Most Japanese people are used to a chalk and talk method of learning. Many adults were not raised in a very interactive learning environment as children, so you may get a good number of students who don't talk much in the lesson or ask when they have a question. Many consultants tend to be more proactive than most Japanese students, but please be aware that you will have to encourage some students to speak up more in the lesson.
- Maximizing student talk time & less teacher talk time
Usually, the more you can get your student to talk, the better. Most people (teachers) also talk more than they think they do, so it's good to keep this in mind when teaching.
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How do/would you do it? - Making sure a student understands the lesson/thing you taught them
Some students will pretend to understand even when they don't. Consultants can be pretty good at this because they have to do this at work, too.
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What are some signs that a student really understands and how would you check to see if they actually do? - Feedback & correction
Most students will appreciate lots of feedback and correction (both good and bad).
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Usually, someone with lower self-esteem will need more positive feedback while someone with higher self-esteem will be more open to constructive criticism.
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Keep in mind that many Japanese students are used to a lot of constructive criticism, so if you just praise them and don't give them much concrete advice, many of them (especially high performers) will not think they are getting much out of the lesson. The other thing is, in Japan, people tend to give empty compliments a lot to be nice/polite, so if you don't couple your praise/compliments with actual feedback on where they need to improve and how, some people just won't trust you or your well-meaning words. It takes a lot of strength and care to tell someone the truth about their abilities (in a positive, compassionate way), and most people will respond well to that.
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That said, there are students who need extra encouragement, so the more you can gauge a student's needs and the more flexible you can be, the better. - Note-taking
Japanese people take a lot of notes at school. Many students are super organized with their notes and write them beautifully. I (Yumi) grew up in both American/international schools and Japanese schools and always noticed a clear difference in how much importance people seemed to put into writing good notes (maybe because we rarely—if ever—have open-book tests where essay-writing is the focus and not memorization of facts). There are even books on how to take notes and notebooks that are designed so that people can be more organized in their note-taking.
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This is why writing a lot of notes in your Skype feedback will give the student a good impression of your lesson. And besides, most people don't remember what they learned or did in a lesson after it's over. When they go back to the Skype records, at least it shows you did something! - Few or no questions about you
Don't take it personally if your students don't seem to show any interest in you by asking you questions about your thoughts, who you are as a person, or your day. This may come from several reasons:
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- some people just aren't comfortable asking questions. They're just not used to it and might worry they're being intrusive;
- they may not feel like they are allowed to ask you questions because as a teacher, you are in a position of authority; or
- some students just want a lesson.People do need to learn how to make small talk (e.g. asking someone how they are when they make an internal phone call) because that is considered polite in English.