Chapter 19: Why did you start teaching English?

I don’t think of myself as a “teacher.” I prefer to think about it as “helping others to improve their English conversation abilities.”

My first permanent base was Phu Cat Air Base, Vietnam. The base was used by both the US and Vietnamese air forces. I became friend with a few of the Vietnamese airmen. If they could pass an English proficiency test, they had a chance to attend classes in the States. We would sometimes just ride the shuttlebus back and forth on base speaking English. I didn’t have a lesson plan. I just asked them to tell me what they needed to learn.

When I got to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, I became friends with a few Japanese soldiers from Camp Shirakawa. Their camp was located near Kadena Air Base, and they had an anti-aircraft site located in the area where I worked. I would occasionally visit their base and was introduced to the camp commanders. I remember once when they got a new commander, he asked me to come to dinner at his house to meet his family. The previous commander told him that he “had to meet Sgt. Young.” I was invited to their camp barbecues. There was a head table where all the VIPs sat, a lot of small tables scattered here and there, and the BBQ grills located in the back. I preferred hanging out by the grills and help cook veggies, yakisoba etc. and drink beer some Orion beers with my friends and we didn’t have to listen to the boring speeches. With the new commander there, I was asked to sit at the VIP table. No thanks. Now I had to sit there properly, listen to the speeches and act like  a gentleman. I digress again.

I was asked to teach English to the soldiers at Camp Shirakawa. They wanted to pay me, but I preferred to do it as a volunteer. I finally said that I would teach them English and in turn they would teach me Japanese. It eventually turned out with me only teaching English. We had topics of the week and I would hand out review papers from the previous weeks. I really enjoyed it and made more friends.

When I was stationed at Yokota Air Base, I started teaching conversation classes about two years before I retired. My commander’s wife was teaching conversation classes in her house on base. Several times she told me that I should start teaching. I would usually answer that I’d think about it. She and her husband were going to leave Yokota and go to a new base in the States. She called me one day and asked if I wanted to take over some of her classes. She said that she didn’t want to hear “maybe.” She said, “I want an answer right now, yes or no!” I panicked and said, “Yes, please.” I met the students at her house. One class was four high school boys, another was four high school girls, and the third class was three men – Zenji, Kenji and Benji. Well, I can’t remember the third person, but it wasn’t Benji. Zenji and I are still close friends.

During my last two years before retiring, I taught these three classes and added a few more. I never advertised for new students; it was all by word-of-mouth. During these two years I was doing my Air Force job, teaching, and working at my friend’s used car lot. I was working seven days and seven nights a week. I knew that living in Japan after I retired from the Air Force would be very expensive, so I had to save a lot of money. Before I finally retired, I had to choose to sell cars full time or teach English full time. The car business was big money, but I really enjoyed teaching.

Shortly after retiring in October 1989, I was introduced to my first community center class in Kabe, Ome City. Four members of that class today are original members. I was so very nervous in the beginning, but my students have been very kind and helped me to relax. I have six classes in community centers and students come to my house five days a week.

I’ve been asked when I will retire from teaching and move back to the States. I have no plans to do either. I miss my grandkids in Anacortes, but my life is here in Japan. I am a very lucky person. I really enjoy what I am doing and have many good people around me.

Since I started a business, I decided that I should make a business card, a.k.a. “meishi” in Japanese. Keeping with my “simple is best” motto, I chose a simple design. I occasionally ask my new students what the picture signifies. Of course, their first answer would be a church. I say, “yes and no.” It resembles a church but there is no cross on top of the church steeple. In the old days in a small country town there was usually one church. The church is used on Sundays for prayer services, but during the week it is empty. The picture without the cross signifies that it is a “one room schoolhouse.” My classes are small, and I don’t teach on Sundays.