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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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 Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:44 am Post subject: ALTs work cancelled, BoE busted for illegal contracts |
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Chiba city's native speaker English classes canceled after ALT contracts found illegal
KASHIWA, Chiba -- Public schools here have been unable to start their native speaker-taught English classes this school year after the city's board of education was accused of violating labor laws with foreign language teachers.
According to the Kashiwa Municipal Board of Education, it has been instructed by the local labor office to change its labor relationship with foreign assistant language teachers (ALTs) in the city's elementary and junior high schools after it engaged in illegal employment practices.
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from http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100417p2a00m0na019000c.html |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:05 pm Post subject: |
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They were warned...
Of course, what's to stop them now from just putting ALTs in for less than 3 years and then play musical chairs? |
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Imseriouslylost
Joined: 09 Nov 2009
Posts: 123
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Even though this affects my own job security, I do hope that the whole ALT dispatch industry is completely undone at some point in the future. Outsourcing education to the lowest bidder just seems... wrong. Either expand the JET program, or make a lot more regulations for current dispatch companies (such as a minimum salary) to prevent them from thoroughly screwing teachers around!
If something isn't done then the salaries are just going to go lower and people are going to be expected to stretch themselves really thin just to live here. I met a few teachers working for another dispatch that taught at five different schools per week and had to commute an average of an hour per day (by car). One guy had a school in Greater Tokyo and a school in Gunma he had to commute to which is a hell of a distance for the 190,000 a month he is getting paid. |
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starteacher
Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 237
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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In the meantime what do the ALTs do.... and how about the students missing out in their education ? What if THAT kid was yours or someone you know.
Sometimes you wonder if BOEs care....
If any Japanese family is going to think they can depend on the BOEs to look after their child's international language experience, forget it. well, at least in this lifetime. Better send them to at least an eikaiwa or even cram school jukus. If the BOEs think it is not until 2011 that English is going to be mandatory until from 5th grade, makes you wonder what they have any plans in store for 1st-4th graders. Didn't someone in another recent thread mention that language learning starts at a young age ? Tell that to the BOEs. |
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flyer
Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 539
Location: Sapporo Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:17 am Post subject: |
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yes, this story is very interesting, a step in the right direction (maybe?) but there are still many unanswered questions. I agree the whole ALT thing needs to be looked over and some basic guidelines set.
But with the financial crisis etc and all the general Japanese red tape ..... I can't see things changing in a hurry?? |
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yangyoseop
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 47
Location: #1 Sandra Bullock fan in Tallahassee, FL
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:49 am Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
| Didn't someone in another recent thread mention that language learning starts at a young age ? Tell that to the BOEs. |
You mean is there a critical age at which people are better able to acquire an L2? That's very debatable. |
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mc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Posts: 90
Location: Aichi, Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:15 am Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
| and how about the students missing out in their education ? What if THAT kid was yours or someone you know. |
No offense, but I don't think anyone on this board is worried about their kids not getting seat time with an ALT.... |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
| Didn't someone in another recent thread mention that language learning starts at a young age ? Tell that to the BOEs. |
I think we'd all be pretty much fkt if language learning didn't begin at a young age... usually the first couple of years of life. I think even BoEs know that much!
[old man voice]Yes, yes. I was born pretty young. [/old man voice]
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starteacher
Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 237
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I don't think anyone on this board is worried about their kids |
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| I think even BoEs know that much! |
My point, people, is that IF anyone from the BOEs are reading this forum, then where do they send their kids to learn English, and who is teaching their kids English.  And at the same time, what are they doing to us ?
That said, I know of some of the JTEs in schools who have never even left the country, but are teaching English and actually speak it quite well too. And when I asked THEM where THEY went, guess what...... eikaiwas !!!  |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
My point, people, is that IF anyone from the BOEs are reading this forum, then where do they send their kids to learn English, |
ummm.... the classroom?
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and who is teaching their kids English. |
ummm... the JTEs?
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And at the same time, what are they doing to us ?
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They are legally prohibited from hiring ALTs, so either these people are just working illegally, OR they are unemployed (or have some other arrangement ... for three months  )
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That said, I know of some of the JTEs in schools who have never even left the country, but are teaching English and actually speak it quite well too. And when I asked THEM where THEY went, guess what...... eikaiwas !!! |
That's fine. There are JTEs in this country that majored in a language other than English, never went to an eikaiwa and still manage to do fine in English. They taught THEMSELVES (you would think that in a country in which the textbook becomes the de facto curriculum, and people just do page one, page two etc, it would occur to people that they could actually just pick up a textbook and teach themselves pretty much anything they wanted to learn by doing it the same way. But somehow it just rarely seems to happen). |
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Mr_Monkey
Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Kyuuuuuushuuuuuuu
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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They might be good autonomous language learners, much in the same way that many NSes of English learned it autonomously.
However, being a good language learner does not make you a good teacher. The elephant in the room... |
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ShioriEigoKyoushi
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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--
Last edited by ShioriEigoKyoushi on Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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robertokun
Joined: 27 May 2008
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:02 am Post subject: |
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| mc wrote: |
| starteacher wrote: |
| and how about the students missing out in their education ? What if THAT kid was yours or someone you know. |
No offense, but I don't think anyone ... is worried about their kids not getting seat time with an ALT.... |
The teachers at my school certainly weren't. Lol. |
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starteacher
Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 237
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| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:21 am Post subject: |
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| mc wrote: |
| No offense, but I don't think anyone on this board is worried about their kids not getting seat time with an ALT.... |
You said it.
Maybe it is precisely that, mc, and no offense, that if teachers and ALTs can't be bothered, then why should BOEs be bothered with ALTs, and so the vicious cycle goes on.
I cannot speak for everyone on this forum though. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:09 am Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
| mc wrote: |
| No offense, but I don't think anyone on this board is worried about their kids not getting seat time with an ALT.... |
You said it.
Maybe it is precisely that, mc, and no offense, that if teachers and ALTs can't be bothered, then why should BOEs be bothered with ALTs, and so the vicious cycle goes on.
I cannot speak for everyone on this forum though. |
The BoE of any town is made up of teachers. the public sector career ladder starts with teaching, then goes to the BoE, then goes back to the school as a Vice Principal, then Principal, and then back to the BoE as the head. So saying the BoE shouldn't care because the teachers don't care actually doesn't mean anything. It's saying 'We don't care because we never did'. The training for foreign teachers in Japan doesn't include training on how to work with a native speaking teacher of the target language, or an ALT. So really, it's "we don't care because we never did, and even those few of us in the BoE who used to work with them didn't know what to do with them. All we know is that the federal government says we need to have them in class. We ask the foreigners what their job is, but for some reason the foreigner from the other side of the planet who have never been to Japan before and have no training in language teaching don't actually know. they were told they need to introduce students to elements of their culture and country. But we don't care about their country, so we want them to do something else".
In other countries, those kinds of jobs all require specific education (to be a teacher you need a k-12, to work at the BoE you (also) need a masters in education administration, or else areas outside of education itself [policy etc]. To be a principal or vice principal you need an M.Ed in Educational Leadership. In Japan, you are promoted up even if you don't want to be, and there is very little training available.
Edited to add:
Most of the people in BoEs have never actually worked in any field other than education, and mostly they haven't ever worked outside of PUBLIC education. They go from being a teacher, to organizing budgets. |
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