Speaking Japanese

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Anle Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Xianyang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. If you ever find yourself driving in French Canada, you will be stopped by stop signs that say ‘arrêt’, which is stop in French. Almost all drivers in North America would know that this means stop because it’s the same octagon red stop sign. In Japan it’s very different, stop signs are triangular with Japanese script on them but, beneath the Japanese, you can...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences If you ever find yourself driving in French Canada, you will be stopped by stop signs that say ‘arrêt’, which is stopped in French. Almost all drivers in North America would know that this means stop because it’s the same octagon red stop sign. In Japan it’s very different, stop signs are triangular with Japanese script on them but, beneath the Japanese, you can find English subtitles which read ‘stop’. In fact, if you travel anywhere in Japan, the majority of signs and announcements related to travel are offered in Japanese and English. English has been taught in Japanese schools since the American occupation after World War Two. However, according to an EF English Proficiency Index in 2017, Japanese English proficiency is 35th out of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Regardless of the Japanese government’s efforts to increase the number of foreign tourists to be a tourism-oriented country and to have been retaining compulsory English education for decades, Japanese people still have a reputation of being bad at English. The average TOEIC and TOEFL scores for Japanese are one of the worst among advanced nations. South Korea was also one of the worst in the past, but they are getting better and better these days. However, there are still some obstacles for many Japanese English learners to get over. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate FUTOSHI T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Since Japan is an island country, it has been...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Bancheng Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Linyi Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. I have been working as an Online English Teacher for Japanese students (both young learner and high school students) for almost a year at the time of writing this essay and I have come to understand the main issues each learner has when it comes to learning English. One of the things I have learned about the Japanese and the English subject is that it is taught to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have been living in Japan for the past one and a half years. Needless to say, the experience has been enthralling. This country would have never been my first choice for a country to relocate to, from my home country, India. But if my stay has taught me anything, it is that never judge a book by its cover. When we think of Japan, the first thing that pops up is that it is a country of workaholics; it has zero English presence, and the people are highly prejudiced against foreigners and foreign culture. I was proven wrong. Japan is a beautiful country. It is culturally so rich, it makes me want to live here forever. The people, though tend to be a little distant initially, a warm-up to you eventually, and once they do, they could move mountains for...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Dachaidan Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Haixi Mengguzu Zangzu Zizhizhou? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Problems for Learners in a Country of your Choice Despite being one of the world's most developed nations, Japan lacks English fluency. According to the Education Testing Service, which administers English proficiency exams, out of the 30 Asian countries that took TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exams in 2015, Japan ranked fifth...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Sanchahe Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Shangluo Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. In this task, I will be talking about my personal experience of teaching languages (both English and Spanish) to Japanese people, in Japan. Japanese is known to be a very difficult, challenging language, with 3 different alphabets and a very unique grammar structure. Besides the special characteristics that separates the Japanese language from other languages such...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several challenges Japan faces when it comes to learning English as a second language. Japanese culture is a bubble. Everything, including their ad signs, TV, games, government, studies, work and even the internet is filled with one language; Japanese. In a world of globalization, where your goods and services can come from literally any part of the globe. Japan is one of the few remaining homogenous cultures where English is still seen as an optional language. As the global economy becomes more global, the English language will likely become less optional, but essential. In addition to the cultural issues, Japan's English curriculum in the school is largely unchanged from the ‘60s according to my Japanese cousins and uncles still living...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is causing many problems in Asian countries which can be seen just by the high demand for English teachers - including ESL teachers. One of the countries is Japan, a country with a good economy and a society well known for their kindness and politeness, but unfortunately also for the low number of English speakers. There are many reasons why English is likely to pose problems in Japan but there are many possibilities to improve the English lessons to offer lessons that help Japanese students to achieve a higher English level. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eileen Cathrin B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. So why is it that Japanese students struggle...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Niuquan Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Laiwu Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. The English language, which has been accepted as a universal language, is of great importance in terms of commercial, economic, socio-economic, academic, educational and cultural aspects. In order to be able to master this language, people have experience in their own country and abroad. One of the language learning systems which consists of various methods is group...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Yangbǎi Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Bazhong Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. To begin with, I would like to outline the main differences between the western education system in contrast to the Japanese education system. In general, Japan is a very conformist country as the Japanese way of thinking could be expressed as group thinking in contrast to the western way of individual thinking. From early childhood on Japanese people are taught...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Majia Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Baoji Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. After working as an assistant language teacher(ALT) in Japanese elementary schools for three years, I have come to know some of the problems Japanese learners of English are facing. Three of the problems I noticed would be discussed below. First problem is certainly the lack of similar sounds in Japanese language itself. This should be quite obvious. As it is the case...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences During my stay in Japan, Japanese people often told me how they can’t communicate in English despite studying the language for six or more years in school. In Japan, students in junior and senior high learn English grammar and vocabulary in compulsory formal English classes. English is also taught in elementary school as foreign language activities. Yet despite spending several hours in English classes, many Japanese people graduate high school with poor English communication skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One of the issues that hinder the Japanese people’s ability to communicate in English is the English...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Guoyingshanxihuashanqiye Gongsi? Are you interested in teaching English in Weinan Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. After completing my twenty units for TEFL certification, I am now equipped with the basic knowledge required to teach English as a foreign language. Currently studying Japanese as a second language at Tokyo International University, I have first hand experience with the struggles involved in language acquisition. This background knowledge helped me...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Throughout high school and college, I mainly focused on learning how to speak Japanese as my second language. Unlike English, Japanese is a fairly phonetic language. Two of its three writing systems, hiragana and katakana, are phonetic. This makes it easy for foreigners to learn because each syllable, also known as sound clusters in some circles, is almost always said exactly how it is spelled. The third writing system, kanji, is not and, as such, is much more difficult for foreigners to learn because kanji are essentially pictures that describe their meaning. They are much more difficult to learn and use in everyday speech. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nicole H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nicole H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One way parents can help their children learn English at home to let them watch television or movies. It may seem to counterproductive to have your child study using entertainment but I believe it's a great, casual learning tool. Find a show or movie that your child really likes and watches often in their target language. In this case, it would be English. It should also have subtitles in their native language so that they can follow along. I find that Disney movies and American cartoons are the easiest to find translated into a variety of languages. This resource is particularly good for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daisy C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One problem facing many Japanese students learning English is differentiating between countable and uncountable nouns. In the Japanese language, the same word is often used for ‘much’ and ‘many’. In English, ‘much’ is used to describe countable nouns, and ‘many’ is used to describe uncountable nouns. A problem facing many EFL learners, especially Japanese learners, is idioms. The English language has thousands of idioms, which are used in everyday life. These are difficult for the learner to understand the meaning of, and to remember how they are used. Another typical issue for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I first decided to take this TEFL course because I am currently teaching English in rural Japan. I plan and execute English lessons for Junior High School students, as well as serve as a cultural representative of my country and foster cultural exchange. Here's the catch though - I don't speak Japanese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gwendolen J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I've had to think a lot about how to get students to like me and the subject I teach without relying on verbal communication. I don't know enough Japanese to convey my outgoing personality, or to make jokes, or to ask questions about their interests. They don't know enough English to be...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Yueyang Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Linfen Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Taking a language class can be intimidating because students tend to feel nervous and lose self-confidence in the learning process. I’ve become aware of this through my experiences as both an English teacher in Japan and as a student learning Japanese. Creating rapport through personalized activities is a great way to ease nerves while learning a language and to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Japan is a Pacific Island nation whose history is marked by periods of nationalism and seclusion, as the Japanese government closed the borders to international trade. The lack of foreign influence in Japan has enabled a unique culture to flourish and the population to remain nearly 98% homogenous, meaning nearly everyone that lives in Japan is Japanese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andrew C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Within the past hundred years, government policy has changed and Japan has opened its borders to trade and tourism, becoming a major global economy and popular international tourist destination (Lambert, 2019). To catch up to global trade...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doneika D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I am currently an English teacher living in Japan. I teach both Elementary and Junior High School English Language. Japan’s government allows the students to start learning English sometimes as early as Kindergarten. Most Elementary schools have a designated ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) that possesses a native level of English. Even though English is a compulsory subject in Japanese Junior High and High Schools, these students struggle with achieving even daily conversational English. In this summative task, I would like to highlight the two problems that greatly affect learners of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have taught in a Japanese high school for the past four years as an assistant language teacher, which gives me a particular insight into the problems and advantages of EFL in that area. This will naturally require some generalizations. Individuals have very different problems from one another, but broader shared issues do crop up. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate William L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For context, I work in two Japanese high schools as an assistant language teacher in Toyama prefecture. I go to one school four days a week, which caters to students who can only study part-time. I also work at a farming school, where students have the opportunity...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Bǎihe Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Chengdu Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Even though English is a mandatory subject in Japan, most students end up High School without even a basic level of English. Some facts about this is the measure done by TOEIC that ranked Japan 40 out of 48 countries, and on the TOEFL they score as one of the worst countries in Asia. Teaching English to Japanese native speakers may be a challenging experience with a...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Haozhuang Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Taiyuan Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. It is often said that both of Japanese students in school and adults are not possible to speak English or too reluctant to speak. They also have awareness of lack of their speaking abilities. Do they not have English classes in junior and high school? The answer for this is yes, they spend about 1.000 hours for English classes for 6 years. In spite of this fact,...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shengrenjian Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Yuncheng Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. INTRODUCTION In order to learn a new language, a student should be exposed to it and understand the meaning of it. In addition, the learner should be able to practice and produce it (ITTT, p. 1). Japanese students deal with a variety of issues while learning English. To begin with, the Japanese language has a different writing system, grammar and syntax (FIS,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A large number of obstacles can arise for the students when learning a foreign language. Some of these problems are related to the contrast between the mother language and the learned language. About the differences between L1 and L2, there is plenty of research in the field of contrastive linguistics. Moreover, regarding that topic, many papers can be found comparing English to Japanese with the aim to address the problems of Japanese learners of English. However, other predicaments with the apprehension of the L2 can develop when teachers underestimate the importance of the cultural dimension of the language taught. Concerning that particular impediment, less scientific literature exists. In this essay, the discussion will focus on several issues of...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Lǚyi Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Binzhou Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Change is coming to the way that English is taught in Japanese public schools. The changes to curriculum by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) increase the teaching of English at all levels of schooling. The goal of this change is, in the words of Ikuko Tsuboya-Newel, founder and chair of Tokyo International School, “The...  [Read more]

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Chisha Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Baoji Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. We naturally feel nervous when doing something new. Our confidence can dip even further when that something new involves a foreign language. I will tackle three questions related to students here in Japan. First, what can we do to create an environment in which students feel confident speaking in English? Second, how can we help students stop being afraid of English...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Change is coming to the way that English is taught in Japanese public schools. The changes to the curriculum by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) increase the teaching of English at all levels of schooling. The goal of this change is, in the words of Ikuko Tsuboya-Newel, founder and chair of Tokyo International School, “The government has decided that beginning in 2020 all high school graduates must achieve a level of English equivalent to B1” (“Why do Japanese have trouble learning English?”, The Japan Times, October 29, 2017). To achieve that goal, high school entrance exams are expected to include more testing of productive skills in English. Therefore, junior high school students are expected to have...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As someone of mixed heritage, I have always had an interest in learning about cultures other than the one I live in America. My father is Colombian and my mother is American, so growing up I felt obliged to learn more about the Colombian background I was fairly unfamiliar with. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Catherine P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I never felt satisfied with the amount of exposure I had to my Colombian heritage. My mom never learned Spanish, so around the house, it was easier for my dad to speak to my siblings and me in English. As a result, we barely grazed the surface of the Spanish language and we were not exposed too much to the...  [Read more]