Regarding Yukari T.'s Sept. 24 letter, " Holes in six years of English," and Stewart Tennyson's Oct. 22 letter, "English teachers have work to do": As a retired high school English teacher in the Tohoku region, I must make a few comments.
Many people seem to believe that English textbooks in Japan authorized by the government are not practical, yet I know a man who read them aloud about 100 times and went on to earn a TOEFL score of 650, which may be one of the best scores ever by a Japanese. I studied English by using these textbooks and have managed to get some 110 letters accepted by The Japan Times. I have read what I think is the best newspaper in Japan for about 46 years, and the more I read it, the more I get familiar with the English that I first learned in the textbooks.
Actually, in Tennyson's letter, I noticed a few idiomatic phrases that I learned in my textbooks. Tennyson says he has found "obsolete" words in the textbooks his classes have used. If so, he should point them out. I think native English-speakers proofread them; maybe some of them are blind.
We do hope that more native English-speakers will publish English textbooks for Japanese high schools and that teachers improve their methods as soon as possible. We will need them for the Japan of tomorrow.