|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
omarr380
Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 16
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:51 am Post subject: Do professionals feel ALTs bring down the profession? |
 |
|
Hello. I am currently an ALT in Japan (not with JET, unfortunately) and I have gotten the impression that some people who consider themselves professionals dislike ALTs. If this is true, I honestly don't understand why. Yes, I am a clown. Yes, my job is just for show and to get Japanese youths used to seeing non-Japanese. I am doing everything they essentially told me to do which is show up and smile. In the interview, I even said I DO NOT plan to be a career teacher. My intention was and still is to study Japanese. I even hear that the JET program, more prestigious than any eikawa, prefers people with out teaching credentials or real teaching aspirations. Pardon me for asking this question, but I as an ALT I have plenty of time to think about these things.
Do any professionals feel I am doing a bringing the job down?
Thank you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 10:04 am Post subject: Another opinion |
|
|
Coming from another ALT (that's not on the JET program) let me answer your question this way: It's irrelevant which "program" you are on -- whether it's ECC, JET, another company, or altogether a different/independent contract.... I don't think you necessarily "bring the job down" by not wanting to devote your lifetime career to teaching, or to deny that you are there, in part, to entertain the students...
What DOES bring down the jobs are people who don't take their job seriously -- and by seriously I mean exhibitng a certain level of professionalism that might be expected no matter what profession or job you ultimately choose.
You may be doing future ALTs who will ultimately take your place a disservice if you:
- arrive at work late
- leave early
- come inappropriately dressed
- Are rude / ignorant / beligerant
- don"t make an effort
- Blatantly show disregard for your work / workplace
- Show disregard for other teachers for whom it IS a lifetime career choice
- Disrespect the students
- ONLY play uneducational games & don't even try to teach anything
- Waste the students' time (especially in grades 9 & 12 around exam time)
- Make it obvious to people that this is not your career choice
- Only "show up and smile"
- Don't care whether your students learn something or not
- Obviously spend lesson planning time fooling around
- Doing personal stuff at work (some schools don't mind or even encourage things like studying Japanese, but some don't. Either way, shopping on EBay is likely to cause some friction).
- Only putting in minimal/no effort into your lesson plans and lessons
If any of these describe you, then it may be a good idea to rethink your role... If all what it is, is a money train and you're getting on board, then I think it IS doing a disservice both to co-workers and students.
I can say, that the above list definitely relates to the work I'm doing now. Because of my predecessors, there are many pre-conceived notions as to what and how an ALT will do. For instance, I had many JTEs plan my lessons for me, because the previous ALT didn't do any lesson planning. I'm told I must report to the vice-principal prior to leaving the school, because my predecessors had a habit of leaving early. Administrators get edgy whenever I use the computer (even when it's obvious I'm writing a lesson plan or designing a handout for the students) because my predecessors surfed the Internet all day. Etc...etc...
So in essence, just bear in mind that even though you may not feel called to teaching and it may be just a temporary way to make money for you, the person or people who come after you may be faced with a lot more hurdles as a reflection of your performance now. Whatever you do, do it knowing that people are watching, making mental notes, and evaluating not only you as a person, but the ALT position in general.
I hope that helps clarify a little.
JD
Last edited by JimDunlop2 on Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: Do professionals feel ALTs bring down the profession? |
|
|
| omarr380 wrote: |
Hello. I am currently an ALT in Japan (not with JET, unfortunately) and I have gotten the impression that some people who consider themselves professionals dislike ALTs. If this is true, I honestly don't understand why. Yes, I am a clown. Yes, my job is just for show and to get Japanese youths used to seeing non-Japanese. I am doing everything they essentially told me to do which is show up and smile. In the interview, I even said I DO NOT plan to be a career teacher. My intention was and still is to study Japanese. I even hear that the JET program, more prestigious than any eikawa, prefers people with out teaching credentials or real teaching aspirations. Pardon me for asking this question, but I as an ALT I have plenty of time to think about these things.
Thank you. |
Hi, if I could add my two cents worth:
I have recently been doing research on the teaching of English in elementary schools and that has also included speaking to elementary and high school japanese teachers regarding ALTs and team teaching.
I have also read some articles which deal with Japanese teachers attitudes to ALTs and their teaching and personal attitudes.
My conclusion is that in misguided way- the CLAIR and JET people do not want a qualified and experienced person to take over the class, show up the Japanese english teacher and start rewriting the curriculum. this is why they bring in the gaijin once a month for some games and show them off to the class. What they are doing is not really teaching, and students will not learn very much if they only see a teacher once every six weeks, or once a week for that matter, any less than that teacher will have an impact on individual students. You really need to be in the class with them them several times a week, an hour a day to make a difference.
I might also add that you may laugh at the JTEs English ability and lack of speaking skills, but the man or woman has a university degree, a teaching diploma from their university, months or years of practical teaching experience. Some have been teaching since before you were born, and here comes this fresh faced kid just off the boat, knows nothing about language teaching and acquisition, nothing about Japanese students, nothing about education, no apparent interest in teaching except feeding at the public trough every payday and milking the program for every yen they can get. teachers are busy people and they have to baby sit these clueless foreigners who call themselves JETs or ALTs, and have not a day of education or teahcing experience to their name before they enter a classroom. Japanese JTEs are now getting fed up with the lack of teaching skill, lack of interest in teaching (or anything else apart from their own wellbeing) or in their students.
It depends on the ALT of course, but i think a majority of the Japanese see ALTs teaching as amateur, not well thought out and just based on playing silly games without much thought of what they are doing. ALTs and are not that well paid I understand and professional curiousity and motivation may be a problem. I think that not only foreign teaching professionals see ALTs as a bit of a joke, but the Japanese teachers as well due to lack of maturity, lack of experience and this sense that ALTs and JETs see the whole thing as an extended paid vacation and it shows in their teaching, when they are put in a class with a trained experienced professional. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I consider myself to be a "professional", as this is the career path that I have chosen. (It's more than just a job for me.)
I agree whole-heartedly with everything that Jim Dunlop said. As long as you take yourself seriously while you are in the classroom, what you do outside of it & your motivation for being here in the first place are your own business. Coming here to learn the language does not mean that you cannot also be a talented and caring teacher.
I'd be willing to bet that few of the lifers out there knew from the beginning that it'd become permanent for them. We all had different reasons for getting into this; some of us just decided to stick around...
d |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grampus
Joined: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 18
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Don't hate the player, hate the game! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mike L.
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 519
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'd say the JTE's, a majority of them, and Monbusho's crap curriculum bring down the profession more than anything!
I teach some company classes minus the two and I'll tell it's smooth sailing!
The ALTs and JET are only byproducts of these two and other "defective" phenomenon mentioned above! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
hamel
Joined: 03 May 2004
Posts: 95
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
message deleted
Last edited by hamel on Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 4:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
Paulh wrote
| Quote: |
| the CLAIR and JET people do not want a qualified and experienced person to take over the class |
It appears that CLAIR and JET prefer non-teachers. I was a JET after yeras of ELT work and training. I've met many other professional teachers who also went the JET route. What we found was that the Japanese teachers expected an unqualified person and treated us as such until we could prove through preparation and performance that we were professionals. It was a slow go for many of us because our predecessors were not education professionals, and had set the pace.
I think that's where the negative percept | | |
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
