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I got a letter last month in regards to some local forum on elementary education. At least, I think that's what it is; it was all in Japanese so it's tough to say. I guess the administrators are getting together and all talking into a microphone like they usually do. I didn't know what this had to do with me, except that attached to the document was a single sheet of paper with a box and the simple prompt in English: "How can English Activity in Elementary School be made better? (sic)"

I would have let this one slide, but I've heard some really ugly things from my cohorts recently, word about outright dismissing all the elementary JETs, mandating textbooks (which means that the teachers will undoubtedly be expected to teach out of them), and basically the end of the only part of English education that I think has any real effect. So I wrote the following, necessarily brief because of space requirements:

I feel that elementary school teachers are doing an excellent job with limited resources. Students seem very motivated, they learn English more quickly than junior high or high school students, and they benefit from the lack of restrictions imposed by junior and senior high curricula and textbooks.

Recently there have been two nasty rumors circulating among ALTs in the Osaki area. The first is that a fixed curriculum and English textbooks are being considered for 5th and 6th grade elementary students. I strongly oppose such a measure, as it would smother innovation by pushing teachers toward a textbook-based lesson. We must trust our elementary teachers to provide the best instruction for each class; a better solution would be to provide a list of recommendations, written by junior high teachers, from which teachers and ALTs can plan appropriate activities. The second rumor is that many towns are choosing not to hire ALTs in the future, instead relying solely on elementary teachers to teach English. If this is true, it is a very unwise idea, as elementary schools are where we are most effective! The most important reason is that ALTs teach natural pronunciation and rhythm. While many Japanese elementary teachers know English grammar very well, I have not met a single one with conversational fluency. And recordings are a poor substitute for an ALT. Furthermore, ALTs give students a chance to become familiar with a foreigner and thus help break the tendency toward xenophobia. If money is an issue, pull underutilized ALTs from junior and senior high, and send them to elementary schools.

I'm curious to see what their reaction is, if they can even translate it well enough into Japanese. (I know I couldn't do a good enough job.) But most of all I want to meet the administrator who is trying to eliminate the elementary school JET position without having set foot in one of our classes.  I can say for a fact that the full-time elementary JETs work much harder than I do, preparing lessons to introduce material to these kids and traveling to a different school every day, and often with commute times of up to an hour on top of that.  If anything, they're spread too thin.