Eikaiwa 101
An Introduction to Facilitating English Conversations
Th eik fro th en
Andrea Cunningham (Kyoto)
1. B For foreigners interested in coming to Japan, teaching English is one of the “go-to” methods of getting here and having a steady paycheck. If you do take the teaching route, the two major schools are AET (Assistant English Teaching) and eikaiwa. If you’re familiar with the JET Program, you’ll know it primarily falls under the AET umbrella of English teaching. But what about eikaiwa? It’s very possible that even as a JET you could be asked to teach a class or two, or twenty! In this article let’s explore what eikaiwa is, how it differs from the job of an AET, and some tips for getting you off on the right foot for your first eikaiwa lesson. To give some background, I am a fifth-year AET in Southern Kyoto. I have worked extensively at kindergarten, elementary school, and junior high school, and I have experience teaching both kids and adult eikaiwa as part of my contract on JET. I have never taught at an English conversation school so this article will instead be focusing on eikaiwa as it pertains to the JET Program. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s first look at what eikaiwa is. Eikaiwa 英会話 means “English conversation” and as the name implies, usually focuses more on speaking than on reading or writing. There are eikaiwa for both casual and business English learners. Eikaiwa is often used by non-native speakers as an opportunity to practice the English they’ve learned elsewhere with native speakers. In my experience classes can run anywhere from 45-90 minutes, and the content tends to be tailored to the individual or class. For example, in one class you may have a strong emphasis on giving speeches and in another, you may spend most of the time chatting and simply conversing in English. Overall, eikaiwa are flexible with both time and content and have an emphasis on speaking. Now that we know a little bit more about what eikaiwa is, let’s see what makes it different from AET work.
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