English in Japan Not Yet Practical
Does English immersion have a chance?
There was an interesting article on August 15 in Japan Today highlighting an elementary school in central Japan that has been offering an English immersion program.
There is a special class in each grade that uses English as the dominant language. The classes are taught together with teachers from various nationalities.
According to the article, these classes in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture have a capacity of 26 students each and have increased academic performance.
Reading this article took me back to my teaching days as part of the Mombusho English Fellow program (now called JET) in the 1980s. My role then was to visit 50 middle schools in the Tone and Agatsuma regions of Gunma Prefecture to expose the students to “real” English conversation.
I found the first-year (6th grade) students to be the most receptive. They were so excited to communicate and attempt to speak English with a native English speaker, that they could barely stay in their seats. Most had only seen non-Japanese people on TV and never had the opportunity to interact one-on-one. I would prepare fun word games for them about Japanese pop singers and other subjects to garner their interest.
