The Language Teacher
August 2004

More Similarities than Differences:
Teaching English as a Second Language in France and Japan

Cherie de Pinna

Perspectives

. . . with Joyce Cunningham & Mariko Miyao perspectives@jalt-publications.org

Cherie de Pinna is an Australian presently employed as Visiting Professor of English by Sonoda WomenÕs University near Osaka. She has a TESOL qualification from the University of New England in Australia and is enrolled in a Masters of Education (TESOL) program. She has taught speech and drama in her home country and English language in Africa and Japan. On a recent trip to France, she met with the previous President of TESOL France, Annie Gresle.

In September 2003, I met with Annie Gresle, a teacher of English at the Lycee Saint-Exupery in Paris. Gresle has taught English there for 23 years and is now Head of the LyceeÕs language department. She has over 30 years of ESL experience and is a teacher trainer. She was the 2002 President of TESOL France and is now Chair of Education Nationale for that organisation.

I teach English at a womenÕs university near Osaka on a 1-year exchange program from my university employer in Australia. As my background is in speech and drama, I am relatively new to teaching ESL. My plan was to compare firsthand a Japanese and a French classroom and contrast our different situations.

Lycee Saint-Exupery is situated in an outer-Paris suburb and is populated predominantly by immigrant families. The Lycee is a government institution that equates approximately with a technical college.

The 3-hour class that Gresle invited me to observe was held on a Friday afternoon. It is made up of 30 1st-year business students whose families are from the West Indies, Africa, North Africa, and France. This was week 2 of the semester, and Gresle had only met her students the week before. Females were predominantÑthere were only two young menÑand all the students were between 18 and 20 years old. Their L1 was French. English was not their main focusÑcomputing and business subjects were. As Gresle explained, ÒEnglish is a low priority for them. I have to remember that.Ó

Despite this fact, I was surprised at their level of English proficiency. They may be elementary level students, but they knew link words and phrases such as on the one hand, so as to, and first of all. Obviously, there is greater exposure to English in France than in Japan through proximity to the UK, tourism, popular music, and film. The situation, though, is quite different for my 12 1st-year English major students, whose priority is to speak and understand the English language.

In JapanÕs monocultural environment, there are few opportunities to speak or hear a second language, particularly from a native speaker. In secondary school, students learn to read and write English, but do not speak it. Although my students are genuinely interested in acquiring this skill, they also see it as necessary to find a job in a shrinking job market or as a way to meet people from other countries. My role at the university, therefore, is to concentrate on spoken and aural English, whereas Gresle teaches the four skills.

Gresle conducts a bilingual class, and although she uses mainly English, she reinforces understanding with French. On the other hand, my classroom is monolingual. In order to get messages across I use mime, board drawings, pictures, drama, occasional Japanese words, and as a last resort, call on a student to interpret.

However, despite these differences, Gresle and I share the same teaching philosophyÑa belief in mutual respect between the teacher and students and in the role of the teacher being to encourage, build confidence, and foster independent learning. We agree that to be an effective teacher, one should discover what the students know and empathise with them. ÒYou need to know their feelings,Ó Gresle says.

When Gresle introduced me to the class and explained that I taught English in Japan, the students were extremely interested to know about life here. My students were also very curious about their French counterparts, so we have organised email pen pals between our student members. It is an exciting prospect that our French and Japanese students will communicate in a common language, English, which is different than their L1s.

My time with Annie Gresle was informative, productive, and pleasurable. I learnt that teachers could share the same teaching philosophy wherever they work. Student profiles, teaching methodologies, and skills may be different, but the objective is the sameÑto work hand in hand with the students so their ambitions are realised.

Cherie de Pinna

The Language TeacherAugust 2004

More Similarities than Differences: Teaching English as a Second Language in France and Japan

Cherie de Pinna

Perspectives

The Language Teacher
August 2004

More Similarities than Differences:
Teaching English as a Second Language in France and Japan