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Japan Uses DS to Teach English

Posted by Bezhou Feng on 27 June 2008 - 19:39 · 9 comments & 6665 views

Nintendo is banned everywhere but the classroom at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan as the ubiquitous DS consoles become the latest tool in English instruction. Junior high school teacher Motoko Okubo has used the handheld DS and textbook software since May in weekly sessions focusing on vocabulary, penmanship and audio comprehension. "They've been using it at home playing games, so at first they were surprised they can use it at school," Okubo said.

Still early in a one-year free trial period, vice principal Junko Tatsumi says results so far have been encouraging in Japan's long struggle with English language education. "The students are really concentrating and have fun in gaining skills such as spelling," she said. Japan's education ministry leaves decisions on teaching tools to schools, but if up to first-year student Kanako Takahashi, the DS would be a no-brainer. "It's fun and helps me remember English," says the 13-year old.

View: Full Story at Reuters

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Full name: Bezhou Feng
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#1 Posted by Menimus on 27 Jun 2008 - 20:02: Wish I had those kind of teachers back then. =/, just imagine how easily those kids are gonna cheat on their exams, chatting via DS, sending drawings and stuff. NO WAY.

I want that learning method at my univ NOW.

#2 Posted by X'tyfe on 27 Jun 2008 - 23:44: japan is smart, this is how teaching should be done
not the old archaic way we do things now

(1 reply) #3 Posted by RPDL on 28 Jun 2008 - 00:39: I thought the article was "Japan Uses DS to Teach Engineering" when I hovered over it. How disappointing.

#4 Posted by mocax on 28 Jun 2008 - 04:44: I use the DS to learn Japanese.

#5 Posted by Mike Frett on 28 Jun 2008 - 17:49: Well damn. There's some people in the US that could benefit from this.

#6 Posted by Airlink on 29 Jun 2008 - 02:06: Great. Now they can lurn engrish faster than ever.

#7 Posted by Magallanes on 29 Jun 2008 - 02:26: Japan Uses DS to Teach English

Ads in disguise.

#8 Posted by lalithapadmanabhareddy on 17 Jul 2008 - 11:44: ok its happy.those people can also learn english and have fun.this is a good thing.ok bye

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