Recently my kids took the Eiken Test, the primary standardized test of English used in Japan. They really dislike it when Japanese people assume they get their English for “free” just by being born with an American father, and both put a lot of effort into preparing so they’d do well. During the weeks before the test, I’d offer to help them study, but I was usually chased away by my wife. “We don’t need any native English speakers around here confusing them,” she’d say. From the other side of the room I’d bend my ear and listen to them studying using the many textbooks published specifically for the Eiken test. The way they broke English down into mathematical formulas, like “infinitive or gerund + be + ing” or “used to + verb” was fascinating for me. Also, they’d discuss familiar English idioms in the driest grammatical ways, like “to pull one’s leg” or “to crash one’s party” which seemed bizarre to me, but it helped them organize the many kinds of phrases and vocabulary words in English in ways they could handle, since learning it organically like native speakers do is impossible when living in Japan. Although it was strange to see my kids learning English in this artificial way, I knew that passing a test in Japan meant having a strategy, and a lot of the time spent “studying” for the test was really used discussing the best way to tackle the different sections, for example focusing on the listening portions of the test which they’re good at, and spending less time on the long reading comprehension parts. I’m happy to announce that both of them passed their tests with flying colors! To celebrate, we took them out for their favorite Korean BBQ.
