English teachers in Japan often tell themselves that one reason students don’t progress is that they are afraid to make mistakes. But are we as teachers just as willing to make mistakes ourselves?

I taught English at public elementary schools in Tokyo in the early 2000s. Teaching English at elementary schools was still experimental at the time and so I was responsible for creating all the lessons I was teaching. I had excitedly prepared all the materials for this interactive lesson that I thought would just mesmerize the students. From the moment the bell rang, however, there was just no response to anything I did that day. I was really down and depressed after that class. I asked the homeroom teacher who I co-taught the class with at that school why the students were so unresponsive and he just said the culture festival was coming up so students were really tired preparing for that. Thinking back, the lesson probably wasn't as great as I thought it was but from then on I have kept an eye on what students are doing outside class while thinking about either the yearly curriculum or an individual lesson.

When I think of language learning mistakes I have made, though, I always come back to one I made when I was living in Niigata as a JET program participant. As you may know, Niigata is snow country. But I grew up on the coast in California, which is defenantly not snow country, and I had only actually seen snow just a few months before coming to Japan. So during my first winter I was glued to the TV trying to figure out weather forcasts. One day I saw on the TV the term 大雪, which means heavy snow. I knew 雪, or snow, was pronounced yuki. I thought the 大 (big) would be pronounced like 大学 (university or daigaku). I was in a meeting a few days later at the local board of education and I said it will be daiyuki. Everyone looked puzzled until they started laughing after trying to understand what I was trying to say. My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) who was in the meeting explained that it was pronounced ooyuki not daiyuki.

I am sure students are afraid of such an experience. I can’t say I was in good spirits myself immediately after making that mistake, nor am I everytime I make mistakes in my daily life.  When making a mistake in the classroom, though, I try to keep in mind that even the smallest error is, in addition to giving the students a chance to correct their teacher while also being able to teach their fellow students something, an opporunity to show them making mistakes is not something to be embarrassed by but rather an opportunity to learn something new. If we as teachers are willing to show our students that it is okay to make mistakes hopefully they will see the value in taking risks and making mistakes as they progress on their English learning journey.