Learning English in Japan

My daughter’s mid-term tests are coming up soon, so she’s been studying to prepare for them. Although she can recite whole blocks of dialogue from The Wizards of Waverly Place thanks to YouTube, she has to learn English “properly,” which means focusing on grammar and vocabulary like Japanese students do. When I sat down to help her with her homework, she was writing out lists of verbs in present, past and past perfect tenses — teach, taught, taught, eat, ate, eaten — and so on, something I don’t recall doing in school ever. In general, there are many challenging concepts in English for Japanese to learn, like the ideas behind definite and indefinite articles (there’s nothing like “a” or “the” in Japanese), confusing rules for when to use “in” “at” and “on,” and so on. Bottom line: if you’re a native speaker of English, give your parents a hug next time you see them.

My daughter learns English using the “YouTube” method.