Quote:
Originally Posted by cocoluvnihon
heey is it near the research triangle park?!! and hav they tried recruiting you before? and do you like your job?  ohh with u're wage is japan kinda cheap in the part you live at?  |
Just briefly, the area I live in now is somewhere around average as far as living expenses and what I am paid is probably average too for teachers/college grads in Japan.
As far as the research triangle, that term in North Carolina refers specifically to Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro area where a lot of medical research takes place and no they never tried recruiting me. Charlotte is farther south in NC and the second largest banking center in the US after NYC. Shocking I know.
As far as a research triangle in Japan, I have never heard of that. No, no one has ever tried to recruit me for anything other than the armed forces after they learned I know a little Chinese.
Do I like my job? That is a difficult question. As far as jobs go, it is a pretty sweet ride being an ALT. You get paid well for the little that most ALT's do. My trouble as I've been told by other ALT's is that I take my job far too seriously.
But let's compare. Most ALT's are simply what is known as the human tape recorder simply reading the lines given to them to demonstrate correct pronunciation. As the name Assistant Language Teacher implies, they simply assist the Japanese instructor in the English program and every now and then are given fifteen minutes of free time to do a short activity or game.
Now consider my school where I plan and for the most part run my classes on my own. I have fifty to forty-five minutes of class time to teach "grammar" that is in the text book without the use of a text book. Which means that materials I use, I have to make basically from scratch. My Japanese teachers don't really get how frustrating that is. They have the textbooks, workbooks, CD's and computer lessons which they use in their classes. I have started incorporating the text readings into my classes much to their disappointment because I've recently realized that some of the seniors can't even read simple words like "fun" or "want."
Honestly, I go back and forth between "English education in Japan is hopeless" and "This isn't fun and games because you have to be able to pass that entrance exam to get into a good high school." When I look at my own education and how it has changed my life, it makes me one of the strongest advocates for higher education you will ever meet. Yes, school is tough and it takes what seems like forever to get to where you want to be which is just finished. But if I didn't stick with (believe me at times I didn't want to), I wouldn't be sitting in a Japanese Jr. High writing to all of you out there wanting one way or another to be in Japan.
The answer to your question is yes, I enjoy working in Japan's schools. Being a teacher is tough anywhere in the world. Then consider that you and your students don't even speak the same language. But that's part of the job, to make your students want to learn English so they can talk to you. And now when I see my kids I had last year coming home from high school, I feel really good about what I do and very proud that they are still in school slaving away.