New Horizon (textbook)
New Horizon is an English language textbook used by junior high school students in Japan. It first came out in 1966. It is published by Tokyo Shoseki. There are three volumes, one for each of the three years of school. As of 2003, around 40% of schools were using New Horizon as their English textbook.
Characters
There are several characters whose adventures centered on the fictional Wakaba Junior High School inspire the books' grammar and vocabulary lessons. These characters, updated in the revised 2006 edition of the text, are as follows:- Judy Brown – An African-American girl from New York.
- Emi Ito – A young Japanese girl.
- Shin Tanaka – A young Japanese boy.
- Mike Davis – A young Australian.
- Lisa – Ms. Green's sister who lives in Toronto, Canada.
- Koji – Lisa's Japanese husband.
- Bill – Ms. Green's little brother.
- Bin – Koji's Chinese friend.
In April 2016, new characters and visuals in the fictional Midori High School are introduced:
- Saki Andou – A first year student in the Judo club.
- Haruki Andou – Saki's older brother who studies in an Australian University.
- Becky Jones – Born in Australia and met Saki during the school's cultural festival.
- Kouta Ito – A first year student in the soccer club.
- Emi Ito – Kouta's older sister.
- Paulo Fernandes – Born in Brazil, the coach of the soccer team.
- Deepa Mitra – Born in India, first year student. She loves music and is in the school's band.
- Alex Green – Born in Canada, first year student. He joins the dance team of the Japanese culture club.