Dear Sensei

Report from the Western Australian Japanese Adviser

The study of Japanese language is very popular in Western Australia. Japanese is the most widely studied language in year 11 and 12 and the third in popularity in years 3-10, after Italian and Indonesian. Student numbers have increased rapidly in primary schools since 1996, due to the introduction of compulsory LOTE. In total 36,580 students across all systems in WA enrolled in Japa-nese in 2000.

The LOTE 2000: New Horizons strategy launched in 1995, was very successful in implementing LOTE in primary schools. The first target, LOTE for all students in year 3 - 7 by 2000, was achieved last year. By 2003, all students in years 8 - 10 will be studying LOTE. LOTE Beyond 2000 strategy, which consolidates the direction for languages other than English within the Curriculum Improvement Program, has just been released by the Education Department. It describes the elements of a quality outcomes focused program and sets out the targets, resources and professional development to support teachers in meeting new curriculum needs and in providing quality embedded programs for schools. The components of the strategic approach are: An outcomes focus; Professional Judgement; Standards; and Training and Professional Development.

The LOTE learning area has six learning outcomes: Listening and Responding, and Speaking; Viewing, Reading and Respond-ing; and Writing; Cultural Understandings; The System of the Target Language; and Language Learning Strategies. The most important recent curriculum change in WA has been the introduction of the Curriculum Framework, which includes Overarching Learning Outcomes and specific learning area outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to use a range of resources, text types and learning strategies to cater to the needs and learning styles of their students.

The Education Department's website is http://eddept.wa.edu.au

ePALS

These days, students don't have pen pals they have epals. If you are interested in finding a school in Japan for your class to email, there is a website that makes it easy, www.ePALS.com. It is a classroom exchange website that lets you enter your school details and you can search for a suitable school to start corresponding with. The service is free of charge and I don't think there are any catches.

Japanese Language Website from Urawa

The Japanese language Institute in Urawa has a very useful website for Japanese language teachers. It can be viewed in ei ther Japanese or English. Below is the address for the English homepage, which includes links to things like a bulletin board, training programs for teachers and resources on teaching Japanese. The address is (http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/urawa/index.html).
For your interest the Institute's address has also changed to: 5-6-36 Kita Urawa, Saitama City, Saitama Pref. 336-0002, Japan

New Adviser in the ACT

A new Japanese adviser has been appointed to the ACT to replace Miyuki Toyoda, who recently became the NSW Japanese adviser. Ritsuko Murakami will be in Australia for 2-3 years and is looking forward to helping Japanese language teachers in the ACT.

Additional Results of the Japan Foundation Grant Program Fiscal 2001/2002

Support Program for the Japanese-Language Courses Abroad (Support Courses)
The Northern Territory School of Languages was successful for this program. This program is intended to assist the maintenance or expansion of teaching staff in institutions abroad that offer instruction in the Japanese language by providing grant assis-tance for instructional salaries.

Study-Tour Awards for Outstanding Students of the Japanese Language
Dijana Bojic (Bankstown TAFE), Trevor Wilcox (University of Western Sydney), Allen Kalwig (Monash University), Daniela Dadswell (University of Tasmania), Sin Li Wang (University of Western Australia) and Maria Kung (University of Queensland). They will stay at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai for two weeks.