Teaching English in the JP

[Maku]

Originally Posted by jasonbvr

Elementary school kids will try to poke their fingers in your @$$. Most Jr. High ALT's serve at the elementary school too. In my case I am only a Jr. High teacher. If you do the Eikaiwa gig, your students are going to be all over the map as far as age and ability.

I wouldn't mind teaching people of all ages and abilities, it'd just mean I'd have to improve my organisation (e.g not doing things the night before they have to be in like I'm doing now). Would it mean moving around to different places aswell, or would you still be staying put in the same town/city?

[jasonbvr]

Sometimes if you are hired to only visit elementary schools you wil be driving around a bit to visit different ones, but for the most part you live in the same area in Japan for the length of your contract. After you finish the contract, you can request that your company transfer you or you can find a new company to hire you elsewhere.

But yeah, some days you will need to be one hundred percent and others a half tank of gas is all that is needed. It is a bit too expensive to be an alcoholic here anyways, so you should be okay.

[annelie82]

Originally Posted by jasonbvr

If I were in your shoes, I would market myself to companies as a person with a diverse, international background. This is what a lot of their students are interested in beyond English education. They are studying English for the exposure to foreign cultures and looking for people willing to share that with them.

That's a really good point. Up till now I've been so focused on covering up all non-English aspects of myself that I never stopped to think that highlighting my foreign background and my experience of living in many countries could actually work in my favour. I'll try this approach in my next application and let you know how things work out.

Thanks for your advice!

~annelie

[kiwisteve]

Send me some information please on what I need to do to be teaching there , I come over a few years back for a month and really enjoyed my stay.

[jasonbvr]

If you don't know yet, an ALT is the foreign English teacher placed in Japanese public schools. The acronym stands for Assistant Language Teacher whereas the JTE is our assigned title for Japanese Teacher of English. I say assigned title because the JTE title is something it seems only ALT's know about and use.

You and your JTE are going to be working together to teach these little buggers English. You are going to do a little something called "team teaching." Well, that is the vision anyways. How it works out always varies by the ALT and the school they are placed in. But I will address the biggest issue ALT's face in working with their JTE's, communication.

Why would communication be a problem? You both speak English right? Wrong! JTE's teach English, they don't speak it. Unfortunately I wish I was kidding, but in some circumstances you will find this to be unfortunately very, very true. Sometimes, you will have an amazing JTE who can read and write beautifully and translate things to Japanese with ease, but when you need to discuss or explain something it takes four or five times to get the message through.

This, you will get used to eventually. You will also get used to pointing out their errors hopefully outside of class but sometimes in front of students. I try to do this as quietly as possible and make excuses for them like, "Oh, I make the same mistake all the time." But what ALT's never get used to is that part of being an "assistant."

An assistant to most of us means someone who is going to help out and follow the directives given to us by our superior counterparts. Now in some if not most circumstances you really are the assistant in your team teaching classes. The JTE leads and you follow. Everything of course planned out and decided before the class begins, you two just breeze through the class together.

Now for the realities you will face. In my case, I make the lessons for our team teaching classes. We don't use the textbooks or any workbooks. My class is designed and assembled by me. Not exclusively of course because one thing you will learn quickly as an ALT is to follow the path blazed by our predecessors. We often take games and activities and simply reshape them and mold them into our own. We get together with other ALT's and in the midst of heavy drinking and on the way to the karaoke booth start exchanging lesson plans. Then there is always the blessed internet. Full of free resources for teachers and English learners alike.

Now for the flipside to my scenario, your JTE controls every minute detail of the class. You, the ALT, are there because someone long ago decided it would be a good idea to have an English helper. Your JTE doesn't think so but rather views you as a hindrance and a waste of time. They resent you because you have perfect, or close to it, English. The result is that often they leave you in the dark as far as what is going to happen during class. They like to spring things on you like, "Oh, Jason there is fifteen minutes left in class. Can you make some game to practice today's grammar?" "What? Right now??" Then there are the ones that will use all Japanese in class and will tell the kids something like, "And now let's listen to Jason read this text." Then simply turn to stare at you along with thirty kids without ever mentioning to you that you are supposed to start reading and you are just like, "Um, what?"

The ideal team teaching situation is where both teachers are contributing to class. Your JTE's are making sure that you know where they are in the program and what the kids are studying. They are actually giving you feedback on lessons and commenting on ways for improvement. At one time, my dream was that instead of planning entire fifty minute activities we could every now and then just give me twenty minutes at the end of class. But now that I have a new JTE to work with and she is taking my plans and implementing them herself, I feel like she stole some of my thunder.

But you will learn to adjust the same as the rest of us no matter what situation you find yourself in. Always remember though that just because your title is "Assistant," you are really the one who will decide your effectiveness and involvement in the lessons. If there is something bothering you with your relationship to your JTE, talk directly to them about it in a respectful manner. Afterall, it is not like you are Japanese and need to give them the false impression that everything is alright when it is not. If that doesn't work, well, you have just learned why the turnover for ALT's is freaking sky high.

[jasonbvr]

Originally Posted by Maku

I may apply to work with 6 - 12 year old kids, as I've always thought younger children have the most potential.
I guess you'd need to be more creative with them aswell, seeing as they're younger and visual aids and things are better.

Another little bit I forgot to mention about working at elementary schools is that you cannot teach reading and writing. Basically, you are tasked to teach English without teaching them the alphabet. How enjoyable is that? Not fun at all my friend and when I get the little snot nosed punks in April have to start from scratch with, "A B C D E F G, H I J K L M N O P." As an elementary school teacher, you are going to have to be full of energy and extremely creative. Also as a Jr. High ALT, I get the good English teachers to work with. Elementary school English teachers I have been told do not necessarily know English all that well.

Now all this changes if you work for a private school. I did an interview one time where even some math and science courses were being taught in English to elementary school kids. I should've taken that job, geez I am such a retard. The school had a freaking aquarium, heated indoor poor, a planetarium and the pay was excellent.

[Lonewolf]

Hi jason, I just want to know something. What kind of degree do you need to teach English over there? Can it be basically any degree as long as your English is fluent? And also if you don't mind me asking, how old are you and what degree do you have?

[jasonbvr]

You have to hold a bachelor's degree and speak English to meet the minimum requirements. A few criteria you can meet that will make getting a job teaching English easier are being a native of a country where English is the official language, choose a major like English or an area of teaching and studying Japanese helps especially if you take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test which is made by the Japanese government. You can also get a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language but all this does is really show your dedication to trying to be a good teacher.

I have a BA in International Studies with a concentration in East Asian studies. I minored in Japanese and studied Mandarin Chinese as well a few other languages which I was horrible at. My Japanese is bad too because I did Mandarin for two years after finishing the minor and studied it in Beijing. When I was applying for a job, I was doing some certification program online but dropped it after I got hired. It did help a little in preparing me to teach and makes you aware of some of the difficulties your students will face in learning English.

Looking back on it now, I should've done the International Business just so I'd have a degree to fall back on since mine is mostly political science, religion, culture and history studies.

Oh and I am 25 going on 26 this year. I was out of school for a full year before coming to Japan. This year I will either stay in Japan as an ALT or start studying Korean and move there for a year. After that I have to decide whether to return to school for business or attempt a Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language, aka TESL.

[Maku]

What's the difference between a bachelor's degree and a different degree?
Will it be different requirements as I will be applying from England?

[jasonbvr]

Originally Posted by Maku

What's the difference between a bachelor's degree and a different degree?
Will it be different requirements as I will be applying from England?

It is a four year university degree from an accredited university. US colleges and universities offer the following degrees, associates (2 yrs), bachelors of arts or sciences (4 yrs), masters (2 to 3 yrs after bachelors), doctorates (2 yrs or more).

This prerequisite is set by the Japanese ministry that issues work visas and differs for each nation. I am assuming that for the UK it would be any 3 to 4 year degree from a major university. I looked at the Japanese embassy site for obtaining a work visa for UK residents through this link The JET Programme - Aspiring JETs - Participating Countries, but I couldn't find anything specific. It just says documents certifying carreer qualifications. Also if you are a UK citizen, you are eligible for a working holiday visa which means you can probably be hired temporarily while in school.