Teaching and Learning in Japan: An English Teacher Abroad

“Anyone want to go to Japan and teach English for a half a year?” That’s how it all started. I was 38 years old, and a returning student in a Master’s Degree in English program. The bulk of this book is a daily journal/blog of my adventures while getting TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certified and my trip to Japan, where I taught English to students of all ages. I did a lot of things right, and I also did a lot of things in the most difficult way imaginable. I’d never traveled outside the USA before, and spoke nearly no Japanese when I started. This book has it all, exciting adventures traveling to far-off cities, misadventures on mountaintops, and even the occasional rant. There’s good and bad, but it’s all real, and written when it happened. If you’ve ever considered going overseas to teach or just are curious about what it’s like to live there as an American, this book is for you. I went to Japan, but many of the problems and situations I came across would be the same anywhere. I discuss the stresses of getting trained in a university-level TEFL course, getting over there, learning my way around, and getting through day-to-day life in my new world. I discuss what’s happened, what I think it meant, and the people I encountered while doing it.