Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
- I am not and have absolutely no plans to become an English teacher. (Although I did work part time as one for a bit to save money for our move. NEVER AGAIN!!!) If you actually want to learn Japanese and have a life... Do not, I repeat, DO NOT be an English teacher in Japan. You will be speaking simple English 99% of the day, and end up hanging out with other teachers all the time - you`d do better to stay at home and study alone. Plus it seems like most of the people who do come to Japan to be teachers hate Japan and just want to make a bunch of money to take home. Seriously, they all seem to bash Japan left and right.
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I just want to give a short response to Nyororin's comments. I am not certain as to what sort of English teacher he was, but I will speak a bit for those doing the ALT/JET programs in public schools. It is true that some of us hang out with English teachers a lot. The reason being is that we face a lot of the same everyday difficulties at work and adjusting to life here. Many new English teachers must rely on the goodwill of our elder teachers to show us the ins and outs of living in Japan because our companies often just drop us off at our schools/apartment and only come to our assistance when we need official business taken care of.
Why are teachers so focused on making money? Quite simply most of us are fresh out of college with loans that need to be paid and the expense of moving abroad as well. None of us expect to get rich doing this and most of us are here for the chance to travel overseas. Most if not all of the teachers I know are very dedicated to their jobs and work full time in schools and part time getting private students or side jobs.
As far as learning Japanese I think teaching in a public junior high or elementary school will really force you to learn Japanese. I am still in the process of improving mine and conversing with the students requires a bit of Japanese mixed with simple English. This is especially true at elementary schools where the kids are just beginning to learn kanji and speak simple Japanese.
Now I will address one of the biggest advantages of teaching English in the public schools. You get a first hand experience of what it is like to grow up Japanese and working in the office with the other teachers gives you a better idea of the Japanese work environment. You learn quickly that your students in junior high are at a very difficult age and facing a lot of tough tasks ahead. A lot of them study twenty-four/seven and take on a lot of responsibilities in club activities. I respect my students a lot and have a lot of sympathy for them as well.
As far as Nippon bashing, I understand that a lot of us (English teachers) complain/whine about life in Japan even when it was our choice to come here on our own. Part of this is a result of a rosy picture painted by our employers and some of it is a general lack of knowledge of Japanese/Asian culture. The school you work for may have a confusing way of teaching English and ask a lot of their ALT that we were not prepared for. In my case, I am replacing a teacher that already had one year of experience at a previous school and so they have had a difficult time understanding that I need a certain degree of explanation concerning course goals and target grammar. What you end up with is teachers that are fairly stressed out because we want to do our jobs well but face an uphill battle in that many of us are not trained teachers and have different opinions on how English should be taught. My school insists that I do something new each time, but I know good and well that my students can hardly remember lessons from two days ago much less a week.
The second reason it may seem that we complain a lot about Japan is that we (foreigners) are fairly open and outspoken about Japanese people, culture, food and so on. Outspoken and open are two things that Japanese are fairly unaccustomed to since they often mask their true feelings to make work/society run smoothly. We often point out differences in ways of life or thinking that comes off as being negative, but many of us our simply airing our opinion or offering a comparison.
Well I said it would be a short response, but I guess I was wrong. Best wishes to Nyororin in Nagoya. Maybe after the snowboard season I will make it down your way. Ja nin.