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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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 Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:09 am Post subject: |
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| ironopolis wrote: |
| When you say "worked", I presume you mean "taught". So may I ask, just out of interest, what subject did you teach in British high schools? |
ESOL, English language, ICT and citizenship, my PGCE specialised in ESOL though.
I started out at colleges but nowadays the governmant has decided that 14-19 year olds are to be classified together.
This means that children as young as 14 are now attending colleges.
I primarily teach adults these days, but if I'm doing agency work I'm likely to end up teaching 14-19 year olds either in a high school or a college. |
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Mark
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 500
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:15 am Post subject: |
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| taikibansei wrote: |
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| And, of course, if you don't study English you can't go to university. |
It is actually not difficult to get into a Japanese university without studying English. Indeed, depending on your desired major, a large number of universities will either waive your English scores entirely or accept you regardless of your English scores. I worked for six years at a major national university where all students in engineering and the sciences had their English scores waived. The local prefectural university took students regardless of their English scores and, in nursing, regardless of their education backgrounds. (They actually offered special classes--taught by Japanese and always filled--for students who hadn't studied English in high school.) Of the two major private universities in the prefecture, only one made English study a requirement for admission. This prefecture is not an exception, by the way.
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wow, this is amazing. I work in a private high school and so it's perhaps oriented towards trying to get students into top universities, but my school seems pretty insistent that students need high English scores to go to university (a good one, anyway)
As well, at my school, English is most definitely not an option. Students are required to study English and there are no alternate languages available.
Given what you say, it seems even more wasteful to make everyone study English. |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:10 am Post subject: |
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| Mark wrote: |
| wow, this is amazing. I work in a private high school and so it's perhaps oriented towards trying to get students into top universities |
Academic private schools need to get large numbers of students into the top universities to stay in business. Especially in the current economic climate, there's a huge amount of pressure on them to make sure this happens each year.
| Mark wrote: |
| but my school seems pretty insistent that students need high English scores to go to university (a good one, anyway). |
Again, most entrance exams feature listening, writing, and the critical analysis of adult-level reading passages. In order to get a "high" score on these tests, one would seemingly need to master these abilities. Now, remind me again just how much time you spend preparing your students in each of these skill categories? A rough estimate would be fine. 
| TokyoLiz wrote: |
| There is definitely a mismatch between the test creators and the high school staff. |
I had to visit a number of high schools in the prefecture last fall, including one prominent high school where the English teacher in charge of the 3rd year students bemoaned the fact that there was still no listening section on the Center exam.  Apparently, she missed the memo that listening had been added from that January....
| Mark wrote: |
| Given what you say, it seems even more wasteful to make everyone study English. |
Yes. |
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Mark
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 500
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:12 am Post subject: |
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| taikibansei wrote: |
| Mark wrote: |
| wow, this is amazing. I work in a private high school and so it's perhaps oriented towards trying to get students into top universities |
Academic private schools need to get large numbers of students into the top universities to stay in business. Especially in the current economic climate, there's a huge amount of pressure on them to make sure this happens each year. |
Well, I don't know that I'd call my school academic. They would prefer that all of the students go to university, but we're nowhere close to that and we're more of an "artsy" kind of school.
| taikibansei wrote: |
| Mark wrote: |
| but my school seems pretty insistent that students need high English scores to go to university (a good one, anyway). |
Again, most entrance exams feature listening, writing, and the critical analysis of adult-level reading passages. In order to get a "high" score on these tests, one would seemingly need to master these abilities. Now, remind me again just how much time you spend preparing your students in each of these skill categories? A rough estimate would be fine. |
Me personally or the school? I get one period a week, and it's basically just an opportunity for the students to practice speaking. The students do take listening, reading and writing classes, however everything is translation-based. Writing class they practice translating sentences into English. Reading class they practice translating sentences into Japanese. I've talked to the school about this, but there's a lot of opposition to changing this approach.
| taikibansei wrote: |
| TokyoLiz wrote: |
| There is definitely a mismatch between the test creators and the high school staff. |
I had to visit a number of high schools in the prefecture last fall, including one prominent high school where the English teacher in charge of the 3rd year students bemoaned the fact that there was still no listening section on the Center exam. Apparently, she missed the memo that listening had been added from that January.... |
Wow......
Another things has occurred to me. Really, the only reason my school has an Oral Communication program is because they believe that the government requires them to provide 2 credits of OC. Is this incorrect? I'm not continuing with my school, so it doesn't matter to me, but I'm curious. |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:44 am Post subject: |
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| Mark wrote: |
| Well, I don't know that I'd call my school academic. They would prefer that all of the students go to university, but we're nowhere close to that and we're more of an "artsy" kind of school. |
That's about as "academic" as things get here.
| Mark wrote: |
| Me personally or the school? I get one period a week, and it's basically just an opportunity for the students to practice speaking. The students do take listening, reading and writing classes, however everything is translation-based. Writing class they practice translating sentences into English. Reading class they practice translating sentences into Japanese. I've talked to the school about this, but there's a lot of opposition to changing this approach. |
And I'm sure it's been very effective....  If it's any consolation, problems with poor academic preparation at the high schools occur not just with English. All subjects, including math and Japanese, have been criticized for similar failings. (PM me for sources.)
Fortunately for those really wanting to learn (and aiming for the top universities), there are always the jukus. Many of those teachers are quite good. (On a side note, did anyone catch the daily tv drama show that ended recently about students preparing to take Todai's test? Apparently, they made reference to the actual teaching techniques used in some of Japan's best jukus--a lot of great stuff, supposedly. I believe the drama's name was "Dragon-Zakura.") |
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