Fiona フィオナ Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Fiona! Would you introduce yourself briefly to the Cafetalk community?: A. Hello! My name is Fiona, and I'm a British-Australian living in Japan. I’m almost 24 years old, and I’ve been involved in English education over the past few years; something I’ve really developed a passion for. I also love travelling and meeting new people from all over the world.
Q. Originally, you were born in the UK, but moved to Australia when you were still a child. Can you tell us a bit about your life in both countries?: A. Sure! I was born and raised in Bedfordshire, England, where my extended family (grandparents, aunties/uncles, cousins, etc.) still live. When I was nine years old, my parents decided to emigrate to Perth, Australia for better job opportunities… and better weather! So together we moved, and I started at a new primary school in Australia, and quite quickly caught onto Australian-English and some of the differences in lifestyle and culture. The first two questions people tend to ask me about this experience are ‘Which country do you like better?’ and ‘Which accent do you have when you speak?’, both of which are equally hard to answer. Each country has its good points and bad points, and I could be very happy living in either country! I really miss the beautiful green English countryside, but I also equally miss Australia’s beautiful beaches and relaxed lifestyle. As for my accent, it’s quite a mix - I sound Australian to the British, and British to the Australians, so there you go!
Q. And currently, you are living in Japan! Can you tell us a little bit about how you ended up here and your life here now?: A. Yes - my third home! I came over to Japan mid-2014 as I was offered a job teaching at a senior high school through The JET Programme. For those not familiar with it, The JET Programme recruits Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) from all over the world and places them in English classrooms in Japan as both native-speakers of English and cultural ambassadors. I spent two years working as an ALT in Hyogo, Japan, and it was a really wonderful time of my life since I feel I developed in so many ways, not only as a teacher of English but as a student of the Japanese language and culture. I finished my work at the school in July 2016 and moved to Okayama, Japan to live with my husband. In the time since I went away to Cambridge for several months for teacher-training, I started a Master’s degree by distance learning and, of course, began tutoring here on Cafetalk.
Q. What are you usually up to when you’re not teaching on Cafetalk? Do you have any special hobbies or interests?: A. I generally keep busy with housework and looking after (and training) our miniature dachshund puppy, who is eight months old. I’m grateful for Miya-chan because she gets me out of the house (and off my computer) every day for walks, most of which are very enjoyable since we have a lot of lovely parks near our home. On the weekends I like to watch movies, do some wedding planning (our wedding ceremony is next year!) and call home to see how my parents are doing. I also like to think I have a secret talent of being really quite good at Mario Kart on the Wii!
Oh and I also really like photography. I’m often out and about photographing the places that I visit, taking pictures of our adorable dog, and yes, I admit, sometimes taking pictures of food! I recently set up a lesson on Cafetalk aimed at students who, like me, take many photos during their daily lives. I thought this would be a good opportunity to not only showcase them to another person, but practice describing what is happening in each of the pictures in English. All levels are very welcome in this lesson.
Q. Being proficient in Japanese, you seem to be an avid language learner yourself. In your opinion, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when studying or teaching a foreign language?: A. Something I’ve come to learn as both a teacher and learner of languages is that you have to keep using the language in order to keep it in your long-term memory. Research into language learning highlights the importance of not just input, but output as well. \‘Input' means the things that you listen to and read in the language you are trying to learn, like reading news articles or listening to movies or music in English. \‘Output' means producing language by way of speaking or writing. It seems that you are more likely to be able to recall vocabulary if you use it often in speech. I always urge my students to practice speaking English every day, whether it is for ten minutes in front of the mirror or thirty minutes with a tutor on Cafetalk. (The latter is recommended if you want to improve your listening skills as well!)
Q. You are offering traditional English Conversation classes, but you also have a class called "English Word Games". How does this class work, and how does it work to enhance your students' fluency?: A. Yes, this is probably my favourite class! I use this lesson to introduce different word games to students of English, most of which I have learnt from my family and other native speakers of English while looking for something to do to kill time on long car journeys, or at Christmas time when all of the family is gathered together, and we get quite competitive! The games are generally vocabulary-based, so it gives students a good opportunity to reinforce the lexical knowledge they already have. I also join in the activities and reveal some of my answers or thoughts at the end, so this is also a great chance to learn new vocabulary or be reminded of words that could have been applied in the situations. Many games are also speaking-based so students are required to produce output. But another benefit of these games is that we, the student and the tutor, really get to know each other in a fun way.
Q. You also offer a variety of conversational classes. Which of your classes is your favourite, and why do you think your students will benefit from taking that lesson?: A. I’m really enjoying my ‘Conditional Conversations’ class at the moment. This is a speaking-based grammar class where students have the opportunity to freely practice the different conditionals in English. Because of the nature of conditional clauses, most of our discussion questions are quite amusing and require some thought since the student has often never been asked such questions before. For those who are new to conditionals, I can outline their format, usage and so on before practicing, and for those who are already familiar with the conditionals, we can simply enjoy discussing our answers to questions like ‘If you could have one superpower, what would it be?’ and ‘If you had to choose between swimming in a pool of chocolate or a pool of miso soup, which would you choose?’
Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for your current and future students?: A. Thanks for taking the time out to read my interview! I can only offer you my support and encouragement on your language learning journey. Any language, whether it is English or Japanese, needs a serious amount of time and effort to learn, and you constantly have to overcome feelings of anxiety, and the little voices inside your head criticising you for not sounding intelligent enough, or urging you to just give up. But since you’re here, reading my message, I truly commend you on seizing the opportunity to further your language studies. I wish you all the best, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch!