Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: A letter to my wonderful students

Playing bingo at our class party on Wednesday June 18th, 2012.

Dear students,

When I first came to Japan I was very lonely. I was sad to be away from my friends and family, but very excited to apply new skills that I have learned as a teacher in my graduate school program in TESOL. I was extremely nervous on our first day of class as I wanted all of you to be engaged in my class and to have a different experience learning English than in your middle school and high school years. I'm sorry it took me almost 3 weeks to learn everyone's names! Thank you for always participating in my class and keeping an open mind. You have been an amazing group of students, willing to take risks and learn from your mistakes. Every day you walk into my classroom with a giant smile on your face and work very hard to learn English while having fun at the same time! I want to thank you for all of the joy and laughter you brought into our classroom throughout the past two and a half months. Always remember that learning English is fun, and that you must take your time and be polite to yourself while learning anything in life. Please don't forget to enjoy using your English over summer vacation and for the rest of your life! When you see a lost gaigin in the station, you know exactly how to give them directions and help them in English! So practice every day with your classmates, review your notes, and join some English speaking clubs or make a foreign friend in Tokyo. There are many groups on meetup.com that have groups of foreigners that hang out around Tokyo and take trips. Hiking, singing, walking, dancing, studying English, doing judo, if you can think of it, there is a group of foreigners meeting. Please join a group and enjoy having fun and speaking English with native speakers and other Japanese speakers of English!  I have already written you all an individual goodbye letter, and I hope that many of you will contact me via e-mail with any questions about English or updates about your life! Although I was your English teacher, I am also a friend and mentor to you. If you ever need any advice about life, English, travel, or study abroad dont hesitate to contact me!

Best wishes,

Marie

Saori and Meg messing around!

Thank you girls for bringing a ton of amazing Japanese snacks! I hope you liked the chips and salsa I b

Students from the morning party!

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    Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.