When the first few language-based games for the DS were introduced, we bemusedly thought that something like this would happen, and now it has. After years upon years of having to smuggle in their beloved Nintendo handhelds to school, Japanese students can now bring them to the classroom with the blessings of the teacher - who most likely is also carrying one in her bag as well.

With the notoriously difficult, and oftentimes poor, instruction of the English language in classrooms, Japanese junior and senior high school students are now studying the language with the help of the Nintendo DS. The DS allows students to practice writing in English using the stylus and the touchscreen while helping them improve their vocabulary and pronunciation skills via audio playback.

Students have been having 10-minute DS-aided English sessions at the start of their classes since September, and with the large vocabulary of words that the DS can accommodate (1800 for junior high students while those in senior high get 1900) it seems that the program has so far proven to be quite successful.

Now all that's left is for Nintendo or any third-party publisher to release a sort of reverse-engineered version of this software that will teach us non-Japanese speakers Japanese. If that ever happens we'll be seeing you guys at the pre-order lines.