Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes - Intro
If you’re teaching English to adults in a Japanese eikaiwa, chances are you’ll meet some great people. Speaking from my own experiences as a teacher, I met some of the most kind, generous and interesting people I’ve ever met.
Unfortunately though, the money-grabbing nature of the eikaiwa industry means that anyone can take English conversation lessons, even if they are hopeless at learning languages, have poor ability to interact socially, or are mentally ill.
As a result, the students you teach at an eikaiwa are often an uneasy mixture of those who you really look forward to teaching every week, and those for whom you throw a party to celebrate every time they phone in sick.
In this Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes series I’ll be looking at the latter category of student, those problem students who test eikaiwa teachers’ patience and resourcefulness to the extreme. Specific types of student I’ll be examining will include: