The Japan Foundation Language Center, Quarterly Newsletter
Special Supplement, October 1993

Reflections on the State of Japanese Language Education in the United States
Hiroshi Miyaji
President Association of Teachers of JapaneseDuring the past decade or so we havewitnessed unprecedented rise in the numberof learners of Japanese in all segments of thissociety. As the field grew the problems anddifficulties have also begun to emerge. Occasional
review and critical self-analysis are indispensable forall of us who engage in Japanese pedagogy. It is to
direct or redirect, change, and improve the field. In
the following I present my perception and perspectiveof the state of the Japanese language education in the
United States. I have summarized them in six points.
They are my view. It is my sincere wish that thisarticle would stimulate further dialogue and debate
among ourselves. I hope this article is not going to beanother voice in the wilderness that will be lost in thewind.
Richard D. Lambert, the former director of the
National Foreign Language Center, begins his article"Implications of the New Dutch National Action Plan
for American Foreign Language Policy" with thestatement:
To many hi the United States, to speak of a national
policy for foreign language instruction is either
oxymoron or a form of odious heresy. Our foreign
language teaching system is not only decentralized
but devoutly committed to fragmentation. The closest
thing we have to national policy making lies inexisting and proposed federal legislation providing
financial support for a few segments of the system.
We in the United States have what might be called aconstrained free market system of foreign language
instruction, as in much of education, one dominatedby private choices made by states, school districts,
schools, colleges, individual teachers, and students,
but anchored firmly in what is already in place. Most
foreign language teachers like it that way, and few

educational policy makers care enough to debate thevirtues of such a system.1
Although mine is a language specific concem, I agreewith his general observation.
1) We have to keep in mind that in the United States
we do not have a national foreign language policy.
The situation of Japanese language education is thesame. In Japan, the Ministry of Education issues, forexample, English Curriculum Guidelines which all
educational institutions and textbook editors are,without exception, to follow. Such phenomenon
cannot and should not happen in the United States.
Prevalence of principles and spirit of free market
results in the production of large variety of
instructional materials and advocacy of diverse andsometimes incompatible pedagogical methods.
Nobody probably is able to clearly define the common goals of Japanese language instruction because
both learners and teachers individually have different
reasons for this educational activity. Such confusionand disorganization, however, is the source of energyof the field of Japanese language education. It isbecause competition encourages improvements anddialectic progress. Recently a friend told me, "I havedecided to write a textbook because I was totally
dissatisfied by the existing ones." This kind ofhealthy competitiveness must be promoted. On theother hand, competition has produced conflicts ofdogmas instead of frank discussion and rational
debate. There are those who believe in the absolutevalidity of a certain theory or method and attempt toproselytize their belief. I respect those who hold firm
conviction and unshakable faith in a theory or method.
But such "attitude" does not constitute evidence forthe validity of a theory or method. Also there arethose who blindly follow the views of an authority, a
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teacher, or a scholar without questioning and without
exercising their own judgments.2 Both of these typesof people tend to turn to be dogmatists. Strange tribal
spirit develops. They even engage in personal attacks
against each other and have created serious anddestructive schism in the field. When a theory
becomes exclusivistic dogma growth of individual is
obstructed and the field of Japanese education
suffers.
2) Recently conscious efforts have been made to
overcome confusion and disorganization brought byexcessive diversity. So-called guidelines orframeworks provide the field of Japanese language
education with possibility toward certain uniformityand direction. The important point is that theseguidelines or frameworks are not imposed fromabove, authorities or superiors. They are products ofconscious and conscientious efforts of concernedteachers and scholars. Acceptance or adaptation ofthese guidelines or frameworks must be left to eachschool, program, and teacher's decision. Recent
example is A Framework for Introductory Japanese
Language Curricula in American High Schools andColleges.3 This Framework is based upon researchfindings done by a team headed by Eleanor Jorden
and an attempt to resolve various pedagogicalissues.4 In conjunction with the framework,
Education Testing Service developed a Japanese
Achievement Test for the College Board. The
framework and achievement test should stimulate
self-evaluation of Japanese programs in this country.
They themselves have to be continuously reviewed
and revised. They suggest some helpful standards forJapanese language instruction in this country but they
are not sine qua non.
3) Under the present economic circumstances,schools, school districts, colleges need considerable
external funding to start and sustain Japanese
programs. Without inducing external funds,
particularly from the Federal Government, private
foundations and organizations, initiation, sustenanceand expansion of Japanese programs and pursuit ofresearch projects are practically impossible. It is notwrong for the funders to try to create uniformity anddirection for the Japanese language instruction in thiscountry as exemplified by the above mentioned
publication of the Framework. We Japanese language
educators, however, should never yield our own
initiative
andpedagogicalresponsibilities.
Uniformity and direction must be created by our
vision, not funders'. There was a full participation oforganizations of foreign languages including
Association of Teachers of Japanese to develop

strategies for the National Security Education Act,
commonly known as Boren Act, that was passed andbudget was allocated by the Congress in 1992. It will
be a crisis for foreign language education in thiscountry if the Federal Government and the Congressdictate policies of foreign language education
exercising their enormously influential funding
power. The same has to be said to private foundations.
Regardless of the nature of the funding source, public
or private, providers of funds are cognizant of issues
involved and recipients promise to address and solve
them. Unless providers have clear grasp of issues bylistening, discussing and responding recipients' views
and needs, funding can be wasted and create further
confusion and chaos in the foreign language
education. The pressure from the necessity to copewith the increase of learners may result in disorderly
competition among expecting recipients of limited
funds. Such unsound squabble can be minimized if
the provider respect views, judgments, and accept
recommendations of academic organizations. In viewof the fact that there are schools and colleges that try
to establish a Japanese language program without along term planning and perspective of self-funding, it
is essential for the providers of funds to obtain peer
evaluation of a proposal to institute a Japanese
language program. If the program has to be totally
reliant of external funding, the value of such programis questionable even there is a strong demand fromstudents and often from parents.
4) As pointed out already, the increase in the numberof learners of Japanese is noted widely by theeducators of foreign languages. The total number oflearners of Japanese in preschools, primary andsecondary schools, and colleges and universities,
according to the data compiled in 1990 by theModern Language Association of America (MLA)
and the American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Japanese is ranked fifth
after Spanish, French, German and Italian, followedby Russian then Chinese. The data also show that the
combined number of Japanese learners in preschools
and primary schools is after Spanish and French andexceeds German and Italian. It is not clear whether
these numbers include distance learners, and adultlearners at private programs such as Japan Societies,
U.S.-Japan Societies, and Berlitz. Actual size of thelearner population must be larger. We cannot congratulate ourselves, however, reading this kind of
statistics. The increase in the number of learners canbe seen primarily on the introductory level. The data
do not indicate significant increase in those who haveacquired at least minimally functional and active
skills in Japanese. It has long been established thatJapanese, along with Arabic, Chinese, Korean takes
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tour times as long for Americans to acquire
proficiency comparable to Spanish or French.5 Since
attrition rate from introductory to intermediate, andfrom intermediate to advanced6 is approximately
50%, the majority of learners do not continue theirstudy of Japanese longer than one or two years, inother words, beyond the introductory level. Isn't isnecessary for us to reexamine the purpose, con-tent,
method of Japanese curricula to make limited studyof Japanese meaningful learning experience for the
majority of learners?
5) Increase and spread of learners at all segments ofthe society have resulted in the shortage of qualified
teachers. This problem cannot be solved soon and by
any short term measure. For about two decades after
the War, a similar shortage occurred. Any native
speakers of Japanese, at that time were enticed toteach Japanese. The present situation, althoughavailability of qualified personnel is definitely
insufficient, is better than the previous period because(1) masters programs in Japanese pedagogy are
established at a few universities, (2) many native
Japanese who come to this country to teach Japanese
have received training and advanced degree inJapanese pedagogy in Japan, and (3) short term
intensive teacher training workshops become
available to native speakers of Japanese.
Unfortunately, acute shortage of teachers failed toeradicate from the minds of many, particularly school
administrators, the notion that any native speakers ofJapanese can teach the language. Those native
speakers of Japanese who have previous training andattend intensive workshops are potentially wellqualified teachers. But in the case of teaching
Japanese at primary or secondary schools, the factthat trainers are usually college instructors who havenever taught at the pre-college level is a serious
defect. Especially if trainers are native of Japan who
were educated in Japan and did only graduate work inthis country, they lack empirical ground to deal withpre-collegiate level instruction. Close cooperation
between precollege and college teachers of Japaneseis essential particularly in a training program for precollege level teachers.
I believe we need a long-term strategy to train
American teachers of Japanese creating favorable
conditions that would encourage Americans to enter
the field of Japanese teaching. Our continuous use ofand dependence on native speakers of Japanese whostay in this country for a short period of time ismerely a temporary solution of teacher shortage.
Even though their contributions have to be fully
appreciated they cannot be expected to build the true

foundation of Japanese instruction in this country.
Many job opening announcements of colleges anduniversities nowadays specify an M.A. in Japanese or
Japanese studies as a minimum requirement. Unlessthe institution has an established tenure policy for
M.A. holders, we cannot expect these institutions todevelop solid Japanese programs.
6) Diversity and variety of teaching methods andresulting conflicts were touched upon in 1). I wouldemphasize the point that teaching method should
primarily teach sufficient conditions based upon
inductive (empirical) reasoning, that is, stating "ifyou employ this method, perhaps such-and-such willbe the results." Pedagogists often teach methods asnecessary conditions, that is, "unless you use thismethod, you are unable to produce such-and-suchexpected results." Theory oriented pedagogists thus
tend to be dogmatic. What needed is a good balance
between theory and practice. Practice without
theoreticalbackgroundishaphazard
andunsystematic. Theory without the evidence ofpractical application is abstract and ineffective.
I have presented problems that I perceive in the fieldof the Japanese language education today. The field,
despite the pains and difficulties it has been
experiencing, are blessed with vigorous and rigorous
educators. There is every reason for me to be
optimistic about its future

Footnotes
1Richard D. Lambert, "Implications of the New
Dutch National Policy Action Plan for American
Foreign Language Policy." Washington, D.C.:
National Foreign Language Center, Position Papers,
June 1991, p.1.
2Motoori Norinaga's advice, "Do not blindly follow
your teacher's view," (Shi no setsu ni nazumazarukoto) in his Tamakatsuma is valuable.
3Funded by the National Endowment for Humanities
and published by National Foreign Language Centerin 1993.
4Eleanor Jorden and Richard Lambert, Japanese
Language Instruction in the United States: Resources.
Practice. and Investment Strategy. Washington, D.C.:
National Foreign Language Center, 1991.
5The study was done by the Foreign Language
Institute (FSI). Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, andKorean thus are called the Class Four the levels areleft undefined.

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The Japan Foundation Language Related Programs for Fiscal Year 1994195
Guidelines
Obtaining & Submitting Application Forms

and are not included in the above cost-sharing.

Application forms for the language related programs
described below are available from The JapanFoundation Language Center upon written request
specifying the name of the program. (Request may besent by facsimile). Completed application should besubmitted to The Center.

2. Training Programs for Teachers of theJapanese Language

Completed applications must be received no later
than December 1, 1993. Earlier submission is
encouraged.

The following programs have been designed to provide teachers of the Japanese language at educational
institutions abroad with an opportunity to improvetheir skills and deepen their knowledge of Japan.
Individual grantees are invited to Japan as membersof a group to take part in a program of intensive
lectures on language, teaching methodology, and life
in Japan.

Selection and Notificationl

Deadline for Applications

The applications will be screened by The JapanFoundation by March 1994, and results will beannounced in April or May.

The Foundation's contribution will not normallyexceed two-thirds of the sum of direct expenses: (1)salary and (2) social-welfare expenses paid to theappointee. The applicant's contribution each year is
expected to be no less than one-third of the project's
annual budget.
Such items as the allowance to cover housing andrelocation costs, and the salaries of research assistantsor secretaries, are determined here as indirect costs

Program for
the Japanese

A two-month intensive course in teaching methodology will be conducted three times a year. The
three courses for fiscal 1994 (April 1994-March
1995) include: the spring course (April-May), thesummer course (July August), and the wintercourse (January-March), for about 200 teachers
from abroad.

1. Salary Assistance Program for Full-Time
Japanese Language Teachers
This program is designed to assist in the creation of
full-time teaching positions at secondary and higher
educational institutions offering instruction in theJapanese language by providing salary assistance forup to an initial three-year period.
Grants are made with the understanding that the position involved is incremental and that the applying
institutions plan to maintain the Japanese language
course and to employ full-time teachers at their own
expense.
For grants to assist staff expansion in the area ofJapanese studies, please apply to the JapanFoundation's Staff Expansion Grant Program.

Short-Term Training
Foreign Teachers of
LanguagelTraining Program for Teachers of theJapanese Language (For JapaneseAbroad)A one-month intensive course in teaching methodology will be conducted in December 1994, forabout 40 teachers.

lLong-Term Training Program
Teachers of the Japanese LanguageforA nine-month intensive course in the Japanese language and its fundamental teaching methodology
will be conducted-both for teachers without a great
deal of teaching experience and for students
expecting to graduate from a Japanese language orother Japanese study program and to teach in the
coming year-from September 1994 to June 1995,
for about 60 teachers.

3. Japanese Language Study Program for
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Librarians
This program is designed to provide librarians of secondary and higher educational institutions, academic
and cultural institutions, and libraries that own
Japanese books and materials with an opportunity toattend an intensive course in the Japanese language,
in order to improve their ability in dealing withJapanese language materials. Librarians and those
who are expected to become librarians in the coming
year will be invited to Japan for 6 months, uponrequests from the institutions. About 12 persons.

4. Assistance Program for the Development ofJapanese Language Teaching Resources
Aid is provided for part of the expenses for the creation of Japanese language teaching resources (textbooks, dictionaries, supplementary materials,
teachers' manuals, audio-visual materials, etc.) thatare of demonstrable merit and that have not been
produced previously. Institutions granted thisassistance must complete production of the teaching
resources within the fiscal year in which the grant isoffered. Applications will be accepted only frominstitutions offering Japanese language courses,
publishers, and production companies. Books on
Japan in foreign languages are beyond the scope of
this program; those interested should apply to theJapan Foundation's Publication Assistance

Program.
5. Japanese Language Education Fellowship
ProgramProfessionals in the field of Japanese language education are invited to come to Japan in order toparticipate in cooperation with, or under the guidanceof, Japanese professionals, in the following
categories:(1) Development of Japanese language teaching
resources that meet the needs of their own countries(2) Development of teaching methods based on concrete teaching resources and themes that meet theneeds of their own countries; and(3) Research in a field that is relevant to Japanese
language education.
Applications from individuals cannot be accepted.
There are two types of fellowships: the short-term
fellowship, which lasts from one month to less than
three months, for one or two persons per project; andthe long-term fellowship, which lasts from threemonths to eight months, for one person per project.

If the fellowship is for the development of Japaneselanguage teaching resources, it is expected that theresults of the fellowship will be published within thenext fiscal year after the invitation and be utilized in
the classroom.

6. Japanese Language Teaching Materials
Donation Program
The Foundation will consider requests for Japanese
language teaching materials from secondary andhigher educational institutions offering Japanese
language courses. Requests from individuals cannot
be accepted.
Among the materials provided are (1) textbooks; (2)dictionaries; (3) reference materials and handbooks;(4) audio-visual materials, such as cassette tapes,
slides, and video tapes; (5) supplementary readers;(6) teaching devices, such as word processors; and(7) miscellaneous teaching aides. Donations are, in
principle, limited to items on the list of materials
attached to the application forms.

7. Japanese
ProgramLanguage

Research

Grant

This program is designed to provide support for
research projects on Japanese language conducted byeducational institutions or associations other thanhigher educational institutions (from university andup). Higher educational institutions should apply to
the Japan Foundation's Institutional Support
Programs for Japanese Studies. The project
should not be the work of a single individual.
The projects should be:(1) Research on teaching methods(2) Research on development or practical use ofteaching materials(3) Development of curricula or syllabi for state programs, school districts, or consortia of schools, and(4) Research in a field that is relevant to Japanese
language education.
The projects must start from April 1, 1994 to March
31, 1995. The Foundation's support can only be
granted for up to a maximum of 12 months. The
greater part of any project should be carried out in the
United States.
Support will be given on a cost-sharing basis. The
Foundation's contribution will not exceed $15,000.
The Foundation may, however, give support
exceeding $15,000 (maximum $20,000) for projects
that require survey trips to Japan, and/or theinvitation of Japanese cooperators.
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5/17

Approximately three institutions are granted annuallyfrom abroad.

8. Japanese Language Conferences/
Seminars/Workshops Grant ProgramThis program is designed to provide support for conferences, seminars, and workshops on Japanese language education conducted by educational
institutions or associations other than higher
educational institutions (from university and up).
Higher educational institutions should apply to theJapanese Foundation's Institutional Support

Programs for Japanese Studies.
The projects should be:(1)
Conferences, seminars or workshops onteaching methods(2)
Conferences, seminars or workshops on
development or practical use of teaching materials(3)
Conferences, seminars or workshops on
development of curricula or syllabi for state programs,
school districts, or a consortia of schools, and(4)
Conferences, seminars or workshops in afield that is relevant to Japanese language education.
The projects must be conducted during the Japanese
fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 1994 to March
31, 1995. Support will be given on a cost-sharing
basis. The Foundation's contribution will not exceed$15,000. The Foundation may, however, give support
exceeding $15,000 (maximum $20,000) for projects
that require the invitation of Japanese cooperators.
Approximately three institutions are granted annuallyfrom abroad.

Current Reports on Japanese Language Education in Several States
1. Texas
Progress in Japanese Language Instruction in the Public Schools of Texas
Carl H. Johnson
Texas Education AgencyEnrollments in Japanese language instruction in
Texas public schools have grown dramaticallyover the past several years. Data showed only
43 students enrolled in 1987-88, 22 students in 198889, 77 students in 1989-90, 212 students in 1990-91,
193 students in 1991-92, but 1,102 students in 199293. Enrollments have now made Japanese the fifth
most studied language in Texas public schools (after
Spanish, French, Latin, and German).
Robert LaBouve, Director of Languages for the
Texas Education Agency (TEA), believes the Foreign
Language Assistance Act (FLAA) program for
critical languages is largely responsible for thedramatic increase in Japanese enrollments in the state.
Nine projects were funded for the first year of the
program in 1992-93, eight of which provide Japanese
instruction. All but three of the programs operate at
the secondary level, grades 9-12. One of the
programs is also open to students in grades 7 and 8,
and two of the programs begin Japanese instruction in
the elementary grades.

Among the successful program models for Japanese
language instruction are: a national distance learning
program enhanced by strong participation from theJapanese community for cultural knowledge and language practice; an intensive Japanese program forstudents at the middle school level; a locallydeveloped interactive television instructional programin the language broadcast to multiple sites within aschool district or region; a program in the elementary
grades with emphasis on listening and speaking
Japanese taught by the regular (trained) classroom
teacher, with supplemental Japanese summer camps
for the students.
The Director of The Japan Foundation Language
Center, Mr. Yasuaki Kaneda, met with directors andJapanese teachers for the Foreign Language
Assistance Act programs at a meeting in Austin in
April 1993 designed to provide direction andtechnical assistance to those programs. This effort

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was significant in that the teachers and directors
became familiar with the multiple resources of The
Japan Foundation Language Center, including
consulting services, training seminars, library andinformation services, and the Japanese Language
Proficiency Test. The relationship established there
will improve access for Texas Japanese programs tovaluable materials and services that will serve thepresent and future programs in Japanese.
The implementation of successful Japanese programsin Texas has been greatly dependent on qualified
teaching personnel to provide instruction in thelanguage. Since there are currently no teacher
preparation programs in Japanese in Texas, there is
no formal certificate for individuals to teach Japanese
language courses. We currently have in place thefollowing as an interim policy: 1) a teacher certified
in another subject in Texas and with 24 semester
credits in Japanese may be assigned to teach Japanese
courses; 2) an individual without a certificate butwith a baccalaureate degree and 24 semester credits
in Japanese may also be assigned to teach Japanese
courses with a letter for that person's personnel filefrom the state education agency. For the future, we2.

are trying to find a way to provide some kind ofprocedure that would allow individuals with abaccalaureate degree but without the formal 24semester credits of Japanese to demonstrate an
acceptable level of proficiency in Japanese language
skills on a proficiency test. Such a test and theacceptable standard to be obtained in this testingmight reasonably be determined and set by acommittee consisting of the Japanese teachers now
staffing the model language programs under theForeign Language Assistance Act.
We look forward to such a procedure and policy toallow qualified candidates access to teaching
Japanese in Texas. This, in turn, along with access tomaterials and services from the Japanesecommunities in Texas and the Japan Foundation
Language Center in California will allow substantial
growth in both the quality and quantity of Japanese
instruction in our state. For more information about
Japanese language programs in Texas, contact Mr.
LaBouve,
TEA,
DivisionofCurriculum
Development and Textbooks, Austin, TX 78701.

Washington

The Foreign Languages Assistance Program in Washington State in 1992-93
Joe Dial, Ph.D.
Former Supervisor, Washington State Superintendent of
Public InstructionF

our school districts in the state of WashingtonChimacum, Colville, Soap Lake, and Yakimareceived federal assistance through funding
obtained by the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction under the Foreign Languages Assistance
Program to operate model foreign language programs
during 1992-93.
Chimacum School District, on Washington's Olympic
Peninsula, has a total enrollment of around 1,200.
During 1992-93, the district increased the number ofstudents receiving Japanese language instruction bysatellite. Introductory Japanese language and culturalexperiences were extended to all students. Staff also
received training in the Japanese language.
Colville School District, north of Spokane, serves
about 2,500 students. During 1992-93 the district set
up a state-of-the-art computer-assisted language
learning laboratory. Students used the laboratory forclass work as well as for individual work outside ofclass. Instruction was available in both Russian andJapanese.
Soap Lake School District, near Moses Lake andJapan Airline's pilot training facility east of Spokane,
serves 325 students. During 1992-93, instruction in
Japanese (by satellite) and Russian was available forhigh school students. There was a foreign language
exploratory course for junior high students, andelementary school students participated in a foreign
language experience.
Yakima School District, in central Washington,
enrolls around 12,000. During 1992-93 Japanese language instruction was extended to middle school students and three years of Japanese were offered at thehigh school.
Following is an article describing the Chimacum

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program, which appeared in Education News, July

1993.

Chimacum students CHAT with Japan
Mike O'Donnell
Special Services Director for Chimacum S.D.

K

onnichiwa is a common expression on the

Chimacum S.D. campus these days. The
district has taken a bold step inintercultural exchange byimplementing acomprehensive K- 12 Japanese language program
called CHAT with Japan (CHimacum Assesses
Technology with Japan). The program draws from avariety of resources to create a multifaceted approachof formal Japanese language classes, video
production and cultural immersion.
At morning and afternoon recesses, groups of students converge on a small office in the elementary
school for informal origami (paper folding) lessons
taught by a guest teacher from Japan. Meanwhile,
Chimacum junior and senior high school students
practice Japanese kanji and hiragana written characters,
using a computer software program that "speaks" thekana syllables and "draws" the characters. The
program began with the secondary students studying
first and second year Japanese language through theStar Schools satellite program broadcast from
Spokane. Using modem and an interactive toll-free
telephone line, students send and receive homework,
practice conversation, and ask questions of a teacher
300 miles away.
These students then become teachers of groups ofelementary students in a program called Chimacum
Choice. The young students receive 12 hours of
instruction in concepts such as numbers, colors, foods,
animals, common expressions and culture from thejunior and senior high school students.

growing group of students desiring to learn more
about the culture and the language. These students
join "Choice 2" Japanese classes taught by Shino
Homma, a guest teacher from Japan.
Homma, who hails from Aichi, Japan, is sponsoredby a private foundation called the International
Internship Program. Her mission is to help build
appreciation for Japanese culture while learning
about America.
With the help of the Hyogo Cultural Center in Seattle,
and a federal Foreign Languages Assistance Program
grant which covers 50 percent of the program costs,
Chimacum students will soon be directly linked with
their counterparts in Japan through a computer
network bulletin board. Local levy monies and state
Highly Capable funds cover the remainder of the
program expenses.
CHAT with Japan has introduced a cultural explosion
to the rural Chimacum Valley. With studentproduced CVTV programs and newsletters, and therich experience of the host families who share theirhomes with Homma, this program has touched every
home in some way. It's an incredible opportunity forstudents to be able to experience Japan here in
Chimacum. The program has definitely increased ourstudents' awareness level of other cultures and othercountries.
For more information about Chimacum's CHAT withJapan program, contact me at (206) 732-4285.

As a spin-off of Chimacum Choice, there is an ever-

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3.

Wisconsin

The Flowering of Japanese Language and Culture in Wisconsin's Schools
Paul Sandrock, Foreign Language Consultant
Madeline Uraneck, International Education Consultant
Wisconsin Department of Public InstructionJapanese language and culture is playing a part ineducation in Wisconsin. Though the percentage
of our total student population studying Japanese
is low, the growth from 50 students to over 1,100
students in less than seven years, makes Japanese ourfastest-growing language program. While thisJapanese initiative has been strongly supported by theState Department of Public Instruction (DPI), thegrowth has also received direct support in various
ways from Japan.
Superintendent's Advisory Council:
The first step to consciously develop programs inJapanese language and culture was the formation of
our State Superintendent's Advisory Council for
Japanese Language and Culture in 1986. This council
brought broad-based support through the inclusion of
the various groups to be impacted: business
representatives; school administrators; university andsenior high Japanese educators and other foreign
language educators; representatives from thegovernor's office, the state senate and assembly;
school board, technical college, and school ofengineering representatives; and various consultants.
These contacts made the mission of the council
visible statewide and brought business and industry
into partnership with the education community.
The recommendations of the Advisory Council put
into motion activity around six areas of emphasis:
1. Establishing Japanese language in the schools
2. Enhancing instruction in Japanese history and culture
3. Developing internships and exchange programswith Japan
4. Establishing a sister state relationship5. Meeting the concerns and needs of the Wisconsin
business community
6. Meeting the needs of children of Japanese citizens
The harmonious and simultaneous efforts in theseareas have led to the high level of activity around
Japanese language and culture in our schools.
Teaching Culture
School programs have moved along a developmental

continuum with one end being sporadic activities
creating awareness of Japanese culture and the otherend being K-12 Japanese language and culture
programs. Movement along this continuum has been
helped with district, state, federal, and international
funding sources. School districts have begun theirprograms at different points along the continuum.
Progress along the continuum has been slow or fast,
depending on the availability of resources and on
district commitment from both individual staff
members and school board and/or administrators.
Culture programs are a common beginning point for
many school districts. Focused activities, such as a
week-long emphasis on Japan, are an easy firstexperience. In one rural school, the entire faculty
focused on Japan as the theme for their instruction for
one week. The English department read stories intranslation and learned haiku first through hearing
and seeing the original Japanese, then having students
create their own. The art department taught brushcalligraphy and origami, inviting several interns fromaround the state to teach origami, throughinstructions in Japanese. Students stopped looking up
on hearing the instruction to fold over or turn upside
down, because the Japanese expressions had beenlearned through the immersion demonstration andparticipation. The physical education teachers used
the week to teach, with interns' help, Japanese kendo,
judo, aikido, and naginata. The whole school became
focused on the language and culture of Japan, making
a strong impact on student attitudes and knowledge.
Intern Program
Wisconsin organized its own intern program called
the Japanese Language and Culture AssistantProgram (JALCAP) through the efforts of the state's
longest-serving Japanese teacher, Yukio Itoh, andtremendous sup-port from JALCAP/Japan-side. Whatbegan with 12 native interns from Japan volunteering
to serve in Wisconsin schools for one year, grew to
33 native interns serving our schools in 1992-93, thefourth year of the JALCAP program. While districts
originally viewed JALCAP as effort to bring cultural
programs to Wisconsin's students, the program
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became a vehicle for many schools to develop
Japanese language programs. In 1992-93, 13 of theseinterns were assisting in schools with either alicensed teacher of Japanese or with distance learningclasses of Japanese. The JALCAP program served togive a tremendous boost for districts to move fromdabbling in Japanese culture, to commitment to a
Japanese language sequence.
Distance Learning
Distance learning has also been one step along thecontinuum for smaller districts to develop Japanese
language programs. In 1992-93, nineteen schools
offered their students instruction in Japanese throughthe Satellite Educational Resources Consortium(SERC, broadcast from Nebraska) or through TI-IN,(broadcast from Texas). In addition, one consortiumof schools hired an instructor to teach Japanese faceto-face with students in one building, while
simultaneously transmitting the interactive broadcast
to students at six other school sites.
Pairing with JALEXFor 1993-94, Wisconsin has stretched again, tobecome an integral partner with the Laurasian
Institute (TLI) to host 20 teaching assistants fromJapan through the Japanese Language Exchange(JALEX) program, funded by the Center for Global
Partnership of The Japan Foundation. This continues
our movement from cultural efforts to sequential
Japanese language programs. Rather than turningover all of the support of the native-speaking
assistants to TLI, Wisconsin's DPI worked out amemo of understanding to cooperate with TLI,
keeping Wisconsin's interns connected to ourstatewide efforts at developing language programs. In
addition to two in-service programs provided by ml,
Wisconsin will offer two additional workshops
during the school year for mentor teachers and theteaching assistants from Japan.
State Legislative Support
Funding support for these developing language programs has come directly from district budgets as wellas through grants. At the state level, the Wisconsin
legislature has approved since 1990 grants of $25,000
for each of two districts annually to begin or enhance
Japanese language programs. Money has been used totrain teachers of other languages to learn Japanesethrough summer immersion programs in Japan or at
Beloit College (WI), to purchase satellite or computerequipment to enhance the teaching of Japanese, todevelop initial curriculum, and to purchase anddevelop materials. In addition to this state money, thefederal Foreign Language Assistance Program(FLAP) has had similar impact in supporting the

growth of Japanese language programs in our state.
Staff Development
Supporting the professional growth of our teachers ofJapanese are workshops, travel/study experiences,
and a teachers organization. With state and federal
money, plus a generous workshop grant from theJapan Foundation, a two day seminar was held in
1992 for four groups involved in teaching Japanese:licensed teachers, teachers facilitating (and learning)
distance education in Japanese, native interns, andstudents in teacher preparation programs. The focusof the seminar was proficiency-oriented instruction
and issues of teaching a less-commonly taught
language. The unique twist was that most of theseminar was conducted in Japanese. Even teacherswith only a beginning knowledge of Japanese said
that the immersion weekend was invaluable. Ms.
Hiroko Furuyama, advisory lecturer of the JapanFoundation Language Center, was the main presenter,
adapting well to our focus and format.
Another joint project with the Japan Foundation was
arranging for ten Wisconsin teachers to attend the1993 summer teacher program at the Japanese
Language Institute in Urawa, Japan. DPI provided theteachers' airfare to Japan, and the Japan Foundation
funded the eight-week course. The teachers returned
with enhanced language ability, teaching skills, andenthusiasm.
Broadening the circle of educators involved inJapanese language and culture has been the focus of
the Great Lakes Japan in the Schools project. A
collaborative effort between Minnesota andWisconsin, the project entails an intensive summer
workshop and a series of school-year participantdesigned workshops. The "ripple effect" approach oftraining small groups of master teachers to instructtheir colleagues has put valuable curriculum materials
into the classrooms of numerous Wisconsin schools.
Professional Support
An essential step in the professionalization ofJapanese teaching in Wisconsin occurred in 1991
with the formation of the Wisconsin Association ofTeachers of Japanese (WATJ). After a few years of
informal networking, the organization became
officially incorporated last year and is an equal
partner joining six other language organizations inthe statewide Wisconsin Association of Foreign
Language Teachers. WATJ arranged with the
National Council of Secondary Teachers of Japanese(NSCTJ) and with the Japanese Language Teachers
Network based in Urbana, Illinois, to receive theirnewsletters. Such collaborative activity is essential in
The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
10/17

order to conserve energy, combine resources, andprovide mutual benefit. No one organization can do it
all, or should feel it must go it alone.
WATJ has been instrumental in initiating proposals
for Japanese sessions at Wisconsin's foreign language
teachers' convention. A full slate of quality sessions
attracts Japanese teachers from neighboring statesand insures that the convention is an important annual
meeting place for our assistants, teachers, anduniversity educators. In 1992, over 60 Japanese
educators were in attendance.
Sister Schools with Chiba Prefecture
Another key ingredient in building our Japanese programs has been the establishment of a sister stateagreement between Wisconsin and the prefecture of
Chiba.
Besides business and cultural benefits and activities,
twenty Wisconsin schools are developing
collaborative relationships with twenty partner
schools in Chiba. The pairings involve elementary,
middle and senior high schools. On one level, theschools have engaged in awareness activities,
exchanging audio and videotapes, pen pal letters,
artwork, and even recipes. To tie the sister school tothe school curriculum, joint projects have begun
which take advantage of exchanges of "ambassador"
students and/or teachers. One example was elementary schools in Wisconsin and Chiba
simultaneously doing a unit on family life, each
student drawing a picture of and writing about his/herfamily. A videotape of each student talking about theillustration was also made. When these items were
exchanged, the discussion was non-stop! At the
middle school level, units on surveying theenvironmental condition of each school community
resulted in learning which went far beyond "quaint"
clothing or food.
One round of teacher exchanges has also occurred. A
group of twelve educators first came from Chiba tovisit Wisconsin, including homestays and visits tosister schools. A Wisconsin group of twelve visited
Japan last January, spending two weeks absorbing
life in Chiba, including four days at the sister school.
The Wisconsin group included teachers of social
studies, learning disabilities, elementary grades, andonly one teacher of Japanese. Each Wisconsin teacher
had prepared lessons which brought the sister school
relationship and cultural curiosity to new heights.
Curriculum Development
In the area of curriculum and materials, DPI developed a resource and teaching guide entitledClassroom Activities in Japanese Culture and Society.
Information, ready-to-use materials, and teachingunits are made available to teachers in thispublication. Currently under development is a projectcalled Japanese for Communication. The first phaseof the project is the creation of a thematicallycentered curriculum for the teaching of Japanese,
appropriate for programs which begin in elementary,
middle, or senior high schools. The focus is to allow
students to function in listening to, speaking, reading,
and writing Japanese. All curriculum decisions flowfrom the thematic center, with clearly identified
outcomes. The second phase of the project is thedevelopment of actual teaching units and materials to
implement the curriculum through selected themes.
The units will show how the language is developed ina spiral fashion as the theme is revisited at higher
levels. Funding for this project was kindly provided
by the Japan Forum, an educational foundation inTokyo.
Japanese Language Consultant
One of the last pieces of our development, symbolicof how far we have come with this state initiative, isthe sponsorship of a Japanese language consultant
with funding provided by The Japan Foundation. As
the second state to receive such an appointment(following the arrival of Washington's consultant
earlier this year), Wisconsin is very pleased to see its
efforts supported in this way. Ms. Hisako Yoshiki
will begin work at DPI early in 1994. DPI's
experience of six years hosting a German language
consultant provided by the German government has
demonstrated the powerful impact of such a position.
Keep Encouraged
It is clear than many simultaneous efforts are needed
to develop effective new programs of Japanese
language and culture. No single focus will create thenecessary buy-in which must come from all membersof the education community and even from thecommunity-at-large. Through multiple program
directions, awareness begins and commitment grows.
The vision must be large, but any single step can be,
and often is, small. When we become discouraged orexperience budgetary setbacks, we must remember
the cumulative progress possible from these small
steps. Our goal is starting to be realized: that all
students in Wisconsin will relate to Japan from a baseof experiences in language and culture, creating an
understanding of the common issues our countries
face.
(For more information on the development ofJapanese programs in Wisconsin, please contact
Paul Sandrock, DPI foreign language consultant(608/266-3079), or Madeline Uraneck, DPI
international education consultant (6081267-2278),
or write Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction,
P0. Box 7841, Madison, WI 53707-7841)
The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
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Recipients of The Japan Foundation Language Center
Grant Programs
August 1992-December 1993

Workshops/Conferences Grant
Program
1. Teachers of Japanese in Southern California
1992 Fall Workshop"Japanese Language Competency Assessment" Nov.
1, 1992 $2,240.00
2. Seminar for Japanese Teachers in Wisconsin
Dec. 4-5, 1992 $2,000.00
3.5th Annual lake Erie Teachers of Japanese Conference

Apr. 9-10, 1993 $2,000.00
4.2nd Meeting for the Northeast Association of Secondary
Schools of Japanese

Apr.17, 1993 $1,700.00
5. Teachers of Japanese in Southern California

1993 Spring Workshop "Assessment in the JapaneseClassroom" Apr.18, 1993 $500.00
6. Workshop on Communication and Use of Grammar inClassroom Teaching for Teachers of Japanese in Northern
California

Apr.23, 1993 $600.00
7.3rd Annual Workshop on Japanese Education in Virginia

May 29-30, 1993 $1,500.00
8.13th Annual Mountain Interstates
Foreign language Conference at Clemson Univ., SC

Oct. 7-9, 1993

$1,500.00

9.4th Japanese/Korean Linguistic Conference at UCLA

Oct. 15-17, 1993 $1,500.00
10.2nd Annual Conference of the Northeast Association ofSecondary Teachers of JapaneseNov. 6, 1993 $2,000.00
11. Teachers of Japanese in Southern California
1993 Fall Workshop
Nov.14, 1993 $500.00

Association Grant Program
1. Japanese Language Association of Georgia$2,000.00

2. Missouri Association of Japanese Teachers$1,210.00
3. Assoc. of Teachers of Japanese in North Carolina(ATJNC)$1,270.00
4. Northeast Assoc. of Secondary Teachers ofJapanese(NEASTJ)$1,000.00
5. Assoc. of Teachers of Japanese in Oregon (ATJO)$1,800.00

Travel Grant Program Within The
United States
1. Ritsu Shimizu
Shaler Area Middle School (Glenshaw, PA)
Participation in the AAS/Mid-Atlantic Conference
Oct. 30-31, 1992 $104.00
2. Kimiko Nakayama Nordstrom
Career Enrichment Center (Albuquerque, NM)
Participation in the Southwest Conference on
Language Teaching (SWCOLT)
Apr. 1-3, 1993 $267.50
3. Yukiyo Moorman
Walt Whitman High School (Bethesda, MD)
5th Annual Lake Erie Teachers of Japanese
Conference
Apr. 9-10, 1993 $117.50
4. Majoice Thomas (Greenville, MI)
Participation in the National Symposium on Critical
Languages Education
Oct. 22-23, 1993 $242.00
5. Yasuko Nadayoshi Walcott
Montgomery County Public Schools (New Market,
MD)
ACTFL '93 Annual Meeting "Teaching Chinese &Japanese in the Elementary School; Methods,
Materials, and Assessment"
Nov. 20-22, 1993 $478.00
The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
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Reports of The Recipients of JFLC Grant Programs
Workshops/Conferences Grant Program
The Fifth Annual Lake Erie Teachers of Japanese Conference (LETJ)
Mutsuko Endo Hudson
Michigan State University Dept. of Linguistics and Languages

T

he funding from the Japan Foundation
Language Center made possible the Fifth
Annual Lake Erie Teachers of Japanese(LETJ) Conference. The meetings were held at
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
on April 9-10, 1993.

Background
The LETJ is a regional organization established byscholars and teachers mainly in Indiana, Michigan,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania, for the purpose of promoting
mutual educational and scholarly support. Most
members are employed by universities, but someteach at junior colleges and secondary schools. The
group's first meeting was hosted by Case Western Reserve
University in 1989; the second by the Ohio State University
in 1990; the third by the University of Pittsburgh in 1991;

followed by 10-minute discussion, focusing on a number ofissues that involve the quality and future of Japanese
language education in the United States.

Content of the Sessions
Following a half-hour registration period, the conference
commenced at 6:30 pm on April 9th with my opening
remarks regarding Michigan State University and its

Japanese Language program. The first session withthe theme "Communicative Activities and Teaching
Culture" subsequently ensued. Maki Nakamura(Michigan State University) first spoke on "SomeCommunicative Activities in First-Year Japanese at
MSU," illustrating some of the effective classroom
activities at college level. He also explained briefly
the philosophy of proficiency-oriented instruction, which

and the fourth by Case Western Reserve University in
1992.

promotes incorporation of culture, and on which his
activities are all based. The second presentation was by
Yukiyo Moorman (Walt Whitman High School and Paint
Branch High School), entitled"Context/Content-

The 1993 Conference

Based
Curriculum
for Communicative
Competency: Lessons for High School Level

The theme of the 1993 conference was"Communication:
Among Students, Among Teachers" to promoteteaching Japanese for communication and exchangeof ideas and materials among teachers. The
conference provided a forum for the discussion of five

Japanese." She discussed the standard set by the State of
Maryland for high school language courses anddemonstrated some of the ways to achieve the goals
effectively and realistically in the case of Japanese. The
third presentation was "Proficiency-Oriented Material
Development for Beginning Level Japanese" by Yukiko

major issues in Japanese language instruction in the UnitedStates today: (1) effective communicative activities, (2)smooth transition from high school to college Japanese
courses, (3) incorporation of cultural content in our
curriculum, (4) technical and business Japanese, and (5) the
present and future of computer-assisted instruction in
Japanese. The invited speakers were Seiichi Makino(Princeton University), one of the leading figures inJapanese language instruction, Yasuhiko Tohsaku (theUniversity of California-San Diego), a renowned specialist
in second language acquisition and teaching, and Shohei
Koike (American Graduate School of International
Management in Arizona), an expert in business Japanese

instruction. Approximately seventy scholar-educatorsand prospective teachers attended the meetings from
Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as wellas two visitors from Japan. Kimiko Kabutomori of theJapan Foundation Language Center in Santa Monica,
California, and John Chapman of the Michigan Departmentof Education also participated and gave brief remarks.

Eleven 20-30 minute papers were presented, each

Hatasa (Purdue University). She talked about thecontent and philosophy of the first-year textbook forcollege students which she is currently co-authoring.
The ideas and techniques discussed are useful indeveloping material at other levels as well. The final
speaker of the night was Ann Dundon (Case Western
Reserve University), who spoke on "Networking witha Japanese University: The Waseda/CWRU Project."She explained how this remarkable project wasstarted and implemented. Now the students at Case
Western Reserve University and Waseda University
in Japan can correspond to each other freely via
electronic mail which includes not only computer
graphics but also voice and sounds.
At 9:15 am on April 10th, Session II, "Proficiency
Examination and Japanese Language Instruction" washeld, following welcoming remarks by the chair of
the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
Asian and African Languages of Michigan State
University. Three papers were presented dealing withThe Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
13/17

one of the most important issues today, namely,

Multimedia Resource Library for Teaching Japanese

articulation between secondary and post-secondary schools:
first "Current State of High School Japanese Education"

Language and Culture" by Kazumi Hatasa (Purdue
University) and "What Can Machines Do for Japanese
Language Teachers?" by Ken Ujiie. The speakers discussed
and demonstrated a variety of computer software that theyeach developed (some collaboratively with others) for
teaching Japanese, which were simply awesome. After adinner break, the second keynote speech was presented by
Seiichi Makino, entitled "Miren and Japanese." His illuminating presentation touched on the intersection of the language and culture, an important issue not only in language
teaching but also in linguistic analyses of Japanese. The
same format as for Tohsaku's presentation (half-hour eachof small group discussion and plenary discussion) was
employed for Makino's. The finale of the conference was
the business meeting. The conference adjourned at 9:30pm
on April 10, 1993.

by Akiko Kakutani (Earlham College), who has beencommissioned by the State of Indiana to investigate
high school Japanese instruction in Indiana, second"Entrance Examination at Indiana University: What
High School Teachers Must Do to Prepare theStudents" by Yasuko Ito Watt (Indiana University)and third "Graduation Examination at the Universityof Minnesota: What the Students Must be Able toDo" by Yuki Johnson (University of Minnesota).
Session III "Technical and Business Japanese Courses"
then followed, addressing extremely timely topics. Keiko
Unedaya (University of Michigan) first presented a paper"The Technical Japanese Courses at the University ofMichigan," illustrating her materials and techniques with avideo presentation of actual classroom activities. Next, oneof the three invited speakers, Shohei Koike, presented"Establishment and Curriculum of a Business Japanese

Program." He offered insights into the mechanics ofestablishing and maintaining such a program, anddiscussed, also with a video demonstration, thematerials and techniques he has developed. The
development of technical and business language
courses has been receiving more and more attention
in recent years as the demand has skyrocketed due tointernationalization at economic scenes and, needlessto say, Japanese is regarded as one of the criticallanguages in this regard.
The afternoon session began with Yasuhiko Tohsaku's
keynote presentation "Communicative Process andExperience in Language Classroom." He discussed, among
others, the results of his experiment of teaching one groupof students by the communicative approach andanother group by the audio-lingual method, the formergroup reached a high er level of proficiency than thelatter group. He stressed the importance of teaching forcommunication and offered specific ideas and techniques.
Following his stimulating, as well as informative,
presentation, the participants were broken up into small
groups (about eight people in each) and exchanged
thoughts for half an hour. They were then brought back toplenary discussions for another half-hour to report some of
the issues and questions raised in the small group
discussion. This format was adopted to help the participants
to meet new people and stir candid discussions in a friendly
atmosphere.

Project Evaluation
According to the post-conference survey, the conference
was a great success. The participants remarked that it was
educational, informative and stimulating, and commented
favorably on the "non-threatening" atmosphere. It provided
them with the opportunity to meet and exchange opinions
and information with colleagues from other institutions in
the region. In addition, the participants benefitted greatly
from hearing the ideas of well-known experts in the field.
The small group format allowed for frank discussion ofpressing issues and sharing of solutions and methods in thefield of Japanese language pedagogy. The running of theconference also went smoothly with no problem arising andthe participants were satisfied with the physical facility
used. A follow-up questionnaire will be administered thissummer.

Future Activities
The organizers of the past LETJ meetings (19891993) have volunteered to form a steering committee
in order to lend advice and assistance to theorganizers of the 1994 conference, to be held at
Purdue University (all the 1993 materials, including
the survey sheets, have already been sent to the 1994
organizers). 1993 participants unanimously agreed on
the importance of holding annual meetings. Suchsmall regional conferences are easily accessible to all
and provide forums for sharing of pedagogicalmethods and scholarly findings, which isindispensable especially in the relatively young fieldof Japanese language education.
1993

Session IV "Teaching Japanese Language and Culture with
Computer and Video" then followed with twopresentations:"Development of Computer-Assisted TechnicalJapanese Reading System (CATERS) and

The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
14/17

1993 Japanese Language Education Organization Survey

In 1991, The Japan Foundation Japanese
Language Institute published the list and thestatistics of Japanese language education
organizations worldwide. The Institute is now
conducting the second survey. The information
obtained hereby will be published with the aim ofpromoting networking among institutions throughout
the world. In the United States the following
associations are conducting the survey:
ATJ
Colleges, universities, junior colleges,
cornmunity colleges

NCSTJ Precollegiate institutions
JFLC Other institutions
In September 1993, each organization sent out
questionnaire forms to your institutions. If yourinstitute has not yet received these forms, please contact
each organization.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep
appreciation toward Professor Ann Sherif of Case Western
Reserve University for her great assistance for my report.

Workshop: Communication and Use of Grammar in Classroom Teaching
Fumiko Grant
The Northern California Japanese Teachers' Association
Date:
Location:
Presenter:

April 23, 1993 (3:OOpm.-6:3Opm.)
San Francisco State University
Seven Hills Center
Prof. Seiichi Makino

Activity Report
Prior to this April workshop, NCJTA held a mini
workshop on March 28th as a study session. The
topic was "Teaching of Grammar in JapaneseClasses." About 50 people participated in this session.
After three presenters from different levels(elementary, secondary, and college) gave a shortdemonstration, the participants shared and discussed
the problems about how and how much grammar
should be taught in Japanese classes. As preparation
for the workshop, the session was very successful.
The April workshop given by Prof. Makino contained
two parts: 1) presentation-how can we develop students'
proficiency and 2) demonstration-how can we teachgrammar in Japanese classes. 80 participants actively
engaged in this workshop and serious discussion was
exchanged through the entire period.

Travel Grant Program: Report on The AAS/Mid-Atlantic Conference
October 30-31, 1992
West Chester University
Ritsu Shimizu
Shaler Area Middle School (Glenshaw, PA)

Part I
Evening, October 30, J992

There was an Asian music and dance performance by
Chinese elementary through secondary students froma nearby community, Radnor. They were joined by otherstudents of Japanese from West Chester University.
Saturday, October 3], ]992

Morning Session: Title-Round Table-Issues in
Teaching Japanese at the University and Secondary
LevelsAll participants introduced themselves, their Japanese
program in terms of grade/level, enrollment, textbooks, andnumber of teachers/instructors in the same institution.
Since the participants numbered more than 25 which
included colleges and secondary schools, Dr. Kanagy
took a record and promised to send a list of theparticipants' names later. Each participant described
their teaching situation and presented their points ofconcern.

The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
15/17

Specific to the instruction in secondary schools, Ms.
Ushioda mentioned the Saturday program where sheteaches. (She left the session earlier and I could not ask her
about the program she teaches.)
Dr. John Flathmann, supervisor of social studies in
the West Chester Area School district, described theWest Chester Area School district's Japanese
language program. Although his speciality is social
studies, he majored in Asian studies as his academic
discipline, and this is the reason he is initiating andoverseeing the Japanese language program in his
school district. One of the distinguished activities heconducted was that he organized and escorted a groupof high school students to Japan last year for one
month. The students had to pay only for theirtraveling fees, the rest was taken care of by the hostfamily and the International Lion's club. He statedthat the traditional foreign language teachers werefeeling tremendous threat by the addition of theJapanese language in the school district curriculum.
Afternoon session: Classroom learners of JapaneseAcquisition and Attitude"I can't get them to stop talking:Transforming non-speakers into speakers"
Yoko Koike, Haverford College
She presented her techniques of how to minimize the useof English, and increase spoken Japanese in classroom. For example, she established the rules ofcommunication in Japanese by the utilization of"aizuchi," short phrases of Japanese confirmation marks,
or making mutual agreement gestures with students. Later
she
extended her presentation to reading

comprehension.

"How do classroom learners express negationin Japanese?"
Ruth Kanagy, University of Delaware

She stated that her presentation was a summary fromher dissertation. She hypothesized progressive
acquisition forms of negation based on the first
language study. She took her date from a 10 month
period with students, and drew the conclusion that thenegation acquisition seems to follow a similar
progressive way as the first language. (I had

questions to ask, but they didn't allow any time forquestioning at the end of each presentation.)"Social perception of people in Japan among
American Students of Japanese"
Yukie Aida and Yoshiko Saito-Abbott, University of
Texas

They conducted a survey of students who wereenrolled in psychology and Japanese. They used theframework by Kats and Gilbert(?) in 1936 toinvestigate ethnic perception. Their conclusion wasthat the Japanese language students were moresociable to Japanese people than the psychology students.
(I left the session at 3:10 while the session was stillon).

Part II
Stated in the above, the participant's list is going to beprepared by Dr. Kanagy. When I receive it, I shallmail it to you immediately.
Kitty Taylor Mizuno does not teach at Princeton
University any longer. I think she said that she
teaches at a secondary school. She talked about thecomparison of Jordan method and the Makino Seiichi
teaching roach, and she didn't mention her current
secondary school teaching. I wonder that talking
about the secondary school teaching in front ofcollege instructors made her feel very uncomfortable,or she didn't have intention to talk about her current
teaching. There are many participants so I couldn't
disrupt self-introduction session.
Ms. Sharley Ushioda teaches social study and theJapanese language half and half. I got an impression~~ her introduction that she didn't feel comfortable hso many college Japanese language teachers and thesession earlier. I wonder whether she felt intimidated.
Dr. John H. Flathmann is definitely a pillar of theJapanese language program in West Chester Area
School district. He gave his name card. His title andaddress is: Supervisor of Social Studies, West
Chester a School District, 829 Paoli Pike, West
Chester, PA 80. Tel: (215) 436-7122. Fax: (215) 4360167.1 am going to mail a copy of The Breeze andother pertinent information to him.

The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
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5th Annual Lake Erie Teachers of Japanese Conference 1993
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Yukiyo Moorman
Walt Whitman High School"Context/Content-Based Curriculum for Communicative Competency Lessons for High School
Level Japanese"I

briefly talked about the Montgomery County
Public Schools' Japanese language curriculum.
The handout listed themes for each level, as well
as a list of French/Spanish for comparison. All
foreign languages have developed their instructionalguides from the generic curriculum and the Japanese
language is one of them. Emphasis is for all language
skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing,respectively.
The curriculum guidelines and lesson activities aredeveloped within each theme. All activities are student
centered and the contents are relevant to their daily life andinterests/concerns. Remote concepts or situations are
avoided as much as possible. For example, expressions orphrases used in students' daily life are given higher

priority in lesson's objective. Something like Tokyo's
subway system or the rental fee of 2-K apartments is
a very remote concept for American high school
students, thus it is introduced as a social issue rather
than as a language learning objective.
All the themes of level one emphasize a large numberof vocabulary words that are presented in the most
tangible form of illustrations or pictures. Almost all

themes of level one are repeated in level two. The
level two lessons thus contain level one's
vocabularies and phrases as the basic foundation. Itmeans level one's knowledge is thoroughly reviewed,
and basic knowledge moves gradually towards
generalizations and/or abstract concepts. Level three andlevel four are again repeated in a similar manner.
This process has enormous advantages in learning
kanji, since every year students review all the kanji
they have studied in previous years. In addition, newkanji are added gradually.
If higher competency means automatic response, thenthe students must be given great many opportunities
to practice. The minimum competency expected forhigh school students after four years of Japanesestudy is that students are able to express anything
about themselves in Japanese, master hiragana,katakana and some kanji. Students should be able tomanipulate the conjugation of adjectives and verbs,
understand the basic sentence structure on syntax
forms, such as noun-predicate, adjective predicate,
non-action verb predicate and action verb predicate.

Breezy Message

In this special issue of The Breeze, we have brought you

announcements of the Japan Foundation Grant
Programs. Also, as befitting a special issue, wehave a contribution from Dr. Miyaji on the current
state of Japanese language education. At this time, when
there is strong movement in Japanese language education in
the United States, I believe that it would do for all of us toclearly rethink, through Dr. Miyaji's article, how to proceed
on issues in this area.
On the current situation of Japanese language education inthree separate states, we received articles from each state,
written by the person heading foreign language education.

In the future, I would like to be able to provide even moreof an exchange of information to all of you regarding what
is presently going on in Japanese language education.
In October, our Language Center's chief language specialist,
Prof. Toshio Tatsuta's time here with us will draw to a close.
For close to twenty years, Prof. Tatsuta has, as an expert of
The Japan Foundation for Japanese language education,
been active in many areas of the world, but he has said that
now, for the time being, he will be taking a pause in his
career. Thank you, Professor, for all you have done. Noriko
Yokoyama from The Japan Foundation Japanese Language
Institute will be joining us as the next chief language
specialist.

The Breeze.Special Supplement (October 1993)
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