Job Discussion Forums

[Tsian]

Glenski:

Yes, sorry, I think I probably should have said TESOL certificate (though I could definitely see the argument for ALTs to have even broader training, I think such a conversation would necessarily have to go hand in hand with a discussion of longer term employment commitments and/or a fundamental change in what an ALT is)

To throw in my experience, the minute I was able to demonstrate that I was capable of running classes, my JTEs generally were happy to let me take on lessons as appropriate (and basically act as an ALT to my class). But I think taking on duties outside of teaching was probably very helpful in gaining that trust.

But, again, ESID right.

[Kionon]

For a culture that makes such a big deal about homogeneity, it really is about ESID in pretty much every case I can think of.

Tatemae vs honne.... Order vs chaos.

[OneJoelFifty]

I want to share my experience, I�d say that I�m a good example of why an ALT doesn�t need an MA, and also not atypical of the people that come over here. I�m not saying I�m a great teacher, but I think I became a good ALT. I have a degree in English literature and spent five years after university in a job for a big company that involved marketing, design and copywriting. I came to Japan for a holiday a couple of years before heading here to work.

I arrived in Japan just over two years ago with no teaching experience. When I decided I wanted to come to Japan, I did a weekend TEFL course to see what sort of thing I was letting myself in for. Honestly, it was little to no practical use other than giving me slight peace of mind, and letting employers know that I was semi-serious about teaching.

I got a job with a dispatch company that required a simple phone interview, and no demo lesson. The most taxing questions were about �What would you do if x happened at school?� and only an idiot would have answered anything other than �I�d talk to the teacher/company.� The dispatch company promised training. The training consisted of �Enter through this door, bow to these people, leave this way� and �This is our website, there are some activities on there�, along with a couple of fairly useless but realistic and reassuring chats from veteran ALTs (�You�ll probably have a lot of time at your desk� etc).

I arrived at school and had to give my self-introduction. It was a very nice junior high with around 400 students and three English teachers. Honestly, if the me that was thinking about standing in that classroom knew just how little I knew about teaching back then, I might not have come to Japan. My teachers had been helpfully informed by the dispatch company (perhaps it was what they told the BoE to help them win the city contracts) that I had 5 years of teaching experience. Not being idiots, it must have been very obvious to them that I didn�t. I mean they even had to encourage me to smile, and tell me how to hold the flash cards. It was that bad. I�m lucky that they didn�t confine me to the role of tape recorder.

Fast-forward to the end of the year, and I was planning lessons and making a big contribution in the classroom. I was teaching with the JTE as my assistant in half the first grade classes (there were two a week, one from the textbook and one eikawa), co-teaching with the second grade teacher, and having as much of an input as was possible with the third grade classes that were heavily focussed on writing (one class a week for second and third grade). I�d say my saving grace was that outside the classroom I genuinely enjoyed interacting with the students, so they responded well and were happy to chat to me in English.

Through time spent in the classroom, observing the Japanese teachers, I picked some things up. Basics of lesson planning, classroom management and just the general demeanour and atmosphere to encourage in the classroom are hardly underwater basket weaving. And working with multiple teachers is an excellent opportunity to note what works and what doesn�t. Now I�m not saying I was doing this amazingly well. And I know next to nothing about theory. But I�d say I was an effective ALT. I was lucky that I had a group of teachers that were patient, easy to work with and didn�t dismiss me having a skillset that read �Can speak English� when I arrived.

My point being, ALT work in Japan is not a complicated job. It�s not the same as teaching solo, you�re not responsible for the curriculum or class discipline and as such I don�t see why you�d necessarily need an MA to do it well.

[steki47]

[SeasonedVet]

OneJoelFifty wrote:

[SeasonedVet]

OneJoelFifty wrote:

[Kionon]

I have plenty of positive things to say about individual JTEs. My problem is with typical JTE education, training, and routine.

I've learned much from JTEs who demonstrated exceptional teaching skills and a willingness to engage their students beyond the bare minimum needed to meet national and prefectural guidelines. Two in particular stand out in my mind as two of the best teachers I have met any of the countries I've been to.

I think, OneJoelFifty, you are an excellent example of ALT as teaching assistant. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and I do not wish to demean the role of teaching assistants. No, you do not need an MA. You do not need a teaching degree. In all honesty, I do not even think you need your Lit degree. I think it is helpful, and I think it has armed you with a command of grammar and syntax which is otherwise not made available to your hard science or technical degreed peers. I think given your description, no, for you being an ALT is not complicated, because a TA view of an ALT does not, as you say, require the same level of responsibility or skill as solo teaching.

However, I have trouble squaring this with your paragraph where you describe either taking over the classroom with the JTE as your assistant, or having significant input into lesson plans. This does not sound like a TA to me. This sounds like an assistant or co-teacher. I suppose I have to ask just what kind of content where you going over? Grammar? Vocabulary? Culture? Roleplaying? In which case, I think, while the skills can be learned on the job over time, you are still a teacher, who not only could benefit from an undergraduate or graduate degree with coursework focused on pedagogical methodologies, such a degree should be mandatory. While your weekend TEFL course had no application, I found the methodologies I learned in undergraduate to be applicable in the Japanese classroom if I was allowed to apply them. Likewise, I am looking forward to trying out some of the new methodologies I learned in graduate school.

I recommend, in particular, two of the books I was required to use during my observations and student teaching, On Course by James M. Lang and What The Best College Teachers do by Ken Bain. You will find much that is applicable interspersed between much that is not directly so, and it will give you more insight into teaching at various levels.

[OneJoelFifty]

[Kionon]

[TokyoLiz]

Kionon, I am happy to read that you are still in touch with your students. This is one of the rewards of teacher life, watching the young people you taught move on and grow. I was a TESOL teacher in Canada in 2000-2001, taught some lovely Japanese college students, and still keep in touch now.

Onejoelfifty said

[TokyoLiz]

[Kionon]