The Importance of Learning English for Japanese Junior High School Students
In today’s globalized world, the ability to communicate in English is invaluable, not just for practical reasons but also for cognitive and economic benefits. For Japanese junior high school students, studying English is more than just a curriculum requirement; it is an investment in their future. Despite the advancements in translation technology, the reasons for learning English go beyond mere communication.
Cognitive Benefits
Scientific research supports the idea that bilingualism can make individuals smarter. Engaging with a second language enhances cognitive skills not directly related to language. Studies have shown that bilingual individuals often have better attention and task-switching capacities than monolinguals. This is because managing two languages simultaneously activates specific regions of the brain that are involved in executive function and control【1】.
Moreover, learning a second language has been linked to long-term cognitive benefits. Research suggests that bilingualism can delay the onset of dementia and other age-related cognitive decline【2】. The mental challenge involved in mastering and using two languages appears to increase the brain’s resilience against the diseases.
Economic Advantages
Economically, the ability to speak English opens up numerous opportunities. In the global job market, proficiency in English is often a prerequisite for many high-level positions. It is not uncommon to see that bilingual individuals have access to broader career opportunities, which can lead to higher earning potential. A study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 70% of executives said their teams’ English skills were crucial for the success of their business, highlighting the direct correlation between language proficiency and career advancement【3】.
Furthermore, multinational companies often look for candidates who can navigate different cultural contexts and communicate effectively in English. This is particularly relevant in Japan, a country known for its strong international business ties. Young students proficient in English are thus better positioned to join leading global firms, thereby enhancing their career prospects.
Personal and Social Benefits
On a personal level, learning English allows students to engage with cultures and ideas different from their own. It fosters a sense of openness and curiosity about the world. English, being the lingua franca of the internet, media, and academia, provides access to an immeasurable amount of information, which can enrich personal development and understanding of the world.
Socially, English competence can improve communication skills and enhance social interaction in diverse settings. It can help build international relationships, whether for personal growth, studies, or future career opportunities. Being able to communicate in English helps students to participate more actively in the global dialogue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while translation software continues to improve, the benefits of learning English for Japanese junior high school students are profound and multifaceted. From cognitive development to economic prospects and social advantages, English proficiency is a crucial skill that can open doors to a myriad of opportunities. Therefore, it is imperative that educational systems continue to emphasize the importance of English learning, preparing students not just to succeed in their local environments but to excel on a global stage.
You are a quiz creator of highly diagnostic quizzes. You will make good, low-stakes tests and diagnostics. Create a fill-in-the-blank quiz using the following vocabulary for a CEFR A1 esl class of Japanese students studying English speaking. Choose only 15 from the vocabulary list. Here are the words to use:
Using board games in an English language classroom can be a fantastic way to engage students, encourage conversation, and practice language skills in a fun and interactive environment. Here are some board games that are particularly well-suited for English language learners:
Scrabble: This classic word game is excellent for vocabulary building. Students can work on their spelling and learn new words as they attempt to score points by creating words from their individual letter tiles.
Taboo: This game requires players to describe a word without using a list of “taboo” words that are commonly associated with the target word. It’s great for practicing synonyms and descriptive language.
Apples to Apples: This game helps students with adjectives and descriptions. Players match descriptive cards (adjectives) with noun cards, and a judge picks the best pairing. This can lead to discussions about why certain adjectives are more fitting than others.
Pictionary: Ideal for practicing vocabulary and quick thinking, Pictionary has players draw pictures to help their teammates guess a word. It involves all team members actively as they guess and draw under time pressure.
Cranium: This game includes a variety of activities, from word puzzles to acting, which can be great for a classroom where students have varying levels of comfort with different language skills.
Story Cubes: Rolling dice with different images, students make up stories based on the pictures that appear. This game encourages creativity and narrative skills and can be a gentle way to practice speaking.
Codenames: Players give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. Codenames is excellent for practicing precision in language use and metaphorical thinking.
These games not only help with language learning but also foster teamwork and critical thinking. They can be adapted to various proficiency levels and can be used to focus on specific language skills as needed.
I am making a series of short videos on teaching young learners. The videos integrate psychological theory with practical classroom teaching methods.
Here are links to the latest videos
Psychology in the classroom
These videos give advice that I wish I had received whenever I first started teaching children. The following videos are new and very improved versions of videos that I made before.
1. Behaviorism
2. Three myths related to multiple intelligences, humanistic approaches and growth and fixed mindset
3. Constructivism, Piaget
4. Kelly, Vygotsky – The most effective approach
I would like to thank Adam Kardos for kindly offering to do the voiceover for the videos.
Subscribe to the YouTube channel
It would help me a lot if you would like the videos. And to be sure to see subsequent videos in the series, please subscribe to the Language Teaching Professionals YouTube channel at
Teachers preparing students for the TOEFL test can employ various strategies to enhance their writing skills. Here are some effective approaches:
Familiarize students with the TOEFL writing format: Ensure students understand the structure of the TOEFL writing section, which typically includes an integrated task and an independent task. Provide examples of both types of prompts and model responses.
Focus on organization and coherence: Teach students how to organize their ideas coherently by using clear topic sentences, supporting details, and logical transitions between paragraphs. Encourage the use of cohesive devices such as conjunctions and transitional phrases.
Practice timed writing: Since the TOEFL writing section has strict time limits, incorporate timed writing practice sessions into your lessons. This helps students develop the ability to plan, write, and revise their essays within the allotted time frame.
Provide feedback: Offer constructive feedback on students’ writing, focusing on areas such as grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, and coherence. Encourage peer review activities where students can critique each other’s work and provide suggestions for improvement.
Emphasize language proficiency: Help students expand their vocabulary and improve their grammatical accuracy through targeted exercises and activities. Encourage them to use a variety of sentence structures and academic vocabulary in their writing.
Teach effective thesis statements: Show students how to craft clear and concise thesis statements that address the main point of their essay. Teach them to support their thesis with relevant examples and evidence.
Integrate reading and listening skills: Since the integrated task requires students to read a passage and listen to a lecture before writing their response, integrate reading and listening comprehension activities into your lessons. Teach students how to take effective notes and identify key points in both written and spoken texts.
Encourage critical thinking: Prompt students to analyze and evaluate the arguments presented in the TOEFL writing prompts. Teach them to consider different perspectives and to support their own opinions with logical reasoning and evidence.
By implementing these strategies, teachers can help students develop the writing skills necessary to excel on the TOEFL test and beyond.
Bryan Tomlinson
Take a break from teaching and stay at Merry Lue’s Guest House near Hakone, Japan!
The book service aims to be a comprehensive book store for ETJ members to buy books and also display self-published materials.
20% discount
There is a 20% discount on about 15,000 books, games and teaching resources on the site. Shipping is free for orders over 8,000 yen after discount.
Supporting teachers with self-developed materials
ETJ members can sell self-developed materials through the English Teachers’ Book Service site without paying any commission. This free service is available as long as the materials are not connected with a third-party such as a publisher or a distributor. If you would like to use this service, let me know. You can see the materials of ETJ members who have taken advantage of this free service at https://www.etbookservice.com/product-category/etj-members/
The English Teacher’s Book Service is owned by Language Teaching Professionals. The storing and distribution of materials is taken care of by MY Education.
I no longer recommend that foreign university teachers come to Japan to teach English at a Japanese University. The employment situation is too tenuous now, the possibility of long term employment is a risk, and giving non-Japanese teachers tenure is extremely rare. The working conditions for university teachers continue to decline. So especially if you have a family, I recommend choosing a different country for university work. If you want to stay at a university long term, look elsewhere.
It is demotivating for teachers to give their heart and soul to teaching, only to be treated like so many cattle. There are other more positive environments to teach in than Japan, for career teachers. Top down decision making, and Japanese style educational management leaves many university teachers here burned out.
Until Japan stops practicing racism in the work place and racism in legal matters, I do not recommend teaching here as a serious long term career. Once Japan actually gets serious about internationalism and truly embraces the full meaning of that word, stay clear.
If you just want to come over for two years and see the country and teach, in an Eikaiwa school, Japan is still good for that.
As well, there are just too many university English teachers, clamoring for less and less, low paid work with poor working conditions. Unfortunately, at the moment, I do not see a bright future for foreign university English teachers in Japan.
Perhaps the Arab countries, Korea, Taiwan, Europe or China might be a better bet than Japan between 2015-2025?
I wish I could be more positive, and will update this section again if/when things change for the better or worse.The Millionaire Path.
“I’m happy that my thoughts and insights… help folks. Really, that’s what teaching is all about…being there and encouraging students and perhaps changing their attitudes. This tends to be forgotten in all the presentations, articles, methods, etc. It is a critical thing especially for a culture like Japan that really has a lot of negative thought and also the highest rate of suicide in the world.”
–a Veteran English Teacher in Japan
Pictured: Fujisawa Endo (Park) by Richard Baladad
English teaching in Japanese universites can be the most interesting teaching you will do here. The salary is generally good for the number of hours that you actually spend working.
In my case, I teach about 28 weeks per year, but I am paid for 52! During time off, I travel, read and enjoy my hobbies.
The campus where I teach is beautiful, the meals are discounted and I have access to many campus libraries boasting not only books, but CDs, DVDs, maps, newspapers and more. I also have access to other facilities such as: the swimming pool, tennis courts and events that are all free for me as a faculty member. Yet another perk is access to great lectures on teaching and other topics.
Moreover, access to many colleagues has been invaluable for their advice and support. Their ideas about teaching have been indispensable and I have become a better teacher because of them.
(Pictured: Japan`s famous sunset by Richard Baladad)
English teaching in Japan Universities: The Classes
The classes at universities can range from very difficult, unmotivated English learners, to extremely keen students. As long as you keep in mind what kind of student you are teaching, and adjust accordingly, you and the students will enjoy your classes. Teaching at a university can be a dream job.
However, if you are one of those teachers who must have keen, motivated students only, I would not advise teaching English in a Japanese university. Teach at a language school instead. At language schools in Japan, the students pay good money to study and are more motivated to learn. They are often more mature students, who recognize why they are studying English.
Part-time work at Japanese universities can sometimes still be acquired with a four year university degree, and many years of teaching experience. However, to get a full-time position you will need a masters or ph.d.
(Pictured: The corn is almost ready for harvest in Hiratsuka,Kanagawa by Richard Baladad)
It is still extremely difficult for non-Japanese English teachers to get tenure at Japanese universities. This fact has been described in the press as academic apartheid. Despite this fact, I think teaching at a Japanese university is one of the best teaching positions you can get in Japan.
Note:
English Teaching in Japan Universities: Part-time
If you choose to teach part-time at a university, your obligations are few. There are few meetings to attend. There will be no committee work, so you can come, teach, then go home when you are finished. For me at least, this is the best option. I love my freedom, and I love teaching too. I feel I`m a teacher not a researcher.
I prefer to leave the research and the committee discussions to the full-timers. But if you would rather be more involved with the intricacies of the institution, and get involved with research, then full-time work may be for you.
Certainly, some people prefer being a full-time university instructor in spite of the extra obligations, and much less paid vacation time. They feel the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives.
As a full-time instructor, they of course will receive bonuses like research grant money, and a much higher salary. There are other perks too of course–in some cases: trips abroad for projects, research or other interesting opportunities.
(Pictured: From Kaisei Town, Kanagawa, Mount Fuji in the distance by Sam Galbranson)
English Teaching in Japan Universities: Teaching Uninterested Japanese University Students
Deep down, almost everyone would like to be able to speak English. What a great gift it is with world travel now so widely available.
I have taught English at a Japanese university since 2006. Some of my students are highly motivated to learn, but many are not. So one of the challenges is how to motivate them.
Japanese L & R Pronunciation Difficulty
English Teaching in Japan Universities–Pronunciation
“Recall that Japanese “L” and “R” difficulty? Kuhl and scientists at Tokyo Denki University and the University of Minnesota helped develop a computer language program that pictures people speaking in “motherese,” the slow exaggeration of sounds that parents use with babies. Japanese college students who had had little exposure to spoken English underwent 12 sessions listening to exaggerated “Ls” and “Rs” while watching the computerized instructor’s face pronounce English words. Brain scans―a hair dryer-looking device called MEG, for magnetoencephalography―that measure millisecond-by-millisecond activity showed the students could better distinguish between those alien English sounds. And they pronounced them better, too, the team reported in the journal NeuroImage.
“It’s our very first, preliminary crude attempt but the gains were phenomenal,” says Kuhl.”
–Associated Press
Aldwinkel gives his thoughts on English teaching in Japan Universities:
“Many of these places (universities) have overtly discriminatory hiring practices towards their full-time (joukin) educators/staff on the basis of extranationality, or for other reasons unrelated to professionalism. This has been going on for more than a century in Japanese academia, and applicants from overseas are advised to research Japanese institutions of higher learning very carefully before committing years of their academic careers to jobs in Japan which may not in fact have a future.”
–Dave Aldwinkle (also known as Arudo Debito)
Unfortunately, full-time university instructors in Japan are often forced to look for work after 3-6 years. They can sometimes extend their contract, but there is a lot of uncertainty and stress involved, of not knowing where you will be working and living.
It is a shame that more universities in Japan do not extend tenure to teachers, people who give a lot of thought, time and even sweat to the university they teach for.
A very few of the lucky ones, are offered tenure after agreeing to a huge pay-cut and perhaps committing to taking on a job that no one else wants to do, for an agreed period of time.
The Five Year Contract Limit, How to Deal with it?
If you teach at a university in Japan and you are asked to take a break or asked if you would like to take a break, politely state that you do not want to take any breaks. You wish to teach every semester.
English Teaching in Japan Universities – How to teach English through Film
Why teach through film?
Movies expose students to natural English, and give students an eye into foreign cultures. Learning through movies is fun! Anything that helps keep students interested in English is usually not a bad thing.
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(Pictured: Japan`s famous sunset by Richard Baladad)
(Pictured: The corn is almost ready for harvest in Hiratsuka,Kanagawa by Richard Baladad)
How to teach English in Japan 