What is Suberidome?
Suberidome means taking the entrance examination to a high school or university as a safety measure in case one fails at other high schools or universities. When the time comes that one has to choose a new school or university to continue one’s studies thing get very exiting. However, here in Japan there is a system that says one can only apply to a limited number of schools. This means, a student can take an entrance exam for a high-level high school or university which he or she will probably fail, but if luck is on the student’s side the is a slight possibility, “The Challenge”. Next, after deciding a “challenge exam” one has to find the most appropriate level high school or university according to the student’s current academically proven level, “Desired School”. Taking the general entrance exam for “The desired School” is most likely to be passed but there is of course the possibility that due to unforeseen circumstances this test is failed. Then what do they do? They need a fail-safe to prevent tumbling down to a very low level school, this preventive measure or test is called a Suberidome or fail-safe from sliding down. Taking an entrance examination at a high school or university which is just slightly under one’s academic level with an 80 to 90 percent passing chance is a Suberidome.
Here in Japan one can take only two entrance examinations for public high schools or universities and unlimited tests at private high schools or universities. The point is however, that public schools are very cheap because they are government supported and private high schools and universities have high matriculation fees and even taking one entrance exam can cost from 20,000 up to 80,000 (or even more) Japanese Yen. This can get quite expensive if the student keeps failing tests. So the “Fail-safe Suberidome” test is taken to make sure that the student can enroll at a reasonable school with an almost appropriate academic level.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Ippan Shiken, General Entrance Examination
Here in Japan most high schools have two or three entrance examinations, of which one is an Ippan Shiken. Junior high school students take this test if they wish to enroll at a high school, or as in case of my high school, as “Suberidome.” Suberidome means, something which prevents someone from sliding down. Any given high school in Japan makes their own Ippan Shiken, and this test represents the level of education or level of knowledge required for that school. It is common for more students to take the test than can actually enroll into the school in April. After the test is taken, The average score is calculated and according to that a minimum for enrolling is decided. Soon after the results are calculated, the students are notified by mail and from there they have until about the 20th of March to decide whether they actually wish to enroll or not. For the Japanese private high schools this is one of the most exiting months of the year because they need a certain amount of students to enter in order to be able to pay the bills.
Ippan Shiken was held at my school last Saturday. About 500 junior high school students came to take the test. Tests were also held at other (host) schools in surrounding cities so the total number of students taking the Ippan Shiken for my school was about 1500. However, we are looking to accept about 240 students to enroll as first years from April.
Ippan Shiken was held at my school last Saturday. About 500 junior high school students came to take the test. Tests were also held at other (host) schools in surrounding cities so the total number of students taking the Ippan Shiken for my school was about 1500. However, we are looking to accept about 240 students to enroll as first years from April.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Center shiken Listening details
UPDATE (Jan 24, 2009) : I have created a new blog exclusively devoted to Center Shiken English and English Listening, for more information on the Center Shiken English please go here from now on ---> Center Shiken
The center shiken listening test is made up of four parts. Center Shiken Listening first part is the easiest. there are six questions with each four possible answers. Part one has four pictures from which only one is correct. students listen to the conversation or description, read the question above the picture and choose the picture which answers the question best and mark their answer on the answer sheet. The pictures are simple and the questions too.
Center Shiken Listening Part two, a dialog will be played and the students have to choose how this conversation is going to continue. The challenge here is to figure out who is going to say the next sentence, the man or the woman. For example, if the man asks a question, the correct answer to choose is the answer to this question. some times the man or the woman will say something like "well..." then we have to find and think how this sentence is going to continue. Part two of the center listening test has usually seven questions.
Center Shiken Listening Part three is divided into section A and B. In section A students listen to a conversation and have to answer the question on the answer sheet. These conversations are of medium length and can be answered without much effort if the students are exposed to native English on a weekly basis. There are three separate dialogs with each four possible answers.
Center Shiken Listening Part three section B is usually something like a schedule or a room layout. under this there are about six pictures. There are three questions combined here and there are six possible answers to choose from. Again the students listen to a conversation and have to match the correct picture with the correct date or place in a room. Sometimes these questions can be confusing since most of the six pictures would be mentioned.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section A, are three questions. For each question they listen to one story, report, interview etc. This is where the questions start to get trickier and quite difficult.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section B. Now this will be one report or story with three questions. This is very long and unless the students are geniuses they should be taking notes while listening and should have read the questions before the section starts playing.
More reports and advise is coming soon!!
The center shiken listening test is made up of four parts. Center Shiken Listening first part is the easiest. there are six questions with each four possible answers. Part one has four pictures from which only one is correct. students listen to the conversation or description, read the question above the picture and choose the picture which answers the question best and mark their answer on the answer sheet. The pictures are simple and the questions too.
Center Shiken Listening Part two, a dialog will be played and the students have to choose how this conversation is going to continue. The challenge here is to figure out who is going to say the next sentence, the man or the woman. For example, if the man asks a question, the correct answer to choose is the answer to this question. some times the man or the woman will say something like "well..." then we have to find and think how this sentence is going to continue. Part two of the center listening test has usually seven questions.
Center Shiken Listening Part three is divided into section A and B. In section A students listen to a conversation and have to answer the question on the answer sheet. These conversations are of medium length and can be answered without much effort if the students are exposed to native English on a weekly basis. There are three separate dialogs with each four possible answers.
Center Shiken Listening Part three section B is usually something like a schedule or a room layout. under this there are about six pictures. There are three questions combined here and there are six possible answers to choose from. Again the students listen to a conversation and have to match the correct picture with the correct date or place in a room. Sometimes these questions can be confusing since most of the six pictures would be mentioned.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section A, are three questions. For each question they listen to one story, report, interview etc. This is where the questions start to get trickier and quite difficult.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section B. Now this will be one report or story with three questions. This is very long and unless the students are geniuses they should be taking notes while listening and should have read the questions before the section starts playing.
More reports and advise is coming soon!!
Center Listening Test
UPDATE (Jan 24, 2009) : I have created a new blog exclusively devoted to Center Shiken English and English Listening, for more information on the Center Shiken English please go here from now on ---> Center Shiken
At my high school we have two different courses, one sends students to private universities (Shiritsu) and the other one to public universities (Kokuritsu) in Japan. in general the public university entrance examinations are more difficult than the private ones.
so, last week i gave the second graders their first Center shiken Listening practice test. i didn't give them much advise but just suggested them to concentrate for the duration of the test which is thirty minutes. this is the top class of the two. the other class which has many students who are a member of sport clubs (Bukatsu) had their try to day and didn't do very well. Bukatsu really prevents the students from studying as hard as they actually should. at the moment they practice for twenty minutes a week with easier listening text books but i am considering to increase this to about thirty minutes a week by the end of this second term.
the maximum score of the Center listening test is fifty points, that is, two point a question. the current class of third graders which will take the Center listening test does the test at about thirty two points on average, which is a bit higher then the Japanese average but not yet satisfactory to me. we'll do more practicing about one and a half month before the actual Center listening test is on January 17 and 18. minus the winter break that means I'll start increasing practice around mid November.
At my high school we have two different courses, one sends students to private universities (Shiritsu) and the other one to public universities (Kokuritsu) in Japan. in general the public university entrance examinations are more difficult than the private ones.
so, last week i gave the second graders their first Center shiken Listening practice test. i didn't give them much advise but just suggested them to concentrate for the duration of the test which is thirty minutes. this is the top class of the two. the other class which has many students who are a member of sport clubs (Bukatsu) had their try to day and didn't do very well. Bukatsu really prevents the students from studying as hard as they actually should. at the moment they practice for twenty minutes a week with easier listening text books but i am considering to increase this to about thirty minutes a week by the end of this second term.
the maximum score of the Center listening test is fifty points, that is, two point a question. the current class of third graders which will take the Center listening test does the test at about thirty two points on average, which is a bit higher then the Japanese average but not yet satisfactory to me. we'll do more practicing about one and a half month before the actual Center listening test is on January 17 and 18. minus the winter break that means I'll start increasing practice around mid November.
Labels:
center listening test
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Today's morning class
How surprised I was when starting my class this morning. All students stood up and greeted me in a big unified voice. Usually this class breaks out in one big chatting club, like a popular bar on Saturday night. Today i asked them only twice and they all opened their text books and quickly found the correct page. (the ones who brought their textbooks that is...) Naturally some couldn't resist talking quietly with nearby classmates but the atmosphere was far better than it had been up to now. we swiftly went through the pages and we moved on to some speaking exercises. Before the students had been somewhat reluctant to speak English in a loud voice, (this is strange because they never hold back when chatting with their friends in Japanese) but today most students just did as I requested from them.
During the second part of the lesson we did some listening exercises as a warming up for the up coming mid-term tests. They didn't do very well on the test but they listened to my explanations of the questions and took notes. For a Friday morning this was an exceptionally fine class and it didn't make me tired at all!! I am anxious to teach them again next week and see if they were for real or just pretending to be good students...
During the second part of the lesson we did some listening exercises as a warming up for the up coming mid-term tests. They didn't do very well on the test but they listened to my explanations of the questions and took notes. For a Friday morning this was an exceptionally fine class and it didn't make me tired at all!! I am anxious to teach them again next week and see if they were for real or just pretending to be good students...
Labels:
good class,
high school class
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