First Day of Class

I started my Yakitori 101 English class today by asking students to ask me questions about myself. Lucky me, one of the first was: "What qualifications do you have for your position?" Hmmm. That's a good question.

Well, I taught English for three years. I've taught tax classes the last two falls, and would have taught this year, too, if I wasn't here. Those are both okay, I suppose, but then I realized that, well, I get paid to communicate in English, generally through written English, but sometimes through other means of communcation. Seems like good qualifications to me.

Class was a great pleasure. As much as I enjoyed teaching in Japan, I was frustrated by the difficulty I had actually communicating with my students. There were a couple I could have actual conversations with, but usually there was just too big a gulf between their English and my Japanese abilities.

So to walk into a class of mostly fluent 20-somethings was great. I couldn't ask for a better introduction to Filipino culture. Many of the classroom activities that had failed me in Japan have actually worked very well here.

We're going to review grammar and have some public speaking practice, but I think writing and reading will be what the class really needs. All in all, it's an extremely energetic class, full of bright people who, I think, will teach me as much as I'll teach them.