Job Discussion Forums

[kidkensei]

Hi Everyone,

I;m an Alt in a small town in the Nagano Prefecture. I'm concerned about the lowered expectations my three ELT's have of me. Having only 6 or 7 classes in total this week makes me feel like I have the best job in the world with all my spare time. On the other hand i feel a little disengaged from life at the school. I then feel like maybe the teachers want it this way because its the beginning of the year and trust based relations will take time to grow. In some ways I feel like i should be feeling guilty for going to school later and leaving earlier than all the other teachers. Am I missing something in translation. Like should I be asking teachers if I can clean there shoes and stuff.

Kensei

[Glenski]

Dispatch ALT or JET ALT?

If ELT = JTE, then use JTE, ok?

As for their lowered expectations of you, what do they have to go on?
Your experience / qualifications = ?
JET or dispatch?
Your age = ?

What exactly are your hours and theirs? JTEs typically leave very late, in my experience. If you have down time during the day, what exactly are you doing with it?

[kidkensei]

Hi JTE sorry and I;m a dispatch ALT. My hours were about 10 this week but I guess we're just starting the semester right? Mainly I;ve been giving a basic self introduction to my 3 junior highschool grades.

Everyone knows im making a real concerted effort to learn Japanese with my books scattered everywhere. If you went to my desk you'd see books on Japanese history, English grammar as well.

I don't know there hours exactly but in the afternoon and evening most teachers are closely connected with clubs and the school band which I feel like i should devote time to. I feel like somewhere I'm missing an opportunity to get to know the students and faculty more. But language is such a barrier even with the JTE s my god.

[Glenski]

As a dispatch ALT, your hours should be clearly spelled out in the contract. Are they?

Do what you like with the after-hours stuff, and yes, teachers do a lot of club stuff then. Nobody expects you to take part, though, and I wonder what your employer thinks. Plus, most ALTs that write on these forums would rather get off the grounds and into some part-time work to supplement their income.

[fluffyhamster]

If you're a dispatch AET then you're surely arriving (expected by your company to arrive) well in time for start of the daily pre-homeroom short teachers' meeting held in the staffroom each morning, and there's really no need to arrive appreciably earlier than that (especially if you live a fair distance away and don't have your own transport). As for feeling you are sitting on your hands, yes, it's the start of the term so things will naturally be a little slower, but don't be surprised if at least some of the JTEs are quite protective of their classes and ultimately suggest they have better things to do than anything you or even they might suggest you do in their lessons (they doubtless believe that their teaching methods - Grammar Translation etc - are more efficient in the short term at least). I mean, you could have a PhD in not only something ELTy but Japanese Studies too, but because you're not a qualified* Japanese teacher (i.e. Japanese, more or less) or even a qualified* teacher in your native country, then what you think is neither here nor there "at the end of the day" (...talking of which, as an AET you can ironically often achieve more outside of classroom hours than in).

*Add scare quotes to either or both, if you feel they're needed.

[cornishmuppet]

Sounds completely normal.

By hours I assume you're talking about classroom hours? Again, sounds normal.

Don't worry about it, and don't try to outlast the Japanese teachers, you never will! Learn to swallow the guilt of leaving early, you'll get used to it. And don't worry about joining the clubs. I've been going jogging with the kids a bit recently, but only because I've had hardly any classes and nothing much else to do. If you want to 'socialise', hang out at the foot lockers during lunchtimes, and while the kids are arriving and going home. It looks good to the other teachers too.

[Speed]

Things will pick in May after the "new school year" things get settled in April.
You should get to know your JTEs a bit better soon. Be forthcoming with them and offer to help/become involved with things often, in and outside the classroom.

If you'd like to be more engaged with the students, joining the students in their club/sports teams is a great way to do it. If you're pretty good at the sport or activity, you can offer to help out and be an "assistant coach". But always check with the coach if it's okay for you to watch or help out.

Also, don't hesitate to create friendships with teachers other than the JTEs, especially if you're trying to improve and are making an effort to communicate in Japanese. Many of my closest friends were non-JTEs. You may find some teachers in the teachers room would like to befriend you, but just haven't had the time nor opportunity yet. Good luck and hope things work out for you.

[kidkensei]

To all that posted, thank you so much. Definitely have a different perspective on things. I'm going to devote some time to the running club and use this slow period to pay more attention to how my JTEs are teaching their classes.

Kensei

[kahilm]

[degolasse]

I know how you feel. For me it was partly because the ALT before me was pretty lazy and didn't do anything, but for the first few months I felt like I wasn't expected to do much of anything and I just faded into the back ground. I hardly got to know my students, and few of the other staff seemed to think my presence was required, including a couple of my JTEs. I felt little connection to my school and really wasn't enjoying my job. Since my sole purpose in going to Japan was to get some good teaching experience for my teaching career back home, I was getting pretty frustrated and ready to call it quits.
But I decided instead of going home, I would see if I could make my job better so I started making it known to my JTEs that I wanted to do more.
They started asking me to get more involved in classes. I started spending less of my time sitting at my desk studying Japanese and more time out in the halls talking to students and getting to know them, helping with cleaning time, and eating lunch with them. I joined the table tennis club since two of my JTEs ran it (not exactly my interest but it was fun), came around to the schools in the evenings to watch basketball or Judo practice, and spent many Saturdays going to watch my schools compete in tennis tournaments.
Of course it took much more of my time, but I enjoyed my time so much more and got waaayyyy more out of my experience in Japan. I also starting making friends with some of my coworkers once they realized that I actually wanted to be there and wanted to be involved in the school.
So that's the only advice i can offer. If you really want more out of your job, then you have to get involved as much as you can.

[cornishmuppet]

Its real easy to get lazy as an ALT. In one of my schools there are two other ALTs and since September I have never seen the one who sits next to be prepare anything. Ever. Every class I do is super prepared and now I've reached a standard I like to keep it, but it does suck sometimes being treated with the same distain as one-yearers who just rock up and read out of the teachers' book. Each to their own, but I actually prefer it when the kids and/or myself enjoy the lesson.

Having worked in Elem, Junior and Senior Highs I've found Junior is the only place you're actually treated like an assistant. Otherwise you're doing someone else's job for them and if this makes you mad it can suck, especially if the teacher is rude enough to not even turn up for the class. I actually like the freedom and I've made it clear that I'll do my own thing in my scheduled classes, but I can understand how this might be a little bit of a fall to earth to a newcomer.