2016 Volume 25 Pages 90-100
In this study, I develop and examine the effect of a teacher training program that aims to understand the cultural background of international schoolchildren who are non-native Japanese speakers. The program also trains teachers to teach other school subjects using the Japanese language.
The objectives of this program are as follows. First, to develop teacher’s skills in applying CALP（Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency）in the classroom that is necessary for learning each subject in school. Second, to improve international schoolchildren’s academic performance. Third, encouraging the instruction of international schoolchildren not only by individual teachers but also through the whole school environment.
In order to develop the program I performed classroom trials and made observations of in-school training in a number of sample schools.
The program is composed of lectures and practices. The lectures aim to assist the teachers in acquiring the following skills. First, becoming aware of on which point they should pay attention when they teach subjects to international schoolchildren. Second, by discerning the difference between BICS（Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills）and CALP, and recognizing the different processes of language acquisition. Third, to understand ways of instruction that improve schoolchildren’s CALP through teaching school subjects. And for practice, I provided exercises like making teaching plans and performing the experimental lessons.
By examining this program, I confirmed the effects that I expected when I designed the program. At the same time, I determined that this program provided the same effects with various schools and cultural backgrounds of international schoolchildren. Therefore, it can be concluded that this program is effective in developing teacher’s skills for the instruction of international schoolchildren.
