TEACHER CASE STUDIES

Listen & Learn: Hi, Janice! So, you teach Japanese, yes? But that’s not all you teach, correct?
Janice: That’s right, I teach Japanese, Chinese and English.

Listen & Learn: That’s very impressive! You must really enjoy your profession then. What else can you tell us about work history?
Janice: Yes, I love teaching because it really allows me to fully invest interest and passion for languages into something meaningful. While teaching and sharing my knowledge and experience, my students to explore new cultures and think about things from a completely new perspective. The connection can be illuminating and life-changing, and I find that very rewarding.

Listen & Learn: That’s a lovely way to put it! And what are your teaching qualifications?
Janice: My qualifications are numerous, including an N1-level Certificate of Japanese Language Proficiency, certified by the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services. I am certified by Cambridge English Language Assessment in CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults). Also, I have CELPIP Instructor Training Certification in Levels 1 & 2, a CAEL Teacher Workshop Certificate and am currently obtaining my DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I started teaching in 2015 as a Japanese Instructor at the Nankai Young Volunteers Association-Minority Language Learning Program, and I have taught English since 2016.

Listen & Learn: What an impressive resume! You must have your pick of places to work with such a list of achievements and language skills. What made you choose Listen and Learn?
Janice: I choose to work with Listen and Learn because of the diversity of language courses and student groups that teachers can connect with. The company offers a platform where I can take advantage of my trilingual abilities to share my love for different cultures with my students.

Listen & Learn: And is that your favorite thing about working with Listen and Learn, or have you discovered more since working with us?
Janice: I love the flexibility of scheduling: teachers and their students are free to book the time slots that work best for them. And classes can be either online or face-to-face, based on everyone’s needs.

Listen & Learn: I’m glad you like working with us so much! Do you have any special memories from working with the company?
Janice: I've met students who start to learn a new language from scratch and reach Upper-Intermediate level quickly, simply because they love traveling and want so much to explore a new country, and so put themselves out there to learn. I love being part of their dream and helping them to achieve it. This is the most rewarding job I've ever done.

Listen & Learn: Wow, so passion is one of the things you look for most in your students?
Janice: As the proverb goes, interest is always the best teacher we know. The students with a sincere interest in learning always turn out to be excellent learners. So, I would like to see from all my students.

Listen & Learn: And what do they get from you in return?
Janice: Besides my expertise and experience as a professional language instructor, I'm good at building a strong rapport with my students. I can relate to them a lot, as I have always been a passionate language learner, as well. By sharing and exchanging life and travel stories, my students and I continually create great learning experiences together.

Listen & Learn: In your opinion, why should students enrol in a language course, and why, specifically, with Listen and Learn?
Janice: Because passionate language learners always demonstrate enhanced empathy, awareness of diversity, tolerance of difference and a greater sense of social justice. Moreover, language learning promotes the development of cultural identities and contributes to a deeper appreciation for the transmission of culture through language. Further, I believe learning through Listen & Learn is a cost-effective way of achieving all of this. The company has a great teaching team and student-friendly, flexible system.

Listen & Learn: That’s a great way to put it! Before we end, can you tell us an interesting fact about Japanese?
Janice: Japanese has three completely separate sets of characters, called kanji, hiragana and katakana, that are used in reading and writing. Hiragana and katakana function like English letters, in that they don't have intrinsic meaning. They just represent sounds.