Teaching English to Junior High

Met with the Legend of Keio

Pictured: The Keio campus (by Richard Baladad)

Teaching English to junior high. I just finished doing it for another year and enjoyed it. Junior high students are interesting if challenging people.

I had the pleasure of talking with a Keio legend the other day. Mr. Oikawa taught the current chancellor of the Keio SFC Jr/Sr high school. He taught for 48 years with Keio and is now retired and 70 years old.

Mr. Oikawa is a very pleasant man to spend an evening with. I hope to see him again.

We asked his thoughts on teaching and in a nutshell he said:

"My grand-daughter is four years old and she tries everything. She does everything by trial and error, and tries everything. She never stops trying to do new things."

He went on to say that he thought teaching was about compassion; being compassionate with our students. For a moment I thought I could see the Dalai Lama, then the image faded. I had put my hand in my beer.

I immediately thought of the student I had told to "Shut up!" that day, and thought, that wasn`t very compassionate of me. I took a sip. My beer tasted salty.

I think we can all be compassionate with our students and try to remember that even the ones that are currently giving us problems, deep down, are good people.

(Even Jim Evanston, who put a tack on the seat of Mrs. Stubbe`s chair back in grade 10. If he isn`t in prison now, on an assault charge, I bet he is a good man! Mrs. Stubbe did have extremely bad breath. But no one deserves treatment like that.)

Everyone has good in them and we can see it if we try. Ironically just this act of finding the good in others, often changes their behaviour. It is magical.

(My wife is forced to try to see the good in me everyday.)

Actions do indeed speak louder than words.

The bosozoku of Japan can attest to this fact.

Mr. Oikawa, I thank you for your wisdom and reminding us of some of the very important things that we need to remember when we teach. Whomever we teach.

To be a better teacher, find the legends where you work. Find the master teachers and seek their advice. Teachers are teachers, and they love teaching anyone, even other teachers. Someone like Mr. Oikawa has a wealth of hard-won advice, garnered over many, many years of toil.

He knows how to teach and has seen it all. You can learn so much from teachers like him if you ask and listen.

Check out some of the esl games for junior high students we have here and links to other sites with great games and activities.

Back from teaching English to junior high to How to Teach English in Japan

Teaching English to junior high: watch some inspirational movies about being a teacher

Fred Stuhr talks about his experiences of teaching English to junior high students in Japan plus other teaching and living experiences here.