Good morning all

Good morning all,

Originally from Canada, I have been living and teaching in Japan for the past 19 years. My visit to Japan was only intended to last 1 year but to my surprise, I discovered I actually liked teaching and was becoming quite happy!

I started off as a middle school ALT. After seven years I became discouraged at the tired ideas of the old complacent teachers (a minority, but more influential than the young vigorous ones) and the lack of support for foreign teachers (I grew tired of being treated as a "CD player"). I moved to Elementary schools and enjoyed the enthusiasm and energy of the kids. Unfortunately more and more schools wanted the teacher to stay all day, every day, regardless of English lessons, and it did not fit my schedule. Basically I was not happy to be paid as part time but work full time--so I started my own school.

I primarily teach young learners--last year of kindergarten to 6th grade, but also have junior and senior high school students as well as some adults.

I periodically have the opportunities to attend seminars conducted via the excellent ETJ and iTDi and appreciate the opportunity to fight against becoming an old and complacent teacher myself.

I am looking forward to this course as it looks like we have an energetic, thoughtful, positive group here, thank you all!

Comments

  1. Anne HendlerNovember 10, 2017 at 3:39 PM

    Nice to meet you, Scott. I teach littles, too. I hope we can come up with ideas for ways to adapt the activities we learn in these brilliant sessions to help our youngest kids.

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  2. Phil BrownNovember 11, 2017 at 7:41 PM

    Thanks for sharing your experiences, Scott, and it's especially inspiring to see that you set up your own school to change your situation.

    I started teaching in Japan probably around the same time (2001) but at a private language school (NOVA). Incidentally, a one-day certificate course offered by ETJ and OUP was my first step out of the 'eikaiwa bubble' which then led to further ongoing professional development :-)

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