iU President-kun Gachon: Mr.Tetsuya Yasukochi

■iU President-kun Gachon: Mr.Tetsuya Yasukochi

A charismatic English teacher. He's also an entrepreneur and a bestselling author. And a visiting professor at iU . This is the kind of teacher you want to learn English from!

the age of AI

iU teaches business presentations. In many businesses, reading and writing have already been replaced by AI. At iU , we teach English that will capture, persuade, provoke, and move people when you go out into the world for business.

Japanese English learners are diligently studying only the parts that will be replaced by AI. They are not doing what humans need to do. At iU , we will focus on the skills that will not be replaced by AI when you enter society in 10 years.

◆ An impactful self-introduction

Practice making an impactful self-introduction or speech that people will remember. I'd like to make it a graduation requirement at iU . You need to be able to speak English to a certain extent in order to effectively convey your strengths. Be able to deliver a full speech and give a compelling self-introduction.

◆ Reasons for continuing to learn English

During my student days, I spent all my time mountain climbing. I enjoyed studying English for my entrance exams, so I majored in English. I got a job during the bubble economy. I disliked the typical job hunting process, so I became a part-time lecturer at a cram school. In my late twenties, I started my own company. I began writing. I established a foundation. I moved into the field of English education.

◆The fun things about English

I enjoy communicating with people in a foreign language. It's not necessarily the English I learned for university entrance exams that I find enjoyable; rather, it's the ability to communicate with people after learning the language that I find truly enjoyable. I love talking to people from all over the world.

◆Starting a business

A one-person agency where I produce myself and then send myself out to work.

When I talk to students, they seem to think that it's not entrepreneurship unless it's something big. But entrepreneurship is simply about deciding to do something starting today. It's about not joining the framework of a large company, but starting something on your own. It's about starting a business.

◆Show your face and make your point

They should show their faces and express their opinions. They should produce themselves and market themselves to the world. It would be good if all iU students had YouTube channels and shared their thoughts and feelings with their faces shown.

◆ You have the freedom to fail.

Students are young. No matter how many mistakes they make, in 10 years no one will remember. They have the freedom to make mistakes. When they make a mistake, they can learn from it and avoid making the same mistake again. Humans do n't learn until they make mistakes themselves . The number of mistakes equals the number of things they can do.

◆ Failure experience

I've written a lot of books. I've sold around 5 million copies in total. Of those, only about 20 out of 100 are selling well. The remaining 80 don't even sell their first print run.

When we find someone who has been successful, we only see the parts that went well. But they 've probably failed about eight times as much.

◆Student days

During my university years, I spent a year studying for entrance exams before moving to Tokyo. All the classes were in English, and I grew to hate English. I avoided English for about a year and a half. I thought that things would work out if I went to America, so I wandered around there for about two and a half months. There, I realized that I wouldn't become fluent in English just by being in America. Just being there was like changing locations. It gave me the impetus to realize that I had to study English.

I used to think of English as synonymous with America, but when I went there, I saw people from all sorts of countries and regions communicating in broken English. I thought, "This is fine!" When I returned to university, I gained the courage to speak broken English in front of my fluent classmates, and that's how I became able to speak English.

Just speak in front of people in your own English. If you make a mistake, just correct it. Don't study and then speak.

◆ Discomfort at school

In our time, middle and high school were organizations designed to help us adapt to group living. I hated that kind of thing.

Once I entered university, I was free to do as I pleased. However, I couldn't keep up with the pressure to act like everyone else during job hunting.

I wanted to teach, so I entered a job that involves developing people.

◆Challenges in Japanese schools

Individualized optimization is highly advanced in each country. Despite the existence of diverse children specializing in sports, musical instruments, programming, English, etc., they all use the same mark sheet and are expected to achieve the same score. In the future, individualized optimization tailored to each child will be necessary.

◆ Become a team

A team where someone good at presentations takes on sales challenges, someone who can speak English aggressively pursues deals, and someone with programming skills provides backup—that kind of teamwork. It would be great if they could build networks with each other within iU .

◆A message for you

iU is a place where students who question the trends of the world gather. When you want to start a life where you pursue what you truly want to do, iU is an option. Let's study together!

★Postscript

I like the story of how he got back into English after hating it. Mr. Yasukochi looks cool and inspiring riding his Honda Monkey motorcycle. Riding a Monkey. I've been dreaming of it since I was a student , but I still haven't been able to do it. It's my homework.