CARL ATTENIESE

A Message to Students

I have been teaching English as a Second Language for twenty-six years, and every time I step into the classroom, I learn something new. Students describe me as enthusiastic, positive, confidence-building and creative. But where would I be without them and my managers?

Personally, I work hard to bring compassion, originality, kindness, patience, artfulness, interesting voices, and well-spoken English and happiness to my students. Learning another language is hard, so I have to make it as easy as possible for you to succeed.

As a guest in Japan, and before, in Korea, I take my role as a teacher who has been welcomed into the heart of Japan, seriously. I see myself as an ambassador, of sorts, privileged to bridge a gap between cultures, with a chance to become a part of this society, sharing what I know and open to learning what I can.

I have taught in private homes and offices, in university classrooms and language labs, public schools and community centers and at institutes and seminars. My students have been kindergartners and home-makers, PhD-hopefuls, business professionals, military officers, scientists, artists & artisans, architects, pilots, doctors, other teachers and government officials.

Students compliment my ability to describe ideas, my methods in helping them remember words and phrases, my pronunciation, and sound-production, my singing voice and my drawings—which all help to illustrate concepts. They say that they appreciate my explanations without sounding too technical. I am grateful for their studiousness, observations and appreciation.

In my spare time I enjoy learning about spaceflight and aviation, writing poetry, essays and maxims and doing comedy and making art—which I think aid in my appreciation of sharing meaning creatively, humorously and effectively. So after all, I think we will find interests in common, and this will make our time together comfortable.

In the big picture, my mission as a teacher and a person who has given up the comforts of his native country, is to appreciate and enjoy Japan and to help enrich the lives of her citizens, for them and the world that my teaching may help them explore. I feel that the more people speak the common world language, the more the world gets smaller—and more people around the world can understand each other; this is the surest way to lasting peace and cooperation.