30/09/2024
A high school teacher from Japan and her students have been praised by experts at Cambridge University Press & Assessment during a recent cultural trip to the UK. The school has been using Cambridge learning and assessment products for five years and are seeing ‘record breaking’ results.
Simon Wright (Cambridge), Yuko Suzuki from (Takatsuki High School) and Karen Momber (Cambridge)
Takatsuki Junior and Senior High School in Japan started integrating Cambridge learning and assessment products in March of 2019, as part of a wider programme to boost English language ability and improve approaches to teaching. The students use the Cambridge coursebooks Uncover and Unlock to help get them ready to take selected Cambridge English Qualifications. Alongside this, Cambridge provides an ongoing teacher development programme which supports teachers in the implementation of communicative teaching practices.
This programme includes a balanced mix of face-to-face training days, online tutorials, workshops, feedback on lesson plans, and lesson observations, ensuring that teachers are well-equipped to effectively use the coursebooks and enhance their classroom practices.
Yuko Suzuki (pictured) has been teaching English for three decades and is one of the teachers involved in the project. During her trip to Cambridge, she says the programme has been so successful that last October, the school achieved record breaking results for their B1 Preliminary exams, which is something she’s very proud of!
“Since introducing the Cambridge way, our classroom focus has shifted to a student centred approach and how people actually use English in real world,’ commented Yuko Suzuki. She continued: ‘We use Cambridge textbooks to prepare our students for exams and it benefits their learning because the content is very authentic. I think the most important thing is to give students to the opportunity to use English as much as possible in the classroom. This includes vocabulary, grammar and all the other key skills students need in the real world. Cambridge has made this easy!”
During the trip to Cambridge University Press & Assessment, Yuko and her students learnt more about the positive impact of Cambridge learning experiences and the history of the organisation.
Simon Wright said: ‘It was a pleasure to welcome Yuko and her class to Cambridge. At Cambridge, we believe in the power of combining learning and assessment. Takatsuki Junior and Senior High School is a shining example of how combining course and assessment materials gets tangible results in the real world. We wish them all the best in the future.’