I’ve really been blessed with my Business English students here in Japan. As a freelance teacher for the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to go and teach in companies like Sumitomo, Honda, Glico and Mitsubishi. It’s incredibly interesting to meet professionals in their own workplaces.  At Glico, I taught food scientists (one guy’s job was actually a taste tester for Glico’s new candy products – his knowledge was so impressive, and his job fascinating!). At the auto factories, I teach managers and engineers.

They work long days and (in my opinion) under unfair expectations and pressures. I’ve gained some interesting insight into why the Japanese auto sector is so successful – their work ethics and company loyalty are really something. Unfortunately, as a result, the work-life balance is greatly well… unbalanced.

Today I became impatient with a small class of Sumitomo businessmen I have been teaching for over a year now. I knew they really sensed my frustration and as soon as I said my piece, I regretted it. I am usually very patient with my students, so when I express frustration or disappointment, I’m sure it hurts them. I feel bad about it.

The cause of my frustration today: I have been giving them listening assignments to do, but instead of trying to guess a word by its context (and some of the words would be SO easy to guess that way), they assume that because they didn’t understand the pronunciation, they simply have never learned that word, and give up. I want them to guess, to try to make sense of the sentence, but it is so hard for them to think that way. My Japanese students are great with cold hard facts, memorizing lists of hundreds of words, plugging in information, but trying to elicit any kind of abstract thought or creative guessing is like trying to draw water from a stone. I feel increasingly frustrated with my adult students and friends when they feel helpless at things that seem so natural for those of us that grew up with a very different kind of educational system.

One of the things I love most about Japan is their humility, but there’s a fine line between humility and a defeatist attitude.  This is where learner training comes in – a huge part of my job is training students how to learn. And language learning is so different from science, math, engineering, etc.

The man to my left invited me for dinner with his wife recently at his home. They loaded me with handmade (by them) Japanese pottery and a painted silk scroll before I left. My Japanese friends and students are so generous!

Occasionally I am invited (or I should say occasionally I accept) dinner with the crew after our class.

It’s hard for all of us. They’re exhausted, and so am I. They don’t get paid what they’re worth, and well frankly, neither do I. But I make learning fun for them, and they make teaching fun for me.

They are family men, who treat me with respect and kindness. I’m grateful, and feel bad about getting frustrated at times.

Thank you God, for such sweet students.

[This was originally written January 30, 2002]