INSIDE... PICTURE PANEL GIVE AWAY • A LEVEL TEXTS • RECYCLING ACTIVITY

MADOVOLUME 7 • MAY 2000

Voyage ofDiscovery

THE JAPAN FOUNDATIONNIHONGO CENTRE NEWSLETTER

Over the Spring Half Term, the TechnologyCollege Trust’s newly appointed LanguageCollege Advisor, Kathy Wicksteed, led agroup of 17 senior managers and teachersto Japan.

The one-week Study Tour was a pilot projectfunded by the DfEE and arising from theGreen Paper, The Challenge of Change. Aspart of a series of initiatives designed togive teachers opportunities for internationalprofessional development, the TCT organisedvisits to five destinations including Japan.The aims of the Japan trip were twofold: toset up links with Japanese schools, and tolearn about the Japanese education systemwith a view to taking a fresh look at schoolsin Britain and how they could be improved.

The programme in Japan was arranged bythe Council on International EducationalExchange, which provided staff toaccompany the group on visits to five seniorhigh schools in and outside Tokyo. Meetingswere also arranged with representatives fromMonbusho, (the Japanese Ministry ofEducation) and the Japan Forum.

Kathy, formerly of Campion School, feelsthat the insights gained during the StudyTour will be extremely useful in her new role,since Japanese is now so widely taught inLanguage Colleges. “Although it has beenbuilding up rapidly,” she comments, “it’s stillrelatively new, and I found it a valuableopportunity for me to get a feeling for whatJapan is like, so that I can have a bettersense of where people are coming from ifthey come over to work as interns orJapanese teachers. It was also very usefulfor me to have some first hand experience ofthe language and culture given that we willbe talking to a lot of schools about howthey are going to introduce Japanese.”

For Kathy, the significant growth ofJapanese language teaching in UKsecondary schools is a welcomedevelopment: “I think it’s absolutely theright thing to be doing in this country,because for far too long, we have limitedour outlook to Europe.” She believes theincreasing availability of Japanese hashelped to give students a more globalperspective, since one of the mostinteresting aspects when learning Japaneseis the fact that the cultural background isso different: “I think students respondreally positively to what is essentially avoyage of discovery.”

One of the classroom scenes observed by participants on the TCT Study Tour to Japan

Mary Grace Browning, who stepped down as A Level Examiner this year, at the recent INSET day

PAGE 2 NIHONGO CENTRE NEWS

Aiming for A

Aiming for A, the Nihongo Centre’s INSETcourse in February, focused on the new A/ASLevel specification in Japanese. I found theday extremely enjoyable and enthusing, asall the talks were 100% relevant topractising teachers and offered a lot of veryuseful information and practical ideas for theclassroom.

After Annabel Haslam’s (Edexcel) initialpresentation, which put the specification incontext, Mary Grace Browning gave aninteresting analysis of 3 major textbooks,focusing on their coverage of the grammarstructures and general topic areas studied atAS and Advanced GCE Level. She alsoprovided a useful set of question examples,which reflect the range of question typesthat might be expected at AS Level. KitaniSensei gave us much food for thought inGetting on top of the Kanji, explaining howradical groupings of characters can help usin teaching the script. His classification listsare essential for any teacher at this level!Lydia Morey then provided some time-saving,ready-to-use materials for teaching the set

story Chumon no oii Ryoriten, with activitieshighlighting both the need for languagework and content analysis. She alsoexplained a practical approach to theteaching of one of the set topics, A Regionor Prefecture of Japan.

In the Q&A Session that followed, livelydebate centred around the level of difficultyof the A2 translation and the challenge oflearning 600 Kanji. Teachers also soughtclarification of which editions of the setliterature texts they were expected to teachfrom.*The overall feeling at the INSET day was thatalthough the new specification is far fromperfect, it is a step in the right direction andthat it is possible to teach the full AdvancedGCSE successfully in two years to post-GCSEstudents (or the AS in just one year).

Gabriele Harris, St Vincent College

*We hope that the special feature on A Leveltext materials on the Library & ResourcesPage of this issue will help to point you inthe right direction

Taking it HigherSince the Nihongo Centre was established in1997, much of our energy has beenconcentrated on secondary schools, since thiswas the area in which resources and supportwere most needed. We are now beginning toconsider how we might create additionalprogrammes to meet the needs of the highereducation sector, while continuing our strongsupport for BATJ, the professional bodywhich represents the interests of teachers ofJapanese at this level.

Since Autumn 1999, Nihongo Centre staffhave been visiting individual universities tocollect data about Japanese languageteaching and to find out about the needs ofteachers. Universities visited includeSheffield, Durham, Central Lancashire,

Imperial College of Science, Technology andMedicine, East Anglia, Leeds, and Cambridge.Two common concerns which emerged duringthese visits were the Study Tour andcommunication between the secondary andtertiary sectors.

We are currently planning a one-dayconference for February 2001, to considerhow university courses can be tailored tomaximise the benefits of the Study Tour, andalso to provide an opportunity for theexchange of information between differentinstitutions. As an extension of our SteppingOut programme, Kitani Sensei is now able toundertake advisory visits to universities. Callthe Nihongo Centre if you have a particularfocus that you would like to explore.

Starting Young -UpdateMado readers may remember from anearlier article that the Nihongo Centre isplanning to produce a language starterpack for primary schools as part of Japan2001. Starting Young, designed to last forhalf a term, will introduce the sounds andbasic concepts of the language, supportedby audio material with model pronunciationand songs. The module will be accessible toteachers with no former knowledge ofJapanese and will provide an opportunity toread some Japanese children’s literature intranslation. Links with literacy will be madewherever possible, reinforcing terminologyused in the National Literary Strategy andencouraging linguistic comparison withEnglish.

Assistant Advisors Claire Dugard and YukaYokozawa have been observing a widerange of primary language classes as theydevelop the Starting Young concept. Ourthanks go to Hotham, The Dragon,Wilmington and Marlpool Primary Schools,Bedonwell Junior School, Richmond LEAand Elliott and Shireland LanguageColleges, as well as to the Bromley branchof the International Children’s BunkoAssociation. The Methods and Materials forYoung Learners course at CILT and thePrimary Languages Show at UMIST,Manchester, in April were also very usefulin providing examples of good practice atKS2. If you have expertise to share, wishto be kept updated or could help tosponsor Starting Young, call Claire or Yukaon 020 7838 9955.

My name is SarahDuncan and I have just started at theNihongo Centre as Programme Officer. Ispent one year in Gifu ken on the JETProgramme and on returning,completed a Postgraduate Diploma inJapanese at the University of Durham.I will be working on the website, adulteducation and Mado and I look forwardto meeting you all soon.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION PAGE 3

This year, two Japanese speech contests havetaken place on a national level, reflectingboth the vitality of Japanese studies inBritain and a growing desire among studentsto put their spoken language to the test.

In February, fourteen contestants took part inthe finals of the Sir Peter Parker Awards, heldat the School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London. The speechcontest, which has separate Business andStudent categories, was established in 1990to encourage both the study ofJapanese and the use of the languagefor business in order to expandtrade links with Japan and improvecross-cultural communication.

First prize in the StudentCategory was awarded toNick Mathys (pictured rightwith Sir Peter Parker) fromLeeds University for hisspeech Walking the Path:Aspects of Aikido Relevantto Modern Life. In secondplace was Amy Dunn ofSOAS who spoke onDiscovering CulturalDifferences throughUniversity ClubParticipation, while thirdprize went to Rowena

Shek from Durham University for her speechIrassahimase, British Investment!

Nick was encouraged to enter thecompetition by his teachers at Leeds,including Rika Matsubara. He decided towrite about aikido, which he had taken upduring ten months as an exchange student inKyoto, because it seemed to have a lot thatwas relevant to modern life. “It teaches youabout problem-solving,” he explains, “and myspeech focuses on three aspects which I feelare particularly valuable: the importance of

co-operation, lateral thinkingand efficiency, and usingimages to achieve goals.”Nick hopes to use his prize

– a return air ticket toJapan – to revisit thecountry later this year.

Meanwhile, at schoollevel, ALL’s Japanese

LanguageCommittee heldthe first evernationwide

Japanesespeaking

competition for sixthformers in March. Thepilot contest proved agreat success, with

entries coming from a wide range ofdifferent schools. Participants were invitedto send in a taped 3 to 5 minute speech orpresentation on the topic ‘The place where Ilive’ (Watashi ga sundeiru tokoro). After aninitial screening process, six finalists wereinvited to give their presentations at theJapanese Language Weekend, which tookplace at Avon Tyrell House in the NewForest.

After speaking in front of over 100 Britishand Japanese fellow students, contestantswere judged by a panel consisting of TsuyoshiEnomoto, Education Attaché at the Embassyof Japan, JLC Chair Ross Warren, and NaoyukiKitani, Chief Advisor at the Nihongo Centre.First prize was awarded to Johnny Lazar fromWhitgift School, who spoke about hishometown in Romania. The other finalistswere Sam Swallow from County Upper School,Vishal Shah and Sebastian Nai from Whitgift;and Sheema Ishaque and Carrie Rousseaufrom Westwood High School for Girls.

JLC is planning to build on the success ofthis year’s pilot project to hold a moreextensive contest as part of Japan 2001. Nextyear the competition will have three separatecategories: Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 andsixth form. If you are interested in findingout more, please contact Ross Warren on01753 527020 (tel) or 01753 576919 (fax).

PICTURE PANEL

A Tale of Two Speech Contests

Figures for Thought

Did you know......that there are currently 246secondary schools teaching Japanesein the UK?The breakdown by region is 78%England; 11% Wales; 7% N Ireland; and4% Scotland.

...that the number of learners ofJapanese in secondary schools is now7,894?This figure has almost doubled since1998 when there were an estimated4000 learners.

...that the total number of teachersof Japanese at secondary level is261?29% are native-speaking; 71% are non-native speaking teachers.

...that 50 out of 85 LanguageColleges now teach or are planning tointroduce Japanese? This amounts to 58.8% of the totalnumber.

...that the record number of learnersat any one school is 1,034?Tavistock College in Devon holds thecurrent record; second is Penrice Schoolin Cornwall with 570 and the Sir JohnColfox School in Dorset is third with407. There are now 14 schools with over100 students learning Japanese.

Mado readers will know fromprevious articles that theNihongo Centre and JFET are planning torun a Weekend Japanese HomestayProgramme for young learners of Japanese aspart of Japan 2001.

The aim is to give British learners aged 11 to19 the chance to use their Japanese in a realcontext without having to travel to Japan, aswell as to encourage more people-to-peoplecontact between the Japanese community inthe UK and learners of Japanese.

The programme will start in May 2001, withweekend visits lasting from Friday nightuntil Sunday afternoon. Both students andhomestay families will be given preparationpacks containing guidance and advice tohelp the visit run smoothly. The learners’pack will include essential phrases andtopics for the weekend.

The idea has received an enthusiasticresponse from the Japanese community andwe are now eager to invite views fromteachers of Japanese to gauge the number ofpotential participants. We need to know thelikely take-up from your pupils and we wouldalso be very interested to hear your views onwhat we should build into the programme tomake it a success.

Please respond by filling in and returning theenclosed pink questionnaire. To make youreffort worthwhile, we will be sending the first120 schools that reply a set of 896 full-colourlaminated picture cards for the classroomworth over £1,400 (limited to one set perschool). Each set contains a comprehensiverange of 257 x 364cm photographs showingscenes and objects from everyday life inJapan, with explanations in Japanese on thereverse side. Fill in the questionnaire andclaim your free resources today!

GIVEAWAY FOR HOMESTAY UK!

Organise students into pairs, label them Aand B and give each pair a copy of thesheet on page 5, folded inwards along thefirst dotted line and outwards along thesecond, as shown below. The sheet shouldbe placed between them so that they canonly see their own side.

Ask student A to imagine that s/he isstaying with a Japanese family and needs tofind out what can and can’t be thrown awayby asking the host family questions, eg:

B refers to the diagrams and gives theanswer, while A writes the name of thatitem in the appropriate column in Japanese.The first one is filled in as an example.

Afterwards, students check the answerstogether by unfolding the sheet and thenswap roles.

Further extensionIf your students have Japanese penpals,they could write to ask them how therecycling system works in their particulardistrict and tell them about the system intheir own city.

This could lead into class discussion or ashort written taskcomparing systemsin the UK andJapan.

PAGE 4 TEACHER’S PAGE

AimsTo learn about recycling in Japan

To compare rubbish collection systems in Japan and the UK

To practise constructions for asking and giving permission

LevelBeginners (suitable for KS3/GCSE/AS Level)

SkillsSpeaking, listening and writing

rubbish

kitchen rubbish

can

tin

bottle

milk carton

plastic bottle

battery

magazine

bin

bin bag

clear plastic bag

to wash

to tie up withstring

to throw away

to recycle, to handin for recycling

VOCABULARY STRUCTURE

For further

extension:

ProcedureDrill the vocabulary in the table below.

Drill the following dialogue patterns in preparation for the activity:

1

3

4

5

6

2

You may be surprised to see my faceon the Teacher’s Pages, but I amstanding in for Kitani Sensei thisissue, as he has been away on alecture tour. I hope you enjoy theinformation gap activity on page 5,which introduces the recycling systemin Japan as well as practisingconstructions for asking and givingpermission. I have used the exampleof Higashi Kurume Shi in Tokyo, buteach district in Japan has its ownparticular system of recycling rubbish,so why not encourage your studentsto find out about other areas,particularly if you have links with aJapanese school? I’d also like to takethis opportunity to say goodbye as Iwill be leaving the Nihongo Centre inJune. I’ve really enjoyed working withyou all and hope to keep in touch!

Yuka Yokozawa

(additional to GCSE core vocabulary)

Mado would like to apologise for the misprint on page 5, Volume 6. Please replace with amended version, inserted into this issue.

Folding guide

Let’s Recycle!

AB

LET’S RECYCLE! MADO VOL 7 PAGE 5

BATJ UpdateBATJ is now beginning to find its feet andhas been particularly active over the last sixmonths. Regional committee members havesuccessfully organised workshops in Durham,London, Leeds and Preston, and to keep thismomentum going, we plan to hold regionalworkshops on a regular basis. In March, BATJco-hosted a seminar with the Nihongo Centre.Professors Yoshioka of Waseda University andHirose of International Christian Universitycame over from Japan to speak at the event,which attracted more than 80 participants.The next big project was our involvementwith a series of seminars organised by thepublishers of Minna no Nihongo and thepopular Shin Nihongo no Kiso. At the seminarsheld in London, Manchester and Edinburgh,the chief editor of Minna no Nihongo gaveuseful advice on how to use the textbook.Members of BATJ are now linked by a mailingsystem called eBATJ, which has helpedeveryone to keep in touch. We hope thateBATJ will also be used as a platform forideas and discussion. The 3rd BATJConference will be held on September 2 and 3at Birmingham University. It will be the firsttime the conference has been held outsideLondon and the two-day event will featureProfessor Makino of Princeton University asthe keynote speaker. We are currently invitingpapers to be presented at the conference. Seeour website for details.

For further information about BATJ, pleasecontact me (Kazumi Tanaka) at: Dept of EastAsia, SOAS, University of London,Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG. Tel:020 7898 4233; Fax: 020 7898 4239; E-mail:kt2@soas.ac.uk, or visit the BATJ website at:http//www.essex.ac.uk/centres/japan/batj/.

Since the beginning of the new millennium,ALL’s Japanese Language Committee (JLC)has been hard at work attempting torepresent the interests of secondary levelteachers of Japanese in the UK.

Last year, JLC submitted a detailed letter toEdexcel and the QCA outlining our views onthe new changes to the AS/A Level, and wehope to continue this lobbying role as weprepare a petition for the GCSE review inModern Foreign Languages currentlyunderway. We are trying to collect as muchinformation as we can to support ourargument that the skill of speaking should beassessed as part of the GCSE grade, and beavailable to all candidates. We plan to submita statement to the Edexcel Foundation, QCAand other concerned bodies to highlight theviews of Japanese teachers in the UK,supported by data on the potentially largenumber of non-native candidates who expectto sit GCSE over the next few years.

If you would like to see the full integrationof speaking into the Japanese GCSE, wewould very much appreciate yourcontribution. You don’t have to be a memberof ALL to participate – please help us bysending your name, position, school andprojected number of GCSE candidates for 2003to the fax number or e-mail address below.

We are also busy making plans for Japan2001, so if you have any big ideas for howto use this opportunity to raise the profileof Japanese Language teaching in the UK,let us know! Finally, don’t miss the specialJapanese programme, which JLC hasorganised as part of the Language WorldConference in Derby. See the events listingon page 8 for details.

Ross Warren, Chair, Japanese Language Committee e-mail: r_warren@sbc.rmplc.co.ukFax: 01753 576919

JLC: SPEAKING OUT FOR SPEAKING

Japanese at Wycliffe CollegeAt the Chalkface is a new feature

designed to give you news from schools,colleges and universities teaching Japanesein the UK. Wycliffe College wrote to usrecently to tell us about the latestdevelopments in their Japanese department;why not let us know what you are up to?

Wycliffe is a large Independent School inGloucestershire with over 400 students(including 120 from overseas) in Years 9, 10,11 and 6th Form. The college offersJapanese GCSE to all students in Years 9,10and 11, AS Japanese to Lower 6th and OCRJapanese for Business qualifications tobeginners in the 6th Form. There are also

plans to offer A2 level to the Upper 6thfrom 2001. This year sees the first class ofBritish students sitting GCSE, after studyingJapanese for 3 years.

The first Japanese Exchange took place inApril 2000 when 10 students from Years 9,10 and 11 visited Japan and were hosted for10 days by Wycliffe’s partner school inTokyo. Pupils from the Junior School alsohad a taste of Japanese during a Year 8Japanese day in March, featuring origami,calligraphy, dodge-ball and a computer-based Japanese language exercise on aninteractive internet site.

PAGE 6 NEWS UPDATE

A Wycliffestudent showsoff hercalligraphy atthe recentJapan Day

* However, it can be ordered by schools from Japan Publications Trading Co by fax (+81 3 3292 3764), cost ¥307 + P&P

1971 ¥476

¥580

1999

1980

1991

a manga story of Yuki onna,which differs slightly fromthe original

£18.25

¥600

¥700

LIBRARY & RESOURCES PAGE 7

1991

Tran

slat

ion

¥1,500

Furi

gana

Rew

ritt

en

2

Japanese Title / Romanised Title Author Publisher Year Price Comments

Continuing ourrotating themeddisplays in thelibrary, the focusfor this term is on the set literaturetexts for the new A Level examination inJapanese, listed on theleft. Since the ExamBoard has notspecified anyparticular edition ofthe texts, our advisorystaff have identified several differentoptions that you may wish to consider,details of which are given in the grid below.All the books listed are available from ourLibrary. According to the EdexcelSpecification, either the original or rewrittenversion of texts may be studied. For learnersof Japanese as a foreign language we wouldusually recommend a rewritten version.

Tales from Lafcadio Hearn’s • Kaidan • Strange Tales ( • Yuki onna • Snow Woman) Since Lafcadio Hearn’s works were originally written in English, all Japanese versions are translations

Short stories of Hoshi Shinichi( • Omiyage • The Souvenir from Ginga-Kokugo 5 jou • Mitsumura tosho)

Stories from Dondon Yomeru( • Chumon no ooi ryoriten • The Restaurant of Many Orders)

For those choosing to teach literature, the set texts for the Japanese A Level are listedbelow in bold, with the minimum requirement in each case shown in brackets.According to the Edexcel Specification: “Students will not be disadvantaged if they readonly the story specified in each case, but they are encouraged to read more widely.”

Short stories by Akutagawa( • Kumo no ito • The Spider’s Thread)

Japanese A Level Set Texts

Dondon Yomeru Iroirona Hanashi1

Kumo no ito

Kumo no ito

Torokko/Hana

The Spider’s Thread and other stories Dorothy Britton

Omiyage

Bokko-chan

3

Lafcadio Hearn(Obento 2, Unit 6, p.86-88)Yuki onna

Kaidan4

Takekurabe/Sansho dayu

Kwaidan Lafcadio Hearn Charles E TuttleCompany

explanations given fordifficult expressions

£15.951971

1986 ¥1,600

text for Grade 6 primaryschool pupils in Japan

Nelson

text for Grade 5 primaryschool pupils in Japan

not forsale*

1986

1987Kodansha EnglishLibrary

1985 ¥1,600 explanations given fordifficult expressions

text for Grade 6 primaryschool pupils in Japan

¥6001979

1995 ¥620

Kaidan

Musashino-shoin

ALC

Popura-sha

Kodansha

Mitsumura-tosho

Shincho-bunko

Popura-sha

Kaiseisha-bunko

Kodansha

Welcome to the Summerissue of Mado. As youcan see from page 3,the number oflearners ofJapanese in UKsecondary schoolshas virtually doubled since our last countjust over two years ago. Language collegescontinue to boost figures, and our coverstory on the TCT Study Tour to Japan reflectsthe growing interest in Japanese atgovernment level. Japan 2001 is also anexcellent opportunity to raise awareness,and we hope you will get involved in someof the initiatives we’re working on, includingHomestay UK and Starting Young. Otherevents to look out for in the summercalendar are our annual refresher course andLanguage World in Derby, the first time ALLwill run a comprehensive programme forJapanese. The resource focus this issue is onthe literature texts for the new A Level,while Yuka Sensei has some great ideas toget your pupils thinking about recycling onthe Teacher’s Pages. Our new feature At theChalkface gives news from Wycliffe College;write in and tell us about any newdevelopments in the Japanese Department atyour school, college or university and youmay find yourselves in the next issue ofMado!

PAGE 8 EVENTS & NOTICEBOARD

THE NIHONGO CENTRE NEWSLETTEREditor: Caroline Lewis

Design: François Hall • Printing: Delta Press

Published byTHE JAPAN FOUNDATION

LONDON LANGUAGE CENTRE27 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7QT

Telephone: 020 7838 9955Fax: 020 7838 9966

TEAM SCHEMING11-12 May

A two-day, hands-on guided workshopto develop schemes of work for

Japanese.

SURVIVING 2Wed 7 June

Part 2 in our series for native-speakingteachers of Japanese focusing on class

management and lesson planning.

LANGUAGE WORLD 2000Saturday 1 July

Special programme of Japanese-specificsessions organised by JLC:

www resources for Japanese Language Learning

Which Japanese word-processingsoftware?

Building blocks to reading in JapaneseVocational Japanese

A level Japanese - teaching the topics

There will also be a special informationand exhibition stand and a hanasoukai.Special Saturday-only deal for Japanese

teachers – £50 (non-members) £30 (ALL members). Language Worldruns from Fri 30 June – Sun 2 July atthe University of Derby. For furtherinformation or to book a place call

ALL on 01788 546443

SUMMER REFRESHER COURSEMonday 17 – Friday 21 July

The Nihongo Centre’s annual intensiveimmersion course for non-native

speaking teachers of Japanese. All levels.

Unless otherwise stated, all events takeplace at the Nihongo Centre. Please call

020 7838 9955 for further details.

REFRESH YOUR

JAPANESE

Why not give your language

skills a boost by signing up

for the Nihongo Centre’s

Language Refresher course?

Designed exclusively for

secondary school teachers

of Japanese, the course

will increase your

confidence, fluency and

accuracy in all four skills in a

supportive small-group atmosphere.

This year’s refresher course for non-

native speaking teachers of

Japanese will take place from

Monday 17 to Friday 21 July. All

levels (except complete beginners)

are catered for, and what’s more,

the course is free, so call Sally

Lewis now on 020 7838 9955 to

request an application form!

We’d love to hear from you! Each letter publishedwill win you a Japan Centre book token.

Dear EditorHere is a fanfare for the Nihongo Centre’s Library Loanby Post service. It’s wonderful!When you find (as all Japanese teachers do all the time)

that the book/video/tapes that will make your lesson thatbit more exciting are nowhere to be found anywhere nearyou DO NOT DESPAIR. Phone Françoise at the NihongoCentre Library, tell her what you want (or tell her you’renot quite sure and she will advise you) and she will post itto you that very day for free! It arrives the next day and itfeels like your birthday.

You can keep the materials for 3 weeks initially and renewby phone for a further 2 weeks if no-one is waiting. Yousend it back through the school post when you’ve finished.The Nihongo Centre has a list of available materials forborrowers. You will have to join the Library – very easy, justget your school to write a letter saying you are who you sayyou are, provide a picture for a Library card, and wait for itall to arrive. This system is quick, efficient and best of all FREE. Give it a go.Sue Neill at the Anglo-European School, Essex