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I am sure that many of you have heard that Japanese English teachers aren't so good some times. I definitely have heard this from my JET friends. I have always had a picture in my head about how it is to interact with the teachers. "Bad" can have a wide range of connotations. For the most part, when this is applied to JTEs, this means that the teachers are definitely not fluent, and an AET might have to repeat sentences a couple of times, or speak slowly in order for the JTE to understand. Often, the JTE is good at reading comprehension, and can whip us any day in a grammar test. Given all this prep, I still was not prepared for my new JTE. I knew that he previously worked at an elementary school (where English is not taught), so I didn't have high expectations. But I set my expectations too high. He is a 26 year old man, who worked in Miyai-ken, but is now back in his home prefecture, Gunma. He's very nice, but VERY shy. I've talked to him twice, both times, mostly in Japanese. In fact, he introduced himself in Japanese! I got a real fell for his capabilities at the enkai on Friday night. I spoke to him in first-grade English, but this was still too difficult. I asked him such questions as: "What sports do you like?" "What is your hobby?" and "Where do you live?" I recieved answers like: " I like sports is kendo." "hobby? hobby? What is hobby?" "etto...no." This man's major in college was science. The last time he studied English was 8 years ago, when he was in high school. Granted this man studied English for 6 years, but as you can see, this doesn't mean a whole lot. So, I am angry. Not at my new teacher, because it's not his fault. He didn't choose to be an English teacher. He was assigned this position. All he had to do, was to take a teaching Exam to be a Gunma jr. high school teacher, and the assignment was left to other officials. What a waste of his abilities, and how unfair it is to the students. The 3rd grade have to take high school entranc exams, and their English scores will suffer because of this (He will teach 1st grade and 3rd grade!!!). Valerie Straayer |