Job Discussion Forums

[stillnosheep]

please see below...

[stillnosheep]

good luck with the MA; sounds like the way to go

[fluffyhamster]

As I was leaving my apartment the other day, I ran into one of the elementary wing's teachers on her way home. She told me that the other new teacher at the junior-senior part of the compound (who'd started at the same time as me), and the teacher they got to replace me after a term, had both left at the end of the year (not sure if they'd been offered a new contract or not, but I very much doubt it, and even if they had, I'd imagine they didn't really want more of the same (punishment)); she also said that the brattish second years have become even worse into their third year.

I reckon the easiest way to solve all the problems at that school would be to just scrap the entire English conversation programme and start over (perhaps integrating its tattered remnants into the seemingly more valued "grammar" classes, JET-style).

Thus, the only people continuing there are the elementary school AETs (who have a much more pleasant job, and nicer, supportive bosses), and the senior foreign teacher (he must be getting bonuses or something to have stayed there as long as he has); everyone else will be new, and doubtless soon be feeling pretty p-ed off with their jobs.

I'm shopping around for an MA, don't have quite enough money saved just yet...

Update: Bumped into the other elementary wing's teacher yesterday, and he filled me in better on what's been happening in the J-SHS over the past year...they finally got around to hiring four rather than just two AETs (in addition to the senior guy), bringing it to a total of five (all of whom work FT, meaning the elementary people don't have to take any of the HS classes at all). And, hey, whaddya know, for the first time in years (decades?), some of those HS AETs have chosen to renew their contracts (I reckon they must have a good 30% less classes, and half of the planning duties that previous AETs used to have). (Added 24/02/2006)

[ripslyme]

(bringing this thread back due to being referenced in another recent thread)

fluffyhamster - in the other thread you asked me what would I make of this situation. I read through this whole thread and I'm still not clear of exactly what this school's conditions and expectations were.

That being said, it seemed the entire situation was very unstable from the start. The fact that you went in expecting one thing and the school on their end expected something quite different - that should have been cleared up right away.

Indeed, it also sounds like the lines of communication were not exactly open here either. There should have been a department meeting at the start so that everyone could be on the same page. All the teachers in the department should know not only their own responsibilities but those of everyone else as well.

You mentioned making and copying all these lesson plans for the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers. Why did you have to do this? I make lesson plans for myself to teach my own classes. One shouldn't be expected to make lesson plans for other teachers to use. I would have said flat out "No, make your own lesson plans. If you want to look at mine, go ahead but you make your own copies." (Occasionally I was expected to submit lesson plans for evaluation purposes, but never on a daily or even weekly basis.)

The personality conflicts, that sometimes just can't be helped and is really unfortunate (especially when the other person is in a supervisory role). I've had them at other jobs as well, and the only thing you can do is try to play nice with that person as best as you can. That's an especially tough pill to swallow.

[fluffyhamster]

Hi again rip, hope the reference to this thread didn't make you feel obliged to read every last word here.

In brief, it soon became horribly clear that my duties there were to teach the first four grades (this was a combined J-SHS), and write detailed daily lesson plans, weekly vocabulary tests, end-of-term listening tests, and guidelines for roleplay and poster presentation assessments (both each semester) for second and third grades; there were basically too many grades (and students/classes within them) for the three main AETs to only teach three or less grades i.e. planning for four or more grades would've therefore been pretty difficult (the average JTE usually only has to teach at most two grades, and then using generally pretty non-communicative grammar-translation quasi-lecture methods). The decision was thus to give each AET sole planning responsibilties for at least one grade and leave others to simply follow those plans that they, with their own full teaching load and planning responsibilities (for other grades) would not have had time to themselves plan (or so it was argued); then there was a mania for complete standardization beyond what was in the textbook. In ten words, the problem was: six grades, over one thousand students, only three full-time AETs (and two "part-time", drafted in from the elementary wing in order to keep the FT AETs' teaching hours below the maximum stipulated in the contract - my company did me that small favour thank goodness) - you do the "math".

Of course, if I had been responsible for just my own classes (ideally for three or less grades), I would not have bothered making a neat formal plan every time (or even most of the time), and certainly would not have made multiple copies of worksheets, supplementary activity materials etc, but the school expected me to do so, AND WITHOUT QUESTION (and in addition to the "everyone is assigned and busy with their specific planning duties" line, it was also thought that if the planning AET did all the copying, it would improve efficiency and reduce the queueing and wastage). They had basically lied (or at least not told the half of it) to every AET (or AET rep, dispatcher, whatever) that they'd lured and conned into working there, and were not prepared to alter the working conditions to properly reflect what was written in the contract (why should they when it was easier to dismiss any AET who objected, as I at least found out).

Of course, the obvious answer to everyone's problems there was to simply hire at least two or three more AETs, and that is precisely what the school eventually realized it had to do to keep anyone for more than a year (the waste in every sense was immense when the staff turnover was 100% each and every year!).

[ripslyme]

[fluffyhamster]

The other new AET taught five grades but only had planning duties for one (fourth), while the veteran head AET taught all six grades and planned for two (first and fifth). The sixth grade sort of did their own thing.

By 'I taught four grades and the other new AET five', I mean that we each had a certain number of classes in each of those grades (there weren't enough AETs for one or at most two to plan for and teach any one entire grade completely by themselves, especially for the larger lower grades - see below. Basically one AET couldn't be everywhere at once, and the eikaiwa classes had to fit in with the other subjects etc). So I had say eleven classes spread over four grades (e.g. 1-1, 1-2, 1-5, 1-6, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-2, 3-4, 4-1, 4-2) each with two lessons per week, making a total of say 22 lessons, and I'd be writing second and third grade plans and materials, pretty much after teaching all day, for all the AETs and JTEs to use and refer to.

I say AET but in fact it was the JTEs who assisted us in our more communicative English classes. I recall that there were almost a dozen JTEs (for a ratio of about 4:1 to the 3 AETs). Their main responsibility was to teach (solo) more grammar-based lessons, using lots more Japanese, grammar translation exercises, entrance exam preparation questions etc, and I guess that the communicative team-teaching didn't take up more than a quarter to a third of the JTE's "precious" time (they certainly seemed freer than the AETs ever were!).

There were something like TEN classes in first, a really big intake, and at least six in second grade, each with at least 20 students, so there were a lot of homerooms lower down. The third grade upwards may have had only six classes per grade, but they had more students in them (at least 25). Thankfully the AETs weren't given homeroom responsibilities, but we did have to attend weekly grade meetings (e.g. I went to second grade teachers' meetings for some reason).

Things became easier when the school finally hired five or six FT AETs (who began renewing their contracts) a few years after I'd left, but I still doubt if things are completely straightforward there, given the ever-growing size of the school's intake (probably those five or six AETs are starting to get spread a bit thin again now).

[Sweetsee]

Wow! I mistakenly read from page one, not everything of course, had to scroll through some of it, but I hadn't checked the date until Rip's post. I was thinking wow, Guest is back? Paul's a mod again? Duh.
GJ was spot on as usual.
Enjoy,
s

P.S. Did you bail Rip?

[king kakipi]

Move on, fluffy hamster. Back into your cage and go for a long run on that wheel (or go to the supermarket and buy more beer.>. )

Yes Sweetsee, I also felt a sense of deja vu until I realised how long this topic has been up

[ripslyme]

[Sweetsee]

Hey, King!
Got a job, Rip?

[fluffyhamster]

Heh, I'm just glad this thread is bringing older members back together.

Come to think of it, I've just remembered that a few of those twelve JTEs were part-time, but there must've been eight or nine full-timers - a 3:1 ratio to the AETs, then.

22 classes doesn't sound too many, does it, but the other eight free periods soon got filled with meetings and various other duties, and it was really hard to keep track of what grade let alone what lesson plan we were supposed to be doing at any one time even when we had a gap in which to catch our breath. Another thing I might not have mentioned yet is that grades 1 and 2 were taught in one building, and grades 3 and upwards in another, and at the time I was teaching there, there was no corridor linking the buildings (one was under construction), so we had to go down to the ground floor, change into outdoor shoes and carry our indoor shoes across courtyards with a road running between them, and then change shoes again and enter the other building etc, when switching between the grade groups (which was usually several times per day) or attending various meetings. Obviously all that running around and shoe-changing took up/wasted a helluva lot of time too! Thank goodness we were given a desk in each building at least!

Anyway, I didn't expect you to actually post on this thread and bring it right back up to the top, rip, and I don't really have anything else to add (thank **** you all say).

[Sweetsee]

Yeah, your thread reminded me of the four years I did at a private high school. Thank goodness that is over with.
Enjoy,
s