For my first five years in Japan I taught at a junior high school out in the countryside. I taught all kinds of students. Some were super motivated and interested in English, some not so much. Overall, I felt like I got along well with a lot of the students I taught regardless of how they felt about English and foreign cultures.

Recently I had two former students from that time reach out to me. They are both in university now, a few years apart. One of them was doing her thesis about English teaching in Japan and wanted to know about my experiences. I was glad to see how passionate she still is about English, not to mention how much her ability seems to have improved. The other student told me he is now studying abroad in Taiwan. He is not there to study English, but instead Chinese. It was cool to hear he was motivated enough to study somewhere abroad.

As a teacher, you do not often know where a lot of your students may end up. But learning that they are still trying hard to improve their English or have an interest in foreign countries and cultures is a great feeling. I hope some of my other students from many years ago are also following similar paths.