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Helping teach english to a Japanese exchange student.

Zuba

Sempai
16 Aug 2016
213
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Hello, all.

Today while I was at work, I am a server, I ended up waiting on a couple who was hosting a Japanese exchange student. I was super excited because this was the first time I had a chance to actually use my Japanese to another person in real life.

In the end I was only able to say a few words and really did not get to say much because my mind just went totally blank and I got super nervous. I know I should have relaxed and just gave it my best shot. She was really happy when I did say a few words though so there is that.

I was wondering are there any tips on helping her learn English?
 
did you establish that she wants or needs help? Are they regulars in your establishment or did you get contact information?

No offense, but if your Japanese level is barely conversational and you don't have any experience teaching (as your request implies), what benefit do you hope to provide?
 
When Japanese people comes to talk about how well they can learn English, they become perfectionist. If they cannot speak fluently, they figure out they cannot speak English. And Japanese people complicate themselves in terms of using English.
What you should do is to tell her she can more than effectively communicate with English speaking people with grammar and vocabulary she has leaned in Junior high school (CHEW GUT COE). Just tell her to take a deep breath (SHIN KOH Q) and speak what she learned in Junior high school. People come to the US and other English speaking countries because their English is above average in Japan, so with what she learned in Junior high school is sufficient to communicate with English speaker. She does not speak fast, she can speak slowly and try to let you understand what she wants to say.
 
I got her email. I am not sure of how good her English is because the host Mom did most of the talking. Anyway I will just see if she even replies and then move forward from there. Thanks for the advice.
 
Sounds like a delicate situation; because the host mom was dominating the interaction you don't actually have any idea whether the girl is keen on this.

At any rate, do not present yourself as a tutor unless you actually are one. At best, you can offer to be a language exchange partner; being a native speaker does not make you qualified to be anything more than that (despite being the unfortunate premise for so many English teaching jobs abroad).

Or perhaps the mom was trying to make a social connection, under the premise of language exchange, which makes the situation even more... delicate

What you should do is to tell her she can more than effectively communicate with English speaking people with grammar and vocabulary she has leaned in Junior high school (CHEW GUT COE). Just tell her to take a deep breath (SHIN KOH Q) and speak what she learned in Junior high school.
Uh, what a... unique phonetic guide.
 
Ya, just being a language exchange partner is all I really wanted. I am still waiting for her response. If I do not get one within a couple of days I will just assume she does not want to do it.
 
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