Hearing and reading key to MPI learning success
The Yomiuri Shimbun
"Extensive hearing" and "extensive reading"--these are the phrases we often hear recently concerning English education. What are the advantages of extensive hearing and reading? Are there any specific ways to make these methods work effectively?
This year's English Education Forum by the Matsuka Phonics Institute (MPI) focused on this topic. MPI's instructional objective is to "bring up children who can communicate in English with foreign children of the same generation by the age of 15."
MPI founder Yoko Matsuka gave a lecture on the theme at the institute's forum held at The Yomiuri Shimbun's headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 17. The forum included the MPI Partners' Kids' Contest and a workshop by Michael Naishtut. In this special, we will summarize the forum.
"I think what Japan needs now is proper English education, so people can show Japan to the world objectively," Yoko Matsuka said in her keynote speech. "Our program meets this need perfectly. We need to have confidence!"
Matsuka established MPI 28 years ago at the age of 37, believing she had to do something to change the way English was taught in Japan by teaching it to small children. "MPI aims to bring up children who have skills and manners that lead to well-being and an ability to communicate," she said.
Matsuka introduced a process by which small children who cannot read any English eventually learn to express themselves. She said reading is indispensable in mastering English, but there is a big difference in the way children and adults read.
Adults read silently, thinking about the meaning, reading between the lines and visualizing the story. In the meantime, they increase their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge.
Children, on the other hand, first enjoy the prose of English, even if they don't understand the meaning. "I think the first stage of prosody reading is very import!ant," Matsuka said. "I'm always saying that rhythm, pitch, tempo, stress and voice quality are very import!ant to speak understandable English."
She said the first stage was vital for children in helping them to enjoy English. "Speaking aloud while moving their bodies helps to get them to think learning English is fun," Matsuka said. "It doesn't matter how well they can sing and dance. The import!ant thing is to sing and move together and get them to try to convey their feelings."
Because pictures and illustrations help children understand meaning, MPI publishes only picture books, according to Matsuka. Matsuka believes that to help children become independent learners, it is necessary for them to learn phonics, the matching of sounds and letters. MPI's teaching materials are designed for this purpose.
MPI employs phonics songs and chants. "Point reading" is another method. In this method, children read and point to each word of the song.
"When I went to the United States about 30 years ago, I learned that American children have a hard time reading English. They learn letters by repeating them over and over," Matsuka said. "I think letters should be learned through sounds not vice versa."
She recommends that children recite the alphabet, words and sentences at a normal speed when they practice reading. "It's import!ant not to break the rhythm and lose tempo," she said. "If you speak too slowly, children become accustomed to that. Children prefer up-tempo things, anyway."
Matsuka said singing English songs is one way to learn when to stress and when to pause: "I really don't like the flat reading many middle school students do in the classroom. That's not English. Songs are good as they naturally contain intonation and dynamics.
"It's the teacher's job to teach children the fun of English rhythm and help them to read by themselves. It's a great joy for children if they can read on their own."
Matsuka said silent reading should be introduced only after children enter middle school. "When they read aloud, their attention goes to pronunciation. Silent reading is necessary to make them think about the meaning," she said.
For middle school students, MPI uses the British study magazines "Click," "Crown" and "Team," which use CDs to introduce world events, films, music and sports. "The contents are very real and students like them a lot," Matsuka said, adding that these books are always referred to in graduation speeches as a memorable thing they learned at MPI. Upon graduating from middle school, the students also graduate from MPI, whereupon they must give a speech.
"When children become third-year middle school students, it's necessary for them to express themselves and talk about Japan to the world. I want them to speak about it with pride," Matsuka said.
She thinks changes in Japan's English education are too slow, "though the world situation has changed greatly."
She compared English education to an organically grown eggplant she saw on TV. "It was such an impressive image, I cannot forget it," she said. She explained that an eggplant that had been planted in a deep ditch and had proper fertilizer applied to it grew 1.5 meters tall and bore about 150 beautiful eggplants.
In her address to the teachers, she said: "It is necessary to make children independent English learners. And to do so, we must cultivate their roots deeply in the ground. Let's work together to help them grow."
'I Will Not Give in to the Rain'
In 2005, MPI founder Yoko Matsuka received an award from the Hanamaki municipal government in Iwate Prefecture for her English translations of works for children by the popular writer Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), who was from the city.
The small book she produced, titled Gorsch the Cellist after one of Miyazawa's works, contains shortened versions of the originals, including his famous poem Ame ni mo Makezu.
In the MPI seminar, Matsuka introduced a parody version of the poem, criticizing today's selfish and indifferent children. The parody was created by a school principal and spread via the Internet after a pediatrician, who agreed with the poem, publicized it at a doctors' conference.
The parody version evoked a lot of laughter from the audience, who seemed to agree with the poem's point of view to a certain extent.
At the end of the speech, Matsuka introduced her English translation of the original poem by Miyazawa:
I will not give in to the rain.
I will not give in to the wind.
I will have a healthy body that won't give in to the snow or to summer's heat.
I will not have desire.
I will not get angry.
I will always be smiling quietly.
I will eat four cups of brown rice, miso and a bit of vegetables each day.
In everything, I will not count myself.
I will look, listen and understand well, and I won't forget.
I will live in a small thatched hut in a field in the shade of some pine trees.
When there is a sick child in the east, I will go and nurse him.
When there is a tired mother in the west, I will go and carry her load of rice.
When there is a person dying in the south, I will go and say, "You don't have to be afraid."
When there are fights or lawsuits in the north, I will say, "Stop it, because it's not import!ant."
When there is a drought, I will shed tears.
When the summer is cold, I will walk around helplessly.
I will be called useless by everyone.
I will not be praised or thought a pain.
This is the person I want to be.
Children's English communication abilities put in spotlight
Lively presentations geared toward children from English-language schools took up the afternoon following a lecture by MPI founder Yoko Matsuka.
Sixty-two primary- and middle-schoolers, as individuals and in teams, participated in the MPI Partners' Kids' Contest. All of the participants attend English-language schools whose teachers are members of the MPI Partner program. The children learn English based on the MPI curriculum and related teaching materials.
The children were selected from 120 video applications. Primary school students completed in four categories--songs and chants, picture books, skits and speeches--while the middle school students performed in two sections, including a talk show, speeches and presentations.
Serving as the contest judges were Matsuka; Takao Ogawa, a primary school teacher from Toda, Saitama Prefecture; and Lucius Jones, an assistant language teacher in the city. Based on eval!uation charts that were included in the forum handouts, the three chose the best performances in each category. Runners-up were also awarded for their prosody or presentation.
Contestants in the speech categories were also eval!uated during an on-the-spot interview immediately following their speeches, with Matsuka asking the questions.
In the primary school picture book reading division, the best performance award went to a group of three sixth graders from an English school in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, who recited a poem by writer Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) titled, I Will Not Give in to the Rain.
Takumi Iizuka, one of the three boys, competed in the final for the first time after entering the English school last year. "It was difficult for me to pronounce consonants at the end of words," he said. "Like 's' in 'kids'--I was always dropping them."
On the other hand, Iizuka's teammate Yasuhito Takimoto was encouraged by his team's performance. "I was so nervous last year when I got to the final round," he recalled. "I think that experience helped me this year."
"It felt so good when we all gestured at the same time [when reciting the phrase accompanying it]," he added.
Yuichi Chiba of Machida, Tokyo, won the best performance award in the speech and presentation section of the middle school student division for his speech titled "My School Life."
"I think I was lucky to win the award," said Chiba, who has been studying English since he was a fifth-grader. "I'm happy with my performance today, but I don't know how I did, because I made up a lot of stuff."
The winner said the hard part wasn't coming up with things to say, but rather memorizing his lines. "I'm not good at speaking in front of people so my legs are still shaking," he added. "When I was on stage, I felt as if I'd collapse because my legs trembled so much."
During Chiba's interview following his speech, Matsuka asked, "Do you like science?" He answered, "I like science, but science hates me"--a response that got a laugh from the audience.
Chiba said his answer was based on something he heard on the radio. "When I heard it, I knew I'd be able to use it sometime," Chiba said. "Then it just popped out when I was up on stage."
(Oct. 11, 2007)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
"Extensive hearing" and "extensive reading"--these are the phrases we often hear recently concerning English education. What are the advantages of extensive hearing and reading? Are there any specific ways to make these methods work effectively?
This year's English Education Forum by the Matsuka Phonics Institute (MPI) focused on this topic. MPI's instructional objective is to "bring up children who can communicate in English with foreign children of the same generation by the age of 15."
MPI founder Yoko Matsuka gave a lecture on the theme at the institute's forum held at The Yomiuri Shimbun's headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 17. The forum included the MPI Partners' Kids' Contest and a workshop by Michael Naishtut. In this special, we will summarize the forum.
"I think what Japan needs now is proper English education, so people can show Japan to the world objectively," Yoko Matsuka said in her keynote speech. "Our program meets this need perfectly. We need to have confidence!"
Matsuka established MPI 28 years ago at the age of 37, believing she had to do something to change the way English was taught in Japan by teaching it to small children. "MPI aims to bring up children who have skills and manners that lead to well-being and an ability to communicate," she said.
Matsuka introduced a process by which small children who cannot read any English eventually learn to express themselves. She said reading is indispensable in mastering English, but there is a big difference in the way children and adults read.
Adults read silently, thinking about the meaning, reading between the lines and visualizing the story. In the meantime, they increase their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge.
Children, on the other hand, first enjoy the prose of English, even if they don't understand the meaning. "I think the first stage of prosody reading is very import!ant," Matsuka said. "I'm always saying that rhythm, pitch, tempo, stress and voice quality are very import!ant to speak understandable English."
She said the first stage was vital for children in helping them to enjoy English. "Speaking aloud while moving their bodies helps to get them to think learning English is fun," Matsuka said. "It doesn't matter how well they can sing and dance. The import!ant thing is to sing and move together and get them to try to convey their feelings."
Because pictures and illustrations help children understand meaning, MPI publishes only picture books, according to Matsuka. Matsuka believes that to help children become independent learners, it is necessary for them to learn phonics, the matching of sounds and letters. MPI's teaching materials are designed for this purpose.
MPI employs phonics songs and chants. "Point reading" is another method. In this method, children read and point to each word of the song.
"When I went to the United States about 30 years ago, I learned that American children have a hard time reading English. They learn letters by repeating them over and over," Matsuka said. "I think letters should be learned through sounds not vice versa."
She recommends that children recite the alphabet, words and sentences at a normal speed when they practice reading. "It's import!ant not to break the rhythm and lose tempo," she said. "If you speak too slowly, children become accustomed to that. Children prefer up-tempo things, anyway."
Matsuka said singing English songs is one way to learn when to stress and when to pause: "I really don't like the flat reading many middle school students do in the classroom. That's not English. Songs are good as they naturally contain intonation and dynamics.
"It's the teacher's job to teach children the fun of English rhythm and help them to read by themselves. It's a great joy for children if they can read on their own."
Matsuka said silent reading should be introduced only after children enter middle school. "When they read aloud, their attention goes to pronunciation. Silent reading is necessary to make them think about the meaning," she said.
For middle school students, MPI uses the British study magazines "Click," "Crown" and "Team," which use CDs to introduce world events, films, music and sports. "The contents are very real and students like them a lot," Matsuka said, adding that these books are always referred to in graduation speeches as a memorable thing they learned at MPI. Upon graduating from middle school, the students also graduate from MPI, whereupon they must give a speech.
"When children become third-year middle school students, it's necessary for them to express themselves and talk about Japan to the world. I want them to speak about it with pride," Matsuka said.
She thinks changes in Japan's English education are too slow, "though the world situation has changed greatly."
She compared English education to an organically grown eggplant she saw on TV. "It was such an impressive image, I cannot forget it," she said. She explained that an eggplant that had been planted in a deep ditch and had proper fertilizer applied to it grew 1.5 meters tall and bore about 150 beautiful eggplants.
In her address to the teachers, she said: "It is necessary to make children independent English learners. And to do so, we must cultivate their roots deeply in the ground. Let's work together to help them grow."
'I Will Not Give in to the Rain'
In 2005, MPI founder Yoko Matsuka received an award from the Hanamaki municipal government in Iwate Prefecture for her English translations of works for children by the popular writer Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), who was from the city.
The small book she produced, titled Gorsch the Cellist after one of Miyazawa's works, contains shortened versions of the originals, including his famous poem Ame ni mo Makezu.
In the MPI seminar, Matsuka introduced a parody version of the poem, criticizing today's selfish and indifferent children. The parody was created by a school principal and spread via the Internet after a pediatrician, who agreed with the poem, publicized it at a doctors' conference.
The parody version evoked a lot of laughter from the audience, who seemed to agree with the poem's point of view to a certain extent.
At the end of the speech, Matsuka introduced her English translation of the original poem by Miyazawa:
I will not give in to the rain.
I will not give in to the wind.
I will have a healthy body that won't give in to the snow or to summer's heat.
I will not have desire.
I will not get angry.
I will always be smiling quietly.
I will eat four cups of brown rice, miso and a bit of vegetables each day.
In everything, I will not count myself.
I will look, listen and understand well, and I won't forget.
I will live in a small thatched hut in a field in the shade of some pine trees.
When there is a sick child in the east, I will go and nurse him.
When there is a tired mother in the west, I will go and carry her load of rice.
When there is a person dying in the south, I will go and say, "You don't have to be afraid."
When there are fights or lawsuits in the north, I will say, "Stop it, because it's not import!ant."
When there is a drought, I will shed tears.
When the summer is cold, I will walk around helplessly.
I will be called useless by everyone.
I will not be praised or thought a pain.
This is the person I want to be.
Children's English communication abilities put in spotlight
Lively presentations geared toward children from English-language schools took up the afternoon following a lecture by MPI founder Yoko Matsuka.
Sixty-two primary- and middle-schoolers, as individuals and in teams, participated in the MPI Partners' Kids' Contest. All of the participants attend English-language schools whose teachers are members of the MPI Partner program. The children learn English based on the MPI curriculum and related teaching materials.
The children were selected from 120 video applications. Primary school students completed in four categories--songs and chants, picture books, skits and speeches--while the middle school students performed in two sections, including a talk show, speeches and presentations.
Serving as the contest judges were Matsuka; Takao Ogawa, a primary school teacher from Toda, Saitama Prefecture; and Lucius Jones, an assistant language teacher in the city. Based on eval!uation charts that were included in the forum handouts, the three chose the best performances in each category. Runners-up were also awarded for their prosody or presentation.
Contestants in the speech categories were also eval!uated during an on-the-spot interview immediately following their speeches, with Matsuka asking the questions.
In the primary school picture book reading division, the best performance award went to a group of three sixth graders from an English school in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, who recited a poem by writer Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) titled, I Will Not Give in to the Rain.
Takumi Iizuka, one of the three boys, competed in the final for the first time after entering the English school last year. "It was difficult for me to pronounce consonants at the end of words," he said. "Like 's' in 'kids'--I was always dropping them."
On the other hand, Iizuka's teammate Yasuhito Takimoto was encouraged by his team's performance. "I was so nervous last year when I got to the final round," he recalled. "I think that experience helped me this year."
"It felt so good when we all gestured at the same time [when reciting the phrase accompanying it]," he added.
Yuichi Chiba of Machida, Tokyo, won the best performance award in the speech and presentation section of the middle school student division for his speech titled "My School Life."
"I think I was lucky to win the award," said Chiba, who has been studying English since he was a fifth-grader. "I'm happy with my performance today, but I don't know how I did, because I made up a lot of stuff."
The winner said the hard part wasn't coming up with things to say, but rather memorizing his lines. "I'm not good at speaking in front of people so my legs are still shaking," he added. "When I was on stage, I felt as if I'd collapse because my legs trembled so much."
During Chiba's interview following his speech, Matsuka asked, "Do you like science?" He answered, "I like science, but science hates me"--a response that got a laugh from the audience.
Chiba said his answer was based on something he heard on the radio. "When I heard it, I knew I'd be able to use it sometime," Chiba said. "Then it just popped out when I was up on stage."
(Oct. 11, 2007)