A Look at 'Hi Friends!' 1 & 2

'Hi Friends!' 1 & 2 by Tokyo Shoseki.

These English textbooks are used in elementary schools across Japan.

English education at Japanese elementary schools was formally introduced on a national level in 2011 for fifth and sixth year students. These students (aged around ten and eleven) usually study English for at least one hour every week - in most cases with an ALT, often from the JET program. The subject is not taught as a formal graded subject but as a a series of "additional activities", with formal academic study not being introduced until the Junior High School level. Despite English "activities" being a formal requirement, the vast majority of elementary school teachers have very limited English ability and have not been trained to teach it as a subject. In order to be able to facilitate this education, schools are supplied with the 'Hi Friends!' textbooks, which acts as a loose framework and a basic course of study.

The opening pages of the first book.

'Hi Friends!' is actually a replacement for the 'Eigo Noto' series, which were the first elementary textbooks to be widely issued in Japan and were widely in use until April 2012. I'm certain many schools are still using 'Eigo Noto' (though I don't have any statistics on the numbers), but by and large, 'Hi Friends!' is the contemporary teaching material. There are two books in the series; the first being for fifth grade and the second for sixth grade. Both books are actually significantly smaller than their predecessors, with a lower page count.

So, are they any good?

Well, the answer is basically "sort of"... ish.

The menu page projected onto a white-board.

An extract from 'Hi Friends! 2'.

The biggest problem facing the 'Hi Friends!' book as an effective teaching tool is the basic structure of English education within elementary schools in of itself. Since these books are introduced when the students are in their fifth or sixth grade (and are around the age of ten), it's a fairly late start to language learning. While some language classes may be provided for younger children between first to fourth grades, by and large these are very infrequent - usually several months apart - and those lessons focus almost solely on easy vocabulary. Of course, with most elementary school teachers lacking competent English abilities, it becomes easy to see why this became the case, though an intimidation factor is likely to remain for teachers tasked with teaching a language they have little to no experience in.

With no formal grading in place and most activities centered on fun ways to make English appear enjoyable rather than focusing on learning, it's natural that many kids simply won't take English seriously or experience much in the way of actual study. It's an inherent flaw in the system and something individuals hoping to use these books to seriously teach or learn from will find themselves in opposition to.

Having said that, the textbooks themselves aren't without merit.

A very good lesson from 'Hi Friends! 1' where students

watch videos of children across the globe introducing themselves.

Some lessons introduce a lot of new words at once.

This particular lesson is a bit of an info-dump!

Both entries in the 'Hi Friends!' series come are composed of a textbook and a CD-ROM companion which can be used through a computer and projector to liven up the lessons: showing large versions of the pages of the textbook; playing songs, videos, and audio samples of vocabulary; and being able to perform textbook activities in real time along with the ability to show the answers. There are also teacher editions of the textbook which provide all the answers and transcripts of most of the activities - though written in both English and Japanese, it can prove problematic for both English and Japanese speakers trying to decipher sections in a language they're unfamiliar with.

At only 56 pages each (with only 38 pages of actual classwork), these thin volumes are a pretty lightweight introduction to English education. By and large, the English language is very much absent in these pages. Passages where complete sentences are written are very anomalous. Almost all of the activities are explained in Japanese, which makes sense for children to actually understand what they're being presented with, but offers almost no opportunity for students to begin reading comprehension practice. There are almost no writing activities, and those that are usually are facilitated by teachers allowing students to represent English words through the Japanese katakana phonetic system rather than using the roman alphabet. Students learn the sound of the words, but they do very little in the way of learning how to read them. Roman characters are eventually introduced, but actual writing of them within the textbook activities is thin on the ground.

Students begin to read and write basic vocabulary in 'Hi Friends! 2'.

However, this exercise is one of the only times this happens in the series.

The course is composed of nine and eight "Lessons" respectively. Of course, the amount of content in each "Lesson" is usually too great for students to get through in one sitting while learning new English, and these "Lessons" typically span across several classes to complete. This is a good thing, as it allows opportunities to revise and go over recently-learned vocabulary repeatedly and cement understanding within the minds of the students. Typically, the structure of the textbook is very logical, though occasionally it can seem erratic and illogical. In 'Hi Friends!' volume one, it makes perfect sense to begin with basic greetings such as "Hello" and "My name is~", yet later in the textbook students learn the slightly rude-sounding "What do you want?" several lessons before "What would you like?". The difference in context isn't made clear, and it seems redundant to teach something so aggressive-sounding when used out of context when a much more pleasant alternative is only a few lessons later (and basically replicates the same meaning).

A strange repetition of a similar grammar point in 'Hi Friends! 1'.

I would argue that teaching both is unnecessary at this entry-level stage.

Overall, I would say that the basic structure here is sound, and - barring a few oddities - it provides a simple and competent framework to work from.

The pages are bright, colourful and appealing. The character designs are friendly and cute, and generally the production quality is high. There's no complaints on that front at all. The books simply look great.

A clear, colourful and effective design.

Very well-produced.

The activities themselves range from great to baffling. Some are very effective and straightforward, such as drawing lines or filling in blanks. A few more creative activities are included, such as colouring in a page of apples and asking your friends how many are coloured in. A few interview activities are also found in there, where students have to ask their friends for information to fill in the blanks. There's also a healthy dose of games included here (although there are less so in 'Hi Friends! 2'). All in all, these are many which are pretty good and have a good deal of variety. Some of the activities require cutting out pages of cards in the rear pages of the book. This can, unfortunately, take a little bit of time and distract from the lesson at hand.

Students can  follow directions around

a basic map (usually with a counter).

On the right: Cards to cut out for activities.

Make sure you have scissors!

Unfortunately, not all of the activities are of the same standard. One particular activity for 'Hi Friends! 1' is very peculiar. Colours and shapes are introduced through t-shirts being hung on a blackboard. The students have to listen to the characters say which particular designs they like. It seems a bit complex for the first formal introduction these concepts. The next page sees the book suggest that students design their own t-shirts, but it feels strange not to have a simpler way of denoting the colours before this activity. Having just studied fruits in the previous lesson, it seems like talking about those colours might have been a more natural progression. The pages themselves also look a bit drab and - ironically - colourless.

The t-shirt pages.

The "What's this?" pages are odd for challenging students to name items that they have never before been exposed to the vocabulary for. It is unlikely students will know how to say words such as "microscope" and "globe" in English without them being introduced earlier in the textbook. Equally, to introduce them exclusively for this lesson would defeat the purpose of guessing what each item is. It seems a bit odd, and students without prior knowledge of the vocabulary have stumbled at these pages. It would have made sense to have included more words that were previously introduced in the book, or to have shown full images rather than cropped ones. The choice of words is also a bit odd; I also don't understand why words like "beaker" are being introduced at this stage. Similarly, the first pages of "Hi Friends! 2" seem a little unfocused; numbers, the alphabet and foreign language words for "Hello" all share the same space on the page. It feels a little cluttered and unfocused.

Not convinced about these pages.

Praise must go the production quality of the CD-ROMs. Both are produced to a very high-standard and add a very nice visual companion to the textbook. The videos are generally of an extremely high quality and captivate children's attention effortlessly, often show insight into other countries and cultures. A particular highlight occurs right at the start of 'Hi Friends! 1', where students visually travel to other countries for around a minute of a time and get to see postcard-like impressions of Russia, Kenya, China, Australia, India and more. Children from around the world introduce themselves in both their native language and English. It's a great inclusion and a nice little reminder that English isn't the only foreign language. Another particular highlight is at the end of 'Hi Friends! 2', where students get to see the differences in school dinners in four other countries and contrast them with Japan's.

Kids from across the globe say "Hello".

This wee lad sounds pretty Scottish.

School dinners in the USA...

...and India! Though this particular shot isn't very flattering.

These videos usually go down brilliantly.

Less deserving of praise are the "chants". These probably don't qualify as "songs" since they're basically just little bits of music with English phrases attached, which the children are to "chant" along to. Some of these are fairly catchy, but some are simply downright bizarre. Most of the ones included here are variations of those originally found in 'Eigo Noto', but most of them have been modified slightly to run at a different tempo or rhythm in what I can only guess is an attempt not to directly replicate the same work. The results are mixed. Some are fairly harmless, but more than a few are a little awkward and difficult to stay in sync with. The pace is a little off and doesn't often flow naturally or as well as the originals in 'Eigo Noto'.

There's also one particular song in 'Hi Friends! 1' named "How many balls?" where I'm quite certain the male speaker is trolling. He pronounces "balls" with a heavy, camp lisp ("ballzzz"). I'm fairly certain it was an intentional in-joke. Maybe it's just me.

"It's a mat. It's a cat. It's a cap."

It's also crap.

The CD also offers the opportunity to watch a woman pronounce the English words and grammar individually. The speaker herself comes across fine and professional, though I've heard accusations that the smile is forced (I can't say I agree with them). I rarely use this feature, as most of the words have already been spoken within the activities. Additionally, due to the videos having such a prolonged focus, these videos have a slightly awkward tone. Though the speaker is not portrayed in a sexual manner, the extreme close ups of her mouth may inevitably carry some uncomfortable sexual connotations for teachers, which when coupled with prolonged direct staring at the viewer could create a pretty uncomfortable viewing experience (especially as the videos featuring her can be quite lengthy). I can't help but feel choosing a boy or girl (or both) of equal age to the target audience might have been a better idea - and definitely with the removal of the mouth close-ups. There are other young children in many of the videos, so it seems strange to suddenly shift focus to an adult.

This woman keeps staring at me.

Some of the content is prone to quite simply bizarre behaviour. For example, the "How many~?" lesson asks students to count how many legs are in the picture, even though the students have only learned up to the number twenty. Rather than simply not ask the question, the CD tries to make a joke out of it by having the speaker give up. Instead, it just comes across as odd, and the students are always confused by it.

Strange behaviour.

One lesson that should be discussed in detail is the "We are good friends" lesson. The opening pages ask students to identify as many nursery tales and iconic stories as possible within a two-page spread. The CD-ROM includes small snippets of the stories told in English language. A straightforward inclusion in of it itself, if a little cluttered.

Find the children's tales. This activity can be a bit difficult

for ALTs with limited knowledge of Japanese folklore.

Problems arise during the following story, which is a retelling of the Momotaro tale. The story should be familiar to anyone with an interest in Japanese folk tales, and is based right here in the Seto Inland Sea. Momotaro is a boy born out of a peach, who goes on an adventure with his animal friends to stop a tribe of ogres from terrorizing villagers. 'Hi Friends! 2" chooses to retell the story, this time using English grammar learned by the students.

Momotaro in (very) basic English.

The problem is simply that the students haven't learned enough English for the tale to really work. The students haven't had any meaningful reading practice up until now, so only students with prior knowledge would likely be able to read it. A version appears on the CD with spoken English phrases and a bit more movement in the pictures - I hesitate to say that it's animated as they're really just stills which move around a bit (there's also a small oversight in the layering that keen eyed viewers may notice when Momotaro's crew are on a boat). The English here is slightly more complex, and doesn't match the written words in the textbook. Thus it doesn't quite sync the way it's supposed to. The story itself also relies on prior knowledge of the story, as key moments are skipped over due to the lack of grammar (such as Momotaro's grand-parents - who are scared and begging him not to go on his quest - are happily preparing items for his quest in the next panel).

The concept itself is fine, but the way in which it is executed is a tad odd, and it makes you wish that more had been done up until this point to allow the students to read the story as it is being spoken to them. Of course, you can simply read the phrases to the students, but this negates the point of having a version on the CD. (Also, the voice-acting is a bit off. For some reason the dog sounds like a Texan, while the bird seems to be suffering from some form of anxiety.)

"A kibidango, pleeeeeeeeease!"
These pages are every ALT's worst nightmare.

There are obviously a number of complaints that can be levelled at these two books, but my personal biggest complaint is two-fold. Firstly, I think not adequately teaching students how to read and write properly using the alphabet characters they're learning is pretty silly, as it makes the whole point of learning an alphabet redundant. It also seems like a big oversight not to introduce fundamental grammar rules which are very swiftly avoided - such as using "a cat" instead of "cat", or differentiating between "cat" and "cats". These rules aren't terribly complex and would be adopted much more readily by junior high students if learned at an early age. I can say from my own teaching experience that Japanese elementary kids are more than capable of learning these rules, which goes a long way towards making life at junior high much easier. I suppose the biggest problem, of course, is that it most likely requires reading and writing practice to make these rules visible to students. You can't really have one without the other. A more substantial lesson on basic writing practice would be a very welcome addition in later revisions.

Due to the relatively recent introduction of English at elementary schools, there is an unfortunate degree of overlap between what is studied here and what the students will be studying all over again at junior high. Much of the content here is recycled in the early first year at junior high. The only difference is that here is that students don't have to write it down. When students go back to repeating grammar they've already learned and practiced at length, along with being reintroduced to the alphabet, it's quite likely to create boredom and a sense of lacking progression. Students at junior high moving into first year don't really seem to be picking up from where they left off, but rather just starting all over again. There is a real lack of integration between elementary school and junior high English education - something which could avoid several months of overlap if corrected.

This may also be highly subjective, but it seems there is also an element of patronizing students in here. Some of the students finishing 'Hi Friends! 2' are eleven and basically turn into young teengaers. It's a strange sight to see a boy with his voice breaking working from such a simplistic and child-friendly textbook. It feels as if the design should have slightly shifted to have been a bit less childish, though perhaps this is me looking at it with Western eyes. Larger-than-life illustrations are much more universally loved by Japan's young teens than in the West, so I may be well off the mark on this one.

Some of the best activities have a very international outlook.

Of course, a lot of these problems can be overcome by simply using 'Hi Friends!' as a structure and by not sticking to it as the only source of English education. Many English teachers at elementary school manage to do a fantastic job by adding to the system; adding in extra activities (including writing and reading practice) which really boosts the overall usefulness of the course. Schools that are fortunate enough to have specialized-English teachers and/or ALT visits can really use the basic outline of the course to create a much more nuanced and effective learning experience which can really be of substantial use to the students moving forward. In my experience, there are some fantastic English teachers working at elementary schools, who have managed to take 'Hi Friends' and do some great things with it. It should be clear that this textbook will not inhibit the abilities of a competent English teacher, and there are plenty of good ones.

If a school only has this textbook as it's sole resource, however, then it is definitely at a disadvantage.

Overall, 'Hi Friends!' is a reasonable introduction to English at elementary schools. It's bright, colourful, and there are some really good activities in here which really bring the English language to life for students. The videos on the CD-ROM are a particular highlight, and it's definitely a solid framework from which to build upon. The textbook  is fine as resource, but in of itself it isn't quite adequate for English "education". There are flaws, yes, but a lot of schools would be in a much worse position. In many cases this may be the only way in which English education can be facilitated, and if elementary English teaching is to be on a national level, having at least some basic structure is far preferable to having none. A lot of people like to slate  'Hi Friends!' (myself included), but it does have a clear function and a use.

My friend Eiji once described 'Hi Friends!' to me in a very concise manner. He asked; "I can only boil an egg for dinner. Would you trust me to write a cookbook?". While I can't comment on the English ability of the producers of these textbooks, it does make me wonder who is regulating and overseeing the teaching of English on a national level. 'Hi Friends!' fulfills its basic purpose, but it could also be so much more.

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The 'Hi Friends' series is published by Tokyo Shoseki - formerly a video-game developer, and whose best-known work might be "Super Tennis" on the SNES. According to their Wikipedia page they stopped developing video-games in 1998 and are now focused on publishing "textbooks and educational software".