I don’t know if this has been mentioned on the soapbox before but it just occurred to me this afternoon while teaching a class at Smith’s School of English in Fuse.
I guess when people read about teaching English at Smith’s School of English, or anywhere else in Japan for that matter, we just assume that we are talking about teaching English to Japanese students only.
But that is definitely not the case!
I have had some very “international” classes over the years.
Thinking back over the past 4 years, in addition to Japanese students, I have also had quite a number of Korean and Chinese students, as well as one Italian/Japanese student, Brazilian/Japanese student, Malaysian student and one Iranian student.
I hope I’ve included them all, but I’ve probably left some out.
And then there’s me! A half-Romanian and half-Italian teacher of English!
Some of my favorite classes have been these “international” types.
Also, if you have the privilege of having higher level speaking “international” types of classes they can be extremely interesting as you listen to students from different backgrounds discovering similarities and differences between them and doing this all in English!
You realize different perspectives on issues; expand your knowledge of the world and often have a laugh together!
In the past I’ve referred to English as the common denominator between people from all walks of life and I continue to see this played out in my classrooms every week.
Just one of the many benefits of being an English teacher in Japan!
Alessandro “Alex” Stanciu
アレッサンドロ“アレックス”スタンシュー
Smith’s School of English Horie/Yotsubashi
月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校 / 四ツ橋校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml 大阪市英会話
Smith’s School of English Fuse
月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/fuse.shtml 東大阪市英会話