English taught in Japanese Schools

[waveishere]

Is English Japan's second language - no. Some people may say it is
because students study it for 6 years from Junior high school though
to the 3rd year of high school, however compared to a country where
English really is a second language like Malaysia, Japan is far off
having English as a second language.
In a country such as Malaysia, students learn English in primary
(elementary) school, and English isn't just taught as a foreign
language it is integrated into the curriculum, I was chatting to a
high school girl in Malaysia who said her school has maths and science
taught using English, as well as the actual subject which is English.
At home it depends on the family but Malaysians usually speak
Malaysian at home, however usually have no problems passing English
tests to enter foreign universities.
In Japan English is not compulsory in primary (elementary) schools,
however some schools high Assistant English teachers (ALT's) who come
to classes for one hour a week if the school is lucky enough to even
have one. (At the local board of education's discression).
In junior and senior high schools, ALT's are also hired, for about 1
hour a week, and the other time used for English is mainly for grammar
and written English study, so they don't have much of a chance to
speak English.
If Japan really wants English to be their second language, then a lot
more needs to be done.. Actually a lot of people in Japan don't think
think English should be the national second language, and they have a
right to think so. However it's a fact that English is spoken in over
50 countries worldwide and is the main language used for international
business, so there are some good arguments to make English compulsory.
Chinese also have a good arguement to make Chinese the official world
language, considering the number of Chinese speakers in the world.
Whatever the case, if a country such as Japan only has a half-hearted
"bara bara" approach at teaching English then students will have a
hard time entering foreign universities and the later the students
learn English the harder it will be for them to learn.
What needs to be done if English was to be a second language:

1) The teachers would need to go though intensive English courses to
teach their subjects, using only English text-books.
2) One or more subjects that are traditionally taught using Japanese
would have to be taught using English from a young age, e.g.
Kindergarten.
- At first the students would not understand what was spoken,
however would gradually pick it up if spoken clearly.
(I have seen some Chinese students enter Kindergarten in Australia
with no English, however by the second year they were almost fluent).
3) Students should be taught the alphabet including how to write it in
Kindergarten and given English readers, from year 1 of primary
school.
4) There should be plays performed in English and students should be
able to watch programs in English - Such as behind the news.

All this should be done in Primary (elementary) school, if this is
done in Elementary school, and taught by proficient English speakers,
then the English they currently learn in junior and senior high school
would already be second nature, and they will do very well in tests
such as Eiken/Toeic.

What do you think?