Why do foreign English teachers have to be Genki?

39 comments

1. English is difficult and can therefore be tedious. Do you want a boring old fart teaching you or would you prefer someone happy? The former they get/had enough of at school.

2. If the teacher isn’t enthusiastic, then that will impact on the students. Also, usually these are private businesses and rely on selling their product so a happy genki teacher is an easier sell

3. 1. Yes, I’ve noticed, I hate it.
   2. It’s almost a cliche at this point. There is this idea that ALTS are not supposed to ‘teach’ English, merely perpetuate the idea that learning English is fun. Also most ALT’s teach younger learners. If you ever end up in a university or even senior high school position, then the genki stays home.
   3. Probably the most liked/successful ALTS are the genki ones.
   4. Some students like it, some hate it. If you teach in a getto school, be very careful with it. In kindergarten classes, being too genki can also lead the class to becoming out of control.
   5. I’ve been told to be more genki but I prefer a more kind, gentle approach (and it has worked fine). Not everyone wants to be bouncing off the walls, telling jokes and acting a general fool. Often if you are doing well in class, your trainer will tell you to be more genki because they can’t actually say good job to you.

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   Find a style that suits you. Every ALT position/school is different and requires a different approach. Ultimately you want to be friendly, approachable, professional and likeable. I’ve never really had a super genki teaching style and yet students like my classes and me.

   Most of the trainers for dispatch companies really don’t know what the fuck they are doing and will literally teach you to mimic their style because it’s the only way they know.

4. In most eikaiwa positions you are a recruiter and daycare staff before you’re a teacher, eikaiwas are not schools, they’re businesses. The biggest difference between what you’re experiencing now and what you experienced in your own education was that in actual schools, teaching effectively is the first priority.

5. If you’re working at an Eikaiwa, you’re really not a teacher though. You say you didn’t expect teachers to be that way when you were at school, but then you probably expected teachers to be fully trained and qualified to teach the curriculum and to be able to speak your native language. Quite frankly, you are not held to the same standards as a Japanese teacher in a real school, and you almost certainly wouldn’t want to be.

   You’re really just a language practice partner, and a lot of people who want to go to Eikaiwa are people who have a certain romanticized idea of what Western countries and people from them are supposed to be like. Imagine the kind of person who would pay money to have a Japanese conversation partner in a Western country – you might get the odd couple of serious students but the majority of them are going to be Japanophiles of some order, right?

   Anyway, to answer your questions:

   1. Yes

   2. Because if you’re from a Western country you’re almost certainly going to be louder and more physically expressive than the average Japanese person. The “genki” act is to make that seem fun and friendly, rather than intimidating.

   3. Pretty much any form of media in which non-Japanese people are portrayed. The same way that people who only know about Japan from anime have very warped ideas of what Japanese people are like.

   4. I mentioned it above, but 90% of the time, yes, especially if they’re going to an Eikaiwa of their own volition. You’ll get kids that will find it grating, but of that small percentage, a lot of them really don’t want to be there in the first place and wouldn’t like you regardless of what you did.

   5. No, but I know people who have not been reemployed because no students wanted to have lessons with them. At the end of the day, if you are working for an Eikaiwa you are working for a private company, and it is your job to attract and retain customers. You don’t have to be a clown, but if you want to break the mold you need to be personable and respected enough in your own way such that people actually want to pay to spend an hour with you a week.

6. Because it’s performance not teaching.

   Is education theater a term yet? The appearance of teaching being more important than actual effectiveness.

7. 1. Of course. The ALT and eikaiwa industries are less about teaching and more about entertaining.
   2. ALTs and eikaiwa workers aren’t teachers, primarily. See number 1.
   3. Again, you’re more of an entertainer than anything else. Entertainers are expected to be genki.
   4. Elementary school kids? Hell, yes. JHS kids don’t like anything, because they’re too cool for school much of the time.
   5. I think if you get **fired**, it’s for something else, and “not being genki” is just the reason they choose to say. I’ve never been fired, and I’m not terribly genki. Using your voice is better than dancing, though.

8. Working in a public school, being positive is accepted. Being “genki” as I’ve seen other teachers during observations is just… fake. The students can feel it too.

   More important is to be positive and be yourself. Set a good example of trying new things with a positive outlook and it will reflect on the students. Just because you are a foreigner, doesn’t mean you aren’t a role model.

   1. Yes.
   2. Because it’s better to be overly enthusiastic than not.
   3. Probably from an American stereotype? We are always looking on the bright side.
   4. Yes and no. It’s a balance and some people like it, others don’t.
   5. No, but I am also only a JHS teacher so I balance the energy as the students mature during their studies.

9. What annoyed me even more when I worked for Interac was how even during our monthly meetings the managers would act genki while talking about whatever. Like, bitch, I’m an adult, please talk to me like one.

10. Teaching english in Japan is edu-tainment. So you need to be entertaining as well as educational.

11. I’m a qualified teacher and I work part time an a university and part time at an eikaiwa. Unlike my eikaiwa boss, I actually care about my students’ language learning, not just being entertainment. I just be myself in class. I’m really well-liked by students, and they have good learning outcomes. I care about that more than my idiot manager’s opinion.

12. I think you need to think on what being “genki” means in different contexts. That is, there are different expectations in different teaching contexts for different reasons.

    For example, in contexts where you teach little kids, being “genki” means being fun – singing songs, running around, being playful. This is necessary to get and keep kids’ interest. This is a given for anyone who teaches children.

    In eikaiwa, what they generally expect is that you keep the lesson fun and light. Most people going to eikaiwa aren’t serious learners. They attend as a hobby, because their parents make them, or their boss makes them. These types of learners don’t want to be pushed hard. They don’t want strict correction, to have to think too much, or to be pushed to improve in any way. So in this context, “genki” means you’re supposed to just amuse them, not teach them. And yes, the students absolutely do expect this – after all, they are not there to learn; they are there to have fun, and they don’t care to face some stern disapproving gaijin. The bottom line is that they are paying for you to AMUSE them, not teach them.

    As for an ALT, the same is probably the case when you’re teaching elementary schools (i.e., have fun with the kids) and in secondary schools (it’s not your job to actually teach – just be fun and amuse the students).

    This is a contrast to university teaching, particularly those universities that take English education seriously. In those contexts, teachers can be more serious and push the students harder. This is expected, since the students are there to learn, and. teachers are there to teach – not just play games and amuse the learners. In other words, teaching is taken seriously and there certain expectations of the learners and standards that they must strive to meet, or else there are consequences – i.e., failing.

    In other words, if you’re working in a non-academic context, it’s to be expected that you’re there more to amuse the learners than to teach them. So yes, being “genki” is going to be seen as an important aspect of your job. If that’s something that bothers you, if you would like to be taken more seriously as an educator and not as a comedian, nursemaid, mother, counselor, or faux friend, then you’re going to need to get the credentials to get out of that context and move into a more serious profession where there are standards of education teachers have to live up to, and where there are consequences for learners who do not meet academic expectations.

    I will say this, however: you will, in any context, get more out of the learners if you are a friendly, outgoing person who is willing to nurture their self-confidence, while at the same time, know exactly how far you can push each individual person. Being a grumpy hardass never works, and neither does being a mommy. You have to find the right balance, and that is going to be different with every student. Learn to read the air, as the Japanese say.

13. I think there is a big disconnect between the actual meaning of Genki and an Eikaiwa/Schools throw it at foreign teachers. As a whole, Genki is easy to comprehend the general gist, but can be molded to a specific school/individual’s ideologies on the approach to work. This ultimately can translate to you must conform to this image/style or be shunned. Not all cases are like this, but most.

    When I used to work at an Eikaiwa, I was also told to be Genki on my first day of training. I asked what they meant by that and each person I asked had a different response. Some people expect this, others expect that, and that old lady over there didn’t like the others methods. It make it very difficult for me to understand how I was supposed to approach work and my students.

    Eventually, I created my own perception of the word Genki and found that is was more successful (for me). It made the job at least go by quicker. I didn’t necessarily enjoy my work anymore than before, but I made it more tolerable, if that makes sense. Outside of my last manager, I never got reprimanded for it.

    As for your questions.

    1. Yes. Of course.
    2. I think there are many reasons. Overall, having a teacher that looks/sounds depressed isn’t ideal from a students perspective. I am not saying there is only these two types of teachers(Genki/Depressed). English, and any language for that matter, is a difficult thing to fully grasp, and sometimes a tedious process. If my Japanese teacher was boring, I wouldn’t want to pay attention and would lose interest. Genki to me didn’t mean be overly energetic to the point where I was annoyed, it meant show interest in helping me achieve my goals, along with other things too. Of course, this varies per person, as I saw in your previous comment you would rather have a “teacher”, which is rather vague to be honest. To each their own. I do think superiority complexes, stubbornness, keeping business standards, etc. are also involved in this too. I also think it is a way to crush some individuals with high expectations too.
    3. I mean, in reality, being Genki never originated from eikaiwa/alt jobs. Most, if not all, professions in some form or another have a “Be Genki” ideology set it place. Albeit, Alts and Eikaiwas are more extreme in most cases.
    4. Some do. Some don’t. It depends on if they are being genki or being “genki”
    5. I have never been fired for not being Genki. I got in trouble once for not following my manager’s genki style though. My previous coworker (who I absolutely despised) got in trouble all the time for not being genki, but she was also shit. And my other coworker (who I consider a close friend) got in trouble for questioning the genki approach too much.

14. I have not thought about this but I make sure to be Genki because my students seem to fall asleep if they Are not engaged. SHS. I also try to make fun activities. The only compliments/appreciation I’ve received has stemmed from making original activities and talking super clearly and happily, so I just subconsciously aim for that.

15. Because you aren’t there to teach English, you are there to front an exotic face for the company/school to sell their poorly made curriculum at as cheap a price as they can find.

16. I never thought about this before tbh, I never considered that being normal and not genki was even an option. I definitely prefer to be though, I can see that it helps the students to have fun, and in turn I’m also able to have more fun.

17. Some guy came up with a business model (this is waaay back) called “Genki English” and apparently made quite a nice little fortune from it.

    I remember a great comment on a long-defunct message board: “Did your math teacher teach you about algebra by singing and dancing?”

    My take is that English education never has been and never will be taken seriously in Japan, because there’s essentially no need for it for most people. (Go to school, graduate, enter a company, waste 40 years of your life, retire…all in Japan). You could bet the farm that a social studies teacher would be pulled up before Kocho-sensei in short order if he taught students about the battle of Sekigahara while dancing around in a stupid hat.

    Anyway, “enthusiasm” and “genkiness” aren’t the same thing. The former is something which will come through to students if you really have it; the latter is a model of behaviour which everyone can see through but somehow agrees is appropriate for English education.

18. Everyone in service industry (every industry actually) in Japan is expected to be genki, not just eikaiwa teachers.
    Also, a friendly foreigner and a stoic foreign, who would look more intimidating to the local?
    For eikaiwa teachers, the emphasis is on conversational skill, not high level of English ability, so being a friendly partner would be helpful to the students.
    You should put students’ experience above your tiredness of being smiley all the time, that’s the mindset of the people here.

19. Absolutely hate this stereotype. Basically its saying Dance gaijin and entertain us- for very little money. Nope, Im a University graduate, and you are here to learn. Its a fine line though, have to make the class interesting enough for the students to want to participate. My students are in senior high school and they all look traumatised after translating useless phrases in their other English classes

20. As an Eikawa teacher

    The reason for being “Genki” is that you’re a product they’re selling. Not so much the education itself but “the chance” to be taught by a native speaker of English… ironically, I’m not a native, but I’m white and speak without accent, I guess that’s enough.

    At my first job they said that they were gonna tel the students and parents that I was American. I told them straight up that I’m not going to keep that secret. I talk too much.

    I mean it is a business. So profit before actual education is a priority, sadly… but I get it.

    But the forced “Genkiness” is extremely exhausting m. If you’re not “in the zone” for a couple of days, which can happen for various reasons, you can be labeled as a bad teacher. At least at my previous job. And that, to me, was ridiculous.

    You have higher ups making decisions on how to teach, yet they don’t teach themselves and barely speaks English.

    The term “dancing monkey” is true to a certain extent.

21. no teach, only gesture. big big energy

22. Because it’s hard to develop a conversation with a person who’s depressed. (It’s especially in Eikaiwa (= English conversation ). And nobody wants to be taught by a grumpy or sick person. I’m a Japanese and sorry if you don’t mean it by genki.

23. English teachers by and large have no credentials. They are there to entertain.

24. The short answer to your question is a lot of language instruction work has a lot in common with being a public-facing employee at a concept cafe (think maid cafes and breastaurants) or being the person in the walkabout costume (think Disneyland or Chuck E. Cheese). You are trying to take tired, possibly disinterested people and cheer them up a little bit. If they learn English, fine. But if they leave feeling good enough about the experience to extend their lesson commitment, even better.

    You are providing emotional capital first and education second.

    To provide this emotional capital, you have to be somewhat upbeat, encouraging, and friendly. Do you have to be a clown? No. But you have to give your clients a reasonably good experience so they want to come back or want you back.

25. 1. Yes, but I’ve also noticed other subject teachers being genki. I think in kindergarten through elementary school, all teachers are expected to be genki (thought not all of them are, especially in English classes where they probably feel stressed out).
    2. The divergence seems to happen in JHS, where other teachers stop being genki but still expect the foreign teacher to be. I think this mostly comes from two things:
    1. Since Japan is predominantly Japanese, they want foreigners to make a good impression (they think genki=good);
    2. They [wrongfully] equate being genki with good English teaching, since they think genki=fun. English is one of the only subjects that cripplingly relies on “fun” since they don’t know how else to do it. Unfortunately, they also have no idea how to make English fun and, without an ALT, the class usually devolves into the teacher writing dialogues on the board and pointing out what is a noun and what is a verb, telling students to box and underline. They rely on the ALT for “fun” since they have no idea what they’re doing, but at the same time they try to force their idea of “fun” onto the ALT.
    3. Like most of English education, the stereotype came from what the current teachers remember from their classes. It’s a vicious cycle.
    4. Young students do. Older students enjoy the novelty for awhile but they’re not laughing with you that’s for sure. Anyway, after about a month older students prefer a real person.
    5. No. One school complained about it but the students liked me too much for them to do anything about it, but I ended up quitting since the teachers were being difficult. My next job actually had “you are not a clown” in the contract, which got a laugh from me. My current job asked me to be genki with the kindergarten kids but said to just be me with everyone else.

    EDIT: I see a lot of other people saying that genki is “bouncing off the walls”, so I want to add that I was never *that* genki. Companies/schools that ask for that are just trying to cover up bad teaching, 100%.

26. Genki for Elementary school. Mild Genki for JHS. Normal for HS. TiredMofo for University.

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    Maybe.

27. It stems from a stereotype of the loud American who teaches you English.

    Generally, you can be low-key, and there won’t be a problem to the point where you can get fired. If you do… Probably not a good workplace in the long run.

28. Because they have no skills other than being English speakers. Americans in particular seem to lack even basic knowledge of their own grammar.

29. > When I worked in eikaiwa it seemed that a lot of the trainers/managers tried to embody this stereotype and wanted us to be like them and that we weren’t teaching English properly if we weren’t genki enough. Also during my training as an ALT the trainers tried to push us to be this type of person.

    This will make a lot more sense if you accept that you’re not really employed as a teacher, you’re employed as an entertainer and a salesperson.

    Teachers teach. They give tests. They assign homework. They grade papers & projects. None of that applies to eikaiwa work.

30. Supply and demand… non-genki Japanese teachers have flooded the market.

31. Yeah…I started freelancing because I didn’t like playing the role of a clown. It’s because they don’t really view it as education—it’s entertainment; your job is primarily to keep them wanting to come back.

32. Solo-teacher here, and I find the many opinions replying here suggesting that we should be genki because we aren’t really teachers quite questionable.

    1. Yeah, it’s a dumb idea, but it’s well entrenched here.
    2. Mostly because the traditional *eigo* teaching method in Japan is mind-curdlingingly dull, and a lot of non-Japanese teachers who have come here to teach have more enthusiasm than expertise, so they market themselves as the fun alternative to the traditional method. Over time, this gradually morphed into an idea that it is the foreign teacher’s job to be fun, and the Japanese teacher’s job to be an expert in English. I hope I don’t have to point out the problem with this.
    3. A lazy mindset that defines personalities by nationality.
    4. Some do, but not necessarily the ones who want to learn English to do anything with English. Many don’t.
    5. Never, but then I’ve never been fired from anywhere.

    I’ve long ago stopped worrying about being genki, but I do bring my own energy to class. There is a space in English class for linguistic clowning. Props, dumb voices, goofy costumes, I’m not a fan of any of that, but there aren’t many joys in a classroom that beat making a joke or pun or play-on-words and hearing your students immediately catch it and laugh (or groan), proving they understood it without needing to think about it.

    Jokes to grab attention = Drake.nah

    Jokes to diagnose comprehension = Drake.yeeaaah

33. If you go back a few decades, eikaiwa weren’t really education environments. You’d go to one to be entertained by the novel experience of English conversation with a foreigner, like you go to a maid cafe to be entertained by a maid. I suppose that’s why they’re usually just called “English conversation” rather than “English school”. They’ve turned into actual language learning environments in recent years, but l the name and entertainment factor have hung around.

    As for teaching kids, I guess a bit of an extension of the above. But you’ve also got the fact that you need to communicate and build rapport with children who can’t understand you. A way to seem likeable is to be upbeat and friendly. Heavy use of gestures sort of helps get your point across too.

    Another thing is perhaps when the word “genki” is used it’s a fairly clumsy (and slightly irritating) way of saying “not like a stuffy school teacher”. Communication is by nature active, and is generally more engaging when there’s a bit of energy behind it. As a communication teacher you need to raise the energy of your students so that they’re having somewhat lively interactions in English. I generally find my university students reach about 80% of the energy level I operate at, so I aim slightly above “jovial” to set the tone.

34. The previous ALT at my school was apparently super Genki and the kids called her テンション高い先生… which wasn’t a good thing lol.
    My coordinators always tried to push me to be more Genki like her and I would always curse this damn woman I’ve never even met. Though later I found out the HRTs hated alts for being too Genki as it makes the class go out of control sometimes…

35. 1. Yes, lol. 80% of the job as an ALT or eikaiwa teacher is about your attitude.
    2. Japanese culture. You aren’t there really to provide results, you are there as an entertaining distraction with the illusion of education. There are some exceptions to this probably, but it was universal for me.
    3. No idea. Probably some cultural thing.
    4. Yes, people like it when you are entertaining, positive and give good energy. My guess is that there teachers in school were strict, boring and had bad energy, so they want the opposite from foreign English teachers.
    5. Almost. I had eduction experience before I got to Japan and so went into my teaching work in Japan using the same educational principals. I focused on accuracy and giving quality education lessons, trying to get the best results. This wasn’t exactly looked well upon as I didn’t hide my lack of happiness when I felt like the lesson didn’t accomplish what I wanted. I got a lot of complaints and was told that if I got anymore, I would be fired. So, I learned to hide my emotions and be “nicer”.

36. > I am curious to know where this stereotype came from as I never expected this from my teachers when I was at school.

    I don’t think it’s a stereotype, it’s a business expectation. Eikaiwas want to be friendly and accessible as this sets them aside from cram schools (most of which also teach English but using cram methods rather than conversation). People don’t want an angry/strict gaijin, they want a genki gaijin.

    IMO this expectation is consistent with just about any other customer/client-facing role in Japan. Friendliness and positivity is a hallmark of Japanese service, which IMO sets them apart from many countries in the region.

37. I’m chill and laid back. When I smiled, thought something was funny, or gave a compliment I meant it. The teachers liked it and the students did as well. This has always helped me with difficult students where being genki isn’t enough to motivate them. They are looking for real interactions. Besides, there was enough fake genki going around that you would think it was contagious.

38. Not necessary, but being lively/enthusiastic can make up for not having any teaching experience or skills, which is why entry level/unskilled positions may emphasise it.

39. A lot of lower-level positions (ALT jobs, small businesses) tend to have watered-down versions of ideas that the trainers and management pick up from experience at large corporate schools, like Eikaiwa. These larger corporate schools do what they do intentionally to emotionally manipulate students.

    Teachers are expected to be “genki” in class for the same reason that some fast food chains are attempting to make smiles a requirement for clocking in— research shows that a warm smile (as in an actual one) leaves a positive impression, and so if you’re not smiling as much as humanly possible, you’re hurting customer retention 🙂

    It’s the same reason trainers focus so much on praise— big corporate schools lovebomb customers as a customer retention tactic, and then that seeps down into the rest of the industry until it seems like it’s just common sense “oh yeah, good teachers should be praising people”.