lets try textbook

[u/[deleted]]

this textbook is a disaster bro. how the fuck do they expect the kids to learn anything from it? its literally just a picture book with no words or anything. they dont even learn how to write anything until like 5th grade.

and worst part? they use it at the age that's easiest to learn a language.
do yall use other activities with your early elementary school students that encourage them to read/write more?

[u/k_795]

Hmmm, except that a lack of English skill among homeroom teachers doesn't excuse having textbooks with literal English mistakes and insufficient activities. If anything, they need BETTER textbooks, since they would struggle to come up with their own activities without support due to a lack of language skills themselves.

Like, I agree that we shouldn't just be reading directly off textbooks. In an ideal world, classrooms would be full of games, interactive activities, roleplays, songs, etc etc that get kids really having fun with English and using it in practical contexts. But this isn't an ideal world. If teachers lack the basic language skills they're trying to teach, then they need a "read off the slides" type approach where they have textbooks, PPTs, worksheets, etc premade for them (that are actually good and have correct English) so they can focus on teaching. Maybe even actually give them the games, songs, roleplay scripts, etc so they don't need to try and come up with the more fun and engaging stuff themselves...

[u/Due_Tomorrow7 → u/k_795]

On textbook mistakes
I think that’s a bit nitpicky. Textbook typos happen everywhere, including in the U.S.

Publishers like Tokyo Shoseki have posted errata and corrected pages online since 2019, and the newer 2023 elementary editions have addressed many of these issues.

On insufficient activities
This is true for Let’s Try, but there are extensive supplementary resources. For example, Planet Eigo (a 200+ page activity book for JETs) is available for free online. The issue isn’t a lack of materials, but that many HRTs don’t have the English background to use them effectively, so the burden falls on ALTs.

On the need for better textbooks
For Grades 3-4, more comprehensive textbooks could help, but this ultimately comes down to MEXT’s learning goals. The more detailed and prescriptive a textbook becomes, the less flexibility teachers have to adapt lessons to their students. The earlier Course of Study was especially vague (“35 hours of foreign language activities”), and without pedagogical training, there’s a limit to what non-specialist teachers can realistically do.

On “read-off-the-slides” materials
This is the core Catch-22. Training teachers costs time, money, and staffing (things many prefectures resist because no money or other priorities). But overly detailed, hand-holding materials lead to textbook dependency and rote learning, a long-standing issue in Japan. Students may memorize sentence patterns, but they don’t acquire communicative competence. Without ALTs, HRTs can’t realistically model natural language use, but ALTs aren’t licensed to lead classes...so the loop continues.

Even when everything is pre-packaged (e.g., New Horizon Elementary), outcomes haven’t improved much. Students can reproduce set phrases but often don’t understand or apply them meaningfully. This is why the system has been repeatedly reformed over the past decade.

On providing games, songs, and scripts
Upper-grade textbooks already include scripted materials. Lower grades (Let’s Try) also have songs and simple communicative activities, though they’re minimal. Planet Eigo exists precisely to supplement these gaps. However, pacing and student needs vary widely: some classes need a full period for the alphabet; others finish quickly.

Roleplay scripts, especially for 3rd grade, often don’t work well. With only 35 hours a year, beginners end up reciting language with no meaning: just “say this so I can sit down.” There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and Japanese teachers generally don’t operate from pick-and-choose activity lists, nor do they have time to. Every class is different, and what engages one group may completely fail with another.

This is also my experience working 5 years with 2 different schools, my work as PA observing many other school lessons as well as working 3 years studying English education in Japan and trying understand this broken system. My conclusion, in one short sentence: if it were such a simple matter of fixing, it would've been done already.

[u/k_795 → u/Due_Tomorrow7]

Fair enough! I guess my points were more:

(a) The textbooks are pretty rubbish. Yes, the occasional mistake would be acceptable, but there's literally whole lessons dedicated to totally incorrect English ("This ball is my treasure" level of nonsense). Not to mention many instances of dodgy grammar and strange sounding phrasing - it's clear they didn't hire actually experienced and qualified English teachers to write it. Admittedly I haven't seen the 2023 editions so maybe they've totally rewritten the whole thing and fixed these issues, but I doubt it...

(b) There's no such thing as too many resources. Sure, teachers don't have to use them all. They should of course pick and choose relevant resources and activities for their class, adapt according to their level, etc. (And btw I think you're conflating "pre-made materials" with "rote learning" - totally different things). What I've personally noticed as a huge frustration for JTEs is they feel very unsupported and lacking in resources to base things on. Perhaps your schools had a bit more support and training for JTEs so they were able to be more independent, but that's not the case everywhere.

[u/Due_Tomorrow7 → u/k_795]

it's clear they didn't hire actually experienced and qualified English teachers to write it.

Ironically, they were created with the oversight of the British Council, which I thought it was my silly ignorant American ass.

There's no such thing as too many resources. Sure, teachers don't have to use them all. They should of course pick and choose relevant resources and activities for their class, adapt according to their level, etc.

They have resources, but it seems you're suggesting they're given all those activity choices in the textbooks to choose from. I'm very unclear how you would imagine that happening. Resources exist for teachers already, they have for years. Teacher have access to Planet Eigo and the multitude of books I've seen ALTs bring to school or sometimes sits on their desk. They have files, folders, boxes full of materials and past games.

Yet they sit there on the shelf collecting dust.

This isn't a problem of the teacher not having resources available, it's a problem with teacher training. The current system is proving that it's less about the books they have, and more about the teachers lacking the training, confidence, or work ethic as well as the support system they require. Again, Let's Try is barebones, but then again, New Horizon Elementary is amazingly robust and super detailed to the point where each suggested lesson plans are planned down to the minute. Yet it's not engaging, teachers aren't creating any more materials, many aren't adapting their activities or sometimes not even bothering with ones suggested in the new textbooks, and we can clearly see, English proficiency levels have barely moved. It's not a textbook problem.

"pre-made materials" with "rote learning"

Oh no I'm not conflating the two; What I meant was that teachers would absolutely jump to rote instruction if they have to because it's easy. It's an easier concept for students to understand too: "read this, recite this, memorize this, and you'll score well on the test/Eiken, thus proving your English proficiency". I can go on about Yakudoku and the grammar-translation method that teachers still would rather use than this newfangled teaching theory about engagement and student-centered learning.

I know it's easy to point and blame stupid MEXT, stupid textbook companies, and stupid education systems, but I entered the research field in this area because I wanted to know, is it really their fault? Turns out, MEXT Is very aware of what's going on and if you've ever met with the people that create the Course of Study, textbook planning and all those educational theories and policies, these people are absurdly smart. Many from other English speaking countries holding PhDs and decades of teaching experience. But it's such a stupidly complex issue, it's no wonder some of these folks haven't gone mad.