Useful Tips for Teaching Japanese children English

Are you new to teaching English or working in Japan? Do you sometimes feel totally lost? Well, as for me, I've been there and I know what it feels like.

There is an abundance of tips and advice out there and the first place to start is with your peers. Try to get the fix on where the local English Teachers meet in your area. Probably in one of local 'Gaijin Bars' or what have you. Try the town's International Center if you have one. All in all, start networking. You'll soon meet a lot of people. Japan can be a kind of fascinating yet creepy place in your first few months and as the culture shock may settle in, it eventually fades away and you can see Japan in a different light.

There will be more detailed information coming. I'm always so busy so in case there is something you need feel free to contact us about anything; the textbooks, or anything ESL and "Japanese" in general.

Having some difficulty learning Japanese?

Do you find learning Japanese difficult? Well, you are definitely not alone. (over 2 million learners and still counting...)

Here is one of those articles that just after reading will hopefully make you feel a little better. It shows a few historical items about the language. On a personal note, I think you'll know how I felt my first two years learning this very difficult, highly quizzical, yet utterly intriguing language.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

War of the words

Should -- or could -- English ever be Japan's official second language?

By MICHAEL HOFFMAN

Special to The Japan Times

"The Japanese take pride in the difficulty of their language. Even today, when Japanese-speaking foreigners are commonplace, the view persists that real Japanese can only be spoken by real Japanese..."

"The ideas of this people," wrote Lafcadio Hearn in 1904 -- before he married a samurai's daughter and took Japanese citizenship -- "are not our ideas; their sentiments are not our sentiments; their ethical life represents for us regions of thought and emotion yet unexplored, or perhaps long forgotten..."

The Japan Times: more articles on living in Japan

Mar 18 2010 0 Comments by The ENB

Take it slow — but only if it suits you

Slow Life Japan is a sort of movement, or rather an antimovement, that sprouted here and there in the 1990s, little islands of quietude amid the ultra-fast life that had come to seem as unquestionable as modernity itself. Production, consumption, growth, activity, exhaustion — all very well, but what for, after all, what for?
The first to balk officially was Iwate Prefecture. In 2001, it issued a "Gambaranai Sengen" ("Take-it-easy Declaration"; gambaranai being the negative form of the ubiquitous exhortation gambare — go all out, give it all you've got).

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:19 pm

Pitching for change

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What kind of "supernatural" experiences did you have in your first year at PL-Gakuen?

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:18 pm

Pitching for change

Masumi Kuwata has spent most of his life in the spotlight of stardom and publicity.
As one of Japan's all-time outstanding baseball stars, with a 23-year professional career behind him, this 42-year-old from Osaka Prefecture began capturing headlines at the tender age of 15 when he first shone as a pitcher for Osaka-based PL-Gakuen in the national high school baseball tournament held annually at Hyogo's Hanshin Koshien Stadium — popularly known as the "Koshien."

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:17 pm

What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration

It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
British historian Niall Ferguson recently described the American empire as "fragile," and likened its state to that of a forest before a fire — one of "self-organized criticality" in which, though the dry woods appear peaceful, savage fire can erupt at any moment.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:16 pm

Glass ceiling has not budged for many of Japan's working women

As we enter the third decade of the "lost decade," there is much to despair about the state of Japan. There has been a sharp increase in the number of working poor, mostly due to the spread of nonregular employment, which now involves 34 percent of the workforce, nearly double the level of the asset-bubble peak in 1989.
Tachibanaki explains that this massive shift in Japan's employment system has been driven mostly by employers' focus on cost-cutting. He examines the consequences of this trend for women, who are disproportionately represented in this new "precarious proletariat" — one disadvantaged by low job security, wages, benefits and training.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:15 pm

Lofty tonic in the heat

So what do you do when it's summer in Japan and the heat and humidity have become just plain silly?
You can seek solace in air-conditioned spaces or in the cold depths of fermented beverages. Or you can do as the Brits did in the days of the Raj and head for the hills.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:14 pm

Pro-life drama series; awards of dubious distinctions; CM of the week: Maruchan

On average, 600 abortions are performed in Japan every day. This rarely publicized situation is the subject of a new afternoon soap opera, "Tenshi no Dairinin" ("The Angels' Proxies"; Fuji TV, Mon.-Fri., 1:30 p.m.).
A nonfiction writer named Yoshimura (Atsuko Takahata) is interviewing a woman named Fuyuko (Yoshie Ichige) for a book. Fuyuko belongs to an association of midwives who call themselves Tenshi no Dairinin. Their mission is to persuade women who are considering abortions not to undergo the procedure.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:13 pm

Pitching for change

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I think that treating your belongings well is such a nice thing to do. If you can treat your things nicely, you can treat people nicely as well. You have the heart for that.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:12 pm

Fertility issue pregnant with discord

In 2004, Diet lawmaker Seiko Noda wrote a book titled "Watashi wa Umitai" ("I Want to Give Birth"), which chronicled her years of infertility treatments and the subsequent pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. Two years later she ended her six-year relationship with fellow politician Yosuke Tsuruho, who in the book was portrayed as being against the treatments.
Though Noda always referred to Tsuruho as her "husband," they were never technically married as they did not share a koseki (family register). Noda belongs to the Liberal Democratic Party and calls herself a conservative, but she is also in favor of bessei (allowing separate names for married couples), which most conservatives strongly oppose because they believe it undermines family unity.

Posted on 4 September 2010 | 2:11 pm

Chickens at (almost) every turn

Go wherever you will in the world but you'll never be far from a chicken.
Certainly, the only inhabited places on the planet where I haven't seen chickens running around somewhere have been in the Arctic. There were lots of ptarmigans there mind you, but no chickens (except for dismembered ones in the new supermarkets).