Welcome, Fellow Teachers!
Hello to all the English teachers/instructors out there. We’d like to share why we decided to establish this association.
In Japan, the “English Market” is huge… and the quality has fallen in many ways.
1. Many marketers (and even some educators, sadly) are interested in making money rather than helping the learners improve their English skills.
2. There is no formal certificate required to teach English locally (except in an official school setting) so the local teachers’ educational and English proficiency levels vary. Many teach with no teaching credentials. Some teach even with no teaching backgrounds. (This is pointed out in this article, too.)
3. In Japan, being a teacher at public/private school is a very demanding job (they have to teach their subjects, supervise the students at all times even during recess or end of the day cleaning time, coach the students with their extra-curricular activities like sports clubs and many more). Technically, they do not have time to improve their English skills/teaching skills, and/or learn anything new in the field.
4. Even when the teachers have time, in Japan, there is only a limited number of opportunities for them to learn new teaching methods. Overall, things are very “closed” and many teachers like to stick to the status quo (They love to be “safe” rather than “adventurous”).
5. Many teachers like to teach how to get a better score on TOEIC because that allows them to make them more employable (SO SO SO many people in Japan want to take TOEIC just because).
So here, at English Teachers Association of Japan, we decided to “BE” the opportunity for those English teachers in Japan to once again look at “English Teaching” as a field of Education.
We’ll provide a wide range of information, especially the ones that you’ll need when you’re teaching Japanese students. And we need YOUR help. Any insightful observation and/or exciting information that you come up with when you’re teaching your Japanese students will be a plus for all of us. (This is one way to help us. )
And we hope to be a place where you can always come back when you need a little tip about teaching.
(Written by Naoko MITSUI)