Job Discussion Forums

[TokyoLiz]

Don't let eikaiwa and ALTing be a boneyard please. You can dig yourself out with a better attitude about it, hard work and some more training. I've met some great teachers who came out of eikaiwa and ALT jobs.

[rxk22]

[rxk22]

[Apsara]

[rxk22]

[Glenski]

[rxk22]

[Mr_Monkey]

Umm... You are the one making the claim; therefore it behoves you to supply the evidence to support it. Incidentally, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Another way of thinking about your claim is to ask how it can be falsified. When the claim is as broad (and, frankly, as insulting to the students who work hard to achieve their goals and the thousands of teachers who work hard to enable them) and as simplistic as:

[rxk22]

[TheHanMan]

[seklarwia]

@ rxk22

Most of your links are years old.

This one doesn't even say anything close to what you are claiming it says:
http://brettgilbert.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-cant-japanese-people-speak-english.html
Perhaps you should read your evidence again.

And joking aside, did you read the captions of the pics in this link http://www.engrish.com/ . Because out of the 5 pics, 2 are from China! And I must say, I've seen far worse official signs signs on government building and heritage sites China.

I agree with Apsara: I've met plenty of Japanese people who have gained a fantastic grasp of English through Japanese schools, language schools, etc. Taxi drivers, shop assistants, old biddies on trains. I'm constantly having Eigo bandits approach me to use/show off their English... and no, they are not people who have spent a considerable amount of time in English speaking countries.

And in my last JH you could see just how much they were learning because most came in with zero English and not even able to write their names in Romaji and most left able to hold conversations and even the weaker students realised that effective communication didn't require the use of the exact vocabulary and perfect grammar and syntax.

Right now I have am teaching more than 1000 students at one HS, all of whom have an amazing grasp of English. And at my very low level school, many of the kids are quickly realising that their English isn't as terrible as they had imagined but they simply lacked the confidence to really have a go using what they know because they were constantly comparing themselves to their classmates who always seemed to learn, know and understand more.

And I have personally experienced language learning in a number of countries across the EU and I can say that the focus on grammar and written text comprehension is exactly the same as here and yet they manage to turf out lots of people with excellent English by the end of uni.

I'm not saying that the ed system is perfect here (although the kids here seem to be doing better than in the UK so they must be doing some things better) but it's not as terrible as you claim based on... still not sure how you come to your conclusions (but I'm seeing an almost trollish pattern in your posts of how you like to make baseless, sweeping (and whether you realise it or not; predujice statements about all kinds topics) but you are wrong.

I think the major failing in English learning over here (especially in comparison to the EU where language learning is quite similar but they tend to succeed) isn't one of education at all but that most Japanese people have little or no chance to put into practice what they have learnt in real life situations outside the classroom. How many times have you heard adults in English speaking countries claim to have learnt a foreign language in school for years and yet not be able to string together a basic sentence years later? Why? Same reason: lack of practice; if you don't apply new knowledge to reinforce it in your mind and/or don't continue to practice using it, you forget it.
The EU is full of arrogant Brits and Americans who believe that everybody else should learn English so they don't need to bother learning their languages, so the EU non-English speakers have plenty exposure to "real English" and plenty of opportunity to put into practice what they have learnt. And at uni on the continent, with students coming in from many different language backgrounds, it is very common for English to be used in social groups and the classroom as a common language. Just like in my dorm in Austria; I was one of only 2 brits out of hundreds of residents. There were a number of Americans but in total, us English speakers made up a very small percentage of the residents. The rest were predominantly Polish, Spanish or Chinese with a splattering of German, French, Finnish and Italian speakers. So the majority of the time every one was speaking English.

[Glenski]

[Mr_Monkey]

[seklarwia]

[Glenski]

seklarwia,
I honestly do not know anything about EU teaching, but I'd still have to assert that based on lots of conversations and readings, it's not the same as in Japan. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's just very hard to imagine.

In HS here, J teachers teach the grammar (sentence level at best, not article based at all), while foreign teachers largely teach only conversation classes in some vague way to reinforce the use of the grammar. It's pretty poorly done, though. Public schools have ALTs (some have none) who are under the thumb of the J teacher who often does not even acknowledge any usefulness of the ALT. Not always, but often. The teaching in private HS (my experience) was that foreign teachers' courses counted for a tiny fraction or zero percent of the English grades, too.

HS "English" consisted of J teachers in a separate lesson doling out some kind of grammar point, but so arcane that it was only directed at passing an entrance exam format. Nearly out of date grammar, scrambled sentences, or direct translation seemed to be the name of the game. Those in private schools with sister college affiliations didn't even have to take entrance exams, so they had no need to study. In order to pass, only 60% was the bar, and students got endless chances to pass (sometimes the same exact test). Students get into college and then have zero motivation because of all this nonsense. Plus, college culture here allows them to coast through because there is no GPA system; employers hire students based on the name of the school, not grades. (Most will put some emphasis on TOEIC scores nonetheless, but it's moot to me because they can't get more than about 400-450.)