Class Breaks in Tokyo More Suited for Children

ednews.org by Erin Irving | Feb. 6, 2009 (Editorial)

As the bell rang ending my first forty-five minute English lesson I expected the Japanese teacher to switch to the next lesson as would typically happen in an American elementary school. Instead, the third graders I was teaching immediately packed their notebooks into their desks, stood up, slid their chairs under their desks and scrambled down the stairs to the outdoor field as fast as they could. The teacher stayed in his desk and continued grading ... Full Story »

Posted by Dale Penn

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Subjects: World, Education
Topics: Japan, Primary School, Education Reform
Editorial Help
Posted by: Posted by Dale Penn - Feb 6, 2009 - 12:40 PM PST
Reviewed by: Dale Penn (review), Barry Grossheim (review), davepal_comcast_net (review), Patricia Blochowiak (review), Patricia L'Herrou (review), Jim Lang (review)
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Edited by: Dale Penn - Feb 6, 2009 - 12:40 PM PST

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Dale Penn
4.2
 by Dale Penn - Feb. 8, 2009

I really liked this piece. It provided plenty of food for thought about an integral part of early childhood learning: play. The author speaks from first hand observation and is clearly biased toward the Japanese model, however one is left to wonder how much of this is made possible by parental instruction on behavior as well as societal and cultural norms.

I'm curious if any US schools have tried doing this. It seems like it would lead to chaos.

Dale posted this story.
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Jim Lang
3.9
 by Jim Lang - Feb. 8, 2009

This is a well written observation on the apparent academic benefit of exercise breaks between classes as practiced at a Japanese school.

In the US exercise is being reintroduced to the school day, but to fight obesity rather than to promote academics. If we play our cards right maybe we get a twofer.

See Full Review » (11 answers)
Patricia L'Herrou
3.6
 by Patricia L'Herrou - Feb. 8, 2009

an interesting story of a personal experience of a u.s. teacher in another culture which illustrates a method in their education system for young children, superior to what's common here: give them a chance to use up their kinetic energy throughout the day, which much research shows to help with focus on tasks. i would be interested to know for how long this has been the practice in japan.

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Barry Grossheim
4.2
 by Barry Grossheim - Feb. 6, 2009

Great insight into what works in education. Given all the talk of education reform and under-performance in this country why is it that we don't look at techniques that are working in countries with better scores than we have?

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Patricia Blochowiak
4.4
 by Patricia Blochowiak - Feb. 6, 2009

As a physician concerned with the epidemic of childhood obesity and as a school board member, I applaud the author of this story and NewsTrust for posting this. Just yesterday, I had another discussion with the superintendent and another school board member about the importance of recess. I forwarded the link to this story to both of them.

See Full Review » (17 answers)
davepal_comcast_net
4.6
 by davepal_comcast_net - Feb. 6, 2009
See Full Review » (16 answers)

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