-Life as an English Teacher in Japan-
Steve Hampshire is a teacher, materials writer and teacher trainer. He began his career in education nearly 40 years ago as an elementary school teacher in London. Working with many multi-cultural and multi-lingual classes sparked his early interest in the design and development of imaginative teaching and language learning materials.
Following a year teaching in Thailand, he returned to the UK where he worked as a senior EFL teacher for The English Language Centre, Bristol, eventually becoming a Director for their summer school courses.
For the past 20 years he has been teaching in Japan and was until 2012, head of English Communication programs at a large Junior Senior high school in Hiroshima.
He is currently a lecturer at Fukuyama City University where he runs year round language study programs for students ranging from intermediate level to advanced, and summer training courses for Japanese teachers of English.
On this episode, you’ll hear from Steve as he describes his experiences of teaching in Japan and all that entails relating to both the joys and challenges.
Tune in to hear all of this and much more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“Covid has certainly been a real wake-up call for education in Japan. I think it has been a good thing in most ways as it has forced teachers to embrace new ways to reach students. However, one of the dangers of more online studies is that it is so easy to go down the on-demand route and simply provide pre-recorded powerpoint lessons to students who are already feeling isolated. “
Steve Hampshire
Words of Wisdom:
Hear from Steve as he shares some tips to those interested to learning more about teaching English abroad and specifically within Japan.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Steve and his career, you can find and connect with him through his his volunteer project, The Seto Islands Project.
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
