In the Fall of 2008, Ritsumeikan Primary School became one of the first elementary schools in Japan to develop an English curriculum requiring the use of iPods for supporting the autonomous language learning of the pupils outside of its classrooms. 120 iPod were distributed among the Grade 5 pupils and the objectives were set as incorporating the device into curricular activities to enhance pupils' learning in listening and speaking for their forthcoming events in the school calendar. Those included a visit to Ritsumeikan Asian Pacific University (APU) for a cultural exchange, in which they were expected to communicate with as many international students as possible in English and the EIKEN STEP test (Level 5 and over) to be administered shortly after. Implementation of the iPods started with making the choices for language learning materials by the teachers in the English Department and the source of creation was teacher-generated, therefore, no commercial materials such as podcasts were implemented in an effort to make the content as pupil-friendly as possible by being recorded by teachers they were very familiar with.
First distribution took place in November 2008, which lasted 3 weeks including the time when the pupils were in APU camp. The content for this first project was three videos (conversation skit samples acted out by their English teachers), 5 original stories and various slides to let them practice with. Though the results of pre and post questionnaires on their motivation to learn English did not show any significant differences, the majority (92%) of the pupils wished to continue using iPod for their future studies in English. Furthermore, it was observed that pupils very much enjoyed carrying the iPods and listened to them whenever they had a chance on the bus or on the train during the camp. The second distribution was conducted from December through January over their winter holiday for 4 weeks with more content aimed towards the successful outcome of their first trial of Eiken. Other than the several files to be used for comprehension plus oral drilling tasks such as Shadowing or Read-Look up-Say in and out of the classroom use for the following semester's curriculum, added were Eiken listening tasks from three previous years (with the permission of the Eiken STEP organization of Japan). Pupils were also handed some worksheets to write their answers and advised to listen over and over again until they were sure of the answers. The Eiken results showed that students made remarkable advances in their listening part of the test. They all passed the level they took (Level 3, 4 and 5) and if we take a close look at the listening part of Level 5, the average showed a 
remarkably high score (Part A 93% and Part B 98%). Though this result does not necessarily prove the effects of the implementation of the iPod alone, we believe that it did offer a lot of assistance in motivating the students that needed that extra reason to study English.
The iPods various functions include being able to output audio, video and slides (in the form of pictures) as well as displaying text memos and text lyrics to audio files directly attached to them which make the iPod a good means for assisting task-based learning outside of the language classroom. Besides the fact that iPods are world renowned as fashionable entertainment devices, they are extremely versatile and content distribution through the use of them is effortless once you know how. It is understandable that affordability may prevent teachers from the implementation of iPods into their curriculum. The creativity on the teacher's side with the full knowledge of the pupils in terms of their level, both in English ability and cognition is indispensable in order to make this kind of project successful. There is a fact we should not over look; children are not the same as the ones that existed 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. They don't know or can't imagine a life without computers, cell phones, e-mail, video games or technology. It is clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and their interaction with it that today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. Today's children are considered to be "digital natives." Digital natives are used to receiving information really fast. They are used to parallel processing and multi-tasking. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards.
Not enough research has been done on using iPods in the study of English in young learner's environment to date; most deal with adult students. There seem to be a lot of possibilities in the future of implementing modern devices of technology as the iPod as effective tools into programs to teach young learners English in the near future.
Mayumi Tabuchi
Ritsumeikan Primary School English Program advisor,
Educational Consultant, Teacher Trainer, President of her own school, and series editor for Boost! .
Shaheed Rupani is in charge of the international program and has been teaching at Ritsumeikan Primary School since its inception. Besides curriculum development, his interests include creating teaching-material with a focus on using new technologies in the classroom. He has more than 10 years of EFL experience with college, high school and elementary school classes.
