Department of Education and Skills, Ireland (PPLI: Post-Primary Languages Ireland)
HARADA Akiko

Ireland is a relatively small island nation adjacent to Great Britain. The northern part of Ireland is British territory, but the border between the two countries requires no passport for crossing, as though it were a prefectural border. While there has been a long and complex history between Ireland and the UK, that relationship is now a positive one.

Numerous people come to Ireland from not only the EU, but many other places throughout the world. You can hear a variety of languages when you walk the streets of Dublin, and you may even wonder where you actually are. There are many immigrants in Ireland from the Baltic states and Eastern European countries, and there has been a rise in the number of schools that teach Lithuanian and Polish in particular. This is because the Department of Education in Ireland is actively promoting the study of a variety of languages, not only the traditional languages taught here such as French, German, and Spanish.

Nevertheless, foreign language education in schools is not particularly popular. The number of students at secondary school - Senior Cycle who study a foreign language has not risen, perhaps because of the belief that it is difficult, or because they feel that English and Irish (both required) are enough to learn. This is true for Japanese language as well, and while some students are deeply enthusiastic about the language, there has been almost no change in the number of students studying it over the past 10 years (with the exception of the short-term Tasting Course available to students in the 1st year of secondary school - Senior Cycle.) Given this situation, the job of the Japanese-Language Chief Advisor includes visits to schools to give demonstration classes and the planning of Japanese speech and quiz contests in order to further interest in the Japanese language and culture. I also put some effort into skill improvement training for Japanese-language teachers. In fiscal 2019, we welcomed a lecturer from the Japan Foundation, London to hold the Active Learning Workshop, a participatory and activity-centric workshop, which was attended by approximately 20 teachers with different levels of experience, from beginners to veterans, to study together in a friendly atmosphere. The workshop was designed to help expand the range of classroom activities available to the teachers, and the activities we carried out included building appreciation, cognition, language ability, observation skills, and creativity using works of art and picture books.

A scene from the Active Learning Workshop.

As the Japanese-Language Chief Advisor, I am dispatched to an organization called the Department of Education and Skills, Ireland (Post-Primary Languages Ireland) (hereinafter “PPLI”), an organization tasked with promoting foreign language education. The members of this organization are loosely associated with each other as they focus on their areas of responsibility. Though there were normally few opportunities for all members to gather at once, the organization’s general meeting has shifted online since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Since the closing of schools on March 13, all classes for the 2019-2020 school year have been cancelled, including graduation exams. Since grading was left to the teachers, the workload at PPLI has actually increased drastically during the pandemic in order to support them. Meanwhile, the work of preparing the Japanese course curriculum for ordinary secondary school - Junior Cycle students, and preparing the module syllabus for the Tasting Course of the 1st year of secondary school - Senior Cycle, is proceeding in parallel. These courses were established as part of a framework for school operation that matches the needs of learners and the community, and are being developed in a common format with other foreign languages.

A scene from the Active Learning Workshop.

The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is ongoing, so as the Chief Advisor, I am likely to be called on more and more to provide advice on teaching using online solutions. Meanwhile, my hope is that conditions return to normal as soon as possible.