Job Satisfaction
We have about 12 teaching days left in this contract. I think I'm glad. I have quite enjoyed living in Japan - I've sort of felt for a while now that it was something I had to do at some point - but I think I will be ready to leave at the end of this contract. It's been quite good, work is definitely not too hard, the money is good, the company looks after you well, but I'm thinking lately that I'm lacking the really heartwarming job satisfaction that I have had in other jobs.
It could be that I've been spoilt in the last few years by always teaching beginners. There are several reason I love teaching beginners - for a start, you are usually their first english teacher (at least, first since school) and so they don't have anyone else to compare you to, and thus are often less critical. My beginner students often seem to like me a lot, I've found. The other thing is that their progress is so clear to see. If you start by teaching someone words like 'hello' and 'my name is...' and a few weeks (or months) later they are producing whole sentences on their own, it's easy to see they have improved, and that it is due to your teaching (and their hard work, of course!).
Here I'm teaching conversation to intermediate uni students. Their progress is not so easy to see, and they are more critical, having had several teachers in the same program before. I also have these free-talk session where we just chat, which means there is more emphasis on my social skills than my teaching skills. (I'm more confident about my teaching skills!). As I'm also less experienced at teaching this level, I have fewer great resources up my sleeve, and the lessons the company give us to teach are beginning to scrape the bottom of the barrel I think - now that we have had 40 or so lessons, it seems both the company and I are running out of good ideas!
So for all these reasons, I'm finding myself less-than-usually satisfied with my job. But that's ok. There's only 12 teaching days left!
Oh, and to see me almost-in-action, have a look at this website!
It could be that I've been spoilt in the last few years by always teaching beginners. There are several reason I love teaching beginners - for a start, you are usually their first english teacher (at least, first since school) and so they don't have anyone else to compare you to, and thus are often less critical. My beginner students often seem to like me a lot, I've found. The other thing is that their progress is so clear to see. If you start by teaching someone words like 'hello' and 'my name is...' and a few weeks (or months) later they are producing whole sentences on their own, it's easy to see they have improved, and that it is due to your teaching (and their hard work, of course!).
Here I'm teaching conversation to intermediate uni students. Their progress is not so easy to see, and they are more critical, having had several teachers in the same program before. I also have these free-talk session where we just chat, which means there is more emphasis on my social skills than my teaching skills. (I'm more confident about my teaching skills!). As I'm also less experienced at teaching this level, I have fewer great resources up my sleeve, and the lessons the company give us to teach are beginning to scrape the bottom of the barrel I think - now that we have had 40 or so lessons, it seems both the company and I are running out of good ideas!
So for all these reasons, I'm finding myself less-than-usually satisfied with my job. But that's ok. There's only 12 teaching days left!
Oh, and to see me almost-in-action, have a look at this website!
posted by Kat at 12:52 pm
2 Comments:
If you're having difficulty thinking of conversation topics, we have a book at school called "Taboos and Issues" and it is pretty good. I use it for my "high-level conversation" classes.
The topics include things like abortion, death penalty, bribery & corruption, gay marriage, nudity/nudism/naturism, immigration & racism, etc...
If you have the right mix of students, they can be good for developping vocabulary in different areas, as well as often being issues that people all have different opinions on and therefore are (usually) willing to speak at length.
I have that book on my computer, and dd print a couple of pages from it the other day. It is quite good - I used it for my upper-int conversation club in turkey. The problem here is that is doesn't fit with the "model conversation" method required by the company. What they want is pretty much PPP every day. Dull as. More and more lately, I'm ignoring their "Daily Planner" sheets (what I'm supposed to be teaching each day), so I will use a couple of them sometime in the 12 days I have left!
I also have one called "Instant discussions" and something else that is similar. I really must show you my resources when I get back!
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