Disclaimer: These posts are not meant to be about all teachers and forms of teaching English in Japan. The stories and events reported in there are specific to my experience and the company I work for. They should not be interpreted as being relevant to all forms of teaching in Japan. This is what has happened to me and while I don’t think that it’s the same for everyone, some research and talking with other people has shown that there are good and bad things in all companies and all situations. They’re just my story.

It’s been about 5 months now since I packed up my day job in publishing and decided to become an English teacher on the other side of the world. 2 months were spent training and getting ready and I’m now in my 3rd month of teaching English in Tokyo, as what is commonly known over here as an ‘ekaiwa sensei’ (aka English conversation school teacher).

Part of the reason for doing this was the challenge of doing something entirely new that I’d never done before. After nearly ten years in London, life was becoming a little too dull at times - London has a nasty habit of sucking you in and making it incredibly difficult to get out. No matter how much money you seem to be making, there’s never enough to really get out clean and without any hassles. Ok I was never that good at saving but still - anyone who’s lived there for any length of time will know that life in London is most definitely not cheap.

Don’t get me wrong, life in London was great and if it wasn’t for me moving there when I was 18 I don’t think I’d be here today or I definitely wouldn’t have done 90% of the stuff I have or met the people I did. But no matter how good some of it was, or most of it, the bad always ended outweighting the good for me.

So the idea of packing it all in (albeit at a cost) and doing something new and different on the other side of the world was a challenge I needed. And I’m not regreting it (yet!). And after a few months of working there are some things which have already proved this to be the kind of challenge I think I needed. I’ll start by looking at the good things… I’ll leave the bad and the ugly for later.

Teaching English as a foreign language is actually pretty damn cool - especially when you’re not even a native speaker! For one it’s rekindled my love of linguistics. I’d forgot how much I loved languages, and how they work. The way they’re built, the seeming logic inparted to grammar points (or at times the illogic - there’s a fair amount of that too in the English language) and in general the way in which studying a language, and trying to teach it to foreign speakers allows you to see that language in a totally different light. Or maybe I really am too much of a geek.

The language aside, there is an element to teaching English which I sorely missed in my previous jobs - the human factor. Before I’d spend the best part of my day stuck in front of a computer, whereas now I spend it speaking to people and doing the kind of things I only really did outside of work. That human factor is a nice breath of fresh air for me. I’ve always liked being around people and meeting new people, and this element of teaching is definitely great if you are that kind of person. There definitely are some ups and downs to it, but by and large not being stuck behind a desk, in front of a screen all day is doing wonders for me. Granted it was easier to skive when I was behind a desk, but I’m fast developing new ways in which to do the same thing while talking to students in a classroom.

Hand in hand with that is the people you meet as an English teacher. Being that the whole concept of ekaiwa schools in Japan is that they are primarily places for people to practice speaking English, you get a fair amount of people who come to school not so much to learn as to actually just talk to someone in English, or in a lot of cases talk to a gaijin. I guess that ability comes at a price, and there’s no doubt that most people in Western societies wouldn’t look at the same situation in the same way (would you for example pay money just to go and talk to a Japanese teacher because he is Japanese?) but it means that you get some really interesting students.

Those who come to chat do make it worth the while - what better way is there to learn about another culture but to talk with someone who is a part of it and wants to also share information about their culture with you. I’ve learnt so much about Japan and the culture already, and in return my students learn about England, and European culture in general. As you soon find out a small percentage of students only want to talk - about everything and nothing, which can prove quite tricky at times. There’s only so much you can discuss with someone you don’t know from Adam but worse a lot of Japanese don’t make it easy to talk freely, there’s something about their body expressions and language. And the level of English is a main factor - trying to have free conversations with someone who has a fairly low level is pretty tricky at the best of times.

And even those who come to learn and study always end up chatting and giving you an insight into the culture. The same applies to kids - I teach everything from 2 years old onwards. Luckily I only have one class of that age, but most kids from about 5 years to 12/13 are a pleasure to be around. As soon as they become teenagers it’s another matter (more on that later). You get things from Japanese kids, whether it’s things they say or things they do, which you’ll never get from an adult. As another teacher said to me early on ‘kids are much better because they haven’t been molded by Japanese society yet’. And I’ve soon come to realise how true that is.

I’ve got a kid I teach on sundays who is by far the coolest nine year old I’ve ever met - the kind of kid that makes you want to have a brother. His joy and his energy are so contagious, it’s really weird. Even if you’re not a kids person, and I never really was even if I don’t mind being around kids (I have a low threshold when it comes to patience), you soon find yourself being sucked in by their attitudes and general ‘joie de vivre’. After all that is the age where everything is fun, everything is new and there are no real responsabilities. I never thought I’d enjoy teaching kids so much, but their attitude makes all the difference.

Going back to the challenge of things, teaching is also proving interesting for me because of the challenge it presents - especially with beginners and people who are learning a lot. It’s quite an amazing feeling when you set out to teach someone something and you realise that you’ve achieved your aim. It might sound simplistic and obvious, but you soon learn (pretty much 2 days into your training if you do a CELTA course) that teaching even what appears to you to be the most simple things about English can be a struggle. And so once you get into the groove of it and become more comfortable with teaching, it’s great to see that spark in people’s eyes, or minds, and it’s great to see them learn something.

I guess some people call it taking pride in what you do - I’ve always liked that. I’m a firm subscriber to the belief that you should always try to do things well. And in that sense teaching provides ample opportunities to apply this and see results first hand, in a way which is a lot more direct than if you weren’t dealing with people.

And yes there are probably as many things that are bad about teaching English in Japan - but if there’s one thing I’ve started to develop more since being here is the ability to be more pragmatic and positive in my outlook. Ying and Yang, good and bad. Everything needs a balance, otherwise it’s not quite right. So I’ll leave the bad for next time, and the downright ugly for the time after that. All I can say is that if you’re thinking of doing something similar, or even just taking up teaching than you should try and do it - especially if like me you like a challenge and feel the need to do something different. There are worse things you could be spending your time on.

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written by Laurent