Teaching English in Japan

When you're applying for a teaching job in Japan, the job classified you answer will usually be very specific about what to include. Often, though, the classified will not spell out what's expected.

A lot of conversation textbooks have model dialogs, and many of them have something like a substitution drill exercise -- each time the students do the conversation, they substitute a few items into the conversation. You've got to wonder, though, what exactly the students are doing. Are they really processing for meaning?

With the new school year coming in April (Japan) or earlier (Korea), it's not too early to start thinking about the first day of class. The quick ideas here will help set the tone from your first class meeting, an ideal time to help students get to know each other and feel comfortable in the classroom.

If you're dead smack in the middle of a semester and have an important essay due that you pushed to the side, you're likely in a rush. Instead of sacrificing content and turning in your essay without looking it over, you can edit it much faster than you think.