July 5, 2016
JET teacher Laurence talks about life!
Hello! Laurence here.
Of course, living in Japan and working in a Japanese school means being constantly exposed to the Japanese language, and that’s a good thing! What’s a better time to learn Japanese than when you’re living in Japan right? But not so fast! It’s not that simple. When you teach English in Tokyo, a lot of the time you do end up speaking English for most of the day because, well, that’s your job. And it makes sense: the teachers want to practice their English, the students need to hear natural English and if you have colleagues who are also native English speakers, chances are they are going to want to speak in English too. So what can you do to learn Japanese despite all of this? Here are a few things I’ve found useful.
1: Use the Japanese learning resources from existing resources.
One of the things that make Seiritsu High School stand out from other schools in Tokyo is that we have an international department! Our international students whether they are returning Japan-born students or completely new to Japan need to learn Japanese and brush up on their kanji skills. That’s why we keep several books on the subject and as well as stacks of kanji cards (that have also been digitalized for convenience), which I use as an ALT too!
2: Be brave: talk to your colleagues who only speak Japanese!
From my experience, I’ve found that it’s much harder to get to know your colleagues in Japan. Some of them will not really talk to you aside from their mandatory morning greetings, which means that you might have to be the one to take the first step sometimes. A lot of the teachers do actually speak or understand a little English and that can help in a pinch. Having a translator app on your phone will also help making these conversations go a lot more smoothly. That being said, the teachers can be quite busy at work, which can make breaking the ice harder and that leads to my final tip…
3: Socialise - Go to work events and have fun!
You don’t usually associate parties and learning but when it comes to learning a new language in another country it absolutely does. Work parties in Japan usually start at a restaurant for a casual dinner and food is a great conversation-starter. Plus, you might want help from your Japanese colleagues to read or understand what’s on the menu. During the parties, you won’t feel like you’re bothering the teachers if you speak to them and it can make interacting at work easier after! As a bonus, if you are team teaching like I am, the parties can help strengthen your bond with your team teaching partners.
Bonus: This last tip applies to school trips and special days as well! Any context outside of regular work is good to get to know your colleagues, and they will probably be more willing to talk about themselves then.
Happy learning!
Laurence Dube
JET Assistant Language Teacher