News: MEXT: Eigo Note to be replaced by Hi, Friends! for 5th and 6th graders – see summary of the topics offered here.
We received a CD rom of the “text” and also a hard copy from our BOE just a couple of weeks ago. The CD Rom was sent out to the schools, but because none of my schools so far have printed it out, it’s news to almost everyone. Anyway, only the fifth-grade teachers know they will be teaching the sixth-grade classes. The sixth- and fourth-grade (and second-grade, for that matter) teachers don’t know where they will be. Probably hoping they don’t have fifth-grade classes.
BTW, “text” is in quotes because there’s really not that much text — although more than there was in Eigo Note. Mostly pictures, a few words and some Japanese. Although, for beginners, I do think written words get in the way of how the words are actually pronounced.
Some things are corrected in the new books, but some things . . . are hilariously wrong. For example, there’s a long “I like” section where kids like random things. In this issue, they actually made the things plural! Hooray! No more “I like dog.” However, they now have the ambiguous “I like pineapples” (in a decorating scheme??) and “I like melons” (on a curvy blonde?). Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
I think the book is going to have to be replaced in a few years. So, making any Eigo-Note specific or Hi, friends! specific materials is . . . an exercise in obsolescence. Right now, my plan is to do things that are related to the grammar points, but not exactly the same. Although, some teachers hate that . . . .
Micki
See also:
Goodbye Eigo Note, Hi, Friends!
Extra English hours up to 4 hours a week will be allocated from this April …
Source: JetProgramme forums EIGO Note has a new book coming out but it’s not an upgrade of Eigo Note it’s a brand new book Hi, Friends!
Eigo Note resources by ALTs for ALTs:
The introduction of the ‘Eigo Note’(by Harry Carley)
闍ｱ隱槭ヮ繝ｼ繝EigoNoto.com Lesson Plans and Activities to teach the EigoNoto
EIGO NOTO on a positive note(by Ellen Head)
闍ｱ隱槭ヮ繝ｼ繝EigoNoto.com: Doing a Self-Introduction
Miscellaneous ALT resources:
Language textbooks need big picture for meaning (Mike Guest, Yomiuri Jan 15, 2012)
Reforming English teaching in Japanese universities: Creating a Language Community
“Adapting the Shared Inquiry Method to the Japanese Classroom” – @ pps 219 -223 For the past 6 years, the Kohkugakuin Jr College and Hokkaido Gakuen-University have been adapting “experimental courses” the method used by the Great Books Foundation to the Japanese classroom. (The next two articles were interesting reading for me as well)
Difference between an ALT and an ELT; All about life as an ALT
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The following resources are the courtesy of Adrian Heinel (Assistant Language Teacher, Kakegawa – shi):
USEFUL WEB RESOURCES:
English Page.com Find grammar explanations and activities here.
Free pdf convert.com is a website that converts the Adobe Acrobat documents to Word format.
Site for turning long URLs into shorter ones. http://tinyurl.com/
Places to find CLIP ART
http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj/FLClipart/default.html
http://www.aperfectworld.org/weather.htm
http://www.clip-art.com/index.php
http://www.school-clip-art.com/winter_clipart.shtml
Onelook.com Online Dictionary
TEACHING RESOURCES
ESL HQ Free ESL Flashcards and other resources
www.ESLflow.com Ideas for games, lesson plans, etc
Teach-nology.com Worksheets, lesson plans, rubrics, teacher resources
ESL Gold Teaching resources, lesson plans, games, handouts, etc. Well organized into four skills (writing, speaking, listening, etc), and levels
www.puzzlemaker.com Like the name implies, a great site for making crossword puzzles, etc
www.learntoenglish.com Various resources for teaching and studying English
www.genkienglish.com Genki English useful for elementary school
www.sendaiedu.com Online TKB created by the people in Sendai
The Shizuoka team-teaching magazine It Takes Two and
It Takes Two TKB resources in googledocs (a fair amount of stuff)
ETJ-Aichi, great resources
School Express online resources
MES, Free Printables for Teachers
BogglesworldESL.com Jobs, Worksheets, and Flashcards for the ESL and TEFL Teacher
Board Games and Board Game Templates at ESL-lounge.com
Free Kids Activities at Activity Village UK
STUDENT RESOURCES
chickenbones.us Places on the net to help students study English
Education Fun for Kids at www.funbrain.com
Primary Games/Online games
English.phonicsland.com is an Internet Based Phonics Course
Learn to read with Starfall.com/
www.sheppardsoftware.com Free online learning games and activities for kids
ORGANIZATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH LINKS
www.methodspace.com Research Methods from around the world
www.socialresearchmethods.net Research Methods Knowledge Base
ONLINE JOURNALS, NEWS and PLACES TO PUBLISH
ITESLJ The Internet Teaching English as a Second Language Journal
The CALL Journal (for Computer Assisted Language Learning)
EDUCATION IN JAPAN COMMUNITY Blog 
Englipedia has changed their address to http://www.englipedia.net/Pages/default.aspx