empathy is your strongest teaching tool

For those of you have been keeping track of my time here in Japan, you probably know that next month, August, marks officially the end of one year of my being in Japan. True, I signed my contract in September, and didn't arrive until the end of September... but yeah.

The above compliment was written in my contract-end evaluation by the head teacher of my school. My contract-end evaluation (it happened about a week ago) consists of several unseen reports from the Japanese staff at my school, reports from my school's titled instructors (head teacher and assistant head teacher), and the nerve-wracking part - a live observation of myself doing my job as teacher. I suppose it's a little Big Brother-esque, but basically it consists of Neil (my head teacher) sitting in the classroom next to me and listening in as I teach a lesson.

To your average reader, the above comment might seem a bit cheesy, except that I hold a lot of respect for man who made it, especially in a professional regard - Neil is a very good English teacher, which makes sense when one takes into account both that he studied teaching at a university in the UK and he's been in Japan for almost 5 years.

Anyways, I guess it's very Asian of me to not know how to take a compliment except to say thanks, and the oh-so-cliche, "You flatter me". It's never been a direct goal of mine to go out of my way and get compliments from people, but I have been putting a lot of my effort into working hard at my job - which is essentially helping people.

People often wonder why I leave out "learn English" and why I don't say that my job is "helping people learn English", but maybe my spiritual convictions have prioritized "helping people" over "helping people learn English". I could be Grammar Nazi Supreme, but as I've mentioned in previous posts, sometimes the only reason people come to lesson is that they want some to talk to. Such a simple thing, but you'd be surprised how many different people from how many different walks of life want it - housewife, salaryman, police officer, firefighter, doctor, student, unemployed father, university professor, cook, salon stylist, etc.

People come to my company's English conversation for a lot of reasons, and working these past 11 or so months has taught me a lot about them. Every student's motivations for learning English are different, and in my opinion, the methods and approaches I as their teacher need to reflect that.

During my post-observation, Neil and I talked one-on-one about my time as a teacher here in Japan, and also, just philosophizing about teaching in general. I can remember that when I first came to Japan, I was shocked a little bit about the corporate aspects of my job, and for the longest time, all I could do was be cynical about working as an English teacher (admittedly, that'll never stop on this blog... cynicism. heh heh.)

But when I began to focus on the important aspect of my job - the students - my attitude about work became one of enjoying it rather than complaining about. Neil commented that he himself had noticed that change in me, and said that my focus on the fact that my students are people (empathy) is one of things that clearly separates bad teachers from good teachers. Fortunately for me, I fall into the latter category rather than the former.

I guess all of these words are a long way of saying that after 11 months, I've discovered that I enjoy teaching and that it's also nice to be recognized that I take pride in trying to do it well. Here in Japan, God has sort of eased me into this little surprise of "teaching", and perhaps, it's a sign that I might be stepping through another door in my life.

Life is filled with lots of doors... (thanks to Stone for the pic)

A conversation I had recently with a student when class had finished:

Student: Sensei, itsumo anata no lesson dai suki na!
(Teacher, I always really like your lessons!)

Gar: Haha. Honto? Arigato gozaimashita. Boku wa Nippon ni eigo sensei dakara, honto sensei ja nai to omou...
(Haha. Really? Thank you. Because I'm an English teacher in Japan, I think I'm a not a real teacher...)

Student: Chan-san... honto sensei ni naritai desu ka?
(Mr. Chan... do you want to become a real teacher?)

Gar: Hmmm... tabun. Demo... ah, taihen iu...
(Hmmm... maybe. But... ah, it's difficult to say...)
posted by G at 4:31 AM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33