EEducation in Japan

Popular Japanese-made English textbook teaches outdated spacing concept

  • January 18, 2022

Went in for a English-teaching position interview yesterday and the textbook the city schools use teaches students to insert an extra space after sentences… 🙄

They’re teaching an outdated practice and it just irked me to no end… Needless to say, if I get this job, there will be some complaints. Lol

Anyone else familiar with the One World English series?

8 comments

  1. Yeah, a lot of the public school textbooks use incorrect or outdated grammar. One that bothered me in New Crown when I used it was that they didn’t put a period after titles like “Mr.” or “Ms.” The rest of the textbook uses US English, so it annoyed me to no end because I’d be scolded for using “incorrect” grammar in my letters to parents.

  2. They also teach outdated or regional vocabulary. Lots of the textbook writers maybe lived in an English speaking place or went to university in one 20-40 years ago and base their entire textbook on what they experienced wherever they were.

    ‘supper’ is massively overrepresented in Japanese textbooks compared to its usage in English speaking places.

  4. But…to be fair, it was only up to 2020 before even Microsoft Word started to correcting double-spacing and even the APA style manual finally relented and changed in 2019. It’s outdated but not by a great amount of years. Just let the schools know that it’s officially been changed even on their computers and the textbook just hasn’t caught up yet. And it’s not like there was this huge news bulletin around the world to explain the change.

    You’ll find there’s a plethora of other weird, obscure, or outdated English words or phrases too that these textbooks contain. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve stared and/or guffawed over something from the textbook.

    Just laugh it off and explain it to the teachers and students. It’s not worth getting irked over.

  5. I’ll take an extra space after a period compared to people with no clue using spaces to format documents, thanks.

  6. C’mon man. Most publishers haven’t even updated their TOEFL books to account for the Speaking section removing two questions. And they’re test prep books.

  7. > They’re teaching an outdated practice and it just irked me to no end… Needless to say, if I get this job, there will be some complaints. Lol

    You aren’t getting it. You want to be difficult over the space after a sentence? They’ll go with the next candidate.

  8. As someone who died on that hill long ago, I’m happy to see the Japanese repping my incorrect butt. Which textbook is it specifically?

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