#Japanese for beginners worksheets free

Pupils mark their own homework: this is an important principle in Japanese schooling as it enables pupils to see where and why they made a mistake, so that these can be avoided in future. At the beginning, the pupils put solutions to the homework on the board, then the teachers comment, correct or elaborate as necessary. (One teacher was particularly keen to introduce colour and pictures into maths textbooks: he felt this would make them more accessible to pupils brought up in a cartoon culture.) Besides approving textbooks, Monbusho also decides the highly centralised national curriculum and how it is to be delivered. These textbooks are, on the whole, small, presumably inexpensive to produce, but well set out and logically developed.

#Japanese for beginners worksheets free

Traditional ways of teaching form the basis of the lesson and the remarkably quiet classes take their own notes of the points made and the examples demonstrated. Everyone has their own copy of the textbook supplied by the central education authority, Monbusho, as part of the concept of free compulsory education up to the age of 15.

In practice in Tokyo, because of the relative concentration of schools, there is some competition to get into the 'better' school in a particular area. Pupils attend the school in their own neighbourhood, which in theory removes ranking by school. Pupils stay in the same class for all lessons throughout the school and develop considerable class identity and loyalty. Teachers begin with a formal address and mutual bowing, and then concentrate on whole-class teaching.Ĭlasses are large - usually about 40 - and are unstreamed. Lessons last for a standardised 50 minutes and are always followed by a 10-minute break, which gives the pupils a chance to let off steam. Classrooms are large and pupils sit at single desks in rows. Schools are usually modem in design, set well back from the road and spacious inside. Virtually all pupils at this stage attend state schools: only 3 per cent are in the private sector. Lower secondary schools in Japan cover three school years, from the seventh grade (age 13) to the ninth grade (age 15). The percentage of Gross National Product spent on education is reasonably similar in the two countries, so how is this higher and more consistent attainment in maths achieved?ī - Background to middle-years education in Japan Large sample international comparisons of pupils' attainments since the 1960s have established that not only did Japanese pupils at age 13 have better scores of average attainment, but there was also a larger proportion of 'low' attainers in England, where, incidentally, the variation in attainment scores was much greater. Japan has a significantly better record in terms of average mathematical attainment than England and Wales. A - Research findings concerning achievements in maths