EIKEN Pre-1 Mastery Course (Step #2) Aging Population and Senior Care

The issue of an aging population is one of the most important social topics not only in Japan but also in many developed countries around the world. Advances in healthcare and improvements in living conditions have increased life expectancy, meaning people are living much longer than before. While this is a wonderful achievement, it also brings many new challenges for individuals, families, and governments. Fewer young people are being born each year, which creates a shrinking workforce that must support a larger elderly population. This situation raises difficult questions: Who should take responsibility for senior care? Should families care for their aging parents, or should the government expand welfare systems and invest in nursing homes and healthcare facilities?

In this lesson, students will explore these questions while developing the skills needed for success on the EIKEN Pre-1 exam. The lesson combines reading, vocabulary building, writing, and speaking practice, all focused on the theme of aging societies. Students will begin with a warm-up activity to activate background knowledge and reflect on their personal opinions. They will then study essential academic and social vocabulary, such as life expectancy, welfare system, and demographic shift, which are commonly found in advanced English tests.

The reading passage, modeled on EIKEN Pre-1 style texts, introduces arguments and perspectives about senior care. Students will practice comprehension questions that mirror the test format, developing the ability to understand main ideas, details, and contrasting viewpoints. To support opinion writing, the lesson includes a focused grammar point on using although and even though to create clear and balanced arguments. This structure is especially useful in the EIKEN writing section, where students are expected to show logical reasoning and a variety of sentence structures.

After mastering vocabulary, reading, and grammar, students will practice writing a short essay on the debate over government versus family responsibility for the elderly. This writing activity is designed to closely resemble actual EIKEN Pre-1 tasks, requiring learners to state their opinion, provide supporting reasons, and include a specific example. Speaking prompts are also included, allowing students to prepare for the interview section of the test by practicing how to express their ideas naturally and confidently.

Finally, the lesson ends with a review and reflection section where learners can check their progress, summarize what they learned, and think about how this issue might affect their own future. This lesson not only prepares students for the exam but also encourages them to engage critically with a real-world social challenge that they may one day experience themselves.

By completing this lesson, students will strengthen their academic English skills, improve their ability to discuss social issues in depth, and gain valuable practice for the EIKEN Pre-1 writing and speaking sections. More importantly, they will develop the confidence to express their own ideas on global topics such as aging societies, which are highly relevant in today’s world.