Working Through Changes with Professionalism

Working in Japan long-term as a conversational English teacher can be a strange life choice and the longer that I'm here, the more I realize that everything is temporary. 

At the beginning of the year, this became even more obvious to me when one of my students started our first lesson of 2024 with the notification that she would have to quit the class in a few weeks because of scheduling conflicts at her job starting around the change of the fiscal year. These changes would take place in March or April and she wasn't excited about it, but her schedule was full otherwise. 

I agreed that her schedule sounded quite busy and said that I completely understood, as a professional person is meant to.

And I do understand. As a conversational English teacher in Japan, I am not as necessary in the lives of my students as I might prefer to be. The few students who genuinely require immediately survival English for a trip abroad will eventually take that trip and have no more use for lessons. Older folks just trying to stay active will eventually reach a point where this level of activity isn't a possibility or isn't worth the effort anymore. Child students grow until they no longer have time on top of their club activities or other school responsibilities if they don't just move away.

In the face of change, staying as stable and stone faced as this maguro statue can be a challenge. Staying professional has huge advantages.

While I understand the need to quit, I'd be lying if I said the departure wouldn't be felt in my household. The money I make is not that plentiful and this would be a good chunk to just suddenly be without.

Right after she said this, I tried to focus on the class at hand but I couldn't help mentally trying to look for other options and opportunities to make ends meet without this class.

I pulled my mind back into the class and taught in the same fashion as I had before. The next class after this, I did the same, bringing the same level of professionalism as always even while I tried to drum up new work options outside of class.

Two weeks after her declaration, my student announced that she had worked things out with her boss so that she would be able to continue class. We were both so relieved and elated.

While everything is temporary, I'm very glad to not have lost this connection yet. If I hadn't kept my professionalism and courtesy intact, I don't think my student would have put the extra effort in to keep the class