Job Discussion Forums

[aleks24]

I've just graduated and have set my heart on going to Japan to teach English. However, I'm generally quite a shy and quiet person - well until you get to know me or after a few drinks . Just wondering if there were any other people who were in a similar situation and went on to teach and how you got on? Apparentley some of the companies have small clases of 1-8 people max so that probably wouldn't be to bad I guess.

I used to have panic attacks and get really stressed out doing presentations at uni but eventually got used to them and done ok but that was not on a daily basis...

Another thing is I look very young for my age (17/18- still get Id'd everywhere!!) if that matters??

[Yuki]

Heh. I look very young for my age too. I'm 22, and when I tell people I just graduated, they ask if I just graduated middle school. It's kind of like, no I have my masters thankyouverymuch. o_O

Anyways, I haven't been to Japan yet but I am leaving in November. The looking young thing didn't seem to be any issue at all during my interview. As for being shy, I'd really try your best to get over that before your interview... especially if the interview involves giving a demo lesson in front of recruiters and/or other interviewees.

I know that's much much easier said than done. I used to get the panic attacks and everything before presentations as well until about my 2nd year of university. For me, it was all a matter of not caring so much what people thought about me. Now presentations don't phase me beyond the "normal" level of nervousness and I have a much easier time making friends and just talking in social situations as well. Your reasons are probably different than mine, but it does help to figure out why you get so shy and nervous so you can try and figure out strategies to overcome that. =)

[cornishmuppet]

If you come with an open mind, aware that you'll meet lots of unexpected situations, coming to Japan can be very good for bringing you out of your shell. I was always shy and quiet at school and beyond, and I was terrified when I first went to Barcelona to do a TEFL certificate in 2003. I thought my EasyJet ticket wouldn't work, the school wouldn't exist, I'd be robbed blind, no one would speak to me, etc., but I had a wonderful time and since then its been on and upwards. Being put in a difficult situation can bring the best out of people, provided you have an open mind. Don't come expecting it to be just like home, and get frustrated when it isn't.

[jwbhomer]

[Apsara]

I'm a fairly shy person but have somehow ended up as a teacher- I taught English first for about 6 years and now teach yoga.

I wouldn't say I had full blown panic attacks when making presentations at school, but I did get extremely nervous- shaking hands, tendency to blush, voice wavering until I had been going for a while.

I started off at Nova where the classes are small and although I was nervous at first it became a piece of cake. Once you have the lessons sorted out it is no trouble at all, it just gets boring after a while. It really helps if you can be amusing- it's okay to be shy, but part of it is about entertaining the students so it helps if you can make them laugh a bit, without being a total clown.

I later started teaching larger English classes to adults at community centres, culture schools etc.- I was always a bit nervous when starting a new class but soon got used to it. Shyness is one of the reasons I never wanted to be an ALT- it was hard enough having a group of eager adults looking at me, forget a huge group of bored teenagers!

Of course now I teach yoga I am the calmest, most chilled out person you could possibly imagine- well, perhaps not, but the yoga has helped! Very large classes still unsettle me slightly though, I have to admit.

As long as your shyness is not crippling and you can overcome it, you should be fine once you get used to the job. Most people are nervous when they first start, like with anything new.

[sinsofangels]

If you can get used to doing presentations at uni, you can probably get used to teaching everyday. It's just a matter of routine, after all. I find most things aren't so bad once you take the leap. It's the bit before that's scariest.

I consider myself pretty shy, but after taking a few beginner's foreign language classes where you're pretty much learning how to introduce yourself to someone else, I found it a bit easier to talk to new people, although not entirely. If you're teaching an ESL class, your lesson plans will probably give you lots of ideas on what to say. And remember to smile. (Luckily, I smile when I'm nervous...)

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

I'm generally a quiet person as well. When i taught in canada, it was to small classes of adults. It was fine. In Japan my classes are larger (at least 25 people, usually) and to junior high and sometimes senior high students.

I think many people develop a teacher personality that is seperate from their every day personality (and this is something that sometimes haunts me, because I tend to be quiet in the teachers room, but pretty extraverted in the classroom and Japanese people have a stereotype about gaijin being extraverted). In fact, I find it easier to be outgoing with classes of twenty something people than with groups of four or five now.

The biggest obstacle you will likely face will be just landing the job itself.

You can never really know how it will go is you haven't done it. You could try to get a summer camp type ESL job. That will give you a little bit of an idea of what it's like to be in front of a small group of people teaching, but the teaching will be a lot more work than it would be through a conversation school in Japan, because you would likely have to do all the lesson plans yourself.

[Glenski]

Doing presentations at university. What does that mean, aleks? Giving a book report, or summarizing lab data? You probably spoke/read to a crowd of native English speakers much like yourself, I would assume. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Making any sort of university presentation in your home country is nothing like teaching English in a foreign land!

You are going to be expected to prepare a lesson plan, even if the school has one ready for you. That is, if you aren't expected to develop one from scratch (and practically zero materials at hand), you may be given one (depends on the school) but you still have to study it enough to know what it's about. Presenting it is not like reading a book report or lab summary. You have to engage the audience, whether you have 5 or 50 or 100 students (I've done them all) in front of you. The point is to get them interested, keep them interested, and let them do 80% of the talking while you help out. Lecture for 100% of the period and you are not teaching a darned thing in the conversation world. You already have the practice; they are the ones who need it. And, a smaller class just means there is a risk that you may have to talk more (it certainly will if you have a class with only 1 student), so you have to learn how NOT to do that.

Japanese students will be deathly quiet while you talk unless you say something astonishing that they understand. Having a captive audience is one thing, but having a silent one may make things rather tense for a shy person, especially if you expect them to make any sort of reply. Japanese don't, by nature, and if you try to call on them or ask for volunteers, how is your shyness going to mount when you get zero response? That's what is going to happen. Prepare for it.

Conversation classes in Japan have been labeled as "edutainment" in nature. That's because the teachers usually have to be rather boisterous and outgoing to keep their attention so that they pick up a few tidbits now and then and learn how to regurgitate them. Sad, but it's a fact of life. You can stand there and play the CD player all 90 minutes (or 45 or 60), if you like, and I've known "teachers" who have done that, but you won't be doing your students any good. Some employers actually calculate bonuses and salary based on how many students you retain.

[Apsara]

Glenski, I'm going to disagree with you here. While it is obvious that the contents of an English class and a presentation are very different, for a shy person the challenges are basically the same. Getting up and talking in front of a group of people, whether they are native English- speaker university students, or Japanese high school students is SCARY. Not for everyone I'm sure, but for those who have that kind of mild phobia, it is a real hurdle.

I felt exactly the same nervousness- sweaty palms, shaky hands, unsteady voice- when I was starting out teaching English as I did when I made a presentation at high school. Exactly. Even when I am not talking, as in dance recitals I have participated in or yoga demonstrations in front of an audience and cameras, I feel the same nervousness.

Nevertheless I manage to overcome it and it gets better as I get used to the situation.

I'm pretty sure that is the kind of thing the OP was asking, he wasn't wanting to know if teaching English was like giving a presentation in terms of content, but rather in terms of what it is like for a shy person.

[David W]

Don't worry about the panic attacks, the docs here hand out valium (or the equivalent thereof) like candy. Seriously go and see your doc and tell him what you're gonna do and see if he'll give you a low dose script for something. It'll help believe me.

[flyingkiwi]

You can get over shyness without drugs my friend.

[David W]

[Wasabi Bomb]

[Glenski]

[Apsara]

You're right Glenski, having to do it every day means it gets easier and easier once you get over the first scary week or so. The two-way aspect of teaching can make it easier to relax as well as it gets more natural and involving. Just that first few times can take you right back to making speeches at school though.