This question is dead serious, not passive agressive, I really want to know how you all feel……..Do you actually care if your student’s English speaking level improves?

I have taught at ALOT of different places in Japan

2 eikaiwa schools

1 regular juku

1 university

2 high schools

7 junior high schools

14 elementary schools

and now I work as a ‘JTE’ with a normal teaching license at a public junior high school

Throughout all this I have taught somewhere in the realm of 15,000 different kids at least 1 lesson.

I have come to realize that generally speaking, I don’t care if my students speaking level improves, because the way Japanese society is structured right now, it really doesn’t matter for the vast majority of people. Like now that I am a regular teacher I teach 道徳(moral education) and 学活(the morning/afternoon meetings) and 総合(general studies) and all that stuff, and when I first started I was like oh man, I can work English into these lessons….and then I realized that, honestly, it just doesn’t matter.

I am not depressed about this or anything, I didn’t become a public school teacher because I love teaching English, I did it because I like helping kids who are going through a rough time, and it’s much easier to help a kid as a teacher than it is as a counselor or psychologist.

So I do what I can to make sure they get the highest test scores possible, and understand English well on paper. I also do introduce culture/media from the States that I personally enjoy, and any kid who is genuinely interested in learning English, I will give them as many chances to talk with our ALT as possible, and I will also talk to them when I can. But at the end of the day, 90% or more of my students will never need to speak English in their adult lives, but 100% of them will need to use it on written tests in the future.

I’m curious how you all feel about this?

by Particular_Stop_3332