Job Discussion Forums

[cornishmuppet]

This is true, I guess often its just luck of the draw. Having said that, I've worked in 8 JHSs, 2 SHSs and three or four elementarys and have yet to come up against someone who brushed me up the wrong way. A few apathetic ones, sure, but no one has been outright nasty to me in almost three years of ALT teaching. I have heard of a couple of notoriously bad JTEs in the area, though, but I think more often than not the ALT being obviously lazy or unprofessional probably ruffles most of the feathers.

I was at a JET conference last week as a guest ALT. One of the seminars was about problems between JTEs and ALTs. One of the JTE problems was about slack ALTs wearing sunglasses or taking their mobile into class. We were in groups and I pointed out that in my view there was no reason whatsoever why an ALT should EVER have a mobile phone in class, unless it was part of the lesson. One guy piped up and said he made sure his was on vibrate, and that he never checked his messages until after class. I wanted to hit my head on the table.

At the end of the day, my issue was with discretion. I have my phone in school, and I read novels, study Japanese or use the internet from time to time. Today, for example, I was flat out preparing from the moment I got there until the moment I left, but I know its not always like that. If I'm going to bum, though, I'm discreet about it. I don't rub in my hardworking JTEs' faces. Quite often, when I hear about ALTs getting stick from their JTEs it doesn't surprise me at all. That the guest lecturer at the conference asked at the start of his speech if everyone was enjoying their working holidays kind of summed it up, really. And JET is supposed to be way up on dispatch companies.

[fluffyhamster]

I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping your mobile on manner mode and about your person (especially if you aren't a well-looked-after JET and need to get a lot of things sorted out yourself somehow in much more limited or non-existent leave). The only reason I wouldn't recommend it is because if there are naughty students they may sometimes grab it and run off with it (they didn't get far or want to repeat it with me running after them and submitting them though ).

In my experience the JTEs who complain the loudest about AETs for whatever reason are often the laziest, or just plain sour and vindictive types (the AET can be as professional, bilingual etc as possible - which is probably part of the problem, because it will show the JTE up even if that was never the AET's intention). But like with you, cornish, the large majority of JTEs that I've worked with have been pretty nice and reasonably hard-working (the worst ones seem to mirror the excesses of the worst dispatchers i.e. be wary guys of working in cities that award AET work to the lowest/scummiest "bidders"!).

[cornishmuppet]

I agree with you about the JTEs, hamster-chan. I think though that those kind of people most likely hate EVERYONE, but the ALT is just an easy target and may misunderstand that the hatred is not directed at them alone. There is a JTE well known in Nagano whom I've not had the pleasure of working with thankfully, who is despised for various reasons by ALTs and JTEs alike. In those kind of situations you just have to hang on and hope you don't get scheduled too many lessons with them.

BOEs etc, too, my policy is bother them as little as possible. I used to work for a caretaker at the BOE who had been overheard saying words to the effect of ALTs were lazy and a waste of money, and seemed to be just looking for a reason to get us cut. I just made a point of giving him as few reasons as possible, and if I needed something done in everyday life I would rather ask another foreigner than someone at work. Hell, that's what phrasebooks are for.

The phone thing, though, I can't agree with. I'm not saying don't have it in school, just not in class. If your wife is in labor or your brother is a hostage of the Taliban I can understand how you might want it with you. Surely anything else can wait 50 minutes? Say it does buzz in your pocket. If you pull it out someone will see it, and that's unprofessional as hell. And if you don't pull it out, you spend the next half an hour on edge waiting to check the message. I've never seen a JTE take one in class and have never done so myself.

[fluffyhamster]

Well, I've never had a pregnant wife, or a relative held hostage by terrorists, but there were a few times when I was desperately short of money (we're talking, 'I need a train fare home today' situation!) and had had to get some wired from the UK (the dispatcher had stopped lending to anyone! Even those who had given up buying that silly stuff known as 'food'!), and the said and princely sum of money would not have been released until such time as the an*l bank had verified that the money was a "gift" and not for the purposes of international money-laundering or terrorism or whatever (this was those times midweek when I simply could not get to Western Union in Nihonbashi) - plus, I didn't want to call them back on my dime. I think in those sort of circumstances it is understandable that you'd really want/have to step out for a minute or so and take the call than continue with the human tape-recorder role or whatever might be deemed more pressing by a JTE with the luxury of taking nenkyu at the drop of a hanko (but luckily, the JTE that I was working with at that time was pretty understanding and could appreciate that sometimes a dispatch AET, especially one from that company, would have stuff "outside" work - basically we are talking with the scare quotes there of stuff ultimately due to atrocious pay, and the inevitable ensuing "disputes" and "negotiations" - that had to unfortunately be dealt with during working hours). Anyway, I never would actually take a mobile out and start talking whilst still inside the classroom!

BTW, I wonder how many schools get their staffrooms ransacked of all valuables? (Often they are left unlocked and pretty much unattended for quite long stretches of time). I'd be wary of leaving my mobile in my desk there, even if I hadn't ever had the odd call or two that I felt I'd had to take pronto.

[cornishmuppet]

Like I say, emergencies are one thing. But it seems to me that some people have been brought up to believe that if they leave the damn things alone for five minutes something massive and hugely important is going to happen (like their friend bumming in another school just passed level 3 of Final Fantasy 19 or whatever) and they're not going to find out until like, oh my God, three whole minutes after the event, and then, like, the world is just OVER....

It does sound like it pretty much sucked working for Interac. I have a mate down in Osaka doing it, and he used to work elementary school. He said he did a regular five or six classes a day, so I'd be interested to know how they swung that one, considering a regular teacher rarely does more than four. Saying that, he actually said he preferred it. He was at a different school and was repeating the same lesson plan over and over. Mind you, he'd previously worked for Amity so six classes a day was probably half his previous workload...

I actually heard in one school that a teacher had a laptop stolen. That school had padlocks on the teachers' room doors, but they told me it had happened years ago and the kids were generally okay now. I've never experienced it anywhere else, but then Nagano is hardly inner city Yokohama or somewhere. Not too much rebellion up here!

[fluffyhamster]

Actually it was Ah-See-Ess that sucked - them, and Borderstink. Former didn't want to continue to lend any money and called in debts in a way too sudden and ridiculous amount (and for all its AETs, not just me), while the latter, whilst it made borrowing much easier, somehow felt entitled to start casting aspersions about professionalism/fining for the slightest "infraction", made leave almost impossible to obtain at anything other than ridiculously long and involved notice, and soon transformed into nasty, patronizing and overbearing total *ssholes generally. But of course, they felt they could do no wrong and had to do what they do to AETs to maintain the image and integrity of the company etc etc (more like, the profits gained from my hard work and the sweat-soaked shirt off my back). (Avoid!).

I also came to prefer working in elementary schools, even if it was often six classes a day, because I was granted greater creative control than was the case in high schools (which have established and compulsory courses of study in place) - gave me a chance to beef up the Applied Linguistic reasoning behind the activities and syllabus (i.e. MY syllabus) generally. (You might have read or like to read those threads where I've outlined the initial stages of just such a syllabus. IMHO sure beats writing or reading about money this or woe is us that! ).