Hello!

Hi,My name is Asuka Watanabe. I'm from Kuroishi city in Aomori prefecture.It's near Hirakawa city. Kuroishi is famous for Kuroishi Yosare,Kokeshi and Hot spring resort. When you are free,please come to Kuroishi. I'll show you around the city by car.I love driving!

I'm a member of professor Carpenter Seminar,too.I'm interested in Spanish culture and Caribbean world. I want to increase knowlege about Spain and find the most interesting topic for me. And I want to improve my Spanish. I have studied it for three years. However Europian language is more difficult than English. I'm not good at studying English, but I like English when I study Spanish. Well...studying Spanish is fun and fresh for me. Spanish pronunciation is same as Japanese. If you have an interest in Spanish, vamos a estudiar Espannol conmigo!

In Hirosaki University, I'm a member of Sakura volunrteer club. I like to come in contact with people and to play with children.This weekend, I'm going to join in children's sport festival to help management.

Nice to meet you:D

Self Introduction!!

Hello, everyone!!
My name is Shunsuke Saito. I'm from Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture.
I belong to Professor Carpenter's seminar,and study International Politics. Now, I'm interested in FTA(Free Trade Agreement) of Asia. So, I'm studying it and looking for books about FTA. If you know good books about it, please tell me!!
My favorite thing is Bowling. I'm a bowler. I have played bowling for five years. Bowling is very interesting and exciting for me!! I love bowling!! If you want to take a good score,I'll teach you!!
Nice to meet you!!!!!!

Welcome to class!

Welcome to another English class. Feel free to communicate together on this blog. It also has useful links for learning English. There will be occasional assignments here, too, for you to give reports and provide links, graphics and even videos that will be useful for understanding what you've been doing in class.

English teaching in Japan

I know there was a recent issue of The Japan Times with an interesting article about English teaching in Japan and the planned changes, with input from people who had a variety of opinions. I can't find it searching their website, though, but they always have a lot of articles about teaching English in Japan, so I thought I'd post snippets and links so you could check some of them out and maybe we could discuss one or more of them next week.

"Why do English teachers have to be native speakers?" covers foreign English teachers who themselves learned the language.

While Indian teachers have gradually gained acceptance, instructors from the Philippines are now working toward the same goal. Like many Indians, the majority of Filipinos begin learning English at the age of 3, and most school subjects are taught in English.

At RareJob.com, a new online English tutoring service offering lessons via Skype, the Internet-phone and video-communication service, all of the teachers are Filipino students or graduates of the University of the Philippines in Manilla. Although RareJob's instructors are first screened and then required to complete a training program, CEO Tomohisa Kato admits that many students are skeptical at first.

"Japanese have a kind of prejudice against Filipinos, but once they started our service, they found that they are very good at English, welcoming and professional," Kato explains.

I did see one questionable remark in the article, though.

language testing is dominated by American exams such the TOEIC test

I don't believe the listening test for TOEIC uses only native speaking accents, and I'm almost sure the TOEFL test doesn't. I couldn't find listening practice on the Internet, but in looking for it I found a good set of tips for TOEIC. I hope they are useful for you.

"Shame over poor English level lies with education ministry" is part of a series of columns where people get to talk back to the bureaucrats. It was written by a Japanese who teaches English. He places the blame on the Education Ministry as a whole, but fails to take into account divisions within the Education Ministry.

You may argue, "But the ministry of education hires thousands of native English speakers to teach English communication to the kids." This may be true, but because of the all-important entrance exams, which stress grammar and reading, even if there were time for communicative practice, the students and parents want teachers to focus on what is going to be on the next exam because it will determine the child's future school and most likely the child's future career.

The weight given to the entrance exams — and the system of clearly dividing schools into separate academic levels and allowing little room for a student to change his/her school/eventual career path — have created an out-of-touch bureaucracy and a cultural attitude of hopelessness.

I often hear other teachers say, "Those people in the ministry have no idea what it's like in the public sector or how to solve problems in state schools because they all went to the best private schools in Japan." This fundamental problem means that the ministry of education lacks understanding of what the public wants students to be taught, as well as how to teach students effectively.

All this may be true, but to blame the secondary education section of the Ministry for the insistence by the tertiary education section that all universities must write their own entrance exams seems to me to be displaced. The Center Test does, after all, include a listening section, although it is unfortunately only in US Network Standard English.

University EFL hiring: garbage in, garbage out focuses on the hiring of unqualified teachers at the university level. I applaud the author's concern that university teachers have some training and credentials, but I wonder if the problem is limited to English.

How does one become a EFL instructor at a Japanese university? In my experience many Japanese university administrators cannot speak English and view the whole hiring process as just too much trouble. Consequently, most instructors are hired because they are acquainted with an instructor who is working at a particular university.

The cronyism (i.e., favoritism shown to friends and associates) demonstrated at most universities in Japan almost certainly reduces intellectual debate and hampers institutional growth, thus guaranteeing a lower general standard of English education for students.

Basically, as long as the person "looks" the part, they can become a university English instructor in Japan. Background checks are almost never carried out. In the past, foreign "professors" have been found not to even have undergraduate degrees. In addition to some instructors having no master's degree, which is a prerequisite for having a university teaching job in the West, some instructors have masters that are not language- or teaching- related. Such people are, nevertheless, teaching language courses or are teaching classes unrelated to their masters (e.g., MBAs teaching conversation and writing classes).

This was responded to in a letter More to EFL hiring than 'garbage in, garbage out'

It might be worth noting that Amanda Ripley, in her piece in The Atlantic on primary and secondary education in the U.S., points out that education degrees do not necessarily produce good teaching in American schools. I wouldn't be surprised if the same were true with regard to Japanese universities.

While Tharn is right that some of us teachers are unqualified impostors who got through the door too quickly or easily, he's wrong when he says that the "calculation is a simple one" or that teachers with degrees unrelated to ESL, literature or education are garbage.

While it is true that Japan has a very shoddy higher education system with its fair share of shoddy teachers, the perspectives of people from many disciplines, not the least of which is the study of business, can prove effective in the classroom.

Another article from the same series is "Look overseas to address Japan's lag in English ability"

Japan seems to be the only country in the world where high school English-language textbooks are full of the native language of the learners. Japanese language in high school textbooks is used for various explanations and also for giving commands and instructions for what the students are required to do in a given section. Never has this author encountered a Japanese high school textbook where the learners are given a command or instruction in English. In comparison, high school English textbooks from other non-English countries such as China, France, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia contain absolutely no Chinese, French, Urdu or Arabic, respectively, and give all commands and instructions in English alone.

As a result of the use of such methods and tools, Japanese high school students are not accustomed to hearing English or to being given commands in English to do specific tasks.

In other words, Japan is perhaps the only country still using grammar translation methods to teach a living language.

Finally, a little time for Japan Times columnist Gregory Clark, not because I agree with his ideas or even think he knows what he's taking about (although even a broken clock is right twice a day, and I wouldn't disagree with everything he says here) but because he does seem to be very influential.

It's back to school in Japan, and back to the perennial questions:

• How to find enough teachers able properly to handle English-language classes in primary schools? (Answer: nearly impossible.)

• How to improve foreign-language education generally? (Cut back on high school teaching and concentrate intensive advanced teaching on those who really want it — at university level.)

Some background on Mr. Clark's university and its foreign language instruction is available at the Chronicle of Higher Education, a newspaper from the United States which covers university education around the world. They also have some articles that refer to the university, but you couldn't read them without subscribing to the magazine. Sorry.

update July 6, 2010

We were talking about this topic in class and I mentioned my own contribution to the debate. I wrote an article for the Japan Times, to which they gave the headline "Lay off the linguistics to address English lag", in which I argued that the tendency of Japanese linguistics to argue over transformational grammar, combined with the insistence of the Ministry that English teachers be trained in Linguistics, was in part responsible for the poor standard of English instruction and ability in Japan. I suppose it's worth adding to the discussion.

English Teaching in Japan

I made a report on English teaching in Japan.
They are three references I used.


English taught in English
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20090112a1.html

Test and Score Data Summary for TOEFL Internet-based and Paper-based Tests: 2009 Test Data
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/test_score_data_summary_2009.pdf

アジア諸国における英語教育の取組み　英語非公用語国を中心として　
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo3/015/siryo/04052601/004.pdf

Food Crisis

My presentation was about Japanese Food Self-Sufficiency.

I used following materials for my presentation.

The cost of food: Facts and figures

Self-sufficiency rate of major grain products in Japan, Korea and Taiwan

Statistical Handbook of Japan - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Also, this is interesting article about "Green Lanterns" which may promote people to eat food grown in Japan!

Japanese Pubs and Restaurants Display Green Lanterns to Promote Local Produce

or you can just google "green lanterns japan" and you will find it!

Thank you.

About The Darjeeling Limited

When I watched the movie, I couldn't understand more than half of it.
Thorough seeing Wikipedia or some website, the story is clear to me.
I want to watch the movie again.

I could not understand a word in this movie.
What does "T.B.D." mean?
I suppose Peter or Jack says the word when the train was lost and three brothers went up the hill.

The Darjeeling Limited

This movie is fascinating and a bit weird for me. I didn't catch up with the natural speed conversations in this movie sometimes, but I like it.

I have some questions about this film.
First, there are time lags on the way(before their father's funeral, and after it, I think) I didn't understand around there. And around that part, why did Peter try to move his father's car?

Second, What is the peacock's feather for? and what is the ceremony when they are using that feather, such as dancing and putting small stones?

Third, when the train clerk lady came to the brother's room to give them tea, why did she put red dots on their foreheads?

Finally, Why is the endind theme song "Aux Champs Elysees"?? I did not get the meaning at all...

That's it. I also wonder what did Bill Marley appear first, that was funny though.

I will look for this film in TSUTAYA later :) I'd like you to answer for my questions.

After watching the movie" The Darjjiling Limited"

When I watched this movie, I had lots of fun. However, I couldn't get joking in the movie too.

The parts I was interested in was that 3 guys were brothers. First I didn't think like that, because they were so different. Then I have a question about oldest brother. His face was full of scars. What happen on him? He said something about it in the movie, but I couldn't catch well. Another question, their mother was a munk and 3 guys wanted to see her so much. At the end, they could meet with her. She even didn't know about her husband who died. Also she dissapeared in early morning to run away from them....? Anyway, I'm comfused when I think about their mother. She is kind of strange character in that movie.

I just have these question now. If I find questions more, I'll write down here.

I hope someone answer these questions. Thanks for reading!

The Darjeeling Limited

I'm sure everyone must have a lot of questions about The Darjeeling Limited. I myself wondered what "gaslighting" meant and had to look it up. What new vocabulary did you get from this film? What words (and scenes) do you still not understand? What else do you want to know about the film, the actors, the soundtrack, or anything else related to it? Looking it up on the Internet Movie Database I learned that it did open in Japan in March 2008, but since "I'm not There" didn't get north of Sendai it may not have opened anywhere near Hirosaki. There is, however, an official Japanese site for the movie.

By the way, at least according to Wikipedia, there is no such train as The Darjeeling Limited, which really doesn't surprise me.

The Situation of Women in Japan

This is the article for the case of Japan. Data is kind of old, though...

causes of gender wage gap

This is from the Census Bureau:

Previous studies of the gender wage gap show that wages are generally lower for men and women in occupations that have a higher percentage of female workers (Bayard et al. 2003; Boraas and Rodgers 2003; Roksa 2005).

This analysis shows that the same holds true for work hours. Although sex is a significant predictor of work hours, both men and women work shorter hours in occupations with a higher percentage of female workers even after controlling for the effect of sex, showing an interaction between work hours, occupation, and percent female.

In other words, much of the gender wage gap is a result of men and women working different occupations, at least in the US.

Makeup class?

No, that's not a class in makeup, it means we have to make up some more classes we will miss.

Please add comments here about when you are free and when you would like to have the makeup classes. Maybe in the evenings?

a new information for discussion

I found this PDF file to discuss gender wage gap again.

This file uploaded in March 2010 so I think we can treat this information as nowadays situation.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf

Ayumi

Articles for discussion

I think there are some problems at women's perticipation to the society in Turkey, for instance, women's employment, gender gap in employment rates, and gender wage gaps, after I read the brief which Mifuru put on. And I found articles that I think it's related to these problems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6903021.stm

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=174285

These are not statistics but I think it might help us to know what's going on in Turkey now.

Ayumi

Documents for our dicussion

According to the information that mifuru found, more than 70% of women are in paid employment in the Nordic countries.
I found some documents about women's specific situation in their countries.
They are produced under the support of European Commission within the framework of the Socrates.
http://www.women-employment.lt/situation.htm

These are information for our discussion.

I found information for our discussion.
I don't think this is enough, but this helps us to understand the fact about women's payment.

When you click URL below this, you can see information.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/23/31/44720649.pdf

This is "Gender Brief" prepared by the OECD social Policy Division.

I hope it will be useful.

After watching "The Color Purple"

Movie, " The Color Purple" impressed me so much. After watching this, I could know how was the women's position at that time. I thought Celie's life was not good because she was treated as like a slave. In contrast, her sister Nettie was in the good position. For example, Nettie could go to school and have good education. Also, she couldn't have to have children with her father who was not her real father in fact. I mean Nettie had lots of difficulties in her life of course. However, comparing to Celie, Nettie could have better life than Celie. Well, I don't know what kind of life is the best. That depends on you.

Moreover, I was interested in Shug, who was singer in this movie. She is so powerful, sexy, and outgoing. But she had also many tough things in her life.

In sum, this movie lets me think about women's position and women's independence like Celie. I want to see this movie again, then I can understand more deeply!

Mifuru.

statistics on women and men

This is the link to women's wages relative to men's of the United Nation Statistics Division.

about the color purple

This film made me think about discrimination against women. I was shocked to see how cruelly women had been treated in those days.Celie was like a slave for Albert.
Compared with the case of Celie, the situation of Sofia was just the opposite. As women had been fighting against men in her family, they hadn't been treated as Celie. I thought it was so complicated society.

In addition, I became interested in Afro-American English. I noticed that there were the use of "ain't" and the deletion of the auxiliary verb like " What you doing?". To see this film, I came to want to know more about Afro-American English.