Speaking Japanese to students

I've been in Japan for about 3 years. I worked in an eikaiwa for one year and then at a junior high school for about 2 years in Tokyo. At the eikaiwa I was told to use no Japanese at all. At the school I was told to use about 99 percent English with maybe a word or two of Japanese here and there. That worked in my last school but not at my current one.

I changed schools and moved to a small town out in Yamanashi. Many of the kids here absolutely have zero interest in learning English. They want to talk to me, but not in English, not even a little bit. Some kids actually avoid me just because they don't want to have to speak in English.

I've been studying Japanese for over 3 years and am close to level 2 of the JLPT. I can understand almost everything the kids say and can talk to them for hours on end if I really wanted to, which I do.

However, The teachers keep giving me conflicting advice. Some want me to speak mostly English with a little Japanese here and there. Others want me to speak a mix of 50/50 English/Japanese to help make the kids feel more comfortable while at the same time having to hear at least a little English. The rest don't seem to care what I do.

This is very confusing for me. I don't like having restrictions and trying to keep a balance between and mix Japanese is way too difficult for me. If a student asks me a complicated or difficult question in Japanese, I feel answering it in Japanese is best because they most likely won't understand a long explanation in English. The problem with that is that once I start speaking to students in Japanese, most aren't going to even bother trying to say something to me in English if they know I will understand it in Japanese.

In addition to this the teachers try talking to me in Japanese in front of the children while I'm trying my best to talk to them in only English.

I feel like just giving up and talking to everyone in Japanese all the time. I know some ALTs do that but I'm a little worried about it. Not just for the sake of my own job but for the kids as well.

Sorry for the long rant but this is really bothering me. I think I'm even starting to upset the other teachers by sticking to mostly English when the students are present. One teacher said that I'm not only strict to the students but to us teacher too.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,

Look for another school!

Seriously now, the only time I progressed in oral English was with a teacher who insisted in talking mostly in English....At least 3/4 of the class where apathetic (it wasn't in Japan by the way) so he concentrated on the few ones that would sort of talk.

He did make a point of asking a basic question in English to each student in turn at least once in one hour (starting by a student at the front row left then the next one , the next one etc. all the way to the end of the first row then up to next row etc. all the way to the last one in the back row, or vice-versa).

Another time within the same hour he would ask a couple of the silent bored ones..
Everyone had to answer, even if the answer had nothing to do with the question. He might use that answer as base for the next question.

Of course the topic for questions had to be interesting.....we were teenage boys so sports and famous medieval battles or castles---it was in Europe-- were used, or a current event...

Unlike other teachers that taught English grammar in our mother tongue and went into boring explanations that didn't mean anything ..he skipped grammar..after all we don't learn grammar in our language until we already know how to speak it well enough....he just corrected us quickly as we kept talking ..eventually it sticks in your brain..

....

It sounds really strange that the teachers would get upset that you are using Engish in..an English lesson?

I used to work in a kindergartedn and I used Japanese as muich as I could cos the ONLY people who ever speak to me in japanese are little kids!!! Adults always want to practice Englsih. I learnt the most Japanese there than anywhere else in 8 yrs in Japan...says something dosen't it.

Anyway, obviously children will be more comfortable talking to you in their native language..but that's not why you are there..you are there to teach them English so I think you should use it. I only used Japanese because I absolutey hated the school and couldnt give a crap about the job. If you care about teaching Engish I am confused about why this is an issue for you and also the other teachers.

You don't seem, like most of so called English teachers, to have any ESL(Englsih As a Second Language)training, education, qualification, etc.
You can not just do just because you speak English.
If you truly care to teach, get some training.

Hi everyone, thanks for the answers but I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I wasn't talking about speaking Japanese to my children during class and while teaching them.

That's not the problem. The problem is that I have to participate in various school functions outside of class. Like sports games, festivals or other various events.

It's during these events, outside of class, where speaking only English becomes a problem because I'm supposed to interact with the teachers and the children at the same time.

It's during this times that Japanese teachers will walk up to me in front of a group of children and talk to me in Japanese. The children hear this and then don't want to even try talking to me in English, outside of class, because they know I understand Japanese.

That's the problem.

Thanks again,