Gifu University

In October 2020, Tori interviewed for a Assistant Professor position at Gifu Universtiy. She was really honored to even be invited for an interview. Getting a full-time, direct-hire, Professor job is competitive and difficult to do. The interview itself was quite intimidating because there was a panel of 6 people conducting the interview. After the interview had ended Tori felt defeated because she did not think she fit the description of what the university was looking for, and she did not expect to hear back. Imagine her shock when one week later she learned that she was offered a position!

While Tori was offered and accepted the position in October 2020, the actual job did not start until April 1, 2021. Tori has a 1-year contract that is renewable for up to 5 years (which is quite standard for full-time English teaching university positions in Japan).

Gifu Univeristy has a standardized curriculum for their 4 English classes (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing). What this means is that GIfu University identified the needs of their students and created their own curriculm, textbook and lesson plans based off the student needs. The result is high quality material and lessons for students, and also low prep for teachers. Tori enjoys teaching the courses because the material is such high quality and because the students seem to enjoy how highly engaging the classes are.

Tori teaches 8 classes per week, and each class is 90 minutes long. She teaches 2 classes Mon-Weds from 8:45-noon (with a 15 minute break in between classes), and she teaches 2 classes on Thursdays from 2:45-6:00 (also with a 15 minute break in between classes). She does not have any classes on Friday, but instead goes into the office on Friday and does other work. She teaches students from all majors and has about 250 students. Overall, she really is enjoying her new position, and she still feels very honored to have been hired!

The most challening part is not the job itself, rather it is the distance of Gifu University from Tori and Miklos's home in Nagoya. It takes about an hour and a half one-way to get to Gifu University. Tori got a small, afforable apartment in Gifu which she stays at during the week, and she bent over backwards to get a Japanese driver's license (what a PROCESS). Miklos worked hard on navigating the bureaucracyof buying a car in Japan, and together they bought a used car to help get to/from Gifu (to come home on Friday and to go back to Gifu on Sundays). Other than the distance, all is well with the new job. Congrats, Tori!

By the way, check out that beautiful view from her classroom window! We both think Gifu is absolutely stunning in terms of its beauty!