ESL Teacher

When I was teaching in a small school in Japan, students were randomly assigned to different teachers each time they came in. This meant that students would try to get particular teachers (although this was technically not allowed – but I’m sure it just depended on how well they got along with the front desk staff) – and conversely that teachers tried to get to teach particular classes.

I guess our students didn’t realise we were fighting over them, but one of the students we all wanted to teach was Takeshi. He was a teenage boy, I guess eighteen or nineteen years old, who had just finished school and was about to leave for a year in Australia – he’d won a scholarship to study there.

Takeshi was hilarious. Not only was he a human sponge – he would instantly remember any new phrase you taught him – but he was absolutely motivated to know everything about English-speaking culture. In some ways, I think, he didn’t fit very well into Japanese society and probably felt more at home speaking English than Japanese. He was hilarious and creative, and always made the lesson fun. When he eventually really did fly off to Australia, there was more than one teacher who was sad to see him go.

Students probably don’t realise this, but teachers know that having a few students like this can really make the difference between a good teaching job and a great one. Students who are so thrilled to learn really provide their teachers with a huge degree of satisfaction. I don’t know where Takeshi is now, but I’m sure he’s still having fun.

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