Obama as English Teacher
by Jay Hori

The English classroom in suburban Tokyo looks just any other Japanese classroom in the white, square concrete school building; thirty five students, all dressed in their identical uniforms, face towards the blackboard and their teacher. What is not ordinary is that students are not preparing for Japan’s famous fact-memorization exams, but they are imitating US President Barack Obama’s speeches to improve their English language skills.

“We hope. We believe. Yes we can,” recites student Asato Maejima theatrically, mimicing Obama’s distinct speaking style. Other students applaud their classmate as if they are an enthusiastic American audience at a political rally.

Their textbook is a best-selling book and CD set featuring the President’s speeches. The students’ English teacher, Shizuka Endo came up with the idea to use them in her class when she was shopping in a local bookstore. Peering at her students over the laptop that just played the inauguration speech, she explains that Obama uses basic grammar that the students have already learned, emphasizing the fact the sentence structures of his speeches are not as complicated as her students think.

“His sincere attitude and simple words are so powerful,” student Marina Yasuda says. “Even English learners like us can understand.”

“Students’ reactions were a lot more straight-forward than I expected,” says Endo. “Perhaps it is because English’s rhythm and intonation are unique.”

Ms. Endo is only one of hundreds of thousands of people who purchased the book and CD set. Asahi Press published a sequence featuring the inauguration speech. Two products combined, 640 thousand copies have been distributed to bookstores, turning the books into Japan’s number
one and two bestsellers.

“Readers who are not necessarily English learners unexpectedly bought the book, as well as English learners. His positive words give Japan hope and courage,” says publisher Yuzo Yamamoto. When asked if any plans exist to publish a textbook featuring speeches of a Japanese lawmaker, Yamamoto burst out laughing, saying he doubted it would sell.

The nation’s leading newspaper Asahi Shimbun, who conducted an approval rating survey on prime minister Taro Aso on Feb. 7th and 8th, predicts that the current 14% approval rating is likely to fall even lower in the near future. In contrast to Aso, Obama had a 69% approval rating after his inauguration speech, a number all Japanese politicians dream of.

“If there were someone like Obama in Japan,” said Yamamoto, “some of us who do not really understand the language would not have to buy this book.”