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ABC History — Part 6

Native English Teachers

ABC English School’s first native, English-speaking teacher was an Indian-American man who used to be an ALT in Yoshikawa city. He was born in India, but moved to the US when he was two years old. His parents homeschooled him so he didn’t attend public elementary, junior, or high school.

His first two students included one child from my mother’s nursery and one child who joined ABC after looking at our ad. The children had just turned two years old, so we only taught them in the morning.

ABC’s teachers were the Indian-American teacher, a Japanese returnee assistant and myself. It might sound awkward to have an extra Japanese teacher at this stage, but I wanted her to understand and get used to the work.

As soon as our lessons started, we noticed that there were so many things that were needed so we started to make teaching materials. Our Japanese assistant teacher had excellent art skills, so she helped ABC tremendously. We still use some of the materials that she made today.

Getting new students is essential to ABC’s success, but the hardest part of having an English school is finding and retaining quality, native English-speaking teachers. ABC’s first teacher could only stay for 3 months, so I quickly had to find someone else. I wasn’t able to find a new teacher in that timeframe so I asked a friend for help. They introduced me to an Australia teacher. Unfortunately, the Australian could only work temporarily, but it gave me some more time to find a permanent teacher.

Finding quality teachers is hard work. Applicants send resumes via email and I decide who to interview from there. I began to see the difference between good teachers and bad teachers by reading through so many resumes. Even on professional resumes, some native English speakers make grammar and spelling errors. Of course, I wouldn’t want to hire a person like that.

Finally, the long-awaited teacher comes to ABC English School … ABC’s History continues in Part 7!

日本語ではこちらへ。