A GROUP of Japanese teachers have visited a Bolton school to observe English styles of teaching.

Three Japanese teachers went to Thornleigh Salesian College to pick up ideas on how to encourage their children to form their own opinions and think more for themselves.

In Japan, children are taught in a more formal, regimented way. Teachers deliver lectures to children rather than teach classes, and during school days children rarely participate in interactive activities as they are usually deskbound and learn by rote and memorising facts.

Thornleigh history teacher Shelagh Fitzgerald said: "They want to encourage more discussion in the classroom and get some ideas about how to teach modern foreign languages and learn some imaginative ways to get children interactive.

"They came to Thornleigh as part of a tour around Europe to pick up ideas."

The visit was part of the Hitachi HISTEP exchange scheme which involves teachers from Europe and Japan visiting each other's countries to swap innovative education ideas.

Miss Fitzgerald went to Japan on the exchange this year, staying primarily in Hitachi City but visiting Tokyo and Kyoto. She found that her host family did not voice opinions, did not discuss politics and did not like arguments, a trait she found to be characteristic of the Japanese.

In schools pupils tended to work longer hours, staying until 3.30 pm and then attending compulsory after school clubs for another two hours.

She said: "The schools were very regimented - like British schools were about 50 years ago. It is all about learning knowledge rather than forming opinions. They have brilliant facilities and all the latest technology yet lessons are not interactive and pupils just work at their desks."