Bringing Heart Back to the Classroom
by
Kyl Timmer
I have written my paper in an interview format. No one actually interviewed me but I think it will be clearer and easier to understand.
1. Why did you want to take a sabbatical in the first place?
I was in my 21st year of teaching English in Japan. Teaching had become a little routine and rather predictable. I could teach without putting very much effort into it. I knew all the tricks. If I may say so, I think I am a decent teacher. I plan carefully for my classes and usually have interesting yet challenging classes. However, something was lacking.
I remember my first year of teaching 21 years ago. I was new to Japan. I knew nothing about Japanese culture, Japanese language or Japanese schools or most importantly teaching English in Japan. When i started teaching at my first school i assumed that there would be textbooks so i would have something to hold on to. No luck. The school didn't have textbooks. The kyoto sensei told me i could do anything I wanted. I think he thought i would be happy about this. On the contrary-I panicked.
In spite of my predicament, looking back on that first year I realize now that I did some of my most affective teaching. Maybe I was naive but because I had little or not confidence in my teaching all I could do was do my best. I cared deeply about all my students. i really wanted each and every student to learn. I tried to make every minute of my classes important. I was very creative that first year because I had to be with no textbooks to give me ideas. My teaching technique was probably not the best but my students could sense i really cared for and loved them.
After 21 years of teaching I still care for my students today but I've lost that some of the sincerity. I know most of the tricks now so I can rely on technique, the right games, the well thought out textbooks that I have written to have a relatively successful class. However, my heart has been emptier the last few years. I miss what i had my first years of teaching 20 years ago. i want to get that back. I want my students to feel truly inspired. I want them to feel how much I care and love them as individual human beings-not just one group of students. I want to teach from my hear to each student's heart.

2. What did you study during your sabbatical year?
I studied the Italian language at the Scuola de Leonardo da Vinci in Firenze, Italy and Spanish at Sprach Cafe in Madrid, Spain. I also studied holistic education through self study and on-line courses.
3. How is studying Italian and Spanish related to teaching English
Conversation at Toyo Eiwa?
I know it does sound strange. People in italy asked me if I was going to teach Italian in Japan. Let me explain. I think we, as teachers, get so busy planning classes, giving grades, cleaning classrooms and everything else involved in teaching that we forget what it's actually like being a student. I hadn't been a student for a very long time. I studied French in university and studied Swedish when I was an exchange student in Sweden. I had forgotten what it's like to not understand a languag. I wanted to know how that felt again. I felt it was essential to put myself in the shoes of my Japanese students. I had never studied Italian so I chose this language as I would be a true beginner student.
4. Tell me more about your Italian study.
I studied Italian for four months in Firenze, Italy. It was located on a very busy, narrow road where buses wanted to kill you. It was just around the corner from the famous Duomo. From the very first day of school I learned a great deal more than i could ever learn from a textbook. Let me tell you about my first day which started with a placement test.
About six months before I went to Italy to study Italian i decided to learn some basic Italian grammar. I did most of my studying on the train on my commute to Toyo Eiwa. I completed a 300 page grammar book. I thought it would be a good idea to have at least a little knowledge as I'm getting old and it's harder to memorize things. I assumed that most of my classmates would be young and the Italian language would just naturally sink into their brains and they would learn to speak with little effort. (This turned out to be true.) Anyway,
back to my first day and the placement test. I had a choice to not take the placement test and start from the very beginner's level course. That would have been the correct choice i found out later. However, I was curious and a little proud so I took the test. I found that I could easily answer about two thirds of the grammar questions. This worried me because i didn't want to be placed at too high of a level. i also had an interview coming up and I assumed they would then see how terrible my Italian was. It was a Monday morning and students from all over the world were starting class that day. The teacher who interviewed me had a pile of tests in front of her. She corrected my test as she interviewed me. To make matters worse, there were three other teachers in that room interviewing students. the teachers continually looked at each other and chatted away in the gorgeous Italian language. They were all so preoccupied. I would try to answer a question but my interviewer often ignored my answer. It was all very chaotic. Before I knew it this teacher was leading me to the my first class. I didn't even know what level it was. I nervously walked into class where a sweet looking, beautiful Italian woman was lovingly teacher her class. She immediately welcomed me and started asking me lots and lots of questions in the most beautiful language I have ever heard. i was so amazed my the beauty of the language that I forgot to pay attention to the meaning. I realized immediately how Japanese I had become. I felt quite embarrassed to ask her to repeat what she said so i just waited for her to repeat it just like my Japanese students do. I learned very quickly to stop doing that.
5. What did you learn from this experience?
First of all, i learned how not to give a placement/interview test. The interviewer made me feel very unimportant as if I was just a body paying tuition. From the first day, i had a negative feeling about Italian study. (This feeling did quickly change however.) It is so important to make the students feel comfortable, safe and important.
6. So, how was your first Italian class?
It was great! I was reminded what real education is all about. After putting aside my Japanese shyness, I became a very active student. I was never shy to ask questions when I didn't understand. At first I was worried I would slow down the class but I didn't want to be completely lost so I decided not to worry about that. As I got to know the other students i learned that they were very happy that I had so many questions because they often didn't understand either.
7. Was English or any other language allowed in the classroom?
Absolutely not! this was the number one rule of the school. Only Italian was allowed in the classroom and with the staff of the school. Most of my classmates spoke English very well so i assumed we would speak English sometimes. This never happened. it was strictly forbidden and it we did speak English it was the only timje the teachers got angry with us. We all appreciated this rule as were very motivated to always speak Italian. I got to know my classmates in Italian so it was natural for us even outside the classroom to speak Italian. What made Italian class ufn was trying to speak the language with all our funny mistakes. We sould laugh with each other in a friendly way and also help each other by correcting our classmates. This was never done ina mean or stcastic way. We all supported each other and wanted our classmates to learn. There was very any feeling of competition. Of course there are times you feel a little embarrassed because you made the same mistake for the 20th time. Sometimes it was frustrating when you didn't understand the teacher or your classmates. But these struggles are necessary to learn to speak a foreign language.
8. What do you want to bring back to Japan from this experience?
There are so many important things I want to take back to Toyo Eiwa but the most important of all is to encourage all English teacher to use more English in and outside the classroom. If it is our goal for our students to speak English then we have to give them every possibility to speak it. To be very honest, I think we have our heads in the sand (meaning we are ignoring the problem). We work so hard on things that don't necessarily help our students like writing the perfect test. Are we writing the perfect test with our students in mind or to impress our colleagues? What will help our students the most? Simply speaking English with them. I propose that all English teachers use English in their classrooms three days a week reserving one day for Japanese when difficult grammar concepts could be taught. If that is the rule and all teachers speak English, the students will follow along. I am certain they will. If we want to have a highly respected English program at Toyo Eiwa it is of dire importance for all of us to change our way of thinking and teaching. We are cheating our students from an excellent education if we don't do this.
9. How have you made changes in this respect since coming back in
April?
Before my sabbatical I was getting a little lazy with the "only English" rule in my classes. I usually stayed in English but my students would very quickly resort to Japanese. I would often just let it go since I understand Japanese. It was easier and more comfortable and most importantly I could get through the material that needed to be completed.
Since April I've been teaching a high level Senior 1 class. I'm strictly enforcing the "No English" rule. As soon as i walk into class I expect every world to be spoken in English, even if they are talking to a classmate. It's a large class of 31 students so in order to facilitate learning and allowing more students to talk, my students sit in groups of 4 or 5. Students are required to do many activities in their small group. The entire class is based