JUDY YONEOKA

1
? Captain L.L. Janes and the Kumamoto Yogakko
Japans first Total English Immersion School? ?

• ??????????????? ???????????? ???????
• JUDY YONEOKA
• ????????
• JUNE 14 2008
• ????

2
Katoh Gakuen (Shizuoka)Japans First English
Immersion School??

• The first immersion programme in a Japanese
  elementary school (Bostwick 2001)
• An early partial English immersion programme
  the first of its kind in Japan (Katoh 1993)

3
But over 100 years before that

• Small as its beginnings may have been, the
  Kumamoto School for Western Learning soon
  developed into one of the most important
  experiments in Western immersion education in
  Meiji Japan.

total
4
Outline

• 1. What is immersion (esp. total immersion)?
• 2. Did the Kumamoto Yogakko provide total
  immersion?
• 3. Was the Kumamoto Yogakko immersion education
  the first of its kind?

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Claims of Immersion Education in the Early Meiji
Era

• Saitoh(2001)calls early Meiji seisoku education
  a type of immersion.
• Akashi (2007) identifies the SAC(????? )
  curriculum as a type of immersion program
• Hosaka (2008) claims that the curriculum at
  Iwakuni English School is immersion education.

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?? Seisoku vs. ??Hensoku

• Brinkleys Unabridged Japanese-English Dictionary
  (Tokyo Sanseido, 1896)
• Seisoku, n. A method of learning a language by
  studying the correct pronunciation as well as the
  meaning (opposite of hensoku).
• Hensoku, n. A method of learning a foreign
  language which consists in translating the
  meaning without regard to the correct
  pronunciation of the words, and without paying
  much attention to the rules of syntax. (Smith and
  Imura 200430)
• Seisoku Eigo in English by native-speaking
  teachers
• Hensoku Eigo by Japanese teachers in Japanese

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What is immersion?

• Language immersion is an approach to foreign
  language instruction in which the usual
  curricular activities are conducted in a foreign
  language.
• (Bostwick) http//www.bi-lingual.com/School/WhatIs
  Immersion.htm
• the strictest form of CBI(content-based
  instruction)
• Generally speaking, at least 50 percent of
  instruction during a given academic year must be
  provided through the second language for the
  program to be regarded as immersion. (Genesee
  19871)
• seisoku??not necessarily immersion

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Types of Immersion

• How much?
• Partial immersion over 50 of class time in
  foreign language
• Total immersion 100of class time in foreign
  language
• How early?
• Early immersion from ages 5 6
• Middle immersion from ages 9 10
• Late immersion from ages 11 14
• Continuing immersion students continue to study
  advanced subjects in the second language.

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Is Seisoku Immersion?
?
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The Missing Ingredient
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TETE Teaching English Through English (Willis,
1987)

• speaking and using English in the classroom as
  often as you possibly can
• Currently a buzzword in Korean English Education
• (has been required in Korea since 2001)

12
Early Meiji English Education
Hensoku
Seisoku
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Curriculum at the Kumamoto Yogakko

• (Janes created and decided his own curriculum)
• 1st year Intensive English course (TETE)
• 2nd-4th years Content through English
• Extracurricular activities Chinese studies,
  English speech and rhetoric, Bible study (from
  5th year)

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Early Emphasis on Oral Method

• From the very start, the pick of sections (of
  students) was subjected to drill in difficult
  sounds and other primary alphabetic elements that
  would have appeared very stupid and foolish to
  professors of English in Japan, whom I have since
  heard on several occasions declare with oracular
  positiveness, Oh you cant teach a Japanese to
  pronounce English. They may learn to read itbut
  to speak it, even tolerably, never.
• L.L. Janes, Kumamoto I, p. 44
•  

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2nd year curriculum

• 2nd yeargeography, history, basic mathematics
• 3th yearalgebra, history , geometry,
  trigonometry, surveying
• 4th yearphilosophy (physics), astronomy,
  geology, chemistry, physiology, English
  literature

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Students Notes and Translations
Introduction to Agricultural Production
(dictated by Janes translated by students)
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The Kumamoto Yogakko as an Immersion School

• Janes was the only instructor
• Janes never studied or spoke Japanese
• Janes did not use interpreters
• All subjects were taught in English
• Content subjects were taught from the 2nd year
• Janes himself called his school the Kumamoto
  English School (as written on graduation
  certificates)
• Most of the students were between the ages of
  11-15
• (1st year) Intensive English TETE program
• (2nd year) late total English immersion program

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Was it the first?

• Other possibilities
• Kaisei Gakko (Daigaku Nanko) (1869) (?????)
• Ferris Academy (1870) (???????)
• Yokohama Academy (?????)
• Osaka Yogakko (1870)
• Nagasaki School of Western Studies (???)
• Iwakuni English School (?????)
• We can rule out
• Sapporo Agricultural College (??????) 1876
• Keio Gijuku (?????) ????

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English only? The Problem of Proof

• Hepburn, Brown and Simmons These three
  missionaries began to study Japanese immediately
  in preparation for missionary work in the future.
  
• J.H. Ballagh He learned Japanese from Riuzan
  Yano who..had been sent as a Japanese
  teacher..from the Japanese government.
• J.C. Ballagh They were eager to learn English,
  and he talked about the Bible in poor Japanese
  but with fervor. (Missionaries in Yokohama)

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• Chinese missionaries The mission schools
  actually taught Chinese language and literature
  and, for the most part, used Chinese as the
  medium of instruction (Boyle 1997). (Kirkpatrick
  2009 in prep)
• Verbeck I am now preparing a kind of helps to
  the Scriptures in EnglishI have a further
  opportunity to explain by means of English, Dutch
  and Japanese such points as seem still difficult
  for them two Bible students. (Ferris 1900103)

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Seisoku education at the Daigaku Nanko

• Foreign teachers were employed to teach the
  seisoku course from 1869 Hommes 91
• All courses were taught in English from 1873
• At times students who had already completed
  higher level Chinese studies were frustrated with
  teachers who taught Quackenbos beginning readers
  in English, and these sometimes left the school
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  ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ?????????????????????????????? http//www.lib.utok
  yo.ac.jp/tenjikai/tenjikai2005/tenji/index-d.html

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Seisoku Curriculum at Daigaku Nanko (?????)

• Beginning level (spelling, arithmetic)
  ??(???????)
• 8th level (Quackenbos readers, )
  ??(??????????????)
• 7th level ( ) ??(??????????)
• 6th level (Wilsons world History, Algebra)
• 5th level (Quackenbos physics, Geometry?)
  ??(?????????????)

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Osaka Yogakko curriculum (1870)

• Beginning level ????????????
• 8th level ??????????? ????????????
  ???????? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??
• ?????????????
• ?????????????
• ????????????????????????
• ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??

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Stevens (Iwakuni) vs. Janes (Kumamoto)

• Both began teaching in 1871
• Both taught in Han schools
• Both taught junior high school level
• Both used no interpreters
• Both were strict disciplinarians
• Both were well respected by their students and
  community
• Both used their students to teach other students
• Both taught content courses in their respective
  schools

• H.A. Stevens was already a businessman in Japan
• H. A. Stevens knew German, French, English and
  Japanese well enough to translate

• L.L. Janes was imported from the US
• L.L. Janes knew and used no Japanese

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Conclusion ?Japans First??

• Probably ONE (out of several) of Japans First
  Immersion Schools
• Perhaps the first (and only) actual total English
  Immersion School
• But definitely earlier than Katoh Gakuen!

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References

• ?? ??(2007)??????????????????1?2
  ?????????????????????????????? No.8,
  125-136(2007)
• Bostwick, Michael (2001) in M. Noguchi and S.
  Fotos eds STUDIES IN JAPANESE BILINGUALISM,
  Clevedon, England Buffalo, N.Y. Multilingual
  Matters, p.
• Genesee, Fred (1987) Learning Through Two
  Languages Studies in Immersion and Bilingual
  Education (Newbury House)
• Hommes, James M. (2004) THE BANSHO SHIRABESHO A
  TRANSITIONAL INSTITUTION IN BAKUMATSU JAPAN Unp.
  MA, available online at http//etd.library.pitt.ed
  u/ETD/available/etd-12082004-214034/unrestricted/j
  mhbanshoMA.pdf
• Iwamatsu (2003) 130 Years after Kumamoto Band (in
  Japanese), Kumamoto Yogakko.
• Kozaki, Hiromichi Reminiscences of Seventy Years
  (Tokyo, 1933)
• Notehelfer, F. G. (1985) American Samurai
  Captain L.L. Janes and Japan, Princeton
  University Press.
• Scheiner, Irwin. (1970) Christian Converts and
  Social Protest in Meiji Japan. Berkeley and Los
  Angeles University of California Press.
• Smith and Imura (2004) LESSONS FROM THE PAST
  TRADITIONS AND REFORMS in Makarova, V. and T.
  Rodgers (eds) (2004), English Language Teaching
  The Case of Japan, Munich Lincom-Europa, pp.
  29-48.
• ???? (2001) ??????????????????????
• ???? 2008. ?????????????? - ??????????????????
  ????????? ?23? ??????????? pp. 101-122.