SHIN TERADA

Prof. Scott Gushwa has been teaching students English conversation at Sapporo University since September of last year. We shared an enjoyable time with him because of his natural cheer in his class and students were completely absorbed in his world of English. I tried to learn about his humanity and English education because I was impressed by his way of teaching English.

He had worked at an insurance company in the U.S. before he became an English teacher. Although he enjoyed this job he felt that this kind of work had very little in the way of human relationships, so he decided to change his job and come to Japan to teach English. He decided to became a teacher because his family and friends encouraged him to teach.

As for Sapporo, he said, " I like Sapporo very much, especially the South Ward area, Makomanai and Mt. Moiwa, because of its greenery."

He really makes much of the relationships with the students in his class. He makes students laugh because of his jokes and he praises students whenever they answer his questions or they try hard.

"I enjoy a class when the students are eager to learn English with a positive attitude. On the other hand, when students attend class with apathy or disinterest, I can not enjoy the class. Whether the class is enjoyable or not depends on the kind of students."

The reason I interviewed him is that I sympathized with his way of teaching English. The remarkable thing is he lets students make and use oral conversations in real life situations and does this without a textbook. However, his classes are based on textbooks and cassette tapes.

"The higher level students don't need to use textbooks as much. It is important to teach students grammar, but I want to emphasize more vocabulary and pronunciation practice. Basically, Japanese students have been studying only grammar since junior high school, and they are tired of grammar. They are eager to learn how to speak in English."

I also asked him his purpose of teaching English. He said, "My main objective is to enable the students at Sapporo University to understand and be able to use English at the basic level. Also, equally important, I want the students to be comfortable with foreign people and to not be afraid to speak or socialize with them."

Prof. Gushwa encourages students who take his class to have a positive attitude which will make it a productive class. I feel that we students should be equipped with English and be able to use it. I really appreciate Prof. Gushwa for giving an interview.