Job Discussion Forums

[Mr_Monkey]

[steki47]

[seklarwia]

[G Cthulhu]

[steki47]

I'll bump this. Just had another feedback session with my supervisor. Once again, the feedback was generally negative and had nothing to do with my teaching methods or behavior in the classroom.

This time the "problem" was that I don't talk enough with the kids during lunch. I do chat with them in English and Japanese, but the teachers feel that I should be more "proactive" and intiate conversations with the JHS kids to get them more fired up about English.

Generally, the kids want to talk with their friends. Not the teachers.

Incidentally, my first feedback session included a complaint/suggestion that I should interact more with the kids outside the classtime. The JTEs suggested I eat lunch with the kids. Which I having doing since my first day!

Not only is my feedback not related to my teaching at all, but the teachers don't seem to actually know what I am doing during the day!

[rich45]

[rxk22]

Yeah, often the JTs have no idea what we are doing, which is good and bad. A lot of the criticisms that I get, are often outa left field, or in your case, unrelated to me. Just shows how disconnected they are from what is expected from the ALTs.
One complaint, was that I wasn't wearing proper clothes. I was wearing a polo, or a dress shirt, and slacks. While my JTs had gym clothes, or a polo with the collar popped.

As for lunch. Even at ES it is awkward, as they don't know enough English to converse with me. Besides lunch is time to hangout, not to talk to the teacher.

Only time I like having lunch with the kids, is when the bullied kid asks me to eat with him. As it gives him a friend in the class. Other than that, it is kinda a bother.

Oh, and why don't the JTs know that we aren't supposed to be left alone with the kids? It's a foreign idea to them really.

[steki47]

Good points both of you. I was ticked to get the nonsense feedback, but if that is their biggest problem and overcoming that allows me to continue to work 4-5 hours a day and 170 days a year-OK!

PS-The JTEs also complained that I am too "businesslike" and "professional". Huh? How is that a problem?

Maybe my suits. Some JTEs complained that I leave the classroom too quickly after the chime. (Psst-I have another class on the other side of the building.)

OK, fine. Will linger a bit after the chime. Until the JTE tells me to go. I starting smiling until I feel like an idiot. Not sure what they want.

But I love the long holidays, so I will jump through the hoops.

[Christian St.Bacon]

ALT lunches - humiliated me so much that I just told the school, I wasn't hungry - I got accustomed to the endless astonished えええええええええええええええええっ as if each day it was the first time that they had heard that someone was not hungry (hadn't eaten all day but still I made sure they knew I was 'full-up')......I gave them plenty of chances to sort it out but every lunchtime, the Japanese staff eating away in the teachers room...amusingly watching me just sat there for 10...15...20 minutes longer...looking at my food waiting for the forgetful homeroom teacher that day to send his kids to come and collect me and take me to the classroom carrying my tray - and by the time I would get there...and the moment I would sit down, they would all be up cleaning and tidying away, having already finished......leaving me like some xxxx to rush down my food, having kids cleaning around me.....this happened practically on a daily basis - stuff this, stuff them..and the BoE was automatically taking this lunch money from my pay - I would have paid double not to eat....triple....well no more....and I never did - I would have quit first.....!!

..and everything previously said about how the kids felt and what the Homeroom teachers/JTEs did at lunctime - I totally agree - never saw a Japanese teacher make any effort to be 'sociable' during lunch....

arigatou very much

えええええええええええええっ
Truly was the worst part of the day...worst part of the past ten years!

[seklarwia]

[steki47]

At my JHS I am given a schedule for lunch with the kids. I eat with the same group for one week and rotate. I believe many others have similar arrangements.

Eating with the adult teachers is sometimes worse as they stare and make the "hashi joozu" comments more than the kids.

Petty stuff, but I can lose my job over petty stuff.

[ssjup81]

I couldn't help but read through this thread. I know it's been a long time since I've posted here, but what the hey. Just thought I'd share my experience having finally worked as an ALT. I returned to the states, though, April of last year because Heart was no longer going to dispatch in the area I was in, and there was a death in my family, so I had no choice but to return.

The main thing I disliked was having to eat lunch with the JHS kids. I felt awkward eating with them as it's weird. I would prefer it if someone asked me to eat with them, not throw me in the class and suddenly and miraculously expect them to get sociable and speak English. I had more fun with the first-year kids though compared to the second-year and third-year children, and there was one second-year class that was very hyper and stuff and they were all silly so that wasn't too bad...but if given the choice, I'd skip out on eating lunch with them if I could and most of the time, I'd act so busy before the lunch chime, I'd have no choice but to eat in the Teacher's room.

As for the actual classroom stuff, I hated the fact that they couldn't do anything more challenging. I did like one student in one of the first year classes that had pretty decent English in the sense that he tried to use other vocabulary. Like when I asked one time, "How are you?" He actually went on to say that he felt bad, but he had trouble explaining why. I was proud that he actually gave a different response other than, "I'm fine, thank you, and you?" What I did like about the teacher with the first-year class, was that he did seem to be trying to not sit around and translate all the time and actually did teach introduce alternative phrases not in the book. He even let me do tongue twisters with them. He allowed me to do activities with them that I came up with.

Now the second year teacher, he was good too. Very interactive, I felt with his class, but the thing is, for him, I was more of a "human tape recorder" except for when he wanted me to participate in the activities and there was one class where I had to introduce the lesson review while being reviewed myself. That was a very nervous time for me.

Now the third-year teacher...I hated being in his classes. That was all translation, mostly. I couldn't help them much, and I wasn't really encouraged to explain why something was wrong. The other thing that drove me crazy with the third-year teacher was that, I'm sure he had confidence in his abilities, but he had not confidence in his own students. Every time I suggested doing a lesson with them or have them do something to improve their skill, "I have no confidence----". I even came up with an ad-lib for them to do with a Halloween theme, and the teacher rejected the idea saying that he felt that it'd be too advanced for them. I even used Japanese for the blanks so they'd know what part of speech to use, and he still felt that they wouldn't be able to do it. Word searches too (to help with their vocab), didn't let me do it. I found that to be horribly sad. I was so glad when November came and I rarely ever had to go back to the third-year classes.

Personally, for language courses, there should be a lot of interaction and activities presented so that the children can apply what they learned and to not always use the same scripted material so that it may sound more natural. I can see doing the, "how are you" thing, but that works best if you're meeting a person for the first time. That should be taught more too. I also feel that they should show that there's more to languages than just directly translating the material.

[TokyoLiz]

I teach in three elementary schools. I only join Grade 5 classes for lunch because the kids asked me to join them. I get to hear the announcements made by the learners, join the daily lunch quiz, and sometimes there are special announcements or PA or video presentations the kids want me to know about. We sometimes talk about stuff they're doing, games they are playing, events at the school. One day a week with eager kids is perfect for me. I couldn't do it every day because my working hours are limited and I'm super busy.

I join the staff for lunch most days, and that's much more useful time for me. I know what teachers are doing, who is in trouble with the principal, who is in the school infirmary, and can ask teachers about any deviations in the school schedule. And it's really the only time I get to socialize with teachers when school is in session. One school has a tight group of women teachers, but we can only do social stuff, parties, etc. when on holidays because they're so busy.

[ssjup81]

I loved whenever I had to go to the Elementary school. The kids there were always asking me to have lunch with them and tried their bests to talk to me. I miss the younger kids.

[Mr_Monkey]