching English in junior high schools. I
think it is scheduled to be broadcast on June 28th (Thursday) from 9 pm(?).
Also, Ms. Kashimura told me that on June 23rd, she will briefly appear
teaching her class in the English education debate program on BS NHK--from
11 pm(?).
I've been personally asked by Fr. Doyle about finding someone to teach
at Koen Girls' High School, and by Mr. Matsura, Principal of Tokiwagi Gakuen
(Sendai), for potential English teachers. Please contact Fr. Doyle
about the Koen position, and contact me if you're interested in going to
Sendai.
Ken
Yoshida
Friday, June 15
1) Yesterday I sent you an article from the Mainichi about the problems
in Japanese usage by young Japanese. Well, here's the original results
compiled by the Culture Agency
http://www.bunka.go.jp/7/2/VII-2.html
Go the Heisei 12 for the latest results. There are some other interesting
data in the earlier results as well.
Yoshida Kensaku
2)Tokyo Shoseki has done an interesting survey about English education
in elementary schools.
http://ten.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/english-el/ten00776/ten00776.htm
Yoshida Kensaku
Thursday, June 14
1) Do you remember the article about young Japanese not knowing how to
use the honorific system? Well, here's another article about Japanese
not knowing the meanings of idiomatic (proverbial) expressions. (again
in Japanese)
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/news/selection/archive/200106/12/20010613k0000m040074000c.html
Yoshida Kensaku
2) The following is from Dr. Arena. At Sophia, our students had free use
of GlobalEnglish last year. You might want to take a look at it if
you're interested.
Yoshida Kensaku
GlobalEnglish Corporation Receives Investment From
Mitsubishi Corporation
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--June 6, 2001--
The Leading Online English Language Learning Service Receives Capital Investment
to Broaden Existing Relationship with Mitsubishi Corporation
GlobalEnglish(TM) Corporation, the leading provider of online English language
learning services for corporations and consumers, today announced a significant
equity investment by Mitsubishi Corporation and its U.S. subsidiary, MIC
Capital LLC.
"We are excited about Mitsubishi Corporation's decision to deepen
its relationship with GlobalEnglish through this investment," said
Fred Grainger, president and CEO of GlobalEnglish. "And while Mitsubishi
has already been a great partner for us, we believe that this expanded
relationship will make us a more powerful force in the e-learning sector."
The investment comes after Mitsubishi Corporation observed first-hand the
widespread acceptance that the GlobalEnglish service has enjoyed in markets
around the world. Human Link Corporation, the wholly owned subsidiary of
the personnel department of Mitsubishi Corporation, has been selling the
GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service throughout Japan with great success.
In addition, Mitsubishi Corporation has recently adopted the GlobalEnglish
Corporate Learning Service as part of its own employee training program.
"GlobalEnglish is the pioneer in the area of online English language
training," said Mr. Yuji Komiya, General Manager of the Merchant Banking
Business Unit at Mitsubishi Corporation. "The English language learning
market is growing at a significant rate. We have seen many companies throughout
the world that have begun to use English skills as criteria for hiring
and promotion." According to Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass.,
the worldwide online training market will jump to more than $25 billion
by 2003--a 95 percent compounded annual growth rate.
Mr. Shunichi Maeda, President of MIC Capital LLC, added, "In this
era of globalization, the ability to communicate in English is critical
to success in business. The GlobalEnglish service is the most effective
and efficient e-learning tool available, providing people around the world
with the important opportunity to learn English and improve key language
skills."
About GlobalEnglish
GlobalEnglish Corporation provides the leading online English language
learning service for corporations and consumers. The service, available
at www.GlobalEnglish.com and www.GlobalEnglish.com/corporate, is designed to meet the English language needs of non-native English
speakers for work, travel and everyday purposes. With approximately 700
hours of coursework in both business English and general English, GlobalEnglish
combines leading-edge technology with proven teaching methods for beginner
to advanced learners. The company was established in 1997 by a team of
educators and technologists who founded and managed five of the most successful
educational technology companies in the U.S. and U.K. Headquartered in
the U.S., GlobalEnglish has offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
GlobalEnglish Japan KKK is led by managing director Masatsugu Fujii, a
former Mitsubishi executive with over 25 years of management experience
in international companies. Mr. Fujii is a passionate teacher of the English
language and, until recently, was a television instructor for NHK, Japan's
national broadcasting corporation. Mr. Fujii hosted "Business World
in English," a program watched by a million viewers throughout Japan.
About Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation is one of the largest trading and investment corporations
in Japan, with diverse operating and investment activities throughout the
world.
MIC Capital LLC is a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi
International Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.
The company is engaged in private equity investments in the Americas in
the area of early- and later-stage ventures as well as LBO and buyout-stage
companies.
Note to Editors: GlobalEnglish and GlobalEnglish.com are trademarks of
GlobalEnglish Corporation. Other company and product names used herein
are for identification purposes and may be trademarks of their respective
companies.
CONTACT: GlobalEnglish Corporation
Jim Mohan, 650/246-6114
jim.mohan@globalenglish.com
Wednesday, June 13
The announcement of the Sophia University Lectures in Applied Linguistics
is at the following site:
http://pweb.sophia.ac.jp/~yosida-k/Linguist.PDF
Yoshida
Kensaku
Tuesday, June 12
ALC Edunet has an interesting article on the use of picture books to teach
English to young children. (in Japanese, though)
http://www.alc.co.jp/edunet/kids/kids2001/kids63.html
Yoshida Kensaku
Monday, June 11
Here's an interesting internet debate about English education in Japan.
Interesting data, too. (In Japanese)
http://www.nhk.or.jp/debate/top.htm
Yoshida Kensaku
Friday, June 8
We're still accepting applications for the 28th Sophia UTS Seminar for High School Teachers of English.
http://pweb.cc.sophia.ac.jp/~yosida-k/28thseminar.PDF
Don't worry if you're a little late in applying. If any of you or
anyone you know is interested in attending, please let us know.
By the way, the two lecturers, Dr. Alastair Pennycook and Dr. Diana Slade,
will be giving special lectures at Sophia on July 30th (3-6 pm, Rm. 812
of the Central Library Bldg.) Dr. Pennycook will be speaking
about World English's, and Dr. Slade will be talking about Analyzing Conversational
English. It's free of charge, so if you're interested, you're welcome
to attend the lectures as well.
Yoshida Kensaku
Tuesday, May 29
Some of you might already have read this article, but it's very interesting.
Children don't seem to know how to use the honorific system. How
would you interpret the results? (Article in Japanese)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/04/20010528i101.htm
Ken Yoshida
Thursday, May 24
1) Lecture summaries of two familiar people are now on the STEP home page.
Guess
who?
http://www.eiken.or.jp/eigo-joho/seminar2001/5-c/
Mr.
Yanase and
http://www.eiken.or.jp/eigo-joho/seminar2001/6/
me.
(Sorry, but the lecture summaries are in Japanese)
Ken Yoshida
-----------------
Yoshida Kensaku
<yosida-k@sophia.ac.jp>
Prof. Dept.
of English Studies
tel: +81-(0)3-3238-3719 fax: +81-(0)3-3238-3910
Dir.,
Center for Teaching Foreign Languages
tel/fax: +81-3238-3997
Sophia
University