Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Friday, May 23, 2008

From Phonics to Phonetics

Phonics has gained certain popularity in kids English Education, while phonetics is an academic subject in a college as a part of linguistics. We, high school English teachers, are to bridge Phonics and Phonetics.
"Was gross ist am Menschen, das ist, dass er eine Brücke und kein Zweck ist:" (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8zara10.txt) ["What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end:"(Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann trans., "Thus Spoke Zarathustra --- A Book for None and All", 1954, New York, USA, p.15)]
It is an honor of us, high school teachers, to be a bridge.

“English Understanding” Classes---What should students understand?---

As the discussion on a new school guideline is proceeded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, content-based presentation-oriented English classes are on agenda. Each text has its contents, and belongs to a wider or more universal context. Understanding the text or its contents has been said to require both bottom-up reading and top-down reading. The latter reading implies that the knowledge on the context the text belongs to is important to understand the text itself. The context each text belongs to has been called as a topic. Having more knowledge on more topics has been believed to help top-down reading. The truth it may be, but we need certain know-how to connect the knowledge of some topic to the understanding of a text which belong to the topic.
Talking about content-based English classes reminds us that many English classes are still based on grammars and idioms. The knowledge on grammars and idioms is certainly one of the best tools to do bottom-up reading.
We have presentation-oriented English classes already: Writing, English Expression, and the like. The question is whether they are content-based. To have content-based presentation-oriented English classes, we are to conjugate these 2 learning processes.

Invitation to Coauthor “S Senior High School and UNESCO Associated School”

In this ever globalizing world, school education should guarantee students to develop their ability for global governance. Being one of associated schools of UNESCO is a good chance to reexamine our education and to advance it further by re-synthesizing its teaching and learning activities under the four main themes of UNESCO Associated School:
1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system;
2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance;
3. lntercultural learning;
4. Environmental concern.
Here I would like to invite you to practically research the concerned parts of the teaching and learning activities in S Senior High School, and coauthor “S Senior High School and UNESCO Associated School” (tentatively named). The essay will be contributed to the almanac of Osaka Prefecture Senior High School English Education Society.

The essay will be divided into several chapters. The possible chapters are:
1. Human Rights Education and the Role of the United Nations System
2. UNESCO Associate School and Content-Based Instruction
3. Content-Based Instruction in English Reading Classes
4. Content-Based Instruction in English Writing Classes
5. Content-Based Instruction and the Related Teaching/Learning Areas
6. The Class based on the Model United Nations
7. Intercultral Learning through a Joint Project
8. etc.
Each chapter will be written by one or two teacher(s) who organize(s) concerned teaching and learning activity, and the whole essay will be revised by all the coauthors.
Researching and writing processes should be started as soon as possible, the first drafts are to be written by the end of October, and revising process is supposed to be completed before Christmas.

“It is extremely advantageous to be able to bring a number of investigations under the formula of a single problem. For in this manner, we not only facilitate our own labor, inasmuch as we define it clearly to ourselves, but also render it more easy for others to decide whether we have done justice to our understanding.” (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 2003, Dover Publications, New York, p.12)
The experience of each teaching or learning activity should be researched and clearly defined about how they have worked. Their experience, once clearly defined, will enable us to apply each other, and that might enable us to enhance the further development our school education. This coauthoring project will surely empower our self-innovation ability.

Your positive response and participation will be appreciated.

Intercultural Learning through an Intercultural Joint

As one of associated schools of UNESCO, S Senior High School is supposed to conduct pilot projects on four main themes such as: 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern.
Intercultural learning, of course, can be achieved by studying related subjects, and also through working on a project across cultures as well. One possible candidate for the task is to make up a song by exchanging MIDI files internationally.

Mr. Kimura (School Administrator)
Mr. Hoshida (DTM expert)
Ms. Muraoka
foreign language teacher

UNESCO Associate School and Content-Based Instruction

As one of associated schools of UNESCO, S Senior High School is supposed to conduct pilot projects on four main themes such as: 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern.
English classes can surely make a contribution to one or more of the four main themes. They can enhance students’ understanding what world concerns and environment concern we have in the world today. I believe that the method called Content-Based Instruction is the most effective way to make the contribution.
Other than the classes we have conducted, we can employ the following activities as a part of a certain English class, as a coordinated activity between various subjects, or as an extra curricular activity.

1 The Class based on the Model United Nations

2 Content-Based Instruction and the Related Teaching/Learning Areas
Content-Based Instruction has its subcategories such as Theme-Based Language Instruction and Adjunct Language Instruction.
Theme-Based Language Instruction “refers to a language course in which the syllabus is organized around themes or topics such as 'pollution' or 'women's rights.'”(Richard et al., p.216) As such, this sub-method can be naturally associated with cramming for entrance examinations. All we have to do is to choose right cramming materials such as “Eibun Dokkai Izen” (Furufuji Akira, Kenkyu-sha) and “Lingua-Metallica” (Nakazawa Yukio, Z-KAI).
In Adjunct Language Instruction, “students are enrolled in two linked courses, one a content course and one a language course, with both courses sharing the same content base and complementing each other in terms of mutually coordinated assignments. Such a program requires a large amount of coordination to ensure that the two curricula are interlocking and this may require modifications to both courses.” (Richard et al., p.216/217)
As Richard et al. suggests, we can coordinate all the subjects S Senior High School has so as to have the Adjunct-Language-Instruction-like effects. We might be able to start from making a Japanese-English academic term list.

3 Intercultral Learning through an Intercultural Joint Task
Intercultural learning can be achieved through working on a task across cultures as well as studying related subjects. One possible candidate for the task is to make up a song by exchanging MIDI files internationally.


Bibliography
Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodgers, "Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching" (2nd ed.), 2001, Cambridge University Press, New York

English Classes and UNESCO Associated School

As one of associated schools of UNESCO, S Senior High School is supposed to conduct pilot projects on four main themes such as: 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern.
English classes can make a contribution to one or more of the four main themes. For example, English Reading classes can enhance students’ understanding what world concerns and environment concern we have in the world today. I believe that the method called Content-Based Instruction is the most effective way to make the contribution.
Each text has its contents, and belongs to a wider or more universal context. Understanding the text or its contents has been said to require both bottom-up reading and top-down reading. The latter reading implies that the knowledge on the context the text belongs to is important to understand the text itself. The context each text belongs to has been called as a theme. Having more knowledge on more themes has been believed to help top-down reading. The truth it may be, but learners need certain know-how to connect the knowledge of certain theme to the understanding of the contexts of a text which belongs to the theme.
Talking about content-based English classes reminds us that many English classes are still based on grammars and idioms. The knowledge on grammars and idioms is certainly one of the best tools to do bottom-up reading. Here, again, learners need certain know-how to connect the knowledge of certain grammars and idioms to the understanding of the contents of a text which contains them.
How can learners connect contents with a theme? How can they connect contents with grammars and idioms? How can we teachers design our teaching procedures to help them develop such abilities? Employing Content-Based Instruction does not necessarily means that we don't have to research and develop our teaching techniques and procedures any more. Rather, this is the start of our R&D.

Human Rights Education and the Role of the United Nations System

As one of associated schools of UNESCO, S Senior High School is expected to conduct pilot projects on four main themes such as: 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern.
Here, I would like to point out the fact that the United Nation Systems have played a significant roll in the field of the human rights, and would like to initiate a debate on how we can improve students' prospect to their human rights.

1 Human Rights and the United Nations System
When human beings face a crisis, we either become panicked in the heat of the moment, or become cynical and cold. In this ever globalizing world, peoples are either forced to, or willing to violate or ignore the human rights of other peoples.
If we are to avoid the violent situations, we should learn how to secure our human development without harming that of others, in other words, how to support our human rights in a coordinated manner.
If we are to overcome the cynicism, we should know that we have the way to solve trans-cultural troubles and close the gaps among living standards, and that the solution is not a zero-sum game.
The United Nations systems are the best forums to enhance mutual understanding and to carry out humanitarian projects under the coordination of, otherwise, antagonistic nations.
The United Nations systems also provide universal legal standards on which people in struggles can rely. One good example might be about students' enrollment fees. Expensive fees often deprive the students from economically poor families the chance to study and to develop their human capitals. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights gives them good ground to demand their national and/or municipal governments to do some supporting measures. The covenant Article 13 says:
“ (b) Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education; “(c) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education;” (http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/cove_econo.html)
When students know that they have a universal legal standard which guarantees their educational rights, they understand that they have the chance and the right to reverse the spiral downward of their living standards under the pressure of the global economic competition. Furthermore, by engaging that type of thinking and acting processes, the youth can progress from a claim-type mode of action and develop their ability for global governance.

2 Human Rights Education in S Senior High School
S Senior High School has had a long and productive history of its human rights education. As a part of school education of Osaka Prefecture, the school has conducted anti-discrimination education regarding the Japanese caste problem. Being in the southern part of Osaka City, the school also provided indispensable cultural education to enrolled Korean students. It is enlarging its coverage over human rights education to the wider sphere.
Having taught from the international point of view in the International Course in it, S SHS has securely and sufficiently provided a think-globally-act-locally standard of education. Now is the time to fully execute standard into its curriculum. Using the United Nation systems as a teaching tool for improving human rights is, I believe, the most effective way to achieve this goal, as well as being a UNESCO Associated school will provide a secure base for the projects related education.

3 The Better Prospects to the Human Rights, the More Understanding Students Have
Without profound prospects to better human rights, human rights education might rather sound like a decorous institution or rhetorical slogan to students. With the United Nation systems in mind, we can teach them how to escape from zero-sum games to productive win-win situations.

S Senior High School and UNESCO Associated School

S Senior High School is a natural candidate to be a UNESCO Associated School.
ASPnet schools are encouraged to conduct pilot projects on four main themes” (http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=14697&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html): 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern. S SHS covers almost all the themes with its classes and extracurricular activities.
With its Science Course, S SHS provides science literacy not only for the students of that course but also for the students belonging to the International Cultural Studies Course (ICSC). This science literacy enables and encourages the students to face the “environmental concerns” of today; such as global warming and crisis of native species caused by the introduction of foreign species.
S’s ICSC has had nearly 2 decades of rich experience in enhancing “intercultural learning”, and its Committee for Human Rights Education has concentrated its energy and resources on developing students’ tolerance, as well as teaching the virtue of human rights and democracy. There is no doubt that S’s social science classes have dealt with “world concerns” and “the role of the United Nations system”.
To develop S SHS further to make it a front runner of UNESCO Associated Schools, we only have to keep the word “and” in mind: “World concerns and the role of the United Nations system”; “Human rights, democracy and tolerance” and the role of the United Nations system; “lntercultural learning” and the role of the United Nations system; “Environmental concern” and the role of the United Nations system.
With the world concerns too huge and grave, people living today tend to feel helpless and pessimistic. When students learn “and the role of the United Nations system”, they can develop their imagination and strategic thinking to overcome such feeling, which is the duty we teachers have to do as a mentor of the next generations.