ESL teaching life in Asia: Moving to Fukuoka

I got a job in Fukuoka in November of 1990 as I needed a visa. I was very sorry to give up full-time Japanese study. I worked at Encyclopaedia Britannica (remember encyclopaedia?), which had an English teaching arm called IMA. My boss and another colleague were from Adelaide and there were other teachers from all over, so we had a lot of fun times together. I still stay in touch with some IMA friends to this day. Our classes were all conversation classes only. We used to post a topic for our class and that was it. There were no text books and students didn't do any preparation or homework for lessons. It really tested my imagination coming up with new topics for every class.

The students were adults from uni students to Nakamura san who was a delightful 65 year old with stories of his experiences of World War II. I soon learned that Japanese adult students are very shy and not inclined to offer information. I was often greeted with a sea of motionless faces and blank looks when I asked if anyone had something to say. The Japanese saying "The nail that sticks up, gets hammered down' was very evident in classes. No-one was willing to stand out in the crowd. I became aware that I had to directly ask students to give me answers. I also found out that hypothetical situations didn't work too well either. One of my lesson topics was, 'What would you do if you won a million (U.S.) dollars?' I was greeted mainly with blank stares but some brave souls offered answers such as buy a new TV or car. The next 55 minutes went rather slowly! Didn't try that one again!

I commuted from Kumamoto to Fukuoka which was a 1.5 hour trip on a lovely train. My train Japanese became quite good. I then decided to move to Fukoka in January as the commute was a bit long. I lived first of all above an old lady's house. She would often come into my house and creep around when I was in the shower etc. I would come out wrapped in a towel which gave us both quite a surprise! I left that place in May and found a great apartment which I lived in for 2 years.

I became a gym junkie ( I know that will surprise some, if not all of you!) I also had three Japanese lessons a week. It was a charmed existence with my work day starting at 4 o'clock most days and finishing at 10. I loved those hours.

I did a lot of travelling when I lived in Japan and I'll tell you about some of those travels later.