Job Discussion Forums

[macondo]

I arrive in Japan in two weeks, and start ALT'ing, well whenever school starts... I'll be mainly in JHS, with ELE visits.

My question is, does anyone have any lesson ideas, suggestions, recommendations, what-have-you for the first day? We've been told to have a first getting-to-know-you lesson ready to roll, and I'm a little nervous, especially about the ELE.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

[tokyo376]

Elementary school students will be very excited to meet you. They will have lots of questions (in Japanese). Turn their questions into activities. For example, they will ask how old you are. Get them to guess in English. Same with your fav foods etc. Get them to find your home country on a globe. Stuff like that.

Bring lots of photos or postcards. Don't worry too much about sticking to a lesson plan on the first day. Don't rush your introduction. The students enjoy it.

Grades 5 and 6 may not be so excited. Have a few actitivities as back up. English pictionary and 20 questions worked for me. You want them to enjoy the first class, as it will set the tone for future classes.

[danielita]

check out Dave's ESL Cafe Home and go to the Idea Cookbook and choose Icebreakers. There are lots of great ideas there...

Good Luck!
D

[PAULH]

[JimDunlop2]

Yep.... The suggestions on here so far are pretty good, but as far as the FIRST DAY is concerned, I haven't really seen anyone tackle many of the logistics yet. Lesson tips and icebreakers are all good but they won't get you through the day. The following information is certainly not written in stone, but it HAS been exactly my case each time I've gone to a new school, so I think it may provide a bit of insight as to what you may expect.

First of all, here are some things you will need to bring with you on the first day:

- indoor shoes, chopsticks, *(lunch), coffee mug, laptop, office supplies, USB memory stick

If you don't bring a change of shoes, you'll be stuck all day wearing really yucky, plastic visitors' slippers that are 4 sizes too small. Avoid this at all costs. All the teachers will be wearing their own indoor shoes -- usually sneakers, but they can be anything really... Just stay away from the jack-boots. Personally, I have indoor dress-shoes because I wear dress pants, shirt and tie. Sneakers would look weird -- but many teachers do it anyway. My favorite teacher attire (I'm being sarcastic) is the principal who wears a track-suit with sneakers, shirt and tie... Hilarious! By the way, you mway also want to consider a change in clothes. Many teachers show up wearing a full suit to work (as should you) and by lunchtime, when the formalities have ended, change into more comfortable clothes.

You will need your own chopsticks to eat your school lunch (provided) but since it is known and expected that you have your own chopsticks, it's actually a crapshoot whether or not someone will have a spare set to loan you. On the same note, you will probably need to bring your own lunch (or order bento delivery with the other teachers) for the first week or so of school. This is probably different everywhere, but where I live, school lunch doesn't usually begin till at least the second week of school. Y

ou will probably be able to use the school's computer (and Internet connections) but don't count on it. If you use or need a computer for your lesson planning or material prep, bring a laptop so you don't continually fight with teachers who will be kicking you off the school machine each and every time they need to print a photo of last year's sports meet. Speaking of printing, that's where the USB memory stick comes in. This is very valuable to have! Then you can transfer files back and forth from the school computers to your laptop and send stuff to print when you need to.

Finally, don't count on the school supplying you with office supplies. Bring your own. It's the best way to avoid an embarassing incident.

The first thing that's going to happen when you walk in the door and enter the office, is the head of the teaching staff (usually) will greet you and sit you down at the front of the room. The staff meeting will start in a minute or two. They will discuss a few items and during the meeting you will get introduced to all the staff. You will be expected to do a self-introduction. The best way is to do it in Japanese. If you need help with that, ask here. Some of us old(ER)-timers can give you a good start. After that, the meeting will end, you will be shown to your desk, and if it's a traditional-style school, you sit based on seniority. Since you are the most junior staff member, you will sit at the VERY back of the room. If it's a more progressive school, they may divide up the office according to grades, i.e. all 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade teachers sit together with the section head at one end of the row of desks. In that layout, impossible to say where you will sit. Probably in the non-accademic section, next to the school nurse, counselor, secretary, librarian, etc.

As soon as you sit at your desk, you will notice that everyone is really really really busy, running around, making photocopies, using the computer, printing sheets, carrying stacks of books or notebooks, talking on the phone, etc, etc, etc. It looks like the boiler room of a major daily newspaper, really. No one will talk to you -- they will all ignore you except to excuse themselves when they bump into you... No one will tell you what to do (or not to do) and you are expected to know already.

Don't panic. The thing to do is to start working. Get started on your lesson plans, preparing materials, activities, worksheets, etc. At some point, the head English teacher may come over and talk to you. If no one has spoken to you within the hour, go and speak with the head English teacher. If you don't know who that is, ask. Don't be afraid to interrupt people working furiously and madly running around. They do that all the time, and they are usually happy to help -- but you usually DO have to interrupt what they are doing. When you speak with the head English teacher, you're going to want to do 3 things. 1. Get your teaching schedule. If it hasn't been made yet, politely ask when you can expect it. Don't be surprised if even they don't know yet. It may take up to a week or two. Seriously. 2. arrange to get copies of all the English textbooks that the kids are using so you can mesh with the curriculum. 3. Ask when you can arrange a meeting to discuss your ideas and lesson plans with the head teacher. Be prepared to suggest a different day or a time like first thing in the morning, or after 5 o'clock.

Quite often, the school doesn't get the kids going on a regular schedule and curriculum for quite some time. Be prepared that your schedule will be changed frequently and many of your classes will be shortened, moved, or cancelled altogether. Keep an accurate log of which classes you have taught, haven't taught, and what you've done with them.

As a first lesson, other than the obligatory self-introductions, plan on an easy lesson, full of games, activities and simple tasks. Your goal is to develop a relationship with the students and to find out their level, motivation, attitudes and to get a feel for things. Word of advice: DO NOT let the English teachers plan the first lesson. At least a day before any of your classes start, approach your Japanese teacher, and tell them that you've planned the lesson for the next day, SHOW them your outline, and ask to discuss it with them. If you don't do this, they will naturally ASSUME that you haven't planned anything and they will teach a regular lesson on their own, only using you as a sideshow attraction. THIS IS THE FAST-TRACK TO BECOMING A HUMAN TAPE RECORDER ALL YEAR!!! It's up to you to show initiative and arrange planning meetings with your teachers. They will not. Make sure you have ready-planned, complete lessons to show them. If they like what you got, there's an excellent chance they will let you do it on your own. This is what you want. Quite often, they may tell you not to worry about it because they've already planned the lesson. Even if they've already planned a lesson, don't let that detracrt you. Insist (very politely) on showing them yours anyway. There's an excellent chance that they will jetison their own plan and do yours in the end. In the beginning they will always plan their own full lessons. After they learn to trust you and your judgement, they will have no problems letting you do the planning and delivery of the lesson. But make sure you never let them down. If you walk in one day without a lesson, you are back to square one. They will easily take over the class and go back to the textbook/grammar-centered lesson they would have done in the first place, but you will not be trusted to plan lessons for a long time after that.

IF you can swing it, try to get your hands on a JET Program Resource Materials & Teaching Handbook. That's not easy to do. If you're not on the JET program you will need to befriend a JET or ex-JET. That book is pure gold if you're new to the JHS teaching biz.

That's it in a nutshell. If you need any specific questions answered, just PM them to me -- I'll be happy to answer them. Once again, just as a heads-up to anyone who's ready to scream at me: "THAT'S NOT THE WAY IT WORKS"...... That's the way it has worked in my situations... But results may vary. Your situation may be completely different, but from what I've been told by others, it sounds like my experiences are not out of the ordinary.

Good luck!

JD

[azarashi sushi]

Ditto to what Jim said about having a self introduction in Japanese prepared. This is very important! It's possible they'll drag you up on stage in front of the whole school to introduce you to the kids, so have another speech prepared in Japanese, just in case.

[macondo]

Thanks, everybody, for your input!

Jim, your detailed description of how things may be is greatly appreciated. I'll have about 4 days of orientation before I start, where they may or may not tell me things like that, so thanks!

I had also been wondering about what kind of shoes to bring for school as I was aware that special school schoes would be in order. Sneakers sound great to me - I have no problems sporting them with dressier clothes!

As for lesson plans, I've been teaching HS Spanish for the last 5 3/4 years, but have limited experience with the younger kids. I'm sure everything will fall into place, but it's good to have as much awareness as possible before heading in!

Thanks again, everybody!!

I'll also remember to bring my own chopsticks...

[PAULH]

Jim, do you know if kids do "Kancho" to female teachers and is it something she needs to be warned about? shall we keep her in suspense a little longer?


Not sure if it was mentioned but you might want to wear loose fitting clothes, perhaps a track suit or sweater type arrangement. You will be doing a lot of sitting on floors and running around multipurpose rooms and skirts may not be the best for physical actiivity.

[Jazz1975]

[JimDunlop2]

Yes, the dreaded kancho... Not really in JHS.. But watch those little elementary school brats.

I do not believe in hitting kids (of course) but I've also been studying kung-fu three times a week for about the past 10 years or so.... Sometimes certain actions are just reflexive.... The last kid that tried (not to kancho me but a crotch punch) got deflected with a quick low-block before I grabbed his arm and pinned it to his desk. I didn't hurt him at all but he was very surprised. It happened so fast he didn't even have time to react. Then, with his hand pinned to the desk, I bent down so I was about eye level with him, and very quietly (because the rest of the class was watching) told him in Japanese that what he did was very rude and that it would not happen again... Then, during recess, he came in with his homeroom teacher, crying crocodile tears as he walked into the office and apologized formally...

Anyway, I don't recommend doing that... But my co-worker has an equally effective technique... He just lets it happen, turns to face the kid, grimaces and says in Japanese, "Aw, man... You did that JUST as I farted... I think it was a bit of a wet one too." Needless to say, he gets very few repeat offenders.

Women aren't AS likely to get kanchoed (but still good to guard the cornhole) but just ask my wife how many times she's had her boobs grabbed!

For those of you who don't know what a kancho is, I'm too tired to explain it to you right now.. Look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kancho

[fluffyhamster]

Wow, I didn't know Wikipedia had articles like that. The 'I am a Japanese School Teacher' external link is CRACKing me up!

Edit: Just noticed 'Moeko's Owl' and realized that this writer has been mentioned before on the Japan forum.

[PAULH]

Only in Japan

http://www.syberpunk.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?page=boonga

[fluffyhamster]

[chirp]

I second fluffyhamster's

[macondo]

Not to worry - I've been reading the I Am a Japanese School Teacher editorials for months now! I can only hope that what I've heard is true: that kancho is primarily reserved for male teachers. I mean, sorry fellas, I feel for you, but this is one of those times I'm glad I'm a "girl"!

Track suits, you say, eh? So that would be ok to wear to an elementary school? I mean, I wouldn't plan on showing up in Hanes sweatpants or anything, but I'm going to assume that something more casual than slacks and a blouse would be acceptable.