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Kouhai
24 Feb 2016
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Hello!
I'm very glad I stumbled across such a constructive and useful site and I'd like to ask about some specific advice on how to deal with female Japanese students. I work in an online eikaiwa and I mostly teach business English or advanced English, or at least it was so when I first started working. My students were mostly middle-aged businessmen or older, there were very few women. As of lately, I got a lot of good comments and now I no longer have a niche, students of all ages and genders want to take my classes. It was quite easy for me to communicate with businessmen since they were assertive and direct most of the time and we focused on negotiation-type dialogues and enhancing business vocabulary. When women started taking my classes, I adapted to a different type of conversation (usually about everyday life, having children, domestic life etc). I don't mean to generalize, but some Japanese women tend to be very shy to the point where I can hardly hear their voices when they speak. I am also expected to correct them during the conversation, and I find that when I do that, they can barely murmur. In one such situation, I decided to no longer correct the girl and after the class she complained that I didn't correct her enough. Needless to say, my company doesn't take it lightly if the students are offended or discouraged in any way and I can only get a small number of such complaints before I am terminated. So how do I make a shy female Japanese student feel more relaxed and open?
The polar opposite of them are the domineering and capricious female students with a big and fragile ego. Again, there's a problem with correcting. I usually let them take the lead of the class since they like monologues and dislike being interrupted. Again, after the class, they tell me that I should've corrected them more.
Do you have any advice on how to work with these two types? I do understand that every person is different, but there are a lot of students who display the same traits.
I am well aware that the Japanese pay a lot of attention to "reading the air" and gestures and I make sure to follow their etiquette as much as possible without seeming unctuous. I am also aware that I come from a culture that values bluntness and directness (Serbia) and I am very controlled during the class.
So, anyone who has worked in an eikaiwa, who has lived in Japan, worked in a Japanese company or has a Japanese wife/girlfriend, please share your advice.
Thanks in advance :)
PS. Sorry for the long post :)
 
I know that I should correct them more, I am asking how to do it. What do I say to the first type who gets discouraged when they are corrected and to the second type that throws a fit when they are interrupted? Is there any particular way I can correct them without offending or discouraging them? I also work with Korean and Taiwanese students who are much more open and easier to communicate with. I am asking about advice pertaining to culture.
 
Sounds to me as if you were concentrating too much on "reading the air" and on "being controlled in class". If the teacher is not at ease so won't be the student. Focus on the person and their needs rather than their cultural background. Japanese students aren't so much different from other nationalities.
 
Regarding the second case, can you make the conversation into shorter units such that you correct them at natural breaks in the conversation? Like if you asked a question and they answered it, you could tell them what they said wrong when they finished answering. I don't know what your topics are but if it's something open-ended like "tell me about your day" you could change it to "Tell me about your day. What did you first do when you got up?" then move on after they answer such as "What did you do after that?" and so on.

As for the shy ones, maybe keep encouraging them to try even if they make mistakes. Tell them that making mistakes is the best way to learn. If you have a severe manner, that might exacerbate their fear of making mistakes. Try to be friendly and make it clear that you are on their side and are not judgmental.
 
You need to be aware that English conversation study attracts a certain proportion of people who have socializing and communicating difficulties in regular life in Japan anyway. Quite frankly, you will get some who have genuine psychological problems and for whom there is simply no way to make them happy. Some will be on the shy end of the spectrum and give no hint they are dissatisfied with the class, but who can't wait to go complain to management. Some will be gregarious to the point of totally dominating the lesson and monopolizing the time blathering about whatever they want to talk about, and who will likewise go immediately after the lesson and complain that the teacher didn't teach a regular lesson.

Teaching English conversation to Japanese people, you will invariably encounter a greater proportion of troubled, disturbed, or socially maladjusted people than you would in just about any other setting. The trouble is that management either doesn't realize that or they just don't care. You're going to have students like that and there really isn't anything you can do about it.
 
Say three positive aspects for each correction. Praise is the fuel for motivation.
I tried this today and it worked, thanks!
@mdchachi The company actually doesn't allow teachers to ask any personal questions, but one way or the other, we end up talking about the students' daily life because this is what they want. I do try to ask them more specific questions and correct them when they stop to take air in. The biggest problem is that the company does have some vague guidelines as to how this conversation should flow, but very few students follow that format of the conversation. As for the shy ones, this was my first thought when I started working here, but they actually dislike it even if you mention the word 'mistake'. Our rapport slightly improved when I stopped saying this to them. I will try to be more friendly :)
@Mike Cash I did notice this, there are many students with obvious signs of anxiety and depression and lots of them actually use the classes as a form of therapy. Some of them openly ask me how to deal with depression, unwanted pregnancies, bad life choices etc. I accept it as a part of this job because my academic education depends on it and this is why I asked for specific advice. As for the company, a customer is always right.
 
As for the shy ones, this was my first thought when I started working here, but they actually dislike it even if you mention the word 'mistake'. Our rapport slightly improved when I stopped saying this to them.
I think you hit on one cultural aspect here. In Japanese everything is spoken indirectly. Even when it's obvious, rather than saying directly "that's wrong" the speech pattern is "that's wrong (probably)." I'm not sure if this is true with teachers in the school environment since I never went to school there. However I think it would be best if you give advice in the form of "it would be better to say it this way..." and continue avoiding to say something is wrong outright.
I'll modify my earlier advice. Rather than encouraging them to learn from their mistakes, encourage them to keep trying even if they are afraid they are not correct. A drumbeat in the Japanese culture is the whole concept of trying. Everywhere you will hear gambatte -- at sporting events or any endeavor -- which means "do your best."

I wonder if @hirashin could help with some advice. He teaches English in Japan.
 
@Mike Cash I know. I would like to ask him more questions about teaching English in Japan regardless of this. For example, how do I ask students to paraphrase sentences and make summaries without simply repeating what they previously read or heard and if they do these types of exercises in their classes at all.
 
@Mike Cash I know. I would like to ask him more questions about teaching English in Japan regardless of this. For example, how do I ask students to paraphrase sentences and make summaries without simply repeating what they previously read or heard and if they do these types of exercises in their classes at all.

You probably want to stick to the pedagogy you were taught instead of trying to do it the Japanese way. If the students wanted to be taught the Japanese way they would have gone to a Japanese teacher. They chose you because you've proven yourself to others, honor that choice by giving them your instruction in the method you were taught.

For the quiet ones say "I love what you said but I don't think everyone heard it, can you say it again louder so everyone can hear the great use of X?"

For the domineering ones, talk about how the culture of western countries is to give everyone a chance to speak and encourage them to practice that cultural aspect. Don't let them keep going, it's not fair to your other students.

For both something like "You did a great job trying to use X in that sentence, try it this way to sound more natural."

Disclaimer: Not an English teacher, just a guy who has taken several online classes.
 
I appreciate your advice, but my classes are one-on-one. If I had group classes, the students wouldn't feel so free to discuss their personal issues. I am asking about the Japanese way because the students who decide to use the materials like short articles often have difficulties with exercises like making summaries and answering the questions about the article in their own words and these exercises follow every article. It seems to me that these exercises go against the "Japanese way" and require a lot of effort from them (in most cases I am not critical because I see how much they struggle with it). For that, I would like to hear first-hand what English classes look like from the professional point of view, especially since I grew up in a country where critical thinking and creative use of knowledge is encouraged (both are required for making a summary and paraphrasing), while on the other hand I don't want to push them too much out of their comfort zone, because this is when they say "In Japan, we don't do it this way..." and "We Japanese..." and I can feel they are uncomfortable.
So I am trying to find the middle ground where they kind of learn how to do it and where I don't get a complaint for being harsh or going against the "Japanese way".
 
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