Job Discussion Forums

[mitsui]

This is a rant:

A) JTEs who refuse to speak English in the class where students should speak English. It sets a bad example.

B) NETs who claim to teach but never learned to spell. It is obvious when said teachers make worksheets but never bother to edit or maybe they think that the words are all correctly spelled.
Here are a couple
1) english
2) The past tense of fight. No, it isn't fought. It is faught, didn't you know.

I tend to wonder if said teachers even went to university. Maybe so, but teachers should at least use a dictionary.

[nomad soul]

[Lamarr]

In my experience, schools in Japan are more interested in hiring someone who's a smiley, genki, functioning gimp that doesn't ruffle any feathers. If they can get an applicant that also cares about the English language, then that's a nice little bonus on top, but they don't usually require that (they'd probably struggle to get enough quality instructors in it for the long haul anyway).

These eikaiwa and ALT jobs generally are happy enough as long as their instructors/ALTs can spit out something that at least vaguely resembles English. That's all they require linguistically. The people on the receiving end of the language "instruction" probably don't know any better anyway. That and the continuing demand for English is why language teaching in Japan is so suited to criminal scammers and exploitative English "schools".

[mitsui]

I agree but I work at a private secondary school.
I really wonder if anyone cares about teaching or if it is just crowd control,
at a lower ranked school where the majority do not study or do homework.
Just a BA is good enough here plus pay is going to be cut.

Seems that they prefer someone who is known to someone who is competent.

It does seem the teachers started in eikaiwa and just continued their way of teaching into this job.

[TokyoLiz]

i work next to competent people who have sound pedagogy and good rapport with their kids, but there are two JTEs who are "English teacher impersonators". One of them sounds fluent in English at first meeting, but after a bit, it becomes apparent that this impersonator cannot comprehend basic English from the textbook, the purpose of the program, or identify the target language or teachable content of a textbook page. You can't have a conversation with this person, who is a random verbal generator.

The other has not yet mastered the syllabus of the junior high English course. Email and spoken communication is nearly gibberish.

[mitsui]

Foreign teachers are kept on a short leash but JTE can get away with stuff I can't.

I can't stand the arrogance of those teachers who are less competent but engage in gossip, office politics and stiiring up stuff.
The dumber the person, the less humble they are.
I really have to think dumb gaijin have it easier because they aren't threatening.

Team teaching at this school can be such a waste of time.

[Shonai Ben]

faught?

Never saw this before.I just checked 4 dictionaries.They all say fought is the past tense of fight.

[mitsui]

That is what one teacher put on the worksheet.
He teaches the past tense, so he should learn to spell.
I know it is fought but he does not.
He insists that a worksheet or handout is a print.

[Shonai Ben]

[nomad soul]

Frankly, it's unfair to label others as "dumb" or "lazy" based on their fluency and proficiency in a foreign language. Second language acquisition/usage is not simplistic nor associated with high intelligence.

[Shakey]

[RustyShackleford]

[TokyoLiz]

[Nemu_Yoake]

It's because the recruitment exam to become a teacher is a joke (the English part), even in prefectures with a lot of competition. I took (and passed) it so I know. They should raise the level if they want better teachers.

[fluffyhamster]

Problem is, more often that not even the teachers with pretty good English stick to the book and do the bare minimum. Very few are pedagogical firebrands, or even heated coals. Or maybe I've just been working in the wrong sort of (public) schools?