I ask this because students in Japan learn English from 1st grade all the way through to 12th grade, and most of the time they have teachers who have a simple grasp of the language and alot of the time they also have ALT’s working at their schools however many days per week.
I know that there are other asian countries that have foreigners teaching English like Korea and China, however I cant believe that the students seem to not care, not want to learn, not understand how lucky they are to have a foreigner then can talk to every single day but never want to use that opportunity to use such a great resource.
How many of your students genuinely want to learn and actively study at home and show interest in English class? For me it would be around 5-10% of my students genuinely love it. The other 90% arent even awake
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Kids being kids. I’m sure you had a fantastic library at your school, but how many kids used it? How many kids used the sports facilities? The computer recourses?
It’s just a subject for them. I’d bet that probably 10% care about English, 10% care about math, 10%, PE and so it goes on. Most children don’t really understand the concept that they are *lucky to have what they have, and they shouldn’t waste the opportunity.*
If you worked at an Eikaiwa, you’d probably find that a lot more kids are interested in the class (I’d say around 90%, provided you can give them a decent lesson), but working for Eikaiwa brings up a whole other raft of issues.
I would say 5% of my students would be an exaggeration. Most of them do not have any interest in English whatsoever.
Most other countries that have an actual need for ESL train and hire actual ESL professionals from within the population, they don’t need to entice “natives” with no teaching degree/license/experience like East Asia does for various reasons. ESL in many Europeans countries is taught by bi-linguals with licenses and Ed/ESL degrees. English education is in a pretty poor state, doesn’t have much practical demand, and thus does not produce professionals to that level in places like Japan. Having a “native” in their class isn’t special in the world of ESL, it’s a compromise because the actual teacher isn’t skilled/educated enough to teach the full language without support.
To the seemingly main topic of your post, English isn’t really engaged with as a language in schools here. It’s approached as an academic subject and requirement for testing metrics. Students may or may not like it in the same way they may or may not like math. As an ALT your job ideally is to give authenticity to the language being used in the classroom, and to help both the teachers and the students see it a bit more as a real language. That won’t always lead to students falling in love with English.
I mean idk where you grew up but being from Canada, we grew up needing to learn French for several years. There’s a prevailing attitude in Anglo-Canada that because French is only spoken in Quebec, it’s kind of pointless to learn (and also difficult, because day-to-day exposure is practically non-existent except on grocery packaging!) Particularly because I grew up on the west coast, the furthest from Quebec you could get, a lot of us never saw French as anything more than a language spoken by people a whole country away, and the occasional tourist. It was first and foremost an academic subject, and a functional language was a distant second. And it was taught about as well as English is taught here (read: terribly.)
I sympathise with my students who can’t be bothered to take interest in English, even as their indifference actively makes my job harder. Even the ones who might’ve been interested at first quickly get the wind taken out of their sails when it just becomes another test to take.
it’s because children don’t have the capacity to see the other side and realise how great it is for a foreigner to teach them English because they don’t understand that that’s a lucky experience to have.
for most, English is just like any other subject to them which they are either great at or worst at and if it’s their worst, their parents will probably force them to study it at an eikaiwa or a juku. Hence why they are disengaged.
First you gotta realize that MEXT does not actually have any intention to make Japanese people bilingual. They talk about it endlessly, and continually create new guidelines, but have you not noticed that these endless new guidelines don’t make much difference? It’s nothing but box-checking, because that is all they really want it to be.
Ever notice that ESL teaching in schools is very very irregular? That is, only some schools really take it seriously and attempt to create programs that encourage communicative teaching, while many schools don’t even have teachers who speak English themselves, and simply focus on the grammar and vocabulary that will help them pass tests. The ALTs aren’t used well, and forget about using a communicative methodology. It’s all grammar-translation.
If the government *really* wanted Japanese to be bilingual, they could and they would. But they don’t, so this it is what it is. Don’t expect it to get much better, and if you really want to be an ESL teacher, don’t teach here – there are lots of programs in our home countries to teach immigrants and refugees, in schools, universities, and community programs.
In Japan you’ll get the odd student here and there who really are interested and want to learn, but most of them are, just like the government, okay with box-checking to pass tests. Then they finish school and forget everything they learned.
Everything starts with the systemic issue of the mandated curriculum. Performative conversational “small talk” English.
There’s also something really fascinating about the level of education provided in elementary school when it comes to their own language. You can’t shorthand explain rules using words like keiyoushi(adjectives)and sometimes not even doushi(verbs) to fifth graders because the teacher will inform you it isn’t taught yet. So you have juku kids who can draw parallels between rules, and strictly public school kids who cannot in the same class vs. American elementary school, which is broad strokes similar content in the curriculum with one less year and less time per year overall. Usually learning grammar points and vocabulary earlier, like third grade.
The subject is approached in a performative way, and until the country takes it more seriously, it’s only natural the students won’t. I don’t see it changing, and I’m okay with having a soft effect on a smaller group among the many taught.
Then you have middle aged reactionary blithering idiots who OUGHT to know it’s an issue from the top down, constantly bitching about imaginary standards and goalposts they can move when anyone with half a brain in education will tell you their skilset came from onboarding. Not their BA or whatever.
It’s not the fault of anyone trying to be an assistant teacher. In any subject. For any reason. It’s the expectations set by what’s mandated that have the most profound effect on the experience of students and teachers trying to operate within it.
I’d say this probably isn’t much different for other subjects. Kids that can appreciate learning for the sake of learning are pretty few and far between, wouldn’t you say? I think their appraisal of any subject likely comes from proficiency. If they like the class, it’s because they’re good at it.
Are you actually asking a question or just complaining about your students?
My French teacher in high school was from Belgium.
>I cant believe that the students seem to not care, not want to learn, not understand how lucky they are to have a foreigner then can talk to every single day but never want to use that opportunity to use such a great resource.
You, an adult, can say that now because you realize the value of an education. Your students will take some time to get there.
People are so isolated in Japan, there are kids and even adults who just don’t see the point of learning English. They’ve lived without using English up til now.
On the other hand, I went to Sri Lanka and was surprised that the locals who had no formal English schooling, would try to communicate in a better English than the Japanese who studied for 6 years or more.
One reason is that they were under British rule ..but even then, you cannot underestimate the power of motivation .
English is so precious for you but it’s not for kids. They learn it as a mandatory subject just like math and PE.
You may have been forced to learn a foreign language? How was it? You were really passionate to learn it?
As I said, English is just a subject for kids.
You had been super passionate to learn all the subjects at school?
I started teaching at an eikaiwa, toddlers, kids as young as 4 would cry their eyes out at the prospect of being stuck in a room with a total stranger being forced to participate activities they often didn’t like.
JHS students would turn up in the evening, sandwiching a class between school and juku..I once had a poorer student, who combined with all her study still had to share a room with her parents, she rarely got to sleep until past 1.
Imagine being forced to learn a language, because despite the significan development and wealth of your country, you are told you’re not really good enough, you don’t stand a chance if you don’t learn this language.
No choice, it’s more or less pushed on you, language learning – the hardest thing the brain can do, is being made into a definitive choice…even though in reality you may never need.
Even worse it is being taught by people culturally adverse to language learning, and often with a genuine superiority complex as a result.
Hmm.
The affective filter hypothesis.
Students in Japan learn from Grade 3. Grades 1 and 2 are completely optional.
Well sometimes it is not the student, it is the teacher’s fault for not making the lessons fun or interesting.. been to Korea, Japan and in the Philippines.. And also, been a student before.. I hate math but when a new teacher came – For some reason I ended up liking it.
There’s a time where I was given a chance to teach basic/simple English grammar in a volunteering event in different municipalities and cityhalls.. depends on the assigned instructor- more students signing up.. I don’t think they do not appreciate it, it is just that they prolly’ don’t have a use for it in the future. Why would you waste your time studying a language you knew you’ll never use in the future- because of your personal choice… I just don’t believe they do not appreciate it, they prolly’ just felt like it’s boring.