On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 07:49:53 +0900, John Yamamoto-Wilson wrote:

> I wrote:
> 
>>> So there *are* non-native speakers teaching English here in Japan.
> 
> Edward Mills replied:
> 
>> Of course there are. As long as you can do the hokey-pokey and can sing
>> the ABC song with gleeful abandon, you can get some neighborhood kids
>> who will waste everybody's valuable time and dad's money.
> 
> I sat on the shinkansen from Hamamtsu to Tokyo with the woman I was talking
> about and we talked all the way. She was working at some kind of school (I
> think it was a private high school, but can't remember with 100% certainty),
> not just gleaning neighbourhood kids for private lessons.

I guess there are exceptions to every rule. 

> Oh, and while I may not have taken short-term teaching contracts in Japan, I
> have been a teacher of English language and literature in Japan for the last
> twelve years.

 English language AND literature? There's no reason for putting on airs
around here. We all know you're just teaching the bastards broken English.