In 1993 Hiroko Nishibayashi came to Healesville Primary School on an internship. Back then; LOTE had just been implemented in all primary schools in Victoria. Staffing numbers throughout our state were being cut due to state government policies however the number of primary level language teachers was very low. It was because of this teaching shortfall that Hiroko was able to gain a permanent residency visa, as she had been a primary school teacher in Japan for a number of years.
In my role as manager of KYOZAI, I have been attending Japanese Language network meetings, Professional development days and in-services over the past six years. Prior to this I have been exposed to the challenges of teaching Japanese as first my Mother and then my wife (Hiroko) established the Japanese Language Program at our local Primary School. The following discussion paper is based solely on my observations and is not intended to be an authoritative summary of the topic.
The quantity and quality of available resources was very limited. As Japanese at primary school level was new, the resources available were either designed for high school use, or for adult use. Being text based, these types of resources are not so useful for junior learners.
There were very few teachers who were confident speakers of Japanese. In the mid eighties, the enrolment of students in tertiary Japanese courses was rising dramatically. I was one of these. This was before the Japanese economic bubble burst, and there was a belief that the language would lead to better employment prospects, particularly in business, tourism and hospitality.
The expectations of the Japanese Language program were very high, as the outcome expectations were uniform for all LOTE subjects. Students were expected to write simple sentences after a period of time. Fine if you are learning Italian or French, however it is difficult to write a sentence if you are still learning hiragana. Unfortunately this was not taken into consideration in the early curriculum framework and so the Education Department's documented expectations were virtually unobtainable.
Most generalist teachers did not appreciate the amount of work required in setting up a program, without established resources, and so the time demands on LOTE teachers were severe. Hiroko was very fortunate in that she received a light yard duty load, however many Japanese teachers I spoke with found the workload to be very heavy. If you are teaching Maths, English, Science, Music or Physical Education, there are many books, posters, charts and types of equipment available. Not only did the Japanese teachers have to make their own resources, they had to come up with the ideas of what to make.
Social and community attitudes toward Japan and the Japanese language were generally less positive than they now appear to be. Hiroko had many students coming to school with the belief that they did not have to learn Japanese, their parents told them so. This attitude toward any subject makes it hard to teach. For many families in our rural community, the only contact with Japan was during WW2 when a grandfather fought or died overseas. I am very pleased to see the noticeable improvement in attitude, largely due to improved education and exposure to Japan.
Students at all primary levels were starting at the same time. Whereas in most subjects, the senior students have a founding knowledge base, this was not the case in the early 1990's. As each year passed though the knowledge base of the senior students increased. Thus the subject had to be modified each year to take the development into consideration.
After a number of teachers requested their own sets of these resources, we did a business plan and realised that this was an area where we could help Japanese language development in Australia.
The first resources we provided were Big Hiragana Chart Sets, copied on a plan printer and coloured in by hand, Idea Book 1, photocopied and bound at home and a Family chart.
Not only was the demand for these resources so great that we had trouble filling orders, we started to receive letters of thanks and requests for further Idea Books. One of the things that the Idea Books did that made them versatile was to present material based on topic, not level. This way, the same book can be used for teaching grade 1 or year 8 students.
An interesting sideline to this comes from a town that is visited by many Japanese tourists each year. Some of the schools in this area teach Katakana first, as that is what most of the local Japanese signs are written in. Parents expect their students to be able to read street signs in the language they are learning. The problem arises when trying to find books written in Katakana only. Let me know if you find one!
The collection of Japanese books held in schools is improving, finally giving students something to read. Software that students can use at their own pace is becoming more accessible. The emphasis is moving from things to teach just the language to things the students can do while using the language.
We hope that the libraries at schools teaching Japanese will start to develop their own Japanese corner, and not place the entire resource demand onto the LOTE budget.
It will still be another ten years or so before the benefits of primary level Japanese learning filters through to the graduate level. It will take a further five or six years for the full strength to flow through. I sincerely hope that the powers that be in relevant Education Departments appreciate the time lag.
Even though the number of Japanese language teachers falls way short of demand, I believe that Japanese should be persevered with. If there was an over supply of teachers in a given language, I would question the economic benefit of teaching more students the same language.
If there is anything we can do to help your Japanese language program, we welcome your requests. We can be found at www.kyozai.com.au.
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