Nobuyuki Tsuji; Masaki Makino; Yoshitaka Tanabe; Keiko Figoni; Judy Noguchi
JACET関西紀要 JACET Kansai Journal 大学英語教育学会(JACET)関西支部 (11) 63 - 74 1880-2281 2009/03
[Refereed] The introduction of English into the elementary school curriculum has caused concern among teachers in service and teacher trainees. This has led to an urgent need to equip teachers with ways to deal with English activities for young learners. To offer suggestions and possible ways to gain such expertise, the JACET Kansai Chapter SIG conducting research on English Language Proficiency Indices (ELPI) offered a workshop for elementary school teachers, volunteers teaching young learners and university students aspiring to become teachers. The workshop was aimed at offering suggestions on how to have those involved in working with young learners develop and polish the skills needed for optimal involvement in English activities. The program was composed of five sections dealing with techniques for optimizing team teaching of the homeroom teacher and an English guest teacher, activities that would appeal to children from the lower to the upper grades of elementary school, tips on how to integrate English activities with those of other study areas, the development of a true awareness of cultural understanding, and the introduction of and suggestions for using various freely available Internet sites for developing classroom activities as well as improving English skills. Questionnaire responses from the workshop participants were very positive with requests for further workshops. This paper introduces the aims of the workshop, presents examples of its content and summarizes the responses from the participants. It concludes with proposals for what those involved in college English teaching can do to aid teacher training and to support the very important area of teaching English to young learners.