English taught in over 90 percent of elementary schools

More than 90 percent of Japan's public elementary schools have classes involving listening and speaking in English, a government poll has shown.

A total of 20,803 elementary schools (93.6 percent) run this kind of class, according to the survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology, whose results were released Thursday. The percentage is 1.5 points higher than the previous poll.

Sixth-graders have 13.7 hours of English classes a year on average, the poll shows.
Officials from most elementary schools said that they carried out classes by featuring songs and games for students to become familiar with the language.

In more than 90 percent of the schools, homeroom teachers teach English classes. Native-speaking assistant language teachers (ALTs) took part in these classes in more than 60 percent of the schools.

Governmental education guidelines provide that schools can have foreign language activities as part of education for international understanding. (Mainichi)

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