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A Reminder that Learning is Learning
A Reminder that Learning is Learning by Kevin Stein. I have been a teacher for twenty years. Over that time, I have often been given a list of program goals at the beginning of the school year. The...
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Putting People First
By Kevin Stein About 10 years ago, I was working at an international centre in rural Japan. My time was almost evenly split between teaching classes of very young learners and classes of adults. But I...
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How to Change a Life
When I was 16 years old, I applied for a job as a summer camp counsellor. For 11 years I had spent each and every one of my summers at Camp Tamarack. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more...
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The ‘Why’ of Testing
March is almost over. When it ends, so officially ends the school year here in Japan as well. Which means that tests have been marked, desks wiped down, and grades entered into each student’s report...
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Coffee, a student’s voice, and inspiration
by Kevin Stein It’s a cold early spring day. I’m having coffee with Sachi, one of my former students. She has chosen a traditional Japanese house which was recently converted into a cafe. The floors...
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to listen
by Kevin Stein At my high school, we have a licensed psychologist on staff once a week to meet with the students. Her name is Mrs. Kumazawa, although everyone, staff and teachers alike, simply call her...
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Poetry Collaboration
by Kevin Stein I’ve been teaching for 15 years now and one of the pieces of advice I’ve heard over and over again from teachers I respect is the need to find something you are passionate about outside...
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Over the Wall of Experience
By Kevin Stein I’ve been a high school English teacher for 10 out of the past 15 years. Before that I spent five years as a coordinator of an outreach program for runaway youth in Chicago. I wish that...
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Feedback: Making the almost obvious, obvious
By Kevin Stein Last year I was lucky enough to facilitate a workshop with a group of iTDi members at the annual JALT conference in Japan. As a group, we wanted to talk about how listening to our...
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And then there are dreams
Kevin SteinBy Kevin Stein Part of my job as an English teacher at a private high school in Japan is to conduct interview tests for the school entry exam during January and February. The students are in...
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