Chapter 107 Let foreigners be our English teachers

Regarding English, there is such a joke: According to statistics, after the end of the Cold War, the average GDP of the "English-speaking countries" has increased by 5% to 6%.In Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong are growing, followed by China and South Korea. In 2007, Singapore's GDP per capita surpassed that of Japan. In contrast, Japan's economic development has been stagnant due to the impact of the "lost decade". Take Taiwan, China, which has been developing very rapidly, as an example. When buying machines and goods from Japan, they use Japanese; when they arrive in mainland China, they use Chinese (mother tongue); , they are using English again.So, the current situation should be like this: To become the strongest original equipment manufacturer/original design manufacturer/electronic manufacturing service provider (ie OEM/ODM/EMS) in Asia, the secret lies in the ability to communicate.

Therefore, we must now think about how to improve the English proficiency of the next generation in Japan. On this point, I have raised many opinions, which can be briefly summarized as the following two points: One is to learn from the experience of Germany and South Korea and let 10 or more influential companies in Japan implement this system: people with ministerial positions and above must participate in the operation of overseas markets in the future. Take the lead.All excellent companies in Japan should require employees to have a high level of English and reflect it in the entrance examination.If the company is full of people with poor English, young people don't take it to heart.Therefore, English should be regarded as a necessary condition for entering the company, just like Korean companies.

Therefore, we must pay attention to English education from elementary school education. The second is to replace our English teacher.Only in this way can the status quo of Japanese English learning be substantially changed. English is a communication tool, so a person who cannot use this tool is not qualified to teach others English.People who cannot speak English fluently cannot teach others daily conversation skills, but this is the level of most English teachers in Japan.Although the Ministry of Education announced in December 2008 the revision of the high school teaching syllabus, it clearly stipulates that "English teachers should use English in class as a basic quality", but when high school teachers saw such regulations, they said "It was difficult," so the rule ended up being a joke.

In fact, the Ministry of Education's approach is wrong in itself. What they should do is to let people who use English every day replace the current English teachers.However, if native English speakers are to be English teachers, they must first study university courses and obtain a teacher qualification certificate. However, the current Japanese law expressly stipulates that foreigners cannot become Japanese civil servants. Therefore, even if Americans and British have teacher qualification certificates, they can only serve as "auxiliary teachers" for Japanese teachers who cannot speak English.

Therefore, the first thing to do now is to make these foreign teachers with teacher qualification certificates become real teachers. Then recruit more foreigners and let English-speaking teachers become our English teachers.For example, let Malaysians and Singaporeans be our science and mathematics teachers, and teach other subjects in English like this, the effect will definitely be good. In Europe, teacher qualification certificates are common. For example, in Germany, teachers who teach Spanish must be Spanish, and their teacher status is recognized.In the United States, for non-native English speakers, the educational principle of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, that is, English teaching) has been established.

If Japan does not take measures to recognize the qualifications of foreign teachers, the level of English teaching will never improve.