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Around
the World: ESL in the News
Japanese
Learn English from President Obama's Speeches
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President
Barack Obama's speeches are a best-seller in Japan - as an aid to learning
English. An English-language textbook, The Speeches of Barack Obama,
sold more than 400,000 copies in the two months following its publication.
"Speeches by presidents and presidential candidates are excellent as listening
tools to learn English, because their contents are good and their words
are easy to catch," said Yuzo Yamamoto of Asahi Press, which produced the
best-selling text book. "Obama's is especially so. His speeches are so
moving, and he also uses words such as yes, we can, change
and hope that even Japanese people can memorize," he said.
Obama's speeches appeal to the Japanese more than those made by thier own
politicians, Yamamoto said. "In Japan, we don't have politicians
who have such a positive influence. That's why we have to turn to a foreign
president for someone in whom to place our hopes. Readers have sent in
postcards saying that when they heard the speeches, they were so moved
and cried even though they don't understand English very well," he added.
The 95-page paperback features Obama's speeches in English from the 2004
Democratic National Convention and during the Democratic Party primaries.
They are accompanied by Japanese translations. The 1,050 yen ($12) book,
which includes a CD of the speeches, tops the bestseller list on bookseller
Amazon's Japanese Website. Asahi Press plans to issue a sequel that includes
his inaugural address, as well as President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural
speech. It will also feature a reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg
address of 1863.
Watch
video
Korean English Students
to get More Help with Speaking Skills
Turning away
from the current focus on reading and grammar, Seoul will place more weight
on the speaking of English in formal lessons, according to a Korea Times
article.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has announced that all elementary,
middle and high school students will have foreign English teachers at least
once a week by 2012. English-only classrooms will be established to encourage
students to practice what they have learned.
English education is one of the Lee Myung-bak administration's major projects
to upgrade national competitiveness. Earlier last year, presidential aides
unveiled the "English immersion education'' plan with the aim of giving
Americanized English education to public schools.
Read article
Dr. Stephen
Krashen Says Korea Making a Mistake
In response
to this initiative Dr. Stephen Krasen, language acquisition expert and
activist, wrote in a letter to the Korea Times that "Korea is making a
very serious mistake in emphasizing speaking in English class. Research
done over the last three decades has shown that we acquire language by
understanding what we hear and read. The ability to produce language is
the result of language acquisition, not the cause."
Read Dr. Krashen's letter
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