Teaching English in Japan

Ken Jackson, UK

Ken Jackson has worked for most of his life as a teacher and head teacher in Primary education. He has worked in UK, U.S.A., Japan and in the U.A.E. He is now employed as an Educational Consultant in Dubai. His job consists of bringing speakers to the Magrudy Teachers' Centre to conduct seminars for teachers on various aspects of education. E-mail: ken.jackson@magrudy.com www.magrudyseducation.com

I was teaching English in Japan although I was not a EFL teacher. I was teaching in the Primary section of an International School but as part of our contract we were asked to teach English in the evening school. The people attending this evening school were mainly young adults. I was told that this year I was to teach the conversation class which I thought I would enjoy because I am a very nosy individual so I am interested in many topics.

A colleague asked me what class I was teaching and I said that I had the conversation class. He said, ‘Bad luck.’ I asked him why he had said that and he replied that he had taught the conversation class the previous year and that it was very difficult to get the young Japanese people to speak.

The day came for the first lesson. I looked around at my students and I detected a nervousness in them. I had chosen the topic ‘Are there any similarities between the Japanese people and the British?’ I found it was true what my colleague had said. They did not speak. At the end of the lesson I asked them if any one knew any one else in this class. Only two people put up their hands. I thought maybe they were very shy to discuss a topic in front of others. I realized that at the moment the first thing I had to do was to build them all into a friendship group. I invited them all to go with me to my favourite eating place called Gonta. The word ‘Gonta’ means naughty boy. About 60 % of them said they would like to go with me. I took this opportunity to ask them questions about themselves and I discovered most of them came to Kobe, the big city where I worked, to work and they did not know many people. They all said they missed their families meaning parents as most of them were late teenagers or people in their early 20s. They were quite lonely. At the end of the evening I said I would like them to come to my apartment on Friday and we would have a party. This message was transmitted to the students who did not come to ‘Gonta’ On the Friday evening I waited wondering how many people would come. Then I heard footsteps on the stairs to my apartment. Every one had come except one girl. We had a happy time eating. I had prepared a large amount of Spaghetti bolognaise. As the evening progressed I saw them relaxing with each other. The evening turned out to be quite noisy so I invited the neighbours in. So every Friday after that we had a party

After every class we went to ‘Gonta’ and firm friendships were made there . That was 30 years ago and I return to Japan every year and we always have big parties and most of those former students still come. Many have stayed in my home in Cambridge.

On reflection I realized how important it was to know people before you judged them These Japanese students were, and are, the most delightful people. I am now working in Dubai and already seven of these students have been to visit me with their spouses.

Last November when I was in Kobe I asked Nishikura san what was the reason that my Japanese students did not speak at the beginning of the course and he told me that Japanese people do not like to express an opinion that might upset others. The reason for their initial reluctance was that they cared very much for others. What a wonderful way of thinking. BUT when they knew each other you could not stop them talking.

I would like to thank my students for being such good teachers for me and I felt humbled to think that I learned a very good message from them.

Please check the Train the Trainer course at Pilgrims website.