HW for 24/05/2006

I read this week. I am going to mention 4 points below.
○What I read　○Who wrote it 　○ What the author said ○What I thought.

　　　　☆Chapter １　　「What is English education for」
The author argued that education consisted of two elements. One is "personal enrichment"and another one is "utility". Yes, education consists of these. Who said? It was Reischauer (The former American Ambassador to Japan). One more important thing is: It is necessary to think self-assertion important because self-assertion is on the way to the 「imput」

☆Chapter 2 　「What kind of English we teach」
The 「Course of study」 says we should choice what we are intereted from these categories「daily life, customs, history, geography」.Atually, there are some types of textbooks here in Japan now. After skimming through them, teachers will understand what klind of materials they should give to learnars.

☆Chapter ３　　 「How we teach and evaluate」
From the point of view of the imput theory , it is generally thought that 「language is speech」. But it is not a good idea to force to speak English like a machine. To deal with the mistakes which was made at the stage of imput theory, we have to let learners know their mistakes. the Author said it was the most effective that let them know. We may make 10 thousand mistakes at this stage.

☆Chapter４　　 「What kind of ability is needed for English teachers」
Accoding to the author, teachers need five types of Love. ①Love for English　②Love for myself　③Love for leaners　④Love for earth　⑤Love for time
I totally agree with this idea.We should be full of Love.
In this chapter, author cited a statistic. It was about "What kind of teachers are ideal for students"
○teach with fun　○be good at intonation　○be fair all the students　○be good at talking　○be not only kind but also strict

☆Chapter５　　 「What made learners unpleasanEnglish」
"Not good" students are generally divided into three parts.
○get less points than he/she expected
○be good at math, but not English
○he/she is expected to be good student, but not

One more thing in which I was interested was:
"the demand for teachers" like chapter４
○more opportunity to communicate with AET
○be eager to the class
○try to change the attitude towards both students and evaluation

☆Chapter６　　 「What kind of problems we have」
It is said that, whether I am for "An English education in early days" or not, I should read "Hand-book of how to teach English for children". It is sure some people are agree with "English education in elemantary school" and the others don't. At the conclusion, the author argued that we don't have so many problems to do it. Just be prudent to carried out.

☆ MY IMPRESSION
　　 Actually, we have many, many problems in English education. Nowadays, even some elementary school students started to learn English as a second language. Compared to the overseas student, we are good at grammar, writing and learn by heart. On the other hand, we are not good at speaking, listening, and "the most important" communicating.
I WISH ALL THE STUDENTS IN JAPAN STUDIED ENGLISH IN USA, GB, AUSTRALIA, CANADA AND SO ON.

　　　　「英語科教育を変える６章」　森永正治著

　　　　「6Chapters which change English education」 written by Masaharu Morinaga