Audio English Lesson

(Pictured: Paul Canosa and English students)

Jeff being the taller and more striking of the two, landed his teaching position first. Yes that`s what I`m saying--that it was partly at least, to do with looks. Sad but true. Yet I feel the same way about jobs in Canada.

People tell me that isn`t true but I don`t see many ugly people working at Hooters in Vancouver. Perhaps it is not the best example but it shows what Canadians will tolerate in spite of giving lip service to fairness. Japan is no different that way.

Again, I if two people come up for the job studies have shown the more attractive one tends to get it; (all other things being equal).

Brian struggled for a while,and finally was hired by a chain called Bilingual. Jeff worked for a school called Simpson (name changed for this story). If either had been of an Asian minority or African North American, securing a teaching position would have been more difficult.

Fitting the general image of what an English teacher should look and sound like--according to Japanese English School managers however, they both found positions relatively easily. Americans tend to be the most in demand, Britons too have their English school manager fans. Canadians rank as quasi-Americans, and New Zealanders and Aussies seem to have a tougher time landing a teaching position.

At this time the listening lessons were very important. Berlitz was very prominent and Japanese themselves helped pioneer this with the audio-lingual method.

Though we taught and ran a lot of speaking classes, listening was very popular.

Nowadays I feel that students can do an English listening at home, they don`t need me to press the button or repeat like a parrot.

This story is continued on the next page.