Don’t worry, I’m still in Vietnam (more big workshops like this one for primary school teachers here tomorrow) but for those of you in Japan you might have seen yesterday’s Nikkei Shinbun newspaper about English becoming an official subject in 2020.
(*Here’s an English version from Japan Today)
I’ve have blogged about this before with the plans to do this in 2002, 2007 and 2012. So I don’t think it will actually happen (too much politics) but it is good to know what people are talking about when trying to chat or negotiate with your bosses about your English lessons.
Plus it’s a huge boost for those of you with your own school as it is a big PR boost for English learning in general. After all if the government says they want it from 2020, why not get it right now at your school? 🙂
Be genki,
Richard
P.S. For those of you outside Japan, English isn’t actually an official subject here. If it was it would have to go through all sorts of textbook approvals etc. which are difficult to get agreement on. So at the moment it is an unofficial activity in 5th and 6th grade. Of course some schools have being doing it really well for quite a while, I was full time teaching it as “international understanding” back in 1997.
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Hope You have more workshops in VietNam. Specially, in Ho Chi Minh city. Have a nice day Richard!