Job Discussion Forums

kidkensei · Joined: 17 Nov 2008 Posts: 36

If you could only recommend 2 books specific to teaching english to japanese which ones would they be?

Aaron

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:39 pm Post subject:

Bruce Feiler's Learning to Bow and Lars Martinson's Tonoharu (a graphic novel series) touch upon teaching (but are ultimately of less relevance if you don't end up JETting or AETing). John Wharton's Teaching Tactics, Jerry O'Sullivan's Teaching English in Japan, and Peta Gray and Sue Leather's Safety and Challenge for Japanese Learners of English are all a bit lightweight but may be comforting pre-departure or in-flight reading for total TEFL in Japan newbs (methodology is IMHO just so much hand-waving and patting, and can't replace genuine knowledge of lexicogrammar and a corresponding willingness to develop one's own activities). As for actual coursebooks, a lot of the stuff from Japanese publishers can be dodgy (dated, stilted, inaccurate, or inappropriate - basically, inauthentic and unempirical), whilst that from western ELT publishers can seem much of a muchness until you know what you're looking for, and even then, it may or may not appeal to certain students - trial and error and increasing familiarity is what's needed. I would however recommend that you consider purchasing at least a good bilingualized learner paper dictionary that your students and perhaps you too will be able to make use of and benefit from*, such as the Oxford/Z-Kai Wordpower Dictionary (ワードパワー英英和辞典) (intermediate-level, with over 37,000 entries), or the Longman English-Japanese Dictionary (ロングマン英和辞典) (advanced-level, with over 100,000 entries, it's basically a semi-bilingualization of their Dictionary of Contemporary English, 4th Edition) or the Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary of American English, English/Japanese edition (Collinsコウビルド米語版英英和辞典) ( http://elt.heinle.com/emea/en_uk/index.html ); then, there are Japanese editions available of grammar books such as Raymond Murphy's Grammar in Use series (マーフィーのケンブリッジ英文法 (初, 中級編), 解答つき/with answers ( ペーパーバック)) , Michael Swan's Practical English Usage, and perhaps Huddlestone & Pullum's A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (ケンブリッジ現代英語文法入門 (ペーパーバック)).

*Many students either invest in an inadequate pocket bilingual dictionary, or don't have any dictionary at all! Or they may have fancy electronic ones full of so-so reference works published in Japan e.g. the Genius range of dictionaries, and may not know how to make use of such features as 'Search all examples for keyword(s)...').

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

fluffy,
Those first books you mention are too old to be of great use today, and I wouldn't really call them much in the way of teaching guides, if that's what you were looking for. In fact, there really aren't that many on the market, and I can't think of a single one except for a book on writing which only lists the common errors made by Japanese (MacmillanLangaugehouse, I think).

The major publishers try to cater to Japanese needs, mostly by printing things with Japanese instructions (which I dislike), or by using Japanese names for the characters inside. Otherwise, I really can't add to your list.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:05 pm Post subject:

Wharton's Jobs in Japan would be very dated (if it hasn't been revised since the edition that I bought decades ago now), but the methodology books (or methodology sections in them, specifically, in the O'Sullivan) that I actually listed won't have dated too much regarding their basic teaching pointers (I thought I'd made it clear that I had reservations about them generally, and was leaving those interested to note for themselves the publication dates of whatever editions are available (i.e. I haven't myself checked)). But that (the LOL bit) might be being a bit unfair in the case of the Gray & Leather (see review below), which was published reasonably recently (1999) to boot. Anyway, thanks Glenski for mentioning the Macmillan book (Common Errors in English Japanese Students Make (Japanese title: 日本人英語のミス, Nihonjin eigo no misu), by Barry Ward. Macmillan Languagehouse, 1995. http://www.mlh.co.jp/catalog/product/55 ), one to add to my list. I never saw it on my travels through various bookstores (guess it had sold out!). It's probably better than the E-J version I recall seeing of Heaton & Turton's Longman Dictionary of Common Errors, because it's written specifically for/regarding Japanese learners and not just a translation of an existing work dealing with learner errors in general (even if those general errors were drawn from the Longman Learner's Corpus, a corpus of genuine students' writing). Oh, and all that reminds me, there's also this:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6UIuWj9fQfQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA296 (Swan & Smith's Learner English (CUP)).

The Google Book Search review of the Swan & Smith led me to this:
http://edition.tefl.net/reviews/teacher-resource-materials/safety-challenge-japanese/

Which in turn reminded me of this:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=716715#716715

Also came across this:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W7JiAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:40 pm Post subject:

BTW, why do you dislike instructions being supplied in Japanese, Glenski? I'd've thought it (a tiny smattering of printed L1) would save time/help ensure smooth running and success, and allow the focus to be on the actual language of whatever activity.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

fluffyhamster · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject:

My God, how many 'common errors' books have Macmillan produced? Laughing

But it's good that we seem to be spurring each other on to think of more books generally! Very Happy

Regarding instructions in L1, I was thinking more of those bilingual Murphys, which don't abuse it (and can't therefore be abused by students, distract students, much). But I suppose that if one couldn't or really didn't want to read even the limited instructions as printed in English, one would hardly be in a position to zip relatively painlessly through the exercises to which they related!

I gave Azar a bit of a hard time on a General Discussion 'Grammar Questions' thread recently, but I'll stand by what I said there and suggest that people invest in one of the Murphy series instead (but then, you do recommend a Murphy also, G). Cool

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Yes, I recommend a Murphy book, but it is not bilingual. I don't know of one by Murphy that is.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:22 pm Post subject:

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

GambateBingBangBOOM,
I'm with you, but if you look at Kidkensei's posting record here (a mere 6 posts), you'll get an idea where he's coming from.

No MA.
No teaching experience.
(Likely) no Japanese language ability.

Also, he/she seems to be almost a drive-by poster. Post once, then never respond to anyone's replies. I don't expect much if anything more from them here.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:32 am Post subject:

Personally, I try not to give other posters too hard a time, and am happy to oblige them in closely answering their requests as far as possible. It's obvious that there is the language English as the underlying general subject matter (note how I banged on about developing general language-awareness rather than methodology, country-specific or otherwise), and that a lot of stuff that one reads about Japan needs to be taken with a pinch of salt/won't always apply; equally, some Japanese-language ability and cultural awareness wouldn't go amiss either (as my referring to E-J dictionaries implied). Cool

Crab · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Canada

I know this one quite well:

Tell Me More - Effective Communication Strategies for the Japanese Student (Macmillan Language House, 2005)

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Tell Me More is not designed solely for Japanese students. Again, we have a subtitle that is completely misleading.

Here is a link to the book from the publisher's homepage. Click on the link to see several pages and you'll know why. Generic text.
http://www.mlh.co.jp/catalog/product/280

wintersweet · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:24 pm Post subject:

Oh, well, sounds like things may be a bit of a loss but I thought I'd toss this in: Speak Business English Like An American For Native Japanese Speakers is not bad for advanced students. I think there's also a non-business version, which I haven't looked at. (No jokes from the Queen's English speakers, please. It just happens to be a book I'm familiar with, and I happen to teach American English to Japanese businesspeople and their families in the USA.) It focuses on idioms and conversational phrases, and includes Japanese translations (which I know may be controversial, but I think is useful with idioms). It uses the idioms in extended conversations between characters whose storylines persist throughout the book, which is nice for context. It's not really a textbook, but can be good in certain situations.