Promoting international exchanges on campus - One success case

This week I had an "exchange class" between my Academic Reading/ Writing class of 22 Japanese university students' and 23 international students studying Japanese at our university.

It went really, really, well, so I wanted to share what we did and how the students reacted.

For the past four years, I've done joint sessions like this once a term with another professor in charge of teaching Japanese to international students. My Japanese students have commented for years that the exchange class is the most valuable and stimulating 70 minutes in their language study experience, and today's reaction was just as strong.

I hope to propose that this type of exchange become a regular part of the university curriculum. The benefit is not only that the students on both sides can stimulate each other in terms of language and culture learning, but also establish connections that will extend beyond the joint session and enrich their university life.

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2012 Autumn Exchange Class Summary

Who: 19 students from ELA section 4F met up with 23 students from JLP level 4 in H-352. Both groups had a few absent students. Ms. Suzuki and Ms. Hosaka from the JLP and Mark Christianson from the ELA facilitated the session. The JLP students mostly came to ICU in September as OYRs (one year regular students) and have been living in Japan for 7 weeks now. JLP Level 4 is low-intermediate, and most studied Japanese in their home institutions for a year and a half to two years.

When: 2012/10/22, Monday 2nd period. Planning started at the beginning of the term to compare schedules for the two classes and find good timing. JLP classes are basically only held in the morning, so 2nd period is the most common time for exchanges.

What: The first 35 minutes were in Japanese. The last 35 minutes in English. An even exchange. In the Japanese part 日本語の部, all students did self-introductions in Japanese and then JLP students led discussions about things they found were interesting or strange in Japan and interviewed the ELA students about them. In the English part, ELA introduced their 2nd ARW essay research questions and outlines and led discussions to ask the JLP students' opinions on the issues.

Survey Responses: At the last 5 minutes of the session, the students filled out an anonymous questionnaire regarding their reactions, especially focusing on what they gained and whether they felt such exchanges should be done during class time or not.

Q1: I enjoyed this exchange class:  Strongly Agree = 17 out of 19 for ELA, 21 out of 22 for JLP. Two ELA students and one JLP student chose "Agree".  The two ELA students commented that they felt frustration because they wanted to communicate more effectively but did not have enough English skill yet.

Basically, all who attended enjoyed it. The energy in the room was overwhelming.

Q2: This type of exchange is a valuable use of class time for my communication practice: Strongly Agree = 18 out of 19 for ELA, 22 out of 22 for JLP. Agree = 1 ELA student, frustrated with his/her ability.

Basically, all felt it was a valuable experience. Most explained their main reason as because they were able to practice communicating with native speakers and able to learn about the others' culture from peers. They were also able to see how the other side is making efforts to learn their language (or a third language, in some cases) and were able to make new friends. For some ELA students this was the first time to ever talk with a non-Japanese student on campus.
Q3: In your opinion, how often should ICU have exchanges like this during class time per year? Write a number of times per year you feel would be best.

JLP students' average = want to do it 17 times per year.  (Many wrote weekly or biweekly exchanges are best)
ELA students' average = want to do it 9.2 times per year. (Many wrote 2~3 times per term are best)

Q4: Free response: How was this exchange? What was the main benefit or gain for you?
       (Pasted from the Excel form. Original responses were hand written.)

From JLP Students
--------------------------

1. It was really fun. This "exchange" should be our speaking class. I'm glad I got to practice Japanese more and try to communicate more. Very useful.    Experience. Practice.
2. I really like it and think it is good to have classes like this twice a week or three times a week.    This kind of class is more useful than the usual class because we can learn speaking and listening more.
3. 楽しかったです。    日本語を良く使いました。
4. I found this to be more useful than our projects, so I think having more of this and less projects would be beneficial. Fun and useful.    Speaking and listening practice.
5. I loved this! すごく楽しかった！ I found this very helpful for my Japanese. I learned SO much. It was nice to use my Japanese in a real setting. Once a week or once every two weeks would be great. It was helpful to converse in Japanese, then in English. I made lots of friends.    Now that I've met Japanese friends, we are planning on meeting up again and practicing languages.
6. I think it would be helpful to have this every other week. I think it was really enjoyable. It is fun to meet with other students your age who are just as eager to practice speaking.    Because both groups of students know what it is like to study another language, its more comfortable to practice.
7. It was a good way to meet people practice real Japanese/English. It was interactive and challenging.    I feel like I was challenged to speak more than I normally would in class, so it was more useful. Also, I had to form sentences about things I would normally want to talk about.
8. It was awesome. Very, very useful and interesting. It should be done at least once a month.    Speaking with people in a different environment than the usual class.
9. I really enjoyed! It was very fun. I can have this kind of class every week in one semester.     The exchange of ideas between Japanese and JLP students.
10. It was a very fun and valuable experience.     I was able to exchange ideas from Japanese students and tell them about my opinions about their projects.
11. I wish we had more time. It was extremely informative and fun as well.    I have a better understanding of Japanese culture and learned about issues that are important to ICU's Japanese students.
12. It was amazing. It should be done once a week at least.    Language practice
13. It was really fun! I got to know more Japanese students and more about Japanese culture.    人間関係！I finally got to talk to Japanese students, one of my goals of studying abroad.
14. It was beneficial to my education, and very helpful. Can we do it again please?    Practicing speaking about topics we've done in class with real Japanese people.
15. It was very fun getting to talk about various topics. I would appreciate doing this kind of exchange once a month.     Sometimes when speaking to my own classmates, I'm not inclined to utilize Japanese because English is easier to use. Speaking to Japanese students feels more purposeful.
16. I reall enjoyed it. I made some great new friends. I learned a lot of new language and improved my speaking ability. Fun and useful practice for everyone.    Improved speaking ability and new friends.
17. Very interesting. I want to talk to more Japanese students. We should have more exchanges. The more the better!    To utilize what we learn in class and apply it to real life situations / conversations.
18. It was a valuable experience. I've got lots of new idea from Japanese students, which I have never heard before. It is a really good practice for me in both Japanese and English.    Getting fresh ideas, speaking Japanese. Talking to Japanese people is the most effective way to enhance my speaking skill, as long as I assert.
19. It was fun talking to my Japanese peers. I enjoyed it very much.    Practical usage of Japanese and the comparison of cultures.
20. Today was fun. It was helpful for me to be in actual conversations and not only doing role play situations. Meet once a week!    Experience with talking and listeing. Also learning how others think.
21. It was very good.     I practiced how to paraphrase in Japanese. Even when we couldn't understand each other, everyone tried their best and explained it until we understood each other.
22. It was good vocabulary, conversation, and plain language practice.    Good practice for casual conversation.

From ELA Students
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1. I'm excited. We should exchange every day!  
2. I enjoyed this class. I never go abroad, so I never speak English with native speaker except ELA teacher, but it was so interesting!    Even if I mistake the grammar and words, we can communicate actively!
3. I had a great time! This is a great opportunity. I could make good friends and enjoyed. I can learn a lot of things.    "Don't be shy" is very important
4. とても楽しかったし、良い刺激になった。It was so fun and inspiring because we can experience "real" English/Japanese communication.    英語に自信がなくても伝えようとすれば伝わる。
5. グループの人々と楽しく話せた。頑張って日本語を話しているので僕も頑張ろうと思った。Very enjoyable. It is good for me to know another country's culture.    私たちがJLPの学生に分かり易く話すようにJLPの生徒も分かりやすい英語を使ってくれた。様々あn国から来ているので、いろんな考え方に触れられて勉強になった。
6. 本当に楽しかったし、英語を話しているなと感じた。    自分と異なる価値観を持っているので本当に良い！！今まで自分が気づかなかった視点から話してもらって本当に楽しかった。毎日この授業が良いです。
7. Very interesting for me. I could exchange opinions in the class.     I should get more strong opinion because my ideas are ambiguity.
8. I enjoyed the class! I want to take it again, every term. I could talk about my essay, so maybe I promoted my topic. ELA students are all Japanese so sometimes we talk Japanese. But in this class we have to speak Japanese all the time.     JLP students learn Japanese only two or three years but they speak Japanese fluently!
9. It was very valuable. I enjoyed it because I never had a chance to speak with JLP students before.    It was difficult to listen to English. To speak in English with JLP students was very difficult for me but I thought this is the best way to improve speaking skill.
10. I really enjoyed this class.    実際に話すのが一番英語が身に付くと思う！それはとても楽しいこと！
11. 同じくICUで学んでいる外国の学生さんと初めて話した。I can speak English with enjoy. It is nice plan.    自分の国のことや自分の意見をはっきり伝えたいと思った。
12. "いろんな視点でディスカッションができて有意義だった
13. Once or twice a term would be best."    "自分のスキルのレベルが分かった。英語も日本語 も同じだということ。I enjoyed, but I was frustrated very much. My topic was very difficult. I wanted to speak better! I felt I had to improve my English skills more. It was interesting that　each people has each opinion. I could think about my topic more deeply."
14. とてもためになったし、お互いに英語をしゃべりづらいStream4には必要だと思います。    もっとJLPの人達と仲良くなりたいです。
15. "いろんな人と話ができてすごく楽しかったです！We should exchange two times per semester.
16. "    みんなの興味とかが共通していることが多かった。アニメとか健康。
17. I couldn't speak English. I want to communicate in English! If we do it every term, or every writing essay, we will get more information about topic.    If language education in English is good, we can speak more good maybe. We should more speaking practice.
18. Very interesting. Once per term is good.    I talked about my essay. I could hear many opinions. JLP students' question was very interesting!
19. It is good opportunity! It is very fun and useful for me!!    It is very interesting that Japanese culture about hentai should be more hidden.

以上、簡単な国際交流授業の報告でした。 -Mark

The joys and surprises of teaching kids...

This summer, I'm teaching English to kids for a few weeks.

It has been quite a while since I taught English to kids, and it has been fun but full of a few surprises, both good and challenging.

I have two classes 2nd graders and am almost done with the first two week and will be finishing up with a performance for the parents on Friday. By my request, I have the lowest two classes in terms of English learning experience. Some have a bit of English background (in school or conversation classes, I suppose - hope to survey that)  but most could not respond to "What's your name?" or "How old are you?" when they started.


The Good

• Students have had good reactions to most of the songs, games, storybooks and thematic project activities I've tried on them. For most of my ideas, I'm indebted to my sempais in the program, especially my fellow 2nd grade teachers. I learn so much from talking in the teachers' room and observing their preparation and classroom setup. 
• I love the look on the kids' faces when we do storybook time. Their eyes wide and curious and reacting (not all, but most). That is really something.
• The natural communication effort. The program has an all-English policy, and I only use English and don't let on that I speak Japanese. I love the effort that the kids make to understand and communicate. They are confused at times, but it forces them to make use of the natural communication strategies that they have, and they DO it. We do fine in class, and don't worry about the small things. It is amazing how much they pick up when they need to come to me and ask for things they want for their craft project "Mark, may I have a piece of purple paper please??" This is from kids who have basically never studied English ever before. In 10 days, they learn to get what they need with short phrases.
• The openness to try to use English pronunciation as it is, even if they can't do it so well. In songs and in our simple interactions, the use English as they hear it. This is the way all foreign language learners should ought to start to study. They have trouble saying my name, for example, because the /r/ phoneme in /Mark/ eludes them. I get a variety such as Makku, Maku, Maakru, but none of them are Japanese. They are trying to approximate the English sound, and with enough input and practice, I am certain they will internalize it. Along the same line, they struggle with the word "girl", with some saying guru, some gulo. That variation is a beautiful thing because they don't take the short-cut and Japanese it as "ga-ru". I hope to get some of this on audio from their final presentations.

The Challenging...

Of my two classes, one group is a teacher's dream. Very cooperative and eager and work together well. My other group...has issues, mostly due to one single student who is disruptive. I won't go into too many details, but I've had to remove the kid from the classroom and send him to the director. The saddest part of this is that the kids who want to have fun and learn English suffer because everything is interrupted by a need to intervene in trouble happening. The good side of this is that I'm learning how to head off such problems with classroom management and discipline systems such as a yellow/red card.

From next Monday, I'll have two new groups and I'm sure I'll have new discoveries of the wonders of helping kids realize that learning a foreign language can be fun.

My 2nd year teaching "Leadership English" for Global Leadership Studies

Last year's 2011 GLS program was an excellent experience (link), and I was very excited about doing the 2012 program.

Here's the website for this year: http://subsite.icu.ac.jp/gls/

This year was equally good, and perhaps even better in some ways.

First, I want to congratulate the fellows for their dedication and final performance on the group project presentations. It was a pleasure working together with these experienced Japanese business professionals and non-Japanese graduate students to help them present their ideas for reinvigorating a simulated Japanese company by initiating various global expansion projects.

As with last year, the GLS Leadership English module was focused on activating the ability to communicate persuasively regarding critical issues in English. We did discussions, debates, negotiations, and presentations at a pace of about 7 hours per week. It seemed like the participants enjoyed and benefited from the training that we provided.

The two most interesting sessions were when the participants made short speeches and led Q&A regarding the topics:

1) (Week 1) What is one thing you want to change or improve in your current company or department?

and

2) (Week 3) What is the most valuable idea that you picked up from the various lectures, coaching sessions and English sessions?

The ideas such as the need for more global, entrepreneurial initiative in their companies, or the need to reduce the fear of failure and increase the amount of frank opinion exchanges between team members or with superiors was very impressive.

In addition, the improvement from Week 1 to Week 3 in terms of
1) English communication ability,
2) confidence in presenting and supporting ideas, and
3) self-awareness of own strengths and weaknesses and needs for continuing effort in weak areas
was tangible and a encouraging result of the efforts that they had made in the 3 week live-in immersion program.

I wish I had taken videos of the Week 1 and Week 3 speeches so that the participants could see their progress. I will recommend that for next year along with the possibility of creating an online file of comments and feedback for each person, filled in by coaches, English instructors, the person himself or herself as well as peers.

Once again, it was a pleasure everyone!

Does Japan fear a philosophy of "enjoying life"?

An article titled "The Pursuit of Real Leisure" in the Japan Times today by SCOTT NORTH Professor of Sociology, Osaka University leads to the question above.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120717hs.html#.UATEtnD6J7c

(From the article" "Today Japanese, like many other denizens of industrial societies, live to work. Nearly everything is a job to be done and our jobs define us. Japanese universities are filled with "intellectual workers." We value only that which requires struggle and hard work.

In this functional perspective, leisure is useful only insofar as it enables workers to work more. Moreover, much of what Japan calls rest is overpriced imitation of Western leisure, such as overseas travel, or sports, such as skiing and golf. The rest is mere entertainment, in which the machinery of amusement and media of mass distraction train the populace to be inattentive consumers.

Real leisure, on the other hand, is free, conscious activity that takes our lives as its object. In Pieper's vision, leisure enables appreciation and contemplation of the divine; it is stillness and quiet in which we can see truths and apprehend the mysteries of existence."

Why are Japanese unable to feel that they are "working to enjoy life", rather than resting to work? Why do people seem to feel they are "living to work" rather than "working to live"?

The article is one part of a series of opinions regarding the issue of overwork in Japan. I think most Japanese will agree that Japanese companies tend to believe that taking long vacations or leave or leaving on time at 5pm in order to enjoy life would violate the company culture and make it difficult for employees who try to pursue "leisure" to stay in the company.

Why is that? Despite changes in the labor law, apparently the situation has not changed very much. As the graph below shows, workers in the EU have a much better situation in this regard.

Personally, I think the core cause of the lack of time off in Japan may be a fear that a prioritization of leisure over work would lead to a loss of profitability or prosperity. Those who enjoy life too much will be doomed to poverty or a loss of competitiveness. It would be interesting to see a survey about such fears, with data broken down into different generations.

And so...is such a fear justified? Obviously, there must be a balance between a stress-filled culture of overwork and an excessive pursuit of leisure, and Japan has yet to find it. I would say that efforts still need to be made, especially by the top management, to give workers more time off to enjoy life--perhaps the company leaders need to start a shift in their mentality with some coaching about leisure for themselves. Perhaps the bureaucrats in Japan's ministry of labor need the same.

As a teacher, I also hope to see improvement in the work life balance for Japan's public school teachers. I have heard the time burden for work is excessive in many schools. Is it difficult to impart a love of life and a philosophy of "work to live" to our students when we are not practicing it ourselves, right?

It will be interesting to see what the fellows in my professional training session have to say about this.

Some reactions to Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

Tomorrow, I am going to discuss Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut with my Japanese university students for the first time. It should be an interesting discussion, and I am looking forward to hearing what reactions they had and what themes they connected with.



Credit: Some of the questions below have been borrowed from other teachers who shared them on the net. Thank you to the original authors.

1. What is the state of U.S. society as described in the first paragraph of the story? How has “equality” been achieved?

In 2081, everyone is equal, not only before God and the law, but in their characteristics such as physical appearance, intelligence, and talents. This equality is achieved by giving people with ability certain handicaps. For example, for intelligence (like in the case of George, Harrison's father), people with higher than average intelligence have to wear an earphone that breaks their thoughts.

2. Consider the character of Harrison in terms of both his physical qualities and personality traits. What is he like?
 
Harrison is 7 feet tall, physically strong, attractive, and intelligent, and so the Handicapper General has worked hard to get him down to average in all of those areas by putting on weights like a "walking junkyard" and making him look like a clown. To hinder his intelligence, he wears headphones that interrupt his thoughts. He says "I am the Emperor" and that makes him sound like he has gone mad--He is launching a futile revolution on the TV stage. He throws off his handicaps, chooses an Empress and frees her as well, and sets the orchestra free

 3. What is the significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina? In your opinion, what does it mean?

To me, the dance is a rebellion against repression of freedom of expression. They have cast off their chains of handicapping and perform with their whole potential. When they kiss the ceiling and each other at the climax of the dance, they are expressing the powerful joy humans can feel when they are free to express themselves. When the Handicapper General kills them with a shotgun, they

4. What do you consider to be Vonnegut’s purpose for writing this story? 

 Vonnegut wrote this in 1961, but I think the significance of his story is timeless in terms of several important themes.

To me, the strongest theme is the meaning of equality. For equality to exist in society, do some people have to be held back or hindered in their abilities? The reference to socialism is obvious, but all societies may have a "handicapping" element to some extent. So, in what ways does human society try to keep some people "handicapped" in order to achieve a sense of security? Do we do this when the rich pay more taxes or when talented children are kept in the same group as students who struggle so that the fast kids can help the slower kids. To what extent is "holding back" necessary, and should it ever be imposed in a mandatory way. Or, should it always be voluntary, so that those with talent or ability hold back of their own free will in order to help those who struggle. The handicapping done in HB is obviously a systematic, compulsory, government policy and it seems ridiculous to us in the way it is portrayed, but it is interesting how Hazel and George express their support of it. What type of "handicapping" is actually good handicapping? Is there any possibility that our societies are doing it?

There are certainly many other interesting themes such as freedom of expression, the effect of media, and rebellion against established laws and government. I'll look forward to the ideas my students bring.

5. In your opinion, how is the world of 2081 similar to that of your own society today? Also, what does the story mean to you?

In what ways does "handicapping" mirror US society or Japanese society? Does US or Japanese education have such characteristics? Definitely. And my instinctive reaction is that Japanese society mirrors it in a much stronger way--but ironically, that is one aspect of Japan that I really like and respect. The key question, which I hope we can discuss tomorrow, is: To what extent is it desirable, and at what point does it become excessive and a violation of individual freedom to pursue their full potential.

In Japan, the education system, especially after WWII, has emphasized equality very strongly. Some manifestations of this emphasis on equality are:

1) teachers efforts to keep the class moving at the same pace, regardless of ability, with little or no differentiation of instruction (I assume this is still true),

2) the rejection of any system that allows students to repeat a grade or skip a grade, and

3) the idea that all schools in the country of Japan should have similar curricula imposed in a top-down fashion from the central Ministry of Education, with very little room for flexibility or innovation by individual instructors or principals.

4) The use of school uniforms and other school rules in Japan such as prohibitions against make-up, jewelry, hair color etc. that prevent students from standing out. There are horror stories of teachers forcing students to straighten their naturally curly hair.


 Extra: Any other reactions or ideas or discussion questions?

I'm very curious how the discussion will go, especially considering the fact that my students were the top students in their high schools and may have been like HB in some cases, held back for the sake of imposed equality, in some aspects of their education.

One thing I fear and want to avoid is that my students will look for "correct answers" in terms of interpretations of the story.  I hope they will take the story and make it their own, and try to discuss, among other things, what the ideal balance in Japan should be for uniformity and individuality, for equality and competition, and how our society can aim for that.

Other questions:

1) To what extent are we "handicapper generals" of ourselves? What weights do we put around our own necks to make ourselves as average as possible?

2) How is television or other mass media used in the story, and how is that similar to media in your own society?

3) "Pretty soon we'd be back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else."  Where is the balance of too much competition and too much imposed equality?

4) Are all humans "equal"? What does that mean? What should it mean? In what ways should people be equal, and in what ways should equality not be aimed for?

How will Japan reinvent itself? NYT article

Declining as a Manufacturer, Japan Weighs Reinvention (April 15, 2012)

“It is time for Japan to find a new model for its economy,” said Masatomo Onishi, a professor of business at Kansai University. “We can follow the United States into a more postindustrial economy, or we can follow Germany into high-end manufacturing, but we shouldn’t be trying to compete with China in mass production.”

I wonder how much my college students are aware of and considering this issue...In general, I think Japan society may be a bit over-optimistic or insensitive as to how quickly it is losing ground, and how quickly factors of economic instability may reach a tipping point. Or, perhaps they are aware, but detached. Perhaps they have philosophically detached themselves from being part of an economic rat-race and decided to pursue other things of value in life? If it is intentional and philosophical, perhaps it is admirable. But if it is from a refusal to look around them and figure out what is going on, it feels dangerous, like some will be shocked beyond recovery when they find out their world isn't going the way it was supposed to.

Unfortunately, it may turn out to be true that sustained periods of affluence and stability, coupled with a tendency to isolate itself from immigration and influences from other cultures, may lead to stagnation of will power and energy to create something new among its younger generations. I hope not, but signs are showing. While my university tends to attract students with ambition and sensitivity to the world, my experience with other fairly prestigious university classrooms is that apathy and pursuits of short term pleasure reign. The kids live in a cushy dream world created by their grandparents and maintained by their parents. There is little sense of economic crisis or need to be competitive, and I just wonder where that is going to end up going...perhaps the stagnation is temporary, especially after 3/11, but there is no denying that an awareness of what is going on is important.

How will Japan reinvent itself? Whatever the answer is, I hope my students will be carefully considering not only the necessary economic strategy, but also what is needed in terms of social and educational development in order to create a society that balances pursuit of gain and pursuit of happiness for self and others.

Using the 20x20 PechaKucha presentation format for presentation training

Here's a link to a paper I published recently with my colleague Sylvan Payne in the Language Research Bulletin. Many thanks to the editorial board for their suggestions and patience for us (especially me) to finish the final writing and editing.

http://web.icu.ac.jp/lrb/volume-26-2011.html

Enjoy! We hope this will encourage teachers to try the 20x20 method in their classes.

It is always nice to be done with a research paper. Once again I wished I had done more sooner before the final deadline, but somehow it got done.

I want to thank my partner Sylvan for introducing 20x20 to me and persuading me to try it when we were team teaching a presentation course. He also created the initial templates we used.

I also want to thank all my students for the feedback they gave on their 20x20 experiences. Hopefully they have learned more about how an effective presentation can be prepared, rehearsed and delivered!

Gakkou Koukai: Visiting my son's primary school and English Activities

Last Saturday was a Open House (gakkou koukai) for Michael's primary school, a public school in Mitaka. He's in the 2nd grade this year and loves his school life very much.

Open House is a day where the kids have school all day on a Saturday, and the parents and other guests can roam the halls and visit classes freely.

I wanted to see my son's classes, of course, but also wanted to peek in on some English Activities (eigo katsudo) classes which were being held in classrooms of 4th graders and 6th graders.

For my son, I had a chance to see him doing a language arts class and a crafts class. In the language arts class, which was supposed to be a PE class outside but changed suddenly to language arts due to the rain, the teacher read a story to the second graders in a whispered voice (she had a cold in her throat that day), with the 30 or so second graders crowded toward the teacher's chair to listen carefully. After the story, they got some comprehension and discussion questions on cards that they discussed with their neighbors. Then students took turns reading the questions and the students who knew the answer raised their hands. Interestingly, the teacher only asked the students to raise their hands, and did not actually call on anybody to answer. Perhaps she was keeping things safe to avoid loss of face by students with so many parents watching to see what the kids would say? A very low key lesson, but very impressive to see that the kids' ability to focus was high and they stayed quiet and controlled for 45 minutes sitting on the floor in front of the teacher. Was the good behavior because of the parents visiting? Or does the teacher have good control of the class from day to day? I'm curious to ask, but I would guess that my son's teacher has done a good job with the crew over the past year and a half, inspite of being fresh out of her college and certification program and getting a cohort of wild untrained first graders last year. I remember that in last year's classes in Open House, around this time 12 months ago, a few members of the class couldn't keep still and had to pull stunts to draw attention to themselves every few minutes. Those guys were well under control.

Craft class was also very nice. I didn't stay for the whole time, but the lesson had a nice flow of one group of students teaching another group of students how to make a moving toy. Good practice of communication skills and collaboration. My son taught one of his classmates how to make a dancing cup out of a paper cup, rubber band, sheet of paper and tape. Very patient and friendly teaching!

In addition to my son's 2nd grade, I visited one 4th grade class and 6th grade class to see their English Activities, and stayed about half an hour in each one.

Both were doing Halloween theme activities.

My notes/observations

• The teachers were Japanese home room teachers only. No ALTs. I'm not sure why this happened because using ALTs more is an explicit goal of Mitaka education for English in primary school. Anyway, what impressed me was that both of the Japanese home room teachers who taught the lessons were VERY GOOD English speakers. Very capable with basic communication and classroom management English. Pretty good pronunciation, too. At least one had obviously studied abroad for a while.
• The flow of the lesson seemed to be 1) picture flash cards for Halloween vocabulary, combined with a short explanation of the meaning of Halloween in Japan, at least for the sixth graders. The flash card sequence seemed routine. First, after choral repetition, the teacher prompted the students for the Japanese equivalent expression to confirm understanding. The prompting was done in English "What's xx in Japanese? Do you know?" and volunteers answered in Japanese, all correctly. Then students repeated and were quizzed on them a little. 2) Games: For the 4th graders, Janken (Paper Scissors Rock 123...) + "Do you have witch?" for the 4th graders + winner gets one of the other person's picture cards. For the 6th graders, vocabulary bingo. In both games, the usage of spoken English by the students was very low. Most group work or free work included a lot of Japanese interaction. Some use of the English vocabulary may have been included, but I couldn't hear it. So...through the lesson, the students only seem to have heard and repeated 6~9 Halloween words such as bat, witch, Jack-o-Lantern (a mouthful), vampire, mummy, ghost. Input also included classroom English from the teachers, who seemed to speak only English...which is quite commendable for a non-English teaching specialist.
• There was no review of basics, and there seemed to be very little accumulation of functional language that the students could use except for "What's this?", which the students only used when required. No spontaneous use was seen. 
• Since Mitaka started English activities in September 2007, the six graders have so far had a total accumulated school English Activities hours of...let's see...in 3rd grade 25 hours, 4th grade 25 hours, 5th grade 35 hours, and now in October of 6th grade, about 17 hours. Almost 100 periods of 45 minutes. That's the equivalent of about a bit less than a year of junior high? 
• I think a specialist with a continuous, accumulating curriculum could have built a foundation of English by 100 hours, but this is very difficult in Mitaka schools because 1) English activities are NOT for English. They are for, as the national curriculum stipulates, experiencing the fun and curiosity of learning about foreign cultures and languages. However, that balance is very hard to strike. You either do cultural experiences with many languages and cultures with a little English thrown in, or you do English mainly with a little intercultural experience thrown in to show the context of why they are learning English and where English comes from. 
• It would be very interesting to interview the teachers to see what their thoughts are about the current use of time in the English Activities hours. My feeling was that the teachers were not really sure which way the class should go, and as a result, the time ends up being spent with fun and games to ensure, at the very least, that no child will end up disliking English before going to junior high...
• ...But I think it is difficult for kids to like English, especially in the higher primary grades, when they are only liking the games and the lack of pressure. 
• My stance on English in Japanese public primary schools continues to be: If you are going to do it, do it WElL. Do it systematically and with dedication of trained teachers. Communicate with the junior high school and agree on what foundation the children will be given in elementary school. Including basic phonics for pronunciation practice and sound-letter association should be completely within a reasonable reach with 100 hours even if the pace is 45 minutes per week. Give the children a sense of accomplishment--build in a lot of repetition of basics (numbers, alphabet, greetings, exchanges, reactions, chunks of phrases) that are repeated in every class.
• Or...if not done with organization and dedication, perhaps it is better to not do it and to leave it alone until junior high school??
• I'm curious what other primary schools in Mitaka are doing, and how the education committee is coordinating the efforts between them. My experience with the education committee shows that they may not have any personal qualifications or experience with language teaching, and their efforts to coordinate language teaching probably need help. 
• I'm willing to help if they are willing to listen...

Todai 30th in University Rankings...CalTech No.1...but No.1 in what?

What makes a good university?

This article in the Japan Times today shows that the rankings by a British magazine called Times Higher Education.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20111007a8.html

Todai is 30th. CalTech is No.1. Harvard and Stanford are No.2.

So...what does that mean?

Apparently the ranking is based on "their teaching and research capacities. The institutions were also judged on their international mix of staff and students, ability to transfer research into commercial gains, and research influence based on the number of citations."

I dug deeper, going to the Times Higher Education website, where they explain the weightings of the 5 areas of criteria:

• Teaching — the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score)
• Research — volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent)
• Citations — research influence (worth 30 per cent)
• Industry income — innovation (worth 2.5 per cent)
• International outlook — staff, students and research (worth 7.5 per cent).

I'm curious about how they assess Teaching / the Learning Environment, but information on that is hard to find.

From an "undergraduate education" point of view, I'm concerned about their weight on Research/Citations/Industry Income, which adds up to 62.5% of the weight. Certainly it is important for students to be taught by professors who are active in their field and able to publish articles that get cited and get grants, but is it more important than the teaching side? For graduate students who are at a university to become researchers themselves, I can understand the importance. However, for undergrads who are not necessarily going to become academic researchers, and most of whom are going to go into professions that need a generally high level of intellectual and personal development such as the ability to understand, think, and communicate on issues...the learning environment is much more important.

So...I would think a separation of "universities for educating" and "research institutes" in the rankings would be beneficial. In Japan, I think a lot of research may be going on at Todai, but is the university really helping students develop intellectually and as a person?? I hope so, but from what I have heard, this may not exactly be the case.

What I really like about what we do here at ICU is that the focus is clearly on the development of our undergraduate students. Faculty do excellent research here, but a lot of effort goes into challenging and supporting each student on an individual basis.

More information is here.

A culture of political apathy among Japanese youth...Japan Times article by Roger Pulvers

I think this would make an interesting issue for an essay for some of our students research.

Pulvers poses the question:

Why are today's young people (in Japan) so deliriously apathetic and passive? And for how long will they remain that way?

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20111002rp.html

Pulvers cites this book by Yoshimoto Takaaki, which I have never read, but may try to get from the library. Looks interesting.


Personally, I have tended to be moderate in politics, and perhaps the "new" way to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the government and start a political movement is to raise voices on Twitter or Facebook. But a spirit of concern and a desire to do something to ensure change is necessary in all ages.

Why is Japan's spending on education so low in OECD countries??

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110915a5.html

3.3% Japan
5% OECD Avg.
7.3% Norway, the leader

My concern is that Japan is not investing sufficiently to develop the learning and teaching skills of its students and teachers. Teachers in Japan are working hard to serve a curriculum designed by "experts" hired by or working in the Ministry of Ed. and to serve parents who have expectations for teachers to help their students pass competitive examinations to get into good schools.

But is the system really investing in developing quality learning and personal development of students, teachers, and adults in society? My feeling is that the top-down control exerted on education by the central government makes innovation, experimentation, customization, community dialogue, and personal teaching skill development of teachers quite limited, and as a result teachers are just doing their best to serve the system rather than really seek to develop their students.

Of course, some teachers will always manage to find ways to deliver excellent learning and opportunities for personal development (as people who can love to learn and work together with others) despite the system, but I have a feeling a major overhaul of the system is in need...and I'm hoping to get more chances to observe what goes on the school systems as my children go to Japanese public schools.


Thursday, Sep. 15, 2011

Education spending lowest in OECD
Kyodo

Japan's spending on education as a percentage of gross domestic product in 2008 remained the lowest among 31 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD says.

The ratio of educational expenditure to GDP in 2008 stood at 3.3 percent, the lowest among the 31 of the OECD's 34 members with comparable data, the group said in a report released Tuesday.

Japan's ratio was also the lowest in 2005 and 2007, and the second lowest in 2004 and 2006 in the annual OECD studies.

The average ratio of educational expenditure by central and local governments to GDP was 5.0 percent, with Norway ranking highest at 7.3 percent, followed by Iceland at 7.2 percent and Denmark at 6.5 percent.

Meanwhile, private spending on education as a proportion of total educational expenditure stood at 33.6 percent in Japan, the third highest among 28 countries with comparable data, following Chile at 41.4 percent and South Korea at 40.4 percent.

By educational level, the proportion of private spending on college education in Japan stood at 66.7 percent of total education spending.

Will ChatBots become a main form of English conversation practice?

I am curious how natural this conversation can be, and how accurate or useful the speech recognition software is. I want to try it.

The obvious advantage is the cost, and 1500yen per month is quite affordable, so I can see it catching on.

I suppose this method has a lot of potential for routine conversations as AI develops.

However, will the program push the speaker to develop communication strategies such as asking for a repetition, paraphrasing, asking for an example etc.? If not, the speaker will not really be developing communication skills that will be useful when speaking with real humans from other cultures and language backgrounds.

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (in the US and Japan)

Just finished reading this. It is a quite detailed and ambitious research report trying to establish that US university students are NOT learning what they need to learn, namely the ability to read, think, and write critically and analytically at an advanced level. 

This claim is based on a standardized test called the CLA, or Collegiate Learning Assessment, which has questions like this (click). According to results of the CLA, many college students don't improve in those key abilities from their 1st year to their 2nd or 4th year.

The open ended writing prompts like these seem to assess very practical abilities, and I am happy to see that these are quite similar to the liberal arts core learning that we emphasize in the ELP at ICU where I work.



The following sample question is from this paper on the CLA "Facts and Fantasies" 
 

Figure 3: Example of a 30-Minute Break-An-Argument Prompt
The University of Claria is generally considered one of the best universities in the
world because of its instructors’ reputation, which is based primarily on the
extensive research and publishing record of certain faculty members. In addition,
several faculty members are internationally renowned as leaders in their fields. For
example, many of the English Department’s faculty members are regularly invited
to teach at universities in other countries. Furthermore, two recent graduates of the physics department have gone on to become candidates for the Nobel Prize in
Physics. And 75 percent of the students are able to find employment after
graduating. Therefore, because of the reputation of its faculty, the University of
Claria should be the obvious choice for anyone seeking a quality education.

Hopefully, my ICU students will be able to take this argument apart and critique it successfully in an organized English paragraph that points out the main weaknesses of the claim "obvious choice".

Basically, the book Academically Adrift is a call to universities to boost the quality of their undergraduate programs, especially in terms of challenging students to read, think, and write critically. Professors and professors in training need to learn how to challenge students to engage in rigorous learning, and need to be given support and evaluation systems that encourage them to facilitate learning in an effective way.

I support this. I remember how my University of Washington undergraduate program (and graduate program, actually) rarely ever included any requirement for revising and improving a research paper. I rarely ever got more than a grade and a one line comment such as "Nicely researched but argument needs development. B+"  Being forced to write papers is good, but formative feedback is most likely critical to any substantial improvement in writing skills.  I had one professor, a young guy teaching me applied linguistics, who tore up a paper I wrote and asked me to revise it prior to a second deadline. I really enjoyed that process and learned a lot.

US universities will benefit from having more curriculum design with tasks that force the young writer to re-think and re-articulate the argument, and the same goes for Japanese universities, where the "academically adrift" situation is actually much, much worse.

英語と就職、出世、お金 President誌 2011 4.18

企業の英語公用語化の問題に興味があったんで買ってみた。
完全公用化は無理があるようだが、部門によって英語・国際会議など部分的な仕事機能において英語を公用語にする企業が増えてくる気がする。

すると早稲田国際教養学部、秋田国際教養、明治国際日本学部などと共に「英語虎の穴」大学の一校としてICUが紹介されていた。

p. 105
「国際基督教大学　設立’５３年　偏差値６６　教養学部のみの単科大。教育水準はトップレベルと称される。英語は英語教育プログラム（一年次のほとんどと２年次の一部）によって学ぶ。英語が得意な学生でも恐れをなすほどスパルタらしい。」

確かにそうである。来るヤツは恐れをなしてこい！

しかし、「英語得意になって就職する」ことでICUに来ない方がよい。ここは注意が必要である。
まずICUの教育は「お金のいい就職をする！」ということを目標していない。
そういう気持ちで入学すると場違いになると思う。

英語のための英語は学ばないからである。入学のレベル分けでTOEFLを使うが、TOEIC・TOEFLの点数目標もなければ良い就職を意識した英語資格の授業も殆どない。スコアは身のある学術英語・教養英語(English for Academic Purposes, English for Liberal Arts)をやることで自然と伸びる。

でもどんなに英語が得意でも、社会問題についてじっくり調べ考え、自分の分析や意見を文献に基づいて論じる能力・意欲がないと単位はとれない。綺麗な英語を書いたかどうかの評価は成績のかなり小さな部分でしかない。

リベラル・アーツ「自由人の教養教育」は社会へ貢献する責任のための学びである。そのために必用な基礎知識、思考力、研究力、問題解決力、そして書面・口頭の表現力を鍛えている。中世の欧州で政治などを通して社会を動かす責任をもつ階級の「自由人」の教育は言いつけられた仕事をこなすための専門教育を習う「職人の教育」と目的・内容が違っていたことに由来する。

ICUで英語に力を入れているのは学生が日本と世界を結び、リーダーとして日本と世界の発展に貢献することを願うためである。そして英語教育の内容は英語環境でも日本語と同様に思考力、研究力、問題解決力、そして書面・口頭の表現力を発揮できる力をつけるためのものである。

ーーーーーーーーーーーー
もうすぐ春学期スタート！学生も私のような講師も必死な毎日がやってきます。楽しみです。

Starting up a new school year in ICU's English for LIBERAL ARTS program

Time for a new year to begin!

This will be my sixth year here at ICU and I am very excited about meeting the new first year students next week.

I am immensely fortunate to be working here in a university that attracts some of the most motivated and talented young people in Japan. I feel excited about meeting my students and working with them and can look forward to not only a meaningful teaching experience but to learning a lot from the research and insights that my students bring to our classes.

And I think it is OK to leak this mostly? official decision that we are considering a change of the name of our program to English for Liberal Arts, or ELA from the current ELP, English Language Program. This is a very natural change for us, really, since this name more closely reflects our focus. Our primary goal is not just to help our students be good at "English" but more specifically help them develop English skills that can form the foundation of liberal arts studies in English.

The most recent Faculty Development Newsletter at ICU included a reevaluation by Dr. Steele of our mission as a liberal arts university. In it, he lists a 6-Point Definition of Liberal Learning that I want to introduce here in a slightly shortened form:

Liberal Learning
-------------------

1. Develops critical thinking necessary to make informed decisions in an age cluttered with information.
   
2. Calls for moral and social responsibility in an age of contending world views and confusing ethical choices.
3. Liberates students, making them free, able to take charge of their own thoughts and examine often contradictory ideologies and traditions that exist today.
4. Encourages students to engage in active, rigorous inquiry. Have a critical curiosity.
5. Requires students to be open minded and embrace a diversity of ideas and experiences.
6. Inspires students to want to serve in society, and challenges students to develop skills and knowledge that will help them be more effective in identifying and solving problems in society.

An ambitious list of goals, but my students each year impress me with how well they develop many of these. Looking forward to meeting you all next week!

2010 PISA Results - A need for promoting the joy of reading

My feeling about the recenty released PISA results for Japan was reflected in a Japan Times editorial today.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20101211a1.html

"Japanese students are poor at finding subjects of interest and studying them. PISA found that 44.2 percent of them do not have the habit of reading books for enjoyment, considerably higher than the OECD's average of 37.4 percent.

Japan's new study courses are designed to cram knowledge into students. The education ministry should rethink its approach and lessen the burden of individual teachers so they can help students develop interests and learn the joy of thinking and studying."

At ICU, I think most of my students have no problem with motivation to read and think about issues they are interested in, but a few do have that difficulty. However, ICU attracts a very small number (600 per year) of some of the most motivated and talented learners in Japan. On a national scale in Japan, I can see that the education system is not promoting an enjoyment of reading, especially in the college entrance exam oriented curriculums of junior and senior high school. My students confirm this when they tell me about their secondary education.

It is a tragedy that is must be rectified.