It is going on 2:30pm here, ie the dark period before the coffee break, but I'll add a bit.

Quote Originally Posted by mad pierrot
At all of the schools I teach, the same texts are used. I have asked why, and I was told by a Japanese teacher that all schools have to use texts assigned by the Ministry of Education in Tokyo. This sounded like BS at the time, but now I'm not so sure.
Any thoughts?
Some do and some don't a lot can varry by regions. All texts have to be approved by the Ministry, but they are not assigned. How the process works is something like this (so I have been told). A publisher will put out, say, since we are JETs, a new text. They send it to Tokyo, Tokyo says OK, and then they go about trying to sell the text to local schools or districts. At my schools we are getting new samples in all the time.

Often all the schools in a district will all use the same text. Since I only work in one district with one elementary and one middle school, we get to see all the sample texts and decide at the local level. Other JETs who work in a different district teach from a different book (maybe) and are told which ones they will use. - For example, I teach from Sunshine (that comes out my rear) and a good friend uses New Horizon (such positive-sounding names).

Quote Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot
Another question I have concerns actual class structure. For example, in the middle schools I teach at, there is one English class for each grade. (1-3) This usually means that the student's English ability varies tremendously in the class, often making it hard to teach them all at once. I've suggested that the classes be split based on ability rather than grade level, but I was shot down pretty fast. Again, all the explaination I recieved was mumbling about how this is the way it has to be, schools can't decide, etc.
Again, a lot depends on how the district is set up. Mine is not representative since it only has one school to deal with, but I have heard of othersworking in similar ways.

Classes can be split up, it all depends on if the teachers want to get off their rears and do it. My district is going over the problem of splitting up some classes now. We have a good number of really bright students and a good numbers of slower learners. In high school there is some tracking of students (advanced students in one class, more general folks in others) on rare occassion. If it will help is the real question...

All is not as dark and dire as it may seem, but I do strongly disagree with the no-fail policy. Whoever thought this one up was someone who obviously never failed or perhaps came close to failing once.

I think everyone needs the experience of at almost failing at some point. Doesn't have to be on a timetable, but before you get out of college or high school, you should have to look down into that abyss and find out exactly what you are made of. If you fall in, people are still there to help you out. If you get out in the real world on your own and don't know how to either stay away from failure or fix the problem, you are in for a very rude lesson...