The Teaching Life

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 23:30

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He has been teaching English at the Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) since 1993. He first wanted to teach English at public schools, but his plan changed after he had an opportunity to teach at CESL 18 years ago.

"I didn't mean to teach English here, first," Chuck Phillips said. "But, while I was studying for a master's program here at the University of Arizona, I had an opportunity to teach English at CESL. I love this job so much though. This job allows me to be creative and meet people around the world."

He even had a chance to visit a different country. He went to Japan and taught English at Toyota Technological Institute in Nagoya, Japan.

"I got to experience Japan and its culture," he said. "People were obviously speaking in Japanese, and the teaching style was very different from here."

After getting back from Japan, Phillips started to teach English to international students at CESL again. Recently, he has noticed a change.

"There are now many younger students," he said. "And I'm not sure if they are ready to learn in new cultural settings. It's certainly hard to adapt to American culture."

Phillips also pointed out an issue with students speaking English at CESL.

"There are students from many countries," he said. "And they are here to learn, and most of the students know it. I think students should speak English at least in classrooms. I know it's hard in lower-level classes though because they have a hard time expressing themselves in English."

After a long history of teaching English, he is planning to retire soon.

"I'm going to retire in a few years," he said. "I want to travel more, and play a lot more music and make some more music!"

Written by Sano Yujiro

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