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cwidstrom
Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 1
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:28 pm Post subject: Out of curiousity... |
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Hello Everyone,
I recently graduated with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and found myself a bit lost in what I wanted to do for a career that would make me truly happy. It happens. Anyway, i've always had a passion for Japan for many reasons and now I am a few months away from going there through Interac to be an ALT. Yay! So, i'm just curious to know about what the former/current ALT's out there have/plan to do career-wise? For those who are no longer ALT's, have you found that your experience benefited you in getting your job? I see the value in what being an ALT says about a person's character and therefore I figure I may very well find my calling while i'm there, be it teaching or something else. I'm just interested in hearing about other people, let me know! Thank you |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Hi, and welcome to the forums!
I was an AET on JET for 3 years, and then (a year or two later, after spending some time back in the UK) did about 5 more years mainly as a dispatch AET with various companies in the Kanto region (including Interac by the way, who were the best of that bunch IMHO). I'm hoping that the experience will be relevant and count for something if~when I apply to do further education-related qualifications (an MA? A PGCE? A degree in Chinese?), but I don't see it as being that marketable in and of itself. My advice would be to use your time in Japan to at least study for formal qualifications in Japanese (i.e. the JLPT), if not further degrees, somewhat distracting though all that may be from researching ELT-related issues and grammar (I used a lot of my free time on JET especially to read around in TEFL, Applied Linguistics, Lexicology, etc. Not that one really needs to be particularly well-read or knowledgeable to be an AET in the average school LOL). |
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kathrynoh
Joined: 16 Jul 2009 Posts: 64
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:27 am Post subject: |
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I never worked as an ALT myself but, when I returned from Japan and was doing the round of recruitment agencies and interviews, I found so many people working in recruitment or HR who said they'd worked teaching in Japan.
Not sure if they made that step in Japan - one of them said she'd worked in HR for Nova but the others didn't say, or if the teaching work shows tranferrable skills that help in that area. |
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move
Joined: 30 May 2009 Posts: 132
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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Here's my path (hopefully)
ALT > direct hire ALT > private school (current) > university
As fluffyhamster pointed out, you will probably have a lot of free time as an ALT. Use that time for all it's worth. Look up lesson ideas, research current teaching methodology or study Japanese (if your school doesn't mind).
Being an ALT gave me much more of an insight into Japanese culture than being an eikaiwa teacher. I could see both the good and bad of schools, see coworkers and students on good and bad days, eat delicious school lunches and awful ones. You get the idea.
It was also a good chance for me to try out lots of lesson ideas. I feel particularly sorry for the teachers who I taught with in my first 6 months as an ALT, who had to experience some of my lesson ideas that just didn't work at all. But I got the hang of it and the lessons started to get better.
As far as other positions you could go into in the future. If you become fluent in Japanese you can do so many jobs. I wouldn't want to stay an ALT for a long time though. |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 557 Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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move wrote: |
Here's my path (hopefully)
ALT > direct hire ALT > private school (current) > university
...you will probably have a lot of free time as an ALT. Use that time for all it's worth. Look up lesson ideas, research current teaching methodology or study Japanese (if your school doesn't mind).
...If you become fluent in Japanese you can do so many jobs. |
How important do you feel your Japanese ability was in helping you get a university teaching job? |
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teacheratlarge
Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 192 Location: Japan
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Solar Strength wrote: |
move wrote: |
Here's my path (hopefully)
ALT > direct hire ALT > private school (current) > university
...you will probably have a lot of free time as an ALT. Use that time for all it's worth. Look up lesson ideas, research current teaching methodology or study Japanese (if your school doesn't mind).
...If you become fluent in Japanese you can do so many jobs. |
How important do you feel your Japanese ability was in helping you get a university teaching job? |
I think you want to ask "How important do you feel your Japanese ability will be in helping you get a university teaching job?"
It can be important, though it depends;
-On where you work
-Which department you're in
-What type of position you hold |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 557 Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:34 am Post subject: |
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teacheratlarge wrote: |
Solar Strength wrote: |
move wrote: |
Here's my path (hopefully)
ALT > direct hire ALT > private school (current) > university
...you will probably have a lot of free time as an ALT. Use that time for all it's worth. Look up lesson ideas, research current teaching methodology or study Japanese (if your school doesn't mind).
...If you become fluent in Japanese you can do so many jobs. |
How important do you feel your Japanese ability was in helping you get a university teaching job? |
I think you want to ask "How important do you feel your Japanese ability will be in helping you get a university teaching job?"
It can be important, though it depends;
-On where you work
-Which department you're in
-What type of position you hold |
THanks. I read that a little too quickly!
So you feel that it also depends on the dept. one teaches for?
What do you meanby "What type of position you hold"? |
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Mr_Monkey
Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Posts: 661 Location: Kyuuuuuushuuuuuuu
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Solar Strength wrote: |
What do you mean by "What type of position you hold"? |
Tenured "professor", non-tenured department bitch, term-limited chump, part-time monkey. |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 557 Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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Mr_Monkey wrote: |
Solar Strength wrote: |
What do you mean by "What type of position you hold"? |
Tenured "professor", non-tenured department bitch, term-limited chump, part-time monkey. |
Okay, I see. Yeah, then there's going to be huge disparity in salary and benefits based on whether the position is contract full-time, part-time, term-limited contract, or tenured / permanent teacher. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 1:37 am Post subject: |
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teacheratlarge wrote: |
I think you want to ask "How important do you feel your Japanese ability will be in helping you get a university teaching job?"
It can be important, though it depends;
-On where you work
-Which department you're in
-What type of position you hold |
Equally important to language skills, if not more so, is the number and type of publications you have published. Networking helps enormously, too, since there are 20-100 candidates for each position, usually. If they don't know you, your resume is likely not going directly into the A pile right away. |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012 Posts: 270 Location: Ibaraki
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:54 am Post subject: |
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So if you need publications to get a university job, does that mean it's relatively easy to get published in Japan? Here it's usually only the ones with uni jobs that get published. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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kah5217 wrote: |
So if you need publications to get a university job, does that mean it's relatively easy to get published in Japan? |
I fail to see the connection.
Many/Most publications (certainly the peer-reviewed ones) take a year to be issued. Lots of authors don't like waiting that long. Many don't think they should rewrite anything (but need to).
It's not just publications, but they play a big role. You're still going to be up against 20-100 other candidates. They say the norm nowadays is to be a part-time teacher instead of full-timer. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 1373 Location: Way, way off course.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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kah5217 wrote: |
Here it's usually only the ones with uni jobs that get published. |
Yr profile says the US? A good amount of published research, and the vast majority of applied research, in ESL/EFL comes out of community colleges/polytechs in the US, not universities.
In terms of Japan, "published" is a very loose term overall. I know of one person that "published" via lulu.com and his prefectural JETAA magazine for the four years he was on JET and then simply walked into a university job. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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G Cthulhu wrote: |
In terms of Japan, "published" is a very loose term overall. I know of one person that "published" via lulu.com and his prefectural JETAA magazine for the four years he was on JET and then simply walked into a university job. |
That is far from the norm, though. Very far.
Most unis in Japan have a strict format for examining publications. An extensively detailed form must be completed to show your coauthorship/ single authorship, percent you contributed to the paper, whether it was peer reviewed in an international pub or not, etc. Books are considered less valued than scientific journals.
There are exceptions all the time, but G Cthulhu's example is not a typical example of someone who gets in solely on the basis of pubs. Depends on the ranking / quality of uni, too. |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012 Posts: 270 Location: Ibaraki
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:31 am Post subject: |
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I studied psychology, and I know journals for that particular field are extremely competitive. From reading posts on here I assumed "published" meant the same thing in EFL as in psychology. So it didn't make sense to me that you can get published without already teaching in a university. |
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