Page 26 - ELG1810 Oct Issue 461

COMMENT .

Point

of View

Kate

Sato

Sounding out the

sounds of English

Phonics could be the key to teaching
English to Japanese primary school children,
argues former teacher and academic Kate Sato

ou know the aspect of teaching the size of Ireland), there are three universities and speaking, there has often been a severe lack
English that really concerns me, it offering teacher training courses for primary of practice.
is the sounds of English.’ said Mr. school teachers. This leaves many school leavers feeling
'YYamanaka, the young primary school With such diversity amongst the training inadequate in their English ability and lacking
teacher, after class. courses, the result is that the teachers in the more confidence when they go to university to become
‘Pronunciation?’ I replied, looking for than 1000 primary schools on the island have a primary school teachers.
confirmation. The outcome is teachers, like Mr Yamanaka,
‘Children can replicate any sound, and if I get Having stood the who feel their spoken English is lacking, and are
it wrong, they’ll get it wrong. At this age, they not confident about teaching primary English.
copy the sounds they hear.’ test of time, and Needless to say, teaching Japanese children
Getting the sounds ‘right’ was a concern for considering the success the sounds of the English language can be done.
him, and he was looking at me as if I might have Running my own language school here for 15
the answer. After all, I was a ‘native speaker phonics has had with years, I created a programme where, from the age
teacher’ researching that very matter. of three, the children learned to hear the English
Part of primary school teacher training millions of children, sounds, replicate them and later read and write
in Japan consists of one year of compulsory them as well as.
English followed by a second year of elective it seems an The caveat? I am a ‘native’ teacher. My mother
English. From 2013 to 2017, I was teaching ideal solution. taught me to read by sounding out the words in
trainee teachers ‘general English’. This was the Peter and Jane books, so this was a natural way
only English class the trainees were required to mélange of experience and English levels. for me to teach the children.
take from the native speaker instructors at the Prior to entering university, students have This technique is now a recognised method
university where I was employed. six years of compulsory English education in a broadly called ‘phonics’ (of which there are at
Even today, there are no guidelines from the school system that is steeped in the traditions of least five approaches), with a plethora of teaching
government about the course contents; we had grammar-translation. materials available.
complete freedom. Consequently, my colleagues The outcome is university students who have David Paul, founder of ETJ (English Teachers
and I created our own syllabus and materials. learned to rely on translating English. This may in Japan), has dedicated his life to training and
On Hokkaido (the northernmost island, about be a useful skill, but when it comes to listening equipping teachers in this field. He authored
Finding Out, which has been described as a
‘phonics series for children.’. It was published in
1991 and has sold over 2 million copies.
Likewise, Matsuka phonics (a complete
programme for Japanese primary school aged
children) was founded in 1979, and provides
publications to support teachers.
Having stood the test of time, and considering
the success phonics has had with millions of
children, it seems an ideal solution to the problem
that teachers like Mr. Yamanaka are facing. Surely
phonics courses could be implemented into the
teacher training programmes in the university
courses? I did in my syllabus!
However, there are problems with
26 October 2018