Job Discussion Forums

[thechangling]

I could be teaching in Japan as an ALT and wondered if it's particularly rigid to teach English in for foreigners with regards to manners, clothes, shoes and inflexibility to think outside the box? Must foreigners partake in Japanese manners, etiquette and general protocol closely without attracting comment and/or ridicule?
I taught in South Korean Public School and found it very stifling regards to those things (particularly the shoes swapping B.S when entering a building, inflexibility to actually use a decent textbook instead of the useless curriculum and general xenophobia) and wondered if Japan is worse, different or even better.
I'd be good to hear what you guys have to say as you're there now and already know. Thanks.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

If

[nicenicegaijin]

Japan is less xenophobic than Korea.

[mitsui]

Depends.
They won't say it to your face but some will think it.

Useless curriculum? Yes.

Useless co-teachers? Yes, but not all.

Passive-aggressive? Hell, yes.

[move]

I personally wouldn't use the world "stifling" but there are right ways (and wrong ways) to do most things in this society. A lot of these are from a previous time (i.e. tea ceremony and hankos), and might not make a lot of sense nowadays. As a foreigner you might not be expected to know or follow many of these rules, but they are there. Learning about this stuff can either be really interesting or annoying.

I have heard that a lot of discrimination in Japan is less "in your face" than in Korea. In Korea I often got the evil eye from a bunch of men when walking with a female friend, which is something that I have experienced much less here.

A lot of this stuff depends on your ability to adapt. However, if you connote having to take off your shoes with an infringement on your personal liberties you might have a tougher time here.

Finally, teaching in secondary school isn't informed by a lot of current pedagogy. That is to say, English teachers do a lot of stuff here that doesn't work. If you can try to improve English classes here and there then you could get along fine as an ALT. Telling teachers that they need to overhaul their entire curriculum just tends to piss them off though.

P.S. Saying that Koreans are much better at English can really piss off your coworkers. Use sparingly.

[G Cthulhu]

[thechangling]

Thanks for the good analysis Nice, Mitsui and Move. I think I may have exaggerated the shoe swapping thing. Sounds like Japan is better than Korea overall but also has similar systemic problems across the education sphere.

[mitsui]

Yes, but the lack of communication can be a problem as foreigners can be outside the loop.
Learn Japanese as much as you can.

[mitsui]

Well,
I found out I had to wear a tie today but nobody told me.
Plus I must walk on the right side of the street with the students in the morning, not the left side.

Does that sound rigid?

[thechangling]

I think it is if they're insisting on it. In the end it's the small things that get on ones whick.
My recruiter didn't even bother getting back to me after interviewing me and receiving all my docs. I guess Japan is a young(ish) persons esl market.
How many hours does a typical ALT have to teach these days in Public School?

[mitsui]

Depends. More often the job is just part-time, depending on the school.