Quote Originally Posted by Glenski View Post
I suppose I should add the word "frustrated" to my own moniker. I just started a (free) Japanese course at city hall (2 hours a night, once a week). Got to choose my own level, but since there were only 2 levels, and one was for complete ground-zero beginners, I opted for the "intermediate" course. The teacher DOES happen to be a certified, experienced teacher of Japanese, however she can't teach to save her life. Two hours of listening to her rattle on aimlessly (yes, no goal in sight and no sense of organization) drive us crazy. First class had 18 students, and second one had only 7. Go figure. She doesn't answer questions when posed. She tries to discuss 50-year-old concepts in the history of kanji (part of the course is to mix writing with speaking, but this is outrageous), and when I describe some of the stuff from class to my wife (Japanese), she says it's dead wrong. Little to no participation from students, despite the fact that we demanded it after the first class. Zero grammar structure, despite the same demand. Theme for last class was giving directions on the street, but there was no practice, and she only covered a helpful word or two, then seemed not to have prepared any examples to use in class. About half an hour or 45 minutes before the class ends, she starts looking at her watch every 5 minutes, suggesting that she has no idea how to fill the time, and that's when she starts repeating everything from the first hour (for the 5th time, mind you) or just talking to the ceiling instead of to us.
So, experience and qualifications don't necessarily make for a good teacher.
I know the feeling. When I first got here I went to freebi classes and thats pretty much what I got, a bunch of teachers who were pretty much volenteeing their services to help out foriegners in need ( I thank those teachers for taking the time to teach). Some teachers were great and others were terrible, I resigned to the fact that unless I enrole in a Japanese langauge school I was not going to be able to learn this incredibly, ridiculously difficult language. I wish they had classes on learning how to understand the other langauge that is never spoken here....... That what makes me frustrated.

That article pretty much sums it up I think, as the managers that were quoted said they did not have the time or money to bring in qualified teachers. Instead they wanted to ensure that the leason was fun to bring back repeat customers. That is what it is all about and myself having run a business here in Japan for a while now know the system involved. I can't blame the business for wanting to make a buck, but it is like anything over here money takes precidence and of corse it should. I know there is a bigger problem and the private sector is capitalising on this in a big way.