Japanese students schooled with Nintendo

By Dan Sloan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo is banned everywhere but the classroom at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan as the ubiquitous DS consoles become the latest tool in English instruction.

Junior high school teacher Motoko Okubo has used the handheld DS and textbook software since May in weekly sessions focusing on vocabulary, penmanship and audio comprehension.

With years of games such as Super Mario on the prohibited list, she says students weren't expecting the Nintendo welcome.

"They've been using it at home playing games, so at first they were surprised they can use it at school," Okubo said.

Still early in a one-year free trial period, vice principal Junko Tatsumi says results so far have been encouraging in Japan's long struggle with English language education.

"The students are really concentrating and have fun in gaining skills such as spelling," she said.

"Our school policy is English education should be fun."

Japan has around 15,000 middle and high schools and in 2000 launched reforms to create a more "relaxed" environment aimed at fostering creativity and reducing rote learning.