Constructivist 'Pied Piper' of English education rebuilds after hitting rock bottom
David Paul lost almost everything when his Hiroshima-based company, David English House, tumbled like a house of cards in 2010.
The Osaka Prefecture Board of Education is pushing through a raft of initiatives to shake up English-language education, chief among them the introduction of TOEFL at top-performing high schools, which will be taught by an elite group of teachers earning approximately ¥8 million a ...
Japan to send 3,000 volunteers to teach language in ASEAN nations
Japan will promote its language in ASEAN member states by sending about 3,000 volunteers to local high schools over a seven-year period starting this year, a government source said Monday. The ¥10 billion project is aimed at strengthening relations with the Association of Southeast Asian ...
To teach to test or for communication — or both?
Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well?
EFL for all? Leeds school highlights growing trend
Georgiana Sale, the head teacher at City of Leeds School, has had numerous racial insults directed at her. Ever since it was reported, wrongly, that her school was to give all its pupils Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) lessons, her phone has ...
Thai-Japanese works to promote successes of his adoptive homeland
Phongphan Fujisaki, who is of mixed Thai-Japanese parentage and moved to Japan at the age of 15, believes Thailand can learn a lot from his other mother country. Fujisaki, who runs language schools both in Japan and in Thailand, has become famous in the Southeast ...
'Cove' to become 'aquatic nook' as Abe takes aim at improper eigo
Some say that Shinzo Abe's latest proposed tax increases, part of the "fourth arrow" in his popular "Abenomics" policy, are going a step too far. Dubbed the "language tax," the new levy is aimed at word usage.
Teachers must nurture critical thinking, confidence in English for a shot at 2020 goals
Until English teachers start developing critical thinking skills in the classroom and emphasizing confidence over competence, students will never be able to converse with native English speakers "at a viable level of proficiency."
Educator with a mission sends out support from Hiroshima
Over the years, Adam Beck has been a children's theater director, an English teacher, a newspaper columnist and the co-founder of an arts-themed NPO to benefit young people. Currently he divides his time between editing and translating for the Hiroshima Peace Media Center and running ...
Japan should take English lessons from Philippines
English is an official language of the Philippines but this does not mean that everyone understands or speaks English. However, it does mean that exposure to the language is so widespread that those who do speak it can communicate quite fluently.
