Only in Japan!

….Only in Japan….

At Smith’s School of English Kamishinjo スミス英会話　上新庄校, we have a few University students. Someday I’d love tonnes of them because I have yet to teach a university student that I didn’t love.  They are motivated, dedicated and learn so quickly that I always feel so proud of them.  But even for university students, what happened to me a few minutes ago could only happen in Japan…..

Today I had a 2:00 class.  My student arrived a tiny bit late, looking a little ruffled.  I wondered if he had slept in, but when I asked him how his week had been, he said it had been very busy.  In fact, today  he had an exam in the morning and he has a final paper due  by the end of the day.  He said he would return to his university right after English class and write the paper.  I was amazed at his dedication! I really think there isn’t a Westerner in the world who would fit English conversation class into this kind of a day.  I asked him how long it would take to write his paper and he said it would probably take until 8:00pm, but he had to go to his part-time job at 5:00. 

I told him to leave my class right now, finish his paper and come an hour early next week and we can have an “English” lunch before class.  (He just happens to be the first class of the day)  He gratefully accepted my invitation, drank half of his ice coffee before I told him it was okay if he didn’t finish it…and ran out the door with a thank you and a promise to do his best!

….only in Japan would a student make time to come to his English lesson in the middle of such a busy day!!