As a teacher of English as a second language to Japanese students, and a learner of Japanese as a second language as an English L1 speaker, I am interested in...

Teaching English as a second language to Japanese speakers in Japan

What are the specific needs, problems, advantages, interferences for L1 Japanese speakers learning English as a second language? Is research on speakers of other Indo-European languages learning English pertinent to non Indo-European language speakers?

Are there strategies better suited to students of English who (a) are Japanese and/or (b) have been brought up in a Japanese cultural environment? If so, why are these strategies better? Are they really more effective, or are they merely more familiar? More later.

Teaching English to large classes of low-level 16-18 year olds as part of compulsory education

In other words, what I am paid for. I want to share experiences and explore methodologies with teachers in similar situations. It need not necessarily be in Japan, nor learners of English. You may be teaching GCSE French in a school in England. How do you keep the students motivated, and learning? How do you cope with the syllabus and textbooks? How much task based learning is happening in our schools, and how effectively? Why do Swiss and German students seem so capable of speaking English? Why are schools in Canada, the UK and America - countries that stand out - so poorly teaching foreign languages?

Teachers' reflections on their second language acquisition

As I prepare to take the level 1 Japanese proficiency test, I wonder what has aided me the most as a learner? Immersion is of course a big motivator, and there's no end of input (for a long time at the i + 103 level), but what have rushed me forward over and over again have been course books with grammar practice, or lists of useful words. And I still hate doing any form of written production; which I have my students do continuously.

 I hope to develop these ideas via blog and forum. Please contact me with any comments or ideas.