Posted on April 12, 2007 by Jude Coulter-Pultz
English Teaching in Japan is the new Occupation. I am but one of many soldiers of education. We see each other on the trains every day and recognize each other by our uniforms - shirt, tie, slacks. Rarely do we speak to each other unless to ask the routine questions, such as "Where are you stationed?" or "How many years have you been in the service?" On base, we retreat into our little pocket worlds where, except for little things like not wearing shoes indoors, Japan all but disappears. Here, only English is spoken and it is the Japanese who are, for an hour a week, foreign.
Outside the borders of base camp, however, it's a different story. After teaching our native language for 8 hours out of the day, we spend the rest stammering in Japan... Read More
Posted on April 2, 2007 by Erica Belling
I am officially an ALT! An Assistant Language Teacher that is. I have spent the last 6 days intensively training to become an English teacher in Japan. Do you know how exhausting it is to sing, dance and play games every day? My childhood flashed before my eyes ? Duck duck goose; Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes; Rock, Paper, Scissors; Old Macdonald had a farm…it was however, extremely amusing to see grown men sing and act out these songs!
I am both excited and slightly nervous about my first class of teaching English. Not only is it my first time teaching, I am doing it another country, whose schooling system and culture is very different to my own in Australia. I will be eating lunch with the children everyday, teaching them ... Read More
