Japan teachers may get English training in U.S.
camelくんが採り上げた記事の英訳が今日のDY（10/11/10）にありました。（院生 小山本）
cf. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20101011/1286796909
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Japanese and U.S. governments are considering the establishment of a program that would send young Japanese teachers of English to the United States to improve their English ability, it has been learned.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to expand cultural, intellectual and human exchanges between the two countries, in addition to security and economic cooperation as part of the government's efforts to deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance. The government intends to reach an official agreement that includes the English-teacher plan when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Japan in the middle of next month.
The government envisions training young English-language teachers at primary, middle and high schools in the United State for periods of one to two years.
If 1,000 teachers were dispatched to the United States for one year at an estimated cost of 10 million yen per person, the government would require about 10 billion yen annually to fund the program.
To aid English education in this country, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program has brought foreign young people to Japan to teach English at Japanese schools. The JET program is administered by the Foreign Ministry, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and local governments.
However, the government's most recent round of budget screening, ahead of the compilation of the fiscal 2011 budget, decided the JET program needs to be reviewed. In its subsequent budget request for fiscal 2011, the Foreign Ministry sought only 130 million yen, down 14 percent from the initial fiscal 2010 budget.
To set up the new language program, the government needs to secure the financial resources, observers have said.
(Oct. 11, 2010)
