I am making use of past experiences at Japanese schools.
My first step was intensive course for Vietnamese refugees at Himeji in Hyogo prefecture at the end of the '80s.It was in this period that I passed the first year test of "Ability of Japanese education".
After a year of a copy-writing job, I got a full-time job at a school in Hiroshima prefecture. It stands on a hill of in mountains area and it takes 40 minutes drive from the nearest city. Nevertheless, the school has been offering the highest quality of Japanese education since 1991 with firm funding, because it was founded by contributions from a shipbuilding company and its company group.
There I worked on system designation, management of classes, development of teaching methods and materials for 8 and half a year. The most big project was receiving Samsung company trainees from Korea. I was a project leader of the first two terms. Furthermore I reformed the main preparatory course of beginner level education to increase students' aural ability as well as ability to pass exams.
And there I met and taught many people from 3 continents and other areas. China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Montenegro, Germany, the Netherlands, England, U.S.A., Canada, Bolivia, Republic of Belau. etc.
With the start of 21st century I moved back to Osaka to care for my old family, I worked for several Japanese schools as a chief of education for 5 years. Some of these schools are still operating the system I founded. In this period I also polished my teacher -training skills.
Before I actually taught such a course, I could not imagine the achievement of 2000 hours' learning concentrated into 2 years. It was very different from 2000 hours spread over 10 years (The standard of English education in Japan). Every weekday, students study Japanese for 5 hours at school, and they did at least
an hour of homework. Their progression was more than expected. The difference is the massive quality of training. Students are stretched to their full potential.
Another notable point in my own experience was the improvement in teachers' own skills. The system evolved by interaction with each generation of students. We were able to use all conceivable teaching methods. We were able to try even experimental lessons. As a result, over 60% of students passed level 1 (Currently it is called N1).
If we include those who nearly passed, but narrowly failed, the rate was much higher. This was even though half of them took a shorter course. (three-quarters length - most of them were working part -time) It may be unfair to compare these results directly to those of English - speaking people, since these students were from countries that use Kanji (Chinese characters). But I can tell you this: it is impossible to really talk about language education until you do it in such mass and density, Anyone can reach level 1, if they put in a concentrated effort.