Chiyuki Yanase & Andy Boon
Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.— Zoom only
https://nihon-u-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/81116348668?pwd=N2tES0NPNERaOC9nU2pTdGlJRXlpZz09
Meeting ID: 811 1634 8668
Passcode: 556229
After several years in the profession and amid our everyday busy working lives, it can be easy to forget where we came from; how and why we began. Language teaching can be a rewarding endeavor (Swabey, 2021). Each day can present us with unique and interesting challenges, and we can make a lasting difference to the lives of the people we teach. We also have opportunities to develop ourselves, learn from our classroom experiences, and become better at what we do.
However, language teaching can also be a stressful occupation (Mercer & Gregerson, 2020). We may take on more and more institutional responsibilities, have a wide range of students to cater to, and work hard to maintain the motivation of our learners. Due to the stress, we may begin to question what it is we do, we can lose our sense of purpose, and in extreme cases, we can experience teacher burnout (Xie et al, 2022).
The presenters will share their individual reflections regarding why they teach. They will provide an analysis of a survey conducted with 24 language teachers to explore their motivations to start teaching English and their reasons for continuing to do so. We hope by returning to our initial rationale for entering the profession and taking a trip down memory lane, it will revitalise us and reconfirm our passion for language teaching.