Life as a Teacher

I've often thought about going back into teaching and have always known that if anything happened to my corporate job I have teaching to fall back on. And whether it is elementary, junior high, high school, or college teaching is full of rewards. Add in the hours which aren't bad and there are worse jobs than teaching.

That's not to say that teaching wasn’t full of frustrations. Apathetic parents, lazy kids, and fellow teachers that should have retired years ago don't make it an easy place to work. But set your expectations low and just like anything else, small accomplishments can feel like huge triumphs.

One triumph for me occurred in my first year teaching English as a Second language at Toda High School, in Saitama, Japan. It seemed that my first 6 months there were the longest of my life. The kids were quiet and reluctant to want to practice English and a combination of cultural differences and culture shock left me feeling like moving to Japan was the wrong thing to do.

The only bright spot was an elective course that seniors could take called Oral Communication 2. For whatever reason, the class was full of girls, no boys, and they enjoyed talking to me about life back home. Most were to shy to speak in English so our conversations were in Japanese, hand gestures, and the occasional pictures drawn on the chalkboard.

My star student, Eriko was the bravest girl in the class and must have asked me hundreds of questions in just a few weeks. She was the class clown and always in a good mood in spite of coming from what I found out was a rough home life. She seemed to enjoy the class and enjoy my lessons. Then came the day the filled me with pride. In nearly perfect English without a hint of accent Eriko said, "Matt, do you want to have sex?" All the girls laughed nervously and my Japanese co-instructor's jaw nearly hit the floor but the look on Eriko's face said she didn't feel the slightest embarrassment. It would have been easy to chastise her but secretly I felt a sense of pride that one of my students had finally spoken English. After all wasn't that what I had come there to do, teach English?!

Instead, my response was, "WOW Eriko you asked that question so well" and then we went on with the lesson. After class she was sent to her home room teacher and had to apologize to me but I count her question as one of my biggest accomplishments as a teacher. I may never have had a student become an astronaut, Nobel Prize Winner or brain surgeon but if any of them ever visited an English speaking country they could order pizza, ask for the bathroom, and in Eriko's case maybe do a little better.