Since the introduction of mandatory English classes for Japan's elementary school students in 2011, native-speaker assistant language teachers (ALTs) have become familiar faces to young Japanese children across the archipelago.
In a system where introducing new ideas and having them accepted by colleagues takes time, it can be difficult for ALTs to effect change or play an active role in curriculum development. However, the ALT at one school in Shikoku has built up an innovative English program that would be the envy of her peers in many metropolitan schools.
The school's official name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue — Ehime University Faculty of Education Fuzoku Elementary School — but the "fuzoku" means it is "attached" to Ehime University, a public institution in the city of Matsuyama. The school currently has 613 students, and Canadian ALT Laura Kawaguchi leads the third- to sixth-graders in their English language and culture studies.