TEFL Ridgefield Washington

In September, I am moving to japan and hope to work as an efl teacher in a school in tokyo. This has been a dream of mine since I was very young and I am thrilled to finally have the opportunity and skills to realize this dream. Throughout the course, I have had this aim in mind and have tried to think specifically about problems japanese students may have and ways in which I can rectify them. I think it is imperative that japanese students are taught the Roman alphabet properly from the outset as it is so different from their native alphabets which compromise of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji (chinese symbols). In early lessons, I would focus on writing and pronouncing individual letters as a matter of importance. Traditionally, japanese is written in columns from the top right to the bottom left. To the contrary, english script is written in rows from left to right and this too may pose problems. Some japanese students may struggle with the pronunciation of “l” particularly, as there is no equivalent sound in japanese. Learning about the physical movement which allows us to pronounce “l” during the phonology unit was therefore particularly useful. I would demonstrate the movement and incorporate mouth diagrams into my lessons to help the students overcome this issue. Due to their different accents, some japanese students may struggle to distinguish between the pronunciations of (for example) “caught” and “coat” or “bought” and “boat”. It may be beneficial to incorporate lots of listening exercises into lessons, and I would record students speaking frequently. By playing back the tape and listening to their own pronunciation, students can analyze and identify problems themselves. This could help to address the issue. japanese students may have difficulty understanding grammar and sentence structures in english as they are so different to their native language. japanese relies heavily upon implication; often subjects are not explicitly stated and pronouns are omitted. Word order is also totally different. The “verb” does not feature in the middle of the sentence as it does in english; rather the verb concludes the sentence. Teaching japanese students the rules for forming different sentence structures (which were described clearly within this tefl syllabus) would be hugely beneficial to them. japanese tenses operate differently from english. Specific time frames are used to express tense, with the actual verb being spoken in the present. For example, they would say the equivalent of “I go there yesterday” as opposed to “I went there yesterday”. The system for counting is entirely different in japanese too, so singulars and plurals may also be difficult to understand. There are vast cultural differences between japan and england and there are many hierarchies of formality implicit in the japanese language. They are a remarkably polite nationality and vary their communication depending upon age, sex and status of the person they are addressing. Some japanese students may struggle to find an appropriate way to express themselves in english in a way that they perceive is sufficiently respectful. Consequently, they may have a tendency to act shy or quiet in some situations. To rectify all these problems I would ensure I was as patient, polite, respectful, positive and encouraging as possible towards students at all times. I have taken a huge interest in their culture and think I could be sympathetic towards the differences in language styles and patterns. Hopefully I could teach students to embrace the differences between english and japanese, and keep them interested in the subject in the long term. It would be immensely rewarding to see my japanese students fulfill their ambitions and open themselves up to a world of new, exciting opportunities in the future. Sources: My own experience of japan, and learning japanese.