Clarify your role, prepare before a disaster strikes
When she first arrived in Japan from Ireland in 2008, Sarah Hickey was mostly concerned with adjusting to her new life in Fukushima Prefecture. The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme placed her in Iwaki, which is itself a large city, but she found ...
Letters and online responses to the Jan. 6, 13 and 20 Learning Curve columns by Teru Clavel on English education.
No time for free reading? You can make it up at university
I hope 2014 has started well for all our readers. Lifelines kicks off the Year of the Horse with an email from overseas reader Hannah, who has several questions about the Japanese education system: How often do English teachers administer dictation to their students? And ...
English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul
Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace. To realize this dream by 2020, it's commonly accepted that the Japanese need to improve their English. So, what's the problem? Unfortunately there are a ...
Schools fret about assistant teachers ahead of proposed 2020 reforms
With education reform expected to place a great deal of emphasis on English, officials worry about the uneven quality of foreign assistant language teachers.
