Teaching In Junior High Schools
Now more than ever, English education in Japan is considered to be an essential element of a well-rounded education and vital to the country’s success in the world. The following is excerpted from a 2002 report from the Japanese Government (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) about the importance of English education:
"With the progress of globalization in the economy and in society, it is essential that our children acquire communication skills in English, which has become a common international language, in order for living in the 21st century. This has become an extremely important issue both in terms of the future of our children and the further development of Japan as a nation. At present, though, the English-speaking abilities of a large percentage of the population are inadequate…Accordingly, we have formulated a strategy to cultivate "Japanese with English abilities" in a concrete action plan with the aim of drastically improving the English education of Japanese people. " (From http://www.mext.go.jp/english/news/2002/07/020901.htm)
This goal of “Japanese With English Abilities” Thus, with the aid of programs like the JET Programme, Japan has sought to bring native English speakers from abroad as ALT’s, or Assistant Language Teachers. By design, ALT’s work together with licensed JTE’s (Japanese Teachers of English) as team-teachers. The exact nature and dynamics of this team teaching varies immensely depending ion the school and on the individual JTE’s; some ALT’s do relatively little whereas others do a lot.
For many years, Tamura City had been hiring JET Programme teachers as ALT’s, but with disappointing results. Many of the JET Teachers left early, and many were less than effective at their jobs. When the local government heard of how well-respected and effective the Wakaksua English School teachers seemed to be, they asked Mr. Maki to send some of his teachers to teach in the local junior high schools. Now, Tamura city is unique in that it may be the only city in Japan that has at least one full-time ALT in every junior high school. It is also unique in that all of its ALT’s are Christians.