Isn't teaching hard?

[taimoorh]

I have often seen job listings on various sites stating their requirements for English teachers. Whilst the teacher must be a graduate and native English speaker, most of these listings require little to no level of Japanese required.

How would a person teach Kindergarten or Junior school (even High school?) students any English when he/she themselves are having a problem trying to understand what the children are saying.

I haven't taught before so don't know how easy/ difficult it is to teach young children. Perhaps it's easy because they are still more open to new ideas then adults who are so ingrained in Japanese that learning English would be hard for them? Like learning Japanese for me (@23) will be really hard

My personal exposure to Japanese language has been only thorough animes. Whilst I can grasp a few basic words here and there, conversing in Japanese is out of the question.

tl:dr - isn't it impossible to teach English without knowing a little bit of Japanese? Or is it easy to teach young children?

I'm asking this as I would like to do it for maybe a year or something and take some time off from my real profession.

[Nyororin]

Teaching well is hard. I have respect for teachers who actually work hard to educate their students...

Unfortunately, in most cases, Japanese schools don`t really care whether the teacher is good or not. They care that there is someone speaking English in the direction of the students. The goal isn`t teaching, but rather looking good and "getting them used to the sound of the language". They pretty much NEVER want you to communicate with the students in Japanese.

[taimoorh]

That's a rather negative attitude by these institutions isn't it? Regardless, if ever I do decide to go down this path, I'll do my best. I've learned from the best after all. My mom's been a High School teacher since '91. And damn if I have ever met a student of her's who didn't love her! This is of course very nice since many of her students who are in "good" positions now give us access to "privileged" services

Back to the topic however, why don't most people who want to go to Japan take this route? It's easy coz all you need is at least a Bachelors and be fluent in English. Or is there still a sever lack of people who speak good English along with some degree that are interested in staying in Japan?!

[samurai007]

The vast majority of people who go to Japan DO take this route, and teach English. That's how I did it, on the JET Program.

On JET, you don't need Japanese because you team teach in the public schools with Japanese teachers of English. You model the English pronunciation and teach about the normal, everyday usage and grammar, while the JTE uses Japanese if necessary, or translates when needed, and teaches the finer points of grammar. It's a good system, much better than either one teaching alone IMO. And no, it really isn't all that hard when you team teach like that, at least not IMO.

[Tsuwabuki]

My opinion, as stated elsewhere, is that you learn how to teach well FIRST. Not always possible for the young and the cashless, but trust me. It matters.

Although I started off with the same experience Samurai describes up above, that has changed. I teach with a JTE most of the time, but at least a few times a month, I teach entirely alone. I went to college to be an English teacher, and I know how to teach English to native speakers. That puts me in a slightly unusual category, and I know it. I went out of my way to learn Japanese words for grammar points, and I certainly do teach grammar when necessary. If the JTE is present, then the JTE translates, if s/he is not, I do it. What Samurai describes is a typical arrangement- my schools toss that right out the window when they learn I am an actual English teacher. Half the time, I end up teaching the JTEs about obscure etymologies or grammatical peculiarities. I'm a veritable encyclopedia of reasons for irregular verbs.

Also my schools have no issue with me speaking Japanese to my students. That just wouldn't make any sense. Not when I have classes where I teach alone. And even when I don't, I often go around and check individual students for understanding, and have them translate back into Japanese for me. I can usually catch misunderstandings that way. Especially in the case of nuance.

Oh yeah. This is my "REAL" profession. I am so tired of people who think this isn't a job with real responsibilities. It is no less important than teaching in your home country. If you feel differently, then teaching is Not. For. You. You'll do your students a great disservice and they deserve better.

[taimoorh]

Learn to teach first? Whilst that's a good idea, I don't think I would have the time to go for a professional Teaching Qualification of any sort. The only time I will study now is either a Masters in English Language or Journalism.

My current job pays me ok (roughly 300k Yen w/o taxes p.m.), but it's something I'm really hating right now. I always did consider teaching, but only for the experience of teaching (not to get experience in teaching, if you understand what I mean :s) I would teach in Japan only because I'm interested in it. Neither am I looking for teaching as a full time career, nor living in Japan. Just a life experience.

Also, if I do manage to get an ALT job there, I would also be studying Japanese, at least good enough to speak , and maybe even write, confidently.

[Tsuwabuki]

I don't have certification. Everything but. In the United States, Certification is granted by state, and I hadn't decided which state I would teach in (Georgia or Texas) so I put certification off while I worked in politics. But it really isn't a big deal. At the absolute outside, certification only takes about three months, assuming you already have a BA/BS. Some will even waive a portion of that based on your experiences teaching (private schools often have wildly differing standards, and is not uncommon for someone who is testing the waters first to go to a private school, learn they love teaching, and then turn around for the certification to teach in public schools). Before the economy totally died and Dallas cut teachers, I was in negotiations to have my ALT experience count towards just such a waiver.

And I said it may not be possible. Now, it probably isn't. That's not a problem. If you have the drive you'll pick it up pretty quickly. Doing a year as an ALT isn't a bad way to spend a year. I'm not trying to convert you the Church of Teaching Unchained or anything. Just letting you (and others) know that if you take the job, even as a life experience, that is still a job. I have seen too many people come for the life experience and forget about the life experiences of the kids they're supposed to be positively impacting.

[silver89]

I was temporary primary school teacher for a few months.It was quite a challenge and took lots of interacting skills to get along with the students while trying to earn their respect.It was hard work at first(preparing exercises isn't easy) and then,I had lots of fun with my students and their scores improved!Really pays off all the hard work.I didn't teach English,I taught Math in English and Chinese-Mandarin. =P

[taimoorh]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

At the absolute outside, certification only takes about three months, assuming you already have a BA/BS.

I'm not trying to convert you the Church of Teaching Unchained or anything. Just letting you (and others) know that if you take the job, even as a life experience, that is still a job. I have seen too many people come for the life experience and forget about the life experiences of the kids they're supposed to be positively impacting.

I have already done my Bsc (Hons) and have finished my ACCA (International accounting qualification) so I'm covered there, should I choose to get a Teaching qualification course.

And lol @ Church of Teaching Unchained!

In any case I know who sucky some of my teachers were and how badly it affected my higher studies and many decisions in life. I also appreciate all the really good teachers in my life and how it positively affected me. So if I do become an ALT, I'll be damn sure to do a fine job.

The scary part for me will be gaining trust of the students. I've taught my friends during my Uni days, but they were my friends. There was no ice to be broken, we already knew each other very well. Starting from scratch would be hard.

[Tsuwabuki]

You have anime. That's usually an immediate ice breaker if you're up on the new stuff or the stuff every kid knows (crayon shin-chan, doraemon).

I'm named after a fifth grader from Shoujo Kakumei Utena, so yeah, I know my anime.

And if you actually got the reference to Father Church, I will give you a hundred points.