Job Discussion Forums

[patsensei]

Hi everyone. I work at a private senior high school in Tokyo. Recently the English conversation classes for seniors there have become an elective subject although they are still compulsory at Junior high level. Unfortunately over the past 2 years we`ve been getting fewer and fewer students choosing our senior high school course:( Many of the students have instead been choosing the English writing or listening course held by Japanese teachers. I understand that they teach these classes completely in Japanese and where necessary use English. I also found out that there is a little booklet that the students get every year that gives info about all the elective courses. This unfortunately gives a very inaccurate/poor description of our course.

Anyway, looking for advice really. I`ve got a pretty sweet deal at this school and have been there for about 5 years or so and don`t want to leave if I can help it. Unfortunately the less classes we get the less money so that is kind of affecting us right now.

First thing I`m going to do is to change the info in the little booklet about our course and try to make it really attractive for students. I would really appreciate some info from anyone who might know what motivates Japanese senior high school students. Then change our course to suit. Or any advice at all.
cheers.

[TK4Lakers]

This is an interesting question, and it's rather hard and vague to answer.

The problems I see with JTE's is that they make mistakes during their lessons, mostly grammatical. It's my fault too in not correcting them all the time, but I usually stop them mid-sentence and let them know what's up.

Another problem, and a pet peeve of mine, is their bad pronunciation. This is something I can't do anything about unless I want to offend them. I've heard that it's pretty easy to become an English teacher in Japan (compared to other subjects), and I wish the Ministry of Education (or whoever chooses them) would up the standard. I think something like "living abroad in an English speaking country" would do wonders.

Anyway, I can't complain too much because I'm just an ALT, and I don't think I can teach any better. The biggest hurdle for me is explaining the grammar in Japanese. That's one thing (I assume) all JTE's have a leg on over most ALT's. There are several difficult words and kanji used in the preparation, translation, explanation in the textbooks for me be able to teach everything myself.

But yea, I feel that the JTE's who do make little mistakes or have poor pronunciation only weaken the English education system in Japan.

[Glenski]

patsensei,

I won't be participating in your poll, and thought you should know why, plus another point.

Your poll says whether JTE or NET teaches English better.

Well, the JTE's certainly have a better ability to explain it better in L1. JTE's also know the requirements for the college entrance exams better than most NET and know better how to teach to them.

NET's have a better ability ability to demonstrate natural spoken English.
Considering that most NET's don't have any training or education in teaching English, it's not fair to say that they are any better at teaching it as a whole. Sure, they may have picked up some tricks to teach oral conversation, but that's where this argument starts to break down. "Teach English" needs better definition.

The additional point is something I don't usually do, but I feel that in this case it's important. Reread your own post, pat. You write well enough, but there are some glaring spelling and grammar mistakes.
1) The first sentence lacks a subject, and it is strangely, unnaturally worded ("at my senior high school I teach at").
2) "less and less students" should be "fewer and fewer".
3) "sweat deal" should be "sweet deal"
4) "effecting" should be "affecting"

Again, I apologize for nitpicking on such things, but in this case I feel it's important.

To show you how I feel, I would be willing to work with you offline to help rewrite that booklet. I've taught at a private HS for 4 years. I don't promise anything that will work, simply because I know the system, and since your school has taken the route of making OC classes voluntary, it's the first step in a downward spiral to oblivion.

TK4Lakers,
You can do something about their pronunciation, even as an ALT (and perhaps because you are an ALT). I don't know how much of each class is allotted to you, but if there's even 2 or 3 minutes to spare, fight to make it a pronunciation segment. It won't embarrass the kids. They and their teachers are painfully aware that they need the help, and we NET's are about the only ones who can do it because we know how it should sound. If you can squeeze in more than 2-3 minutes, all the better. Let the JTE do the grammar explanation, and with hope, you will be doing some OC practice to break their poor habits and show them how to speak well, but helping with pronunciation is a sorely needed task that you shouldn't shrug off. If there's zero time permitted in class, hold a special one outside, whether for the English Club or the International Club, or whomever is interested. If it's entertaining and practical, it will fly. And, why not even offer a pronunciation service to the teachers on the side, as well?

[patsensei]

No problem Glenski. Thanks for the feedback. To be honest I was writing the post while doing a 150 other things at the same time.
You made some interesting and truthful points about the advantages and disadvantages of the JTE and NET. I kind of knew them but never really thought deeply about it. Anyway thanks. Also I may contact you later about that booklet.

[wolfman]

Japanese Teachers teach English better than English English teachers, but not better than American English teachers!

jk of course

[Mark]

This is an interesting question, but I think it's just a bit too general.

The first problem, are we talking about qualified or unqualified native english teachers (NETs)?

The second problem, are we talking about who make better language teachrs (ie. guiding the students towards a higher level of competence in the L2) or are we talking about who better teaches English as it currently exists in the high school curriculum (ie. 英語, as opposed to Practical English)?

If your goal is to increase language ability, then you need a reasonably fluent speaker who knows how to teach properly according to modern standards and practices. I don't think it really matters if the fluent speaker is also a native speaker.

If your goal is to teach the students how to get a good score on the university entrance exam without actually having to learn English, then a JTE is your bet.

I work in a private senior high school and have of course run into this problem. As it's been explained to me, Japanese teachers, parents and students think that 英語 is, and basically should be, the same as 国語 (ie. Japanese language study for Japanese people). 英語 is a subject that has been invented by the Japanese school system and the entrance test is designed to test their knowledge of this subject. It has nothing to do with language ability.

You asked what the students want, and in my experience they want things that will help them on the entrance exam. The students also believe that things like free voluntary reading and speaking practice and writing to penpals are a waste of time and not connected to the test.

So, I would tell the students this:

Communicating orally in English once per week can increase your ability to remember and absorb the English that you are learning in your regular 英語 classes. Being in an English-only environment will provide you with many opportunities to test your English so that you can see what you have learned and what you still need to work on.

Or something to that effect. Basically, stress that the OC class will help them with their regular 英語 classes. I'd also make sure the students understand that the point of the class is to practice rather than to observe. Compare it to a basketball or music class rather than a math or geography class.

You could also stress that an OC class will improve their passive listening skills as well, so it should help them on the listening portion of the entrance exam.

[wintersweet]

I agree with Mark.

In my opinion, this simply depends on the quality of the teacher's pedagogical training, combined with personality factors.

There's no way to say one's better than the other without knowing the above.

I can tell you that I studied Chinese with a well-meaning native Chinese teacher who had either no pedagogical training or extremely outdated training, and I would have happily traded her for a well-trained, reasonably fluent Hungarian or American or Kenyan.

[furiousmilksheikali]

I won't respond to your poll either, because the question that you ask is too general to be worthwhile.

However, I have worked in an eikaiwa school where there was a huge rivalry between myself, the native English teacher, and the Japanese teacher who worked there.

When I started working in the school I had only recently arrived in Japan and therefore my Japanese was poor. I often tried to get to know my students by chatting to them in the lobby and I gained a lot of insight into their lives and their reasons for studying English.

The problem was the Japanese teacher would barrel into the conversations and start talking to the students in Japanese while I was in the middle of a discussion with them.

We were working for an eikaiwa where each teacher would be given bonuses if they sold a lot of books or contracts etc...

This teacher decided that she would intervene at any moment to give the students a better review of a textbook or a better study plan to let the students sign up for more of the product that the company was selling.

To the OP, I recommend fighting back and taking no prisoners. Find the allies that you can and don't be gulled by any of the teachers who come to you with smiles. They will lie to your face and stab you in the back.

[gaijin4life]

[gaijin4life]

[quote]To the OP, I recommend fighting back and taking no prisoners. Find the allies that you can and don't be gulled by any of the teachers who come to you with smiles. [quote]They will lie to your face and stab you in the back.[/quote]

On this last sentence.. I totally agree.. sometimes there just seems to be a bit of a culture of suspicion with all the `checking` aka `spying` on the foreign teachers! Im often asked what Ive been talking to students about ! Usually its nothing very interesting, - like the weekend, school, work etc.. Sometimes I wonder what the other staff think we are up to ... !?! - Trying to be a good, helpful English teacher perhaps or ...

[Mark]

[womblingfree]

The vast majority of Westerners in high schools aren't teachers, they're just native speaking 'instructors'.

To be a school teacher you have to undertake a government endorsed B.ed or post-graduate teaching diploma, either from Japan or your own country. Even then the teacher will need to adapt to different cultural practices and etiquette specific to their school. This is hard enough to do in one's own country!

If native English speaking staff aren't qualified teachers then it is more than likely that the Japanese staff will be far better equipped to teach what the children need for their academic advancement, as well as being professionally trained to manage a classroom environment.

Conversely a native speaking instructor is there primarily to help children differentiate between 'hello' and 'haro' amongst other things. What they teach is rarely on the school curriculum.

If you want to make your elective class more popular then you could try either making it entertaining with movies, pop culture, pen-pals, etc, or by making it more relevant to what the kids actually need to pass their 'real' English exams at the end of the year. You'll need to know the English curriculum and exam structure to do this.

Maybe a combination of both? Sounds more like it's viewed as an English club.

[easyasabc]

Oh yes! I love this!

Didn't anyone notice the errors Glenski made when nitpicking about errors in Patsensei's message?

[G Cthulhu]

[furiousmilksheikali]