Introducing the EIGO app
A guest post by Mr. Robert Hirschel*
About the app.
The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has been promoting various English education initiatives to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. New English curricula will see 5th and 6th grade elementary school students nationwide studying English as a mandatory subject with double the previous number of allocated classroom hours. Third and 4th grade students nationwide will study English as an ungraded foreign language activity. To be sure, many school districts and individual schools have already made significant increases in the provision of English education for their students.
Alongside these reforms, however, there is concern that many current and future elementary school teachers may lack sufficient proficiency and/or confidence to most effectively lead students in English language activities. Our app (see: Project team members, below) is an attempt to help teachers learn, practice, and become confident in speaking very basic classroom English language.
As we were already using the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) at our institution, we decided to use this platform to create both a website and an app. We applied in 2014 for a MEXT grant and were awarded funds to begin our project in the following year. The process began with a needs analysis. We made observations at several elementary schools, recording and transcribing teachers’ use of Japanese and English. Based on analysis of this data and current teaching resources, we determined what language would be of greatest benefit to users of our app.
The next steps involved creating, piloting and revising content. Groups of teachers, administrators, and teachers-in training (PIGATE attendees included) provided us with valuable feedback that has influenced the final product. Several computer programmers have created and adapted plug-ins specifically for our app. There have been a lot of technical hurdles to overcome, too many to note here, but we are ultimately pleased with our product.
Some of the noteworthy features include animated videos with language in context, drag-and-drop interactive exercises, shadowing practice, and timed and recorded responses (see: Screen snapshots, below). Our greatest hope is that this app will be useful to teachers.
Screen snapshots
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| Animated videos |
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| Drag-and-drop exercises |
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| Shadowing practice |
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| Timed and recorded responses |
Project team members
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| Rob Hirschel |
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| Jon Rowberry |
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| Elton LaClare |
About the author
Rob has had experience teaching English in elementary school, junior high school, university, and in specialized programs both in Japan and in the US. His research interests include computer-assisted language learning (CALL), vocabulary acquisition, and affective factors in the second language classroom.
Don't miss it!
Rob will be presenting the EIGO app. for elementary school English teachers at the PIGATE English language teacher development group's March Session:
- Date: Saturday, March 9th, 2019
- Starting at 13:30: Doors open at 13:00!
- Venue: Seminar room 10, 5th floor,
- Faculty of Administrative Studies office wing
- The Prefectural University of Kumamoto (PUK)
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*With editorial embellishments by The PIGATE Blog administrator, Paul Beaufait
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