Japanese children begin learning English in pre-school programmes

THE time when most Japanese believed that teaching English to children yet to learn their mother tongue was impractical has changed. Now an increasing number of parents in Japan want their children to acquire both languages simultaneously.

Mana Kitazawa was 18 months old when she first started going to Poppins International Pre-school in Tokyo, Japan. At her pre-school, Mana uses English when she plays with kids ranging in age from 14 months to 3 years hailing from Britain, China, France and the US.

"About 15 to 20 per cent of our conversations with Mana are in English," said Mana Kitazawa's parents, who lived in the US for a few years as university students.

Katsuhito Matsushima, a senior researcher in charge of Yano Research Institute's education business, said the English education market for children is expanding in Japan, while that for adult learners has become saturated.

According to the private think tank in Japan, the market for English

conversation schools for kids ranging from toddlers to age 15 has expanded to 91 billion yen (US$ 0.77 billion). The market for English study materials for pre-schoolers meanwhile has increased to 46 billion yen (US$ 0.39 billion).

The boom gathered steam after public elementary schools started offering English-language activities, including songs and games, during "comprehensive

studies" classes. According to Japan's Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, more than 90 per cent of the 22,481 public elementary schools nationwide offered such lessons.

But experts are split on English education for toddlers.

Norimitsu Tosu, a linguistic anthropologist at Keio University, Japan, said heavy exposure to English at an early age helps children develop listening ability and phonics.

"Parents have experienced being unable to communicate with foreigners well when they were abroad due to poor English skills," he said. "So they know the drawbacks of not speaking English well."

But Yukuo Konishi, a professor of infant behavioural development at Tokyo Women's Medical University, Japan, said forcing youngsters to study English can have shortcomings. He said children acquire language skills as they grow.

"Since parents spend a lot of money on English education for their children, they may expect results that match their investments," Konishi said.

Lack of foreign language skills hampers

Americans in business

THE Bush administration of United States promotes its new initiative to keep the US competitive by encouraging innovation through tax breaks for corporate research spending. However, some US experts worry that the administration's current push doesn't do anything to address the US's globalization Achilles' heel: Americans' lack of foreign language skills, reports USA Today.

"Like it or not, knowledge of the world is no longer a luxury," says Michael Levine, executive director for education at the Asia Society of US. "Other countries are moving ahead with their educational systems, and it's certainly a competitive advantage for them." For example, in China more than 200 million students study English. In the US, just 24,000 American kids are studying Chinese. Less than 1 per cent of today's American high school students are studying the languages likely to be among the most important to the US's future: Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, Korean, Japanese and Russian, according to the US Education Department.

Foreign language study in the US traditionally has been introduced as an elective at the middle and secondary school levels. But nowadays parents increasingly are demanding foreign language study for their children in preschool. The government also encourages people to learn new languages. The administration unveiled a US$114 million programme aimed at increasing the number of Americans fluent in such critical languages. The initiative is motivated largely by national security concerns but is expected to have spillover benefits.

According to the Bureau of International Information Programmes (BIIP), US Department of State, gone are the days when many American students suffered a regimen of dull classroom work followed by long hours locked up in "language labs" listening to language tapes. Nowadays, innovative school curriculums, entertaining and affordable interactive computer training programmes, more opportunities to travel and a broader global outlook have motivated people to learn new languages.

Jane Morse, a staff writer of Washington File, the product of BIIP, said, "Children are taught new languages using songs, rhymes, games and television shows. Affordable computer programmes allow students to learn new languages at their own pace.

"On many of the language-training compact discs, students can record their own voices and compare their pronunciation to that of native speakers. The programmes include photos, drills, quizzes and interactive games that make learning a language engaging and enjoyable."

Taiwan parents want English as official 2nd language

Up to 80 percent of Taiwan parents hoped the government would declare English the second official language of Taiwan, according to findings of a survey released yesterday.

The survey was conducted by King Car Education Foundation in December 2005 on 2,059 parents around Taiwan. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

The survey showed that 90 percent of the parents lack confidence in their English ability.

Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of Taiwan parents send their children to cram schools to learn English, with 70 percent hoping their children will develop an interest in English at the cram schools.

Officials at the foundation noted that the TOEFL scores of Taiwan students have for several consecutive years occupied the bottom places among Asian students, and that the TOEIC scores of the Taiwan people ranked ninth from the bottom around the world, which they said shows that the English ability of the Taiwan people is still insufficient despite the English-learning fever in the country.

Although most parents do not expect cram schools to significantly boost their children’s English ability significantly, they hope their children will have stronger English ability after attending the cram schools.

While English is now being taught starting in the third year of elementary school in Taiwan, the survey showed that 40 percent of elementary students started to learn English at pre- school age.

On the advantages of allowing children to start learning English early, 97 percent of the parents said better English ability will promise better job opportunities, and 85 percent said enhancing the English ability of the Taiwan people will help upgrade the country’s competitiveness.

While 60 percent of the respondents recognized the government’s efforts to promote English education, they gave Taiwan’s English education a failing grade — 57.5 on a 100-point scale.

Also, 70 percent of the parents believed the government’s education policy has the greatest influence on the younger generation.

Learn Chinese, Feel China-Report on Chinese

Ambassador to Thailand’s Speech

[Source] Xinhuanet [Time] 2010-02-10 18:30:07

Feb. 2th, Thailand--Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Guan Mu cited one Mencius’s sayings in describing the 35-year of friendly relations between China and Thailand: “Good friendship is established on intimate terms and the essence of intimate friends lies in confiding in each other.” He said that with the deepening relations between the two countries, China needs to further its understanding of Thailand and that Thailand also needs to further its understanding of China.

In the morning, the Multifunctional Hall of the College of Liberal Arts at

Chulalongkorn University was fully occupied with university teachers and students. Ambassador Guan Mu came to the highest level of the Thai educational institution under the invitation of the University’s Confucius Institute, where he gave a speech entitled “Learn Chinese, Feel China, Deepen Sino-Thai Friendship and Promote Bilateral Cooperation”

Ambassador Guan made a review of the 35-year history of Sino-Thai friendship in fluent Thai, he then expounded on the brilliance of Chinese culture which shines with wisdom, from the harmonious connotations embodied in the three halls of the Palace Museum to the traditional intelligence and harmony bringing wealth, from the principles of “benevolence, righteousness, rites, intelligence and fidelity” to the attitude towards conduct: “even a thousand miles come from each single step”. The Ambassador used well-documented and extensive evidence supporting his speech. The Thai teachers and students were completely enthralled.

Ambassador Guan Mu said that through learning Chinese, in particular, traditional aphorisms and well-known sayings, we are endowed with traditional Chinese wisdom guiding our conduct and helping us to gain understanding of the world. Up to now Chinese learners around the world have numbered over 4,000 and many educational institutions in 109 countries have offered Chinese courses and 88 countries and regions around the world have established Confucius Institute and Confucius Classroom.

Ambassador Guan stated that Princess Sirindhorn standing high and seeing a far has set a good example for Thailand people, as she has learnt Chinese relentlessly and studied Chinese culture for more than 20 years. Owing to her guidance and support, the number of schools offering Chinese courses has increased from over 100 to the present number of 1610. The number of Chinese learners has increased from 50,000 to more than 500,000.

Ambassador Guan also introduced some methods for Chinese learning. Firstly, he used several hieroglyphics to illustrate the laws of Chinese characters; stressing the

importance of thinking and summarizing. Then, he cited the allusion of “Wei Bian San Jue” to encourage students to study diligently. Finally, he recommended students to watch the newly shot film “Confucius” to fuel their interest in Chinese learning.

At the end of the speech, Ambassador Guan discussed with the students and

teachers on overseas study in China, the subject of strengthening cultural exchanges between their two countries amongst other pressing issues. He encouraged his audience to be confident, diligent and read and watch extensively, not only learn the Chinese language but also Chinese culture, and strive to be a sinologist of the new era.

With vivid language and rich philosophy, his speech great benefited the present listeners.

Chulalongkorn University embodies the pinnacle of education in Thailand, it has been the learning place of Princess Sirindhorn. In March 2007, with the support of the princess and China’s Hanban, the Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University was established through cooperation with Peking University. Since its establishment, the Institute has made great contributions to Chinese language and cultural education in Thailand.

(Reported by Huang Zheyu, Zhu Li from Xinhuanet Bangkok)