Pixel International Conferences

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has prompted educational institutions around the world to take measures to protect their students and teaching staff while ensuring the continuity and quality of their instructional process. Despite Japan's image of a technologically progressive country, with a generally proactive approach in the face of natural disasters, the country lacks the preparedness for addressing the complex issues of teaching remotely, especially during extraordinary circumstances. The paper draws from the author’s experience teaching English for TOEIC for one semester to Japanese freshmen enrolled in a private business university using remote teaching. It discusses the concept of Emergency Remote Teaching and the different challenges it poses compared to face-to-face teaching, such as the cultural specificities of a Japanese ESL classroom. The study suggests several strategies to motivate students and maintain a high student participation rate. The conclusion it reaches is that simply transitioning classroom teaching methods to the online medium is not as facile as it is generally assumed, but implies a sustained effort, proactiveness, and careful consideration of the factors that make teaching and learning successful and fulfilling experiences for teachers and students.

Keywords: emergency remote teaching, teaching English for special purposes.

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