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I have been working as an Online English Teacher for Japanese students (both young learner and high school students) for almost a year at the time of writing this essay and I have come to understand the main issues each learner has when it comes to learning English. One of the things I have learned about the Japanese and the English subject is that it is taught to them in a very technical manner. The only receptive and productive skills they ever learned during their time at school are Reading and Writing respectively. Though, in recent years, especially with English Proficiency tests like GTEC and TOEFL will be included as part of their College Entrance Exams, education for English in Japan has changed to include the other two skills, Listening and Speaking in order to ensure that learners actually use English. The company I work for has modules provided that are tailor fit to meet students' needs. I have also observed that the Japanese in general have a "shame-based" culture, in which they are afraid of making mistakes in front of their teacher or their classmates. They are expected to get everything right the first time or risk embarrassment due to reprimands or scolding. As teachers, it is crucial that we be aware of this as we teach Japanese students in order to keep them motivated to learn. The best approach would be to acknowledge whatever answer the student gives and provide no more than three corrections thru gentle feedback. That way, they would know what they need to improve upon without feeling down that they made any errors. Another thing to keep in mind when teaching the Japanese is that their phonetics are different from that of English. To be specific, they have difficulty in distinguishing minimal pairs. Take the consonant /r/. In Japanese, it doesn't exist. What they do have is essentially a mix between the /r/ and the /l/ sounds. Another example is that they have no voiced or unvoiced /th/ sound. When an average Japanese would try to make such a sound, it usually comes off as sounding either as an /s/ or a /z/ sound (for example "Father" as "Faza" or "Thank you" as "Sankyu"). As a teacher, the best way for students to be aware of such sounds is through drills and repetition. It is vital that they recognize if they pronounced certain sounds correctly, from the shape of their mouths to the vibrations of their throats. One last thing to be aware of is their vocabulary. When teaching the Japanese students English is that like other countries, they have their own association with certain English words that are different in context and meaning. For example, the word "tension", while it means "mental or emotional strain" means "excitement" to the average Japanese; or "mansion", while it means a large fancy house, is just another term for "apartment room" or "flat". Such a problem can be resolved by giving students proper visual aids for said words to give them an idea on how to use them properly. These are among several problems for the Japanese when it comes to learning English. Fortunately, the education system in Japan is slowly but surely evolving to ensure that every single Japanese student has the means to be able to learn English properly, whether it be through formal schools with revised curricula or thru jukus, which provide dedicated supplementary classes to students in preparation for University.
