The change that will finally start the "improvement"-ball rolling? Only time will tell.
One of my JTEs told me about this last year, and given free time a couple of weeks ago, I finally tracked it down.
高校英語は「コミュニケーション英語」に改訂へ
New Curriculum Guideline Sets "English Communication" for High School Students.
It basically states that English classes in High School, which are currently split into Oral Communication I & II, Reading, Writing and English 1 & 2, will be unified under one subject, 「English Communication」. This article only states that the idea will be analysed during the next meeting.
The next article has more.
中教審、新学習指導要領を承認 中学校の英語は33%増加
English Classes in Junior High School to Increase by 33%.
Not just one, but 3 new subjects will be formed. 「English Communication」, 「English Conversation」 and 「English Expression/Presentation」. I guess that one or two of them would be optional.
What would these changes mean for ALTs? Well, nothing for most of the current generation - we'll all be long gone before these changes can be put into action. Nor will they mean anything if teacher training is not changed to put more emphasis on English that can actually be used rather than memorised. And even then, with the thousands of teachers who still teach by the letter, and the hundreds of thousands of students who prefer that method, who knows...
高校英語は「コミュニケーション英語」に改訂へ
New Curriculum Guideline Sets "English Communication" for High School Students.
It basically states that English classes in High School, which are currently split into Oral Communication I & II, Reading, Writing and English 1 & 2, will be unified under one subject, 「English Communication」. This article only states that the idea will be analysed during the next meeting.
The next article has more.
中教審、新学習指導要領を承認 中学校の英語は33%増加
English Classes in Junior High School to Increase by 33%.
Not just one, but 3 new subjects will be formed. 「English Communication」, 「English Conversation」 and 「English Expression/Presentation」. I guess that one or two of them would be optional.
What would these changes mean for ALTs? Well, nothing for most of the current generation - we'll all be long gone before these changes can be put into action. Nor will they mean anything if teacher training is not changed to put more emphasis on English that can actually be used rather than memorised. And even then, with the thousands of teachers who still teach by the letter, and the hundreds of thousands of students who prefer that method, who knows...