Teaching English...

So, one of the reasons I haven't been posting much lately is because I landed a job at Gaba teaching English. I'm sure you remember my prior escapade trying to get my work permit. After finally obtaining the permit, I had to go through a three day training period, where a friendly guy named Gareth walked me through the processes of being a Gaba teacher, along with a ragtag group of other would-be teachers. It's interesting how diverse the prospective teachers were; Americans, British, and a smattering of other nationalities including Malaysian, Nepalese, and even a French man with a very thick accent. We spent our time going over the policies and methods of teaching "the Gaba way." The training helped me realize that I already had the knowledge necessary to become a teacher, but what I was really lacking was the confidence to sit in front of a stranger and assume the role. No amount of training could take the place of real-world experience, so all I had left was to jump into the thick of things and just teach.

But I was still apprehensive. I'd been assigned to the Shinjuku learning studio, which is the largest and busiest school in the company, with the most diverse group of students. Daunting is probably the word I'm searching for. I went my first day to meet the managers and get some "fourth day training." When I was done I sat in an empty booth, straining to listen to the lessons next door, but ultimately, the buzz of dozens of conversations drowned out any useful tips i might have picked up. I resigned myself to deciding my schedule, and turned for home. Tomorrow, the real work would begin.

Although I was anxious about teaching, I found myself excited about starting my work. My first client was late, but once he showed up, it was game on. The moments preceding the lessons were laced with doubt and apprehension, but as soon as the student walked into my booth, I forgot all that and I went into a sort of educational autopilot. I apparently absorbed the material from training quite effectively. As I gained experience, I was able to prepare for the lessons in less and less time. Before I know it, the evening is over, and I've finished my first day. Teaching isn't as difficult or boring as I thought. My students are interesting people with a variety of opinions, and I enjoy helping them.

That day was now a month past. Many lessons taught, many faces forgotten. Through the sea of students, I have learnt a number of lessons to help me improve my teaching methods. I've observed myself in lessons and identified my weak points; talking more than the student and time management stand out as the most difficult things to work on. Whereas a traditional teaching method might call fro a teacher to lecture the student, conversation schools put the emphasis on speaking practice. My socratic methods might be useful for teaching actual topics and subjects, but they aren't quite so effective in language acquisition. I'm taking the title too seriously; I might be able to teach them something new, but these are smart people. They already have opinions, they just need my help learning how to express them. I need to remember that.