Job Discussion Forums

[fluffyhamster]

[Sashadroogie]

Ah, Fluffy, your hamster cage is easily rattled. But at least our disagreements rarely devolve into playground bickering. I think that is what I like most about our interactions. It helps me from falling deeper into despair when I think of all the struggling teachers suffering in Japanese classrooms.

[BigZen]

Hello Everyone:
Thank you for your replies. I appreciate the feedback. Allow me to throw my further “two cents” worth into the discussion; for what it’s worth. As I wrote, I am married to a Japanese woman, two young kids, own a home…a “lifer,” so I do have some “skin in the game” when it comes to Japanese education (my career as well as for my daughter and son).
I completed my CELTA in 2000. I thought I got a lot out of it, since it is a program sanctioned and monitored by the British Council, unlike many TESOL certificate programs offered nowadays on-line or at small colleges. No, the CELTA is not perfect, but with the teacher-student in-class observations, and feedback, I thought I got a lot out of it. I need not tell you all, a fact of life now; that there are many schools out there, who, desperate for bodies, will admit anyone…so I thought the CELTA, was recognized qualification.

As for my master’s degree, I was kind of naïve “back in the day” when I completed it (1997-9 since I was so adamant that it had to be in TESL/TEFL. But the teaching practicum helped me a lot. However, after graduation, and moving to Asia to work, and then later to the Middle East, I found that working at the post-secondary level, many of my colleagues had post-graduate degrees in English Lit., or another area not even closely related to English teaching (as a foreign language). I don’t want to argue whether or not such teachers are not able in the class, only to point out that some schools/employers seemed to place higher value on those teachers with the TEFL designation. At one of my former employers in the Gulf, the administration began a policy of hiring only those applicants with a master’s in TEFL, and it could not have been completed on-line-a policy that infuriated many teachers.

I mention this all to say, most respectfully, that I have jumped through all the “qualification hoops” to further my career, and admit that I don’t know “it” all when it comes to teaching. As you can see, writing is not my forte, and it has been the bane of my existence here in Japan, where you need the magic “three published articles” to be eligible to apply for university teaching positions. I cannot speak for others, but from my encounters here in Japan and elsewhere, only a minority of teachers have published something (myself not included). From the replies on the I have read to my original post, I believe there are far more people out there who write much better than I and can articulate there ideas.Many consider teaching is an art, and some other more naturally inclined to the job, then others, but there are skills that one can acquire and hone. Just like with statistics, you can massage the data to say unemployment rates are low and the economy of a country is healthy; though the people who live there might argue otherwise. And so too for many TEFL methodologies, which might work in one setting, but bomb in another.

I do agree with one of the replies that it is sometimes an “apples and oranges” dilemma when comparing teaching/learning EFL in Japan, to say, Europe. I know, from experience as studying Japanese as a foreign language, that I would tell Japanese people how difficult it was for me to come over in 1991 on the JET program, at 30, with no experience in the language, and be “thrown into the fire,” immersion in a sink or swim situation (my choice of course). To which, many would reply, “Oh I know what it is like, I went to Wisconsin to do my master’s degree and I was so lost…” Though the situations might seem similar, they are not; the latter probably had their 6 years of junior-senior high school English under their belt, as well as an undergraduate degree in English. I write this not to elicit sympathy, but to illustrate how different the experiences can be, between teachers and students.

As I wrote before, though English only immersion might be the preferred method for students to learn, from my own experiences studying Japanese and French, I relied on the teacher to use English, sensibly.


Getting back to the qualifications debate and what makes a good teacher. As I said, I am not the “best” there is, but I do take my job seriously, and do try to help my students. Indeed, my Japanese is not as good as many of you I am sure (I passed the N3 for the JLPT). The reason I have studied the language, in addition to the fact I need it for daily life, is to try and make me a better teacher in the classroom. For me, and my apologies to the smokers out there, it is kind of like an overweight gym teacher with a cigarette in hand telling his/her class to run around a track to get fit. Maybe I am wrong, but I am not sure if the students would respect him/her, and do what he/she advised, and the same I think for TEFL teachers, that you should try to “walk the talk.” In my experience in the Middle East, I could probably count on one hand the number of western expatriate teachers who could speak Arabic.

I agree with one of the replies that it might not have been a wise idea for me (see original post) to open up my heart and tell the students about how I can understand how difficult it is to learn English, because I have, and continue to struggle with Japanese. So I agree that maybe it was not the best thing to talk about with these kids. However, there is also a part of me that wants to add more important and meaningful discussion to the class.

For example, Fukushima is pretty much off the radar in the media, though there are so many who are still suffering. I encourage you to watch this video of a Japanese anti-nuclear activist, who now resides in the USA, who lamented how, even a member of her family living in Fukushima, has tuned her out. I got this link from the following website (http://enenews.com)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10weYriSSP8
Carole Hisasue, translator (at 1:15:00): It’s disappeared from the media, it’s disappeared from people’s consciousness. There’s this big culture of denial going on outside of Fukushima. They want to pretend like it never happened. I can’t talk to my own family about radiation contamination… They don’t want to hear it. They go, ‘You don’t understand because you don’t have to live here, we have to live here.’… It’s like ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’… just trying to ignore it and pretend life is the way it was before 3/11. It’s frightening, it’s very very frightening… [My sister-in-law] is completely brainwashed by the gov’t who says, ‘Oh no, it’s fine, fine, fine’… she believes it, even though her son suffers from a lot of nosebleeds — and I think that’s a serious problem. If I mention it to her, or even to my own mother, they get very offended. They go, ‘Oh no, no. He’s always been like that. It’s nothing to do with radiation.’ Talk about denial, it just hurts my heart.

I am sorry to divert my post to a non-teaching issue, but I wanted to use it to illustrate a point. I raise this issue, since I am teaching young people, who at some point in the lives, are going to have to take a position, or stand when it comes to such sensitive and controversial issues like nuclear power. And like here, in my native country of Canada, there is a lot of denial about the great harm the development of the Tar Sands project in Alberta is causing to the environment, both in Canada, and the world.
I appreciate all the feedback. In closing, I am reminded of something an older gentleman said to me in the U.A.E. We were talking about the country and its wealth and “guest worker program,” which is commonplace in the rich Gulf countries, where worker abuse is rampant. He commented that “I am not sure if we (westerners) could do it (running the country) better. We might do it differently, but I am not sure if we could do it better.” I often am reminded of this here in Japan. Yes, it is my home, and I do feel like I am learning to live with the paradoxes, but regarding the education system, I am not sure if any of the ideas I might import from my native country would be an improvement.

BZ

[mitsui]

It is not just three articles but three research based articles and you must compete with people who have more articles or even doctorates.
People good at "research" are allowed to teach even though many of these people are worse at teaching.

You must have a silver tongue to convince people that you are a good teacher and you must sell yourself.
And if you can do this in Japanese, all the better.
But with limited contracts you need to ask yourself if it is worth it.

The N3 is not easy. The problem are the questions. Often I choose the wrong questions, especially in the reading part, which might be the hardest part.

So that is why I decided to go back to high school teaching. At least it pays better.
It helps to be certified in your own country. It is getting more and more competitive.

[Maitoshi]

My sister-in-law was worried about radiation, so she bought a tester and used it for quite awhile on all their food and even the soil in their park. Finally, she realized what an overblown issue it all was. Sometimes people focus on small things they think they can control, in order to feel better about bigger things they can't control. In the meantime, important things within our control get ignored. The tragedy of not rebuilding, for example, IS a big deal.

[kzjohn]

As for having three publications...

1) At my small uni that's always been a flexible thing. An M.A. in most anything will get the door open, and it'd be up to you to play on your TESL-related MA vs. the nonTESL MAs that some people have.

2) For what it's worth, there are some journals here in Japan where you have to "pay to play." That is, if you have something "accepted", you'll be expected to cover a share of the publication cost of that issue. (Others would offer that by offering to pay, you could probably get anything reasonable "accepted.")

I've been on committees, and I have never heard it come up as an issue whether some candidate had effectively paid to have their article published. There is discrimination sometimes based on reputation of a journal, so something little known won't get you as far as TESOL Quarterly.

But you will have gotten a publication (or more).

3) At 40, if you're going to do it, you need to work quickly. True full time slots are rare now--those usually go to someone switching jobs (via connections) and are not tossed out on the open market.

Case in point, my small uni is hiring 1-2 people for April, and, unbelievably, they only "advertised" on our school's website--they didn't use J-REC or the JACET site! That's capricious, and I told a few people so, but they seem to know who they are going to hire, so I guess it's futile.

4) Instead of going for full time, you might follow the model of several teachers at my school that teach about 12 part time classes/week. It's a load, but you don't have committee/exam duties, etc., and your breaks are free (tho not paid). A couple people get all their classes at my school, a couple others do it using 2-3 schools. By doing this, you don't really need publications (but they'd put you ahead of those who don't have any), and during your working months you'd make close to what a full timer would--maybe more if that full timer was starting low on the scale.

Good luck!

[fluffyhamster]

Sorry BigZen, you simply haven't been heeding your betters (and you know who they are!). TI ( https://sites.google.com/site/englishdroid2/the-profession/the-blitzer-method ) is the only way to go in schools in Japan, with the students sinking or swimming or indeed being run over by tanks. It doesn't matter that here they have large, mixed-ability classes (some may even have quasi-special needs sitting right alongside returnees) compared to the more strictly levelled classes one finds in private language schools and universities.

Note to self: Wow, I actually managed to find a way to not directly blame a JTE, makes a change!

[BigZen]

Hi Maitoshi,

Thanks for the reply. First, let me say that I hope your sister-in-law in Fukushima is OK. I wrote about it not to criticize the people who live there. I understand that it is not so easy to pick-up and leave, especially if you have a family. As a parent, I would be concerned if my kids began to suffer from nosebleeds, or other unexplainable ailments. I am not a doctor or scientist, so I always like to give the "professionals" the benefit of the doubt. And, yes, I agree, to think about such big problems like Fukushima, is daunting. Of course the government does not want the public to panic, but many Japanese are now questioning what they are being told by TEPCO and the government. My family and I live about 600 km from Fukushima, so we feel a bit safer. My concerns are mainly for my kids, and their future here. That is why I mentioned this since I am a teacher, and I often worry about what the future holds for the young students I teach.

BZ

[Maitoshi]

No worries, Bigzen!

I'm far from Fukushima, too. Also had a lot of nosebleeds as a kid, so not sure if nosebleeds are related to radiation or not.

Thank you for your insightful post!

My family and I are also here for the long term and, since international school is out of the question for us for various reasons, we are also very concerned about the schools and the future here.

Hope things improve rather than deteriorate and just hope to do what I canto that end.

Here's to hoping, eh?

[cornishmuppet]

First post in more than five years, so a little off the game I'm afraid. Just logged in (after a year - where does the time go?) and this was the first post that caught my attention. Having done two years in Junior High back in 2006-7, followed by a blissful six in high school, I'm now back in Junior High for a second stint.

Firstly, I feel your pain, BZ. Your teacher dropped you in it big time. Is it just the three teachers you work with and is this the head of the department? (sorry if you've already explained, I only read the OP and a handful of replies). Unfortunately, teachers come in all shapes and sizes. Even ones who can be really nice to one teacher might hate another. For example, during six years in HS I never had a problem with anyone, yet one of the teachers I'd got on great with started tearing strips out of my replacement almost as soon as she'd walked through the door, to the point where they had to have to "clear the air" meetings with another teacher as mediator. Sometimes personalities just don't fit, and some people have this insatiable need to make their supposed superiority felt.

As the ALT, generally considered on a par with the janitor and the part-time teachers in terms of social status, you've got nothing at all to gain by making a stand. All you can do is roll with it and try to make sure you've got something up your sleeve next time, basically a handful of time-filler activites to cope with such situations. Few activities will last the whole class, and it was unfair of your JTE to drop you in it, but next time if you make sure you can cover yourself with some kind of back-up plan. If they have a textbook, something like New Crown or New Horizon, you could put them into groups, ask a question, then have them search for the answer, raise their hand, fastest group wins, etc. Or you could do Typhoon game with vocabulary on the board, boys verses girls, or groups of four - five, depending on how well-behaved they are.

I'm also a direct hire at JHS now, and in the school I visit twice a week there is a teacher who is notorious for no-showing or wandering off during class and not coming back, leaving the ALT (there are two of us at the school, on different days) to finish the class. He's the life and soul of the teachers' room yet won't give either of us foreigners the time of day, so rather than fight it I deal with it in my own way. For every class I have scheduled with him I tell him straight out I'm happy to take it on my own, or if he decides to come I take enough material to cover everything. Outthinking them is half the battle won.

If you want any more info or ideas, send me a PM. To be honest I don't use forums much anymore so I can't be sure if and when I'll return to read any replies. All I can say is good luck with it!

[kzjohn]

cornishmuppet--you sound like you've got your head on straight, and your mind in the right place. Great post!

Thanks!

[dondelion]

KZJohn and BigZen, I just PMd you.

Thanks for any insights.

[Vince]

[marley'sghost]

[Maitoshi]

I like that, Marley's Ghost!

You let him feel superior by humbling yourself and you got him to play by the rules.

Nicely done and good advice!