日本小学英語由４年班開始

Last month the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

小学校の英語「４年生ぐらいから」…文科相

政府の教育再生実行会議（座長・鎌田薫早稲田大総長）は２２日、首相官邸で会合を開き、グローバル化への対応や大学改革などについての最終的な提言案をまとめた

　。月内に安倍首相に提出し、来月策定される政府の成長戦略に盛り込まれる。具体的な制度設計は、文部科学相の諮問機関、中央教育審議会に委ねられる。

　提言案の柱は、小学校英語の拡充。海外で活躍できる人材を育成するのがねらいで、小学５、６年生で必修化されている週１回の「外国語活動」について、正式な教科にして専任教員を確保することや、実施学年の引き下げ、指導時間の拡大などの検討を求めた。

　同日記者会見した下村文科相は、海外の事例も参考にしながら、小学校英語の教科化などに向け学習指導要領改定を検討する考えを表明。小学校の英語教育開始の目安については、「４年生ぐらい」と述べた。実行会議の委員からは「３、４年生から」という意見も出ている。

（2013年5月22日22時01分 読売新聞）

(試譯文)

The government’s Education Rebuilding Execution Meeting (Chairman Kaoru Kamata, the president of Waseda University) held a meeting in the Prime Minister's official residence on the 22^nd ; in response to the globalization and aiming at university reforms etc. it had come to the final proposal.

   Prime Minister Abe would be presented with the proposal within this month (May) and it would be incorporated into the governmental growth strategy which would be decided next month (June). The concrete design of the institutional arrangements would be left to a consultative body of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: the Central Council for Education.

   The pillar of the proposal was the expansion of the elementary school English. Aiming at raising talented people who could play an active part overseas, about one "foreign language activity" per week in elementary school fifth and sixth graders would be made compulsory. It would be regarded as a formal subject and a full-time teacher would be secured. It would be asked to review reducing the number of implementation year and expanding the instruction time etc.

   Shimomura the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology who gave a press interview on the same day, referring to overseas example, expressed the idea which considered amending the government guidelines on teaching, aiming at making the elementary school English a subject etc. It was stated that the goal was to start the English education in the elementary school at "around the fourth grader". The opinion "to start from the third or fourth grader" had also come out from the committee members of the execution meeting.

It seems that Japan is paying more attention to increase the English ability of the students.