Japan Cancels Elementary School English

Although school starts next week, the new academic year begins in Japan today. The press were full of this story this morning!

“In an almost 180 degree u-turn from theΒ position just one year ago, the Japanese government today decided to cancel its program of introducing English education in elementary schools.

“Starting this academic year, April 2010, all primary schools will be asked to discontinue teaching English. English lessons will no longer be permitted. The subject will now only be taught in junior and senior high schools” said a government official.

The decision comes as a blow to those involved with improving the education system in Japan. But others cite the failure of the recent “Eigo Note” book along with a recent survey indicating junior high school teachers feared children would be turned off English if it was officially introduced into elementary schools.

When asked what would happen to Japan’s standing in the world if language skills would not match up to that of rival countries such as China and India, the government official exclaimed that private education websites such as GenkiEnglish.com would be an excellent way to continue their English studies”

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Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!

10 Responses to “Japan Cancels Elementary School English”

  1. Brad

    Bon Poisson d’Avril, Richard!

  2. Onimiki

    Nice April Fool πŸ˜‰

  3. Roy Melling

    Big news..Korean kids will take a day off school and not study at home! All Korean kids will not be made to do English homework by forceful Korean parents:P

  4. gene

    not funny. I am assigned to nothing but elementary schools this year!

  5. Jamie

    Not funny. Thank you for 12 hours of gut churning anxiety as I worried about how I was going to take care of my family. I no longer require your emails.

  6. Julian-k

    Haha, at least i didn’t fall for it again, like i did last year!

  7. roymelling

    Yeah, I thought native speakers were aware of their own culture enought to know about this type of joke. On the positive side, for really good teachers they could turn these postings into a lesson about April fools day!

    Then you could work on the ‘what if’ grammar point.

    Best wishes,

    Roy

Comments are closed

Trackbacks and Pingbacks:

  1. What if your job really was cancelled? It could be the best thing that ever happened to you! | Genki English

    […] Yesterday’s blog post certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest. Yes it was an April Fools. I thought I added enough clues and links in the message, but I guess my current mood (my eyes are still horrible) didn’t make it a very positive one this year. I apologise. […]