In Japan, English-language education starts the first year of junior high school. Surprisingly students are still unable to speak or to comprehend English properly.
One of the reasons is the instruction focusing on the skill of reading and writing. In the past, Japan was a nation composed of a single ethnic group and had very small number of foreign visitors, and there were few opportunity to converse in a foreign languages, therefore the study of foreign languages were mainly considered to obtain the knowledge from the literature of other countries. In addition, Japanese and English belong to different families of languages. There is no commonalities neither in structure nor words.
Another reason in the Ministry of Education's guidelines. The guideline limits the English vocabulary that is to be learned during the three years junior high school to about 1,000 words. Textbooks must be screened first by the Ministry of Education and result for the most part in standardized textbooks make English language learning too confining.
Schools are now also putting strength into English Education by the installation of language laboratories and the hiring of foreign language teachers.
I think that japanese students should study English from elementary school. They can spread their vocab. And the teachers should be people who are native.
vacab
converse:to have a conversation with someone
verb,communicate
e.x)She enjoyed the chance to converse with another French speaker.
screen:to check things to see whether they are acceptable or suitable:
verb,find
e.x)You can use an answerphone toscreenyour phonecallsbefore you answer them.
Thank you for sharing. This journal is very interesting. I agree with you at some points. But I wonder why you say Japanese should learn English from elementary school students. In my opinion, English is a tool. In other words, second language learners, like us should have the purpose why they learn English as a tool. I have an interesting story. When I decided to go to Hawaii, my friends who are my classmates in university came to see me at my restaurant. At that time, I asked them why they studied English in university, and then all of them answered it was supposed to be cool to speak English even a guy who has lived in the main land for 9 years. In the case of me, I need to improve my English skill to enter a university graduate division. So, I could not understand their feeling. How do you think about their feeling? Do you agree or disagree??
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