June 14, 2017
JET Teacher Teresa's June 2017 Blog post!
From this May, my role as an English teacher expanded! How you may ask? Wonderful question! In addition to teaching English classes, I am now a Seiritsu student. Specifically, I am now a Seiritsu art student!
In Seiritsu, we want to expose our students to more English-speaking opportunities and environments. We are tackling the first part with the introduction of native speakers and the revamp of conversation classes. Even so, Seiritsu made a jump towards the overall goal of supporting English fluency by having me join their classes as a student.
Teresa's work!
Teachers are always trying to keep an eye on about seven things at once in class, so having a proper one-on-one conversation for more than three minutes with students is difficult. As a student, an art student in particular, I am seated with a group for the entire class and we chat leisurely while sketching and painting flowers. Nothing is forced and grades are not factored in. There’s no pressure and English just becomes a means of communication, rather than a means to graduate.
The students I am classmates with are now more open to speaking with me compared to other students. In the morning, they loudly greet me with a smile and “Good morning.” In and out of class, they would happily shout some combination of English and Japanese, and they are not at all nervous or made fun of for doing so.
Overall, I am having a lot of fun talking with students about many things, like their recent sports day as well as their weekends, etc. I can see how my students have grown comfortable with using and learning English through conversation. Personally, I really enjoy getting to know more about my students.
Cheers,
Teresa