Timothy Baril

Teaching in Japan
JET Programme
Midterms day one of two today. English tests were today. The English teachers are busy at their desks, tall stacks of tests and work books and files handed in from students at their elbows. They work steadily, heads down.
It kind of makes me wish that Japanese teachers didn’t have so much [...]

Teaching in Japan
Year 2, Month 3
Difficult Students
My first class is first year students again this week. The class is terrible, worse than before. They are rude, unruly, and completely ignore the teacher. She struggles, looks flustered and red faced, the class is a complete waste of time. No teaching was done at all, and needless [...]

JET Programme
Moriguchi-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan
September 2008
Working as a JET - assistant english language instructor
My first weeks at school here in Japan have passed me by. And I cannot adequately express how amazing and different the experience has been. Canadian schools these are NOT.
I was introduced to the school Principal (Koucho-sensei) first. He’s more a symbolic figure [...]

Welcome to the world’s biggest city - Tokyo.
Time difference Japan to Vancouver: 14 hours
Time difference Japan to Edmonton: 15 hours
9:00 AM Arrive Calgary airport
11:45 AM Arrive Vancouver - Visit with the gorgeous Nicole Lasanen one last time
1:45 PM Depart Vancouver - 9.5 hour flight + misc time
12:00 Midnight Arrive Tokyo, depart airport on buses for [...]

I’ve been struggling for some time with money, being burdened with some rather large outstanding debts. This has meant I’ve been far to embarrassed to even contemplate the idea of dating and finding a future, let alone eating regularly. So I’ve been looking about for a second job and the like. Hoping I could clean [...]

I applied in November for a position teaching English through the best program in Asia, the Japanese English Teaching organization otherwise known as JET. The position is for an Assistant Language Teacher, working in partnership with another teacher, in a grade school setting. Pay is about $34,000, less health care fees, but no Canadian income [...]