Archive for category Teaching English
June 19, 2005 – Team teach
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 19, 2015
I teach several group kids classes, and one of my classes is a problem. Fortunately NOVA sent out an experienced kids teacher to do a team teach with me today. I got to see what a class should look like, and learned a few new techniques for classroom management. They have asked me to try out the new techniques next week and see if I can manage on my own, and if not they will try to reassign the class.
School teachers back home often get training days where they learn new techniques and exchange ideas. I think that would be a great idea in the conversational English school world as well. However, teachers in training are not teaching lessons, which means they are not making money for the school. Given that teachers usually stay for a year and then return home, I can understand why they don’t invest more time in training, although as a teacher it would be really great if they did!
June 15, 2005 – Breaking up fights, round 2
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 15, 2015
A few weeks ago I had a kids class where I had to physically restrain one of the students to keep him from beating up another student. I often have some issues with my kids classes, so I don’t think people really understood how crazy the situation was when I tried to explain it.
It happened again today, in full view of parents and staff. The student was upset for some reason, and totally flipped out, trying to attack another student (again). The staff and parents couldn’t get him to calm down or leave the classroom. I ended up doing my best to work with the other kids on the other side of the room.
I would have preferred if nothing like that would ever happen again, but at least this way other people witnessed the situation and hopefully something can be done.
I love teaching English in Japan, but would probably enjoy the job more if I could just teach adults. Teaching kids is a great learning experience, but not always in a good way!
June 12, 2005 – Sick day
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 12, 2015
Today I was sick. Very sick. Unfortunately there is a shortage of teachers at the moment, so taking a sick day is a major inconvenience. Personally I think showing up pale and barfy would have been a bigger inconvenience.
I spent the day sleeping. Blech.
June 11, 2005 – Human paper shredder
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 11, 2015
Tonight I worked the Saturday evening shift alone. Usually there are at least two teachers on late Saturday, but tonight I was working solo. It was just as well – all 4 of my late lessons were empty.
As I have mentioned before, NOVA still pays teachers if no students show up to lessons, however the teachers are expected to find something productive to do in the office. In the past I have had to hand out tissues at the train station, clean the office, tidy the files, or colour kids class training material. Tonight I had a new activity – manually tearing up old comment sheets from former students files. No, we don’t have a paper shredder in the branch.
By about the third hour of trying to avoid paper cuts while tearing up stacks of papers, I started to get a bit grumpy. This is not what I traveled half way around the world to do, and it is not what I spent years in University studying for. After a bit more tearing, I tried to find a positive way of looking at my experience as a human paper shredder. I decided that I could look at the experience in one of two ways:
- I am wasting my life and skills by tearing up papers for money
- I am getting paid a pretty good amount of money to tear up papers while living in Japan
I decided to go for the second option and get through my shift.
In the evening I met up with all the early shift teachers at the izakaya and did my best to catch up on my drinking. I talked to a former NOVA teacher from Canada who was now working as a foreign recruiter for Japanese companies in Tokyo. He told me that foreign accountants with a CPA could find work in Tokyo for a starting salary of 9 million yen (about $100,000 CAD). I have a university degree with a major in accounting, I just need to get my professional designation.
I really enjoy living in Japan, so it was inspiring to know that there is a way in the future to actually use my university education while staying here. Sounds like a good reason to improve my Japanese!
June 10, 2005 – Entertaining the kids with no glasses
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 10, 2015
Today’s schedule was pretty light on students, however I didn’t have any empty lessons.
During my kids class I discovered a new way to entertain the students. I wear glasses to help me see distances better, but can still see pretty well without them. However, if I take off my glasses and pretend that I can’t see anything, the kids think this is hilarious. I don’t completely understand it, but whatever keeps them enjoying the class (hopefully while speaking English) is a good thing.
The other major news today was that my holidays were approved for July!! Hooray!
June 9, 2005 – Early shift rules!
Posted by Barniferous in Shizuoka, Teaching English on June 9, 2015
Today I got to work an early shift at Fujinomiya school.
Fujinomiya is a “small” city of 131,000 just north of Fuji city. Despite having the population to make it a city in Canada, it has a small town feel in Japan. The NOVA branch is located in the Jusco department store, which is the central shopping mall for the city. There are a huge number of kids classes at Fujinomiya NOVA, likely because they provide 40 minutes of child free shopping time for parents.
It’s always nice to interact with some different students. In addition to meeting some different people, it allows me to recycle some of my lesson openers and voice class topics, which makes for an easier day.
Early shift is great because I have my entire evening available, as opposed to my usual shift which ends at 9:00pm. The only downside to an early shift is working one right after a late shift. Otherwise, early shift rules!
June 5, 2005 – Problem Child (not the movie)
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 5, 2015
I got to teach the ‘problem’ kids class again at work today. I will be teaching them for the remainder of the month as usual, and will finish the month with a team teaching seminar with an experienced kids teacher. I have been told that after the team teach, I will have the option of dropping the class.
At this point in my English teaching career, I feel that I am a good or very good teacher for everyone other than children. My students seem to enjoy themselves and I get my fair share of level checks and demo lessons. I just wish I could get better at controlling my kids classes. I would also be happy not having to teach kids anymore, but I don’t think that’s an option 🙂
June 2, 2005 – Who quits by fax?
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Teaching English on June 2, 2015
Today started out as a typical Thursday at Mishima NOVA. Students showed up, teachers taught English, all was normal. In the evening I had an empty lesson and was catching up on some paperwork in the teachers room. I went out front to make a copy, when Patrick the manager started to read an incoming fax.
Patrick read the fax, paused, read it again, and then said “Rumi, please remove Kasparov from the schedule. He doesn’t work here anymore”. Rumi was confused, and not sure if she understood the request. Patrick repeated “Kasparov just quit and doesn’t work here anymore. Please remove him from the schedule”.
It was no secret that Kasparov was not happy working as an English teacher for NOVA. A lot of people sign up to teach English in order to move to Japan, but then realize that the actual teaching is not the fulfilling career choice they thought it would be. Turnover for English teachers is fairly high, but most of the teachers who leave give 2-4 weeks of notice.
Kasparov was an accomplished coder, having developed software as a hobby. His Japanese was also quite good. Unbeknownst to everyone, he had been searching for a new job and had just been hired to do custom coding for a small business in Gotemba. However, in order to get the job, he needed to change the category on his working visa.
Kasparov’s fax explained that as of this morning, he had completed the change to his working visa, and he was no longer legally allowed to work at NOVA. Instead of giving any warning or indication that something was going to happen, he sent a fax on his day off and just never came back. It was one of the biggest dick moves I have ever seen.
Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days of the week at NOVA. Removing one teacher from the schedule created a panic for the staff, who had to try to juggle lessons and find a quick replacement teacher (in an area short of teachers) before finally cancelling lessons and calling students to apologize.
Kasparov quit by fax in order to stick it to NOVA. Overall, the effect on the company was very small, unlike the effect his sudden departure had on his former coworkers and students. He was not exactly popular before he pulled this stunt, and he definitely wasn’t going to win any popularity contests afterwards.
If you have a grudge with your employer, don’t quit in a way that screws over your former coworkers or the customers. That’s just being an asshole.
(2015 Update) My original post on the subject was 2 sentences long with no details because I wasn’t sure who was reading my blog. I should have posted it anyways – it’s not like anyone other than Kasparov would have disagreed with me.
June 1, 2005 – Breaking up fights
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 1, 2015
There is a shortage of teachers in the area now, so today I had to teach a group kids class that I had never taught before. It was a Junior group, which had kids aged 6-9.
The class started like any other kids class, but I quickly realized that two of the students didn’t like each other. Let’s call them students A and B. It’s not uncommon to have some students (especially boys) teasing each other or poking at each other, but this is the first time I have ever had a student seriously attack another student before.
I don’t know exactly what set things off, but for some reason student A lunged at student B and started laying the smack down. I pulled student A off and tried to get him to calm down. Student B took this as an opportunity to verbally taunt student A, which just made things worse. A kept trying to escape my grip and get at B again. I was unable to get A to calm down, so I picked him up and removed him from the classroom. He kept trying to get around me and back into the room to keep fighting, so I called the Japanese staff for help. Even with the staff’s help, student A kept trying to get back into the classroom to attack student B again. They ended up keeping him outside the room for several minutes while I returned to my class, and then sat next to him for the rest of the lesson to keep him away from student B.
It goes without saying that this was not my most productive NOVA kids class. I had to write up the entire incident in the kids logbook. Every branch has a book to write about any incidents in kids classes, including fights or injuries. The kids logbook was a great way for teachers to vent, but I am not sure it was actually used by any of the staff for anything else.
If anything, I did manage to keep anyone (including myself) from getting hurt. Breaking up fights between children was definitely NOT in the promotional material for teaching English in Japan!
May 15, 2005 – The worst
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Teaching English on May 15, 2015
Today I had the worst kids class in my entire time teaching English in Japan. I can’t go into too many details because I am still working there and don’t know who is reading my blog, but if I have to continue teaching this class I will start considering my career options. I need a vacation!
(2015 Update) I don’t remember the exact details, but I am pretty sure that my original post was about a terrible experience covering one of Kasparov’s classes because he was “injured”. The kids were completely out of control and just went nuts for 40 minutes, running, screaming and throwing stuff. To make matters worse, Kasparov was looking through the window from the adjacent Voice classroom and laughing at me.
Kasparov (obviously not his real name) was a dick.
Drinking in Japan 
Recent Comments