Job Discussion Forums

[Squire22]

I actually posted this in the newbie forum, it was suggested that I post it here in the Japan forum too, it`s two posts glued together...

(First post)

Dear all,

As eslcafe was - still is - so helpful to me before I left for my first teaching experience abroad, I thought I`d post something on my time so far here in Japan.

Before I left the UK, I had a 120 Hour TESOL Certificate and summer school teaching experience only - I also have a degree. As it very, very late notice, I arrived speaking two words of Japanese, konnichiwa, and sayonara.

I work for a dispatch company as an ALT in a junior high school, and will be doing a few week long stints here and there at a couple of elementary schools in the area. So far, it`s been a blast! The company i work for has really taken care of me, sorted me out with my apartment, car, phonelines, post office account etc. Gave me some awesome orientation training and my supervisor is a great guy and his first question is always "Do you need anything, anything at all?". Since my arrival, I could not fault them for anything. I realise that this is not always the case and that others` experiences have varied.

I love working at the junior high where I`m placed, I generally team teach(We do work as a team) an average of 4 lessons a day, across all three grades. There`s a lot of textbook work which means I am a human tape recorder a fair amount of time, but i get to spend a lot of time going round talking to the kids individually which I find immensely satisfying. I get to plan activities for target language in the textbook and generally help out the JTE with ideas that they have, I have a weekly meeting with each of the three English teachers. One thing I wasn`t expecting was to be teaching what they call the "Slow learners class" twice a week. It`s a class of just 5 students, 3 third years and 2 first years, and they`re great kids, but lessons can be really difficult to plan and to execute, they take a lot of thought as they have to be very simple words and include lots and lots of activities that they can enjoy and get a thrill out of.

In the afternoons I join one of the sports clubs, whichever I feel like, always asking the teacher first and then the head students running the activity. The kids are really friendly and are generally always excited when I go and play sports with them. Although i can leave at 4pm, i generally stay until somewhere between 5.30 and 6.15pm and say goodbye to all the kids at the end of the day with the other teachers.

Up until recently I have found it difficult at times with my language inability, communication with staff has been pretty tough which for me has been really frustrating because i want to talk to these people so much but i just don`t know the words! But recently things have started to pick up in spurts, i`ve been studying hard and learning words and slowly the teachers are coming round and helping me out, this is mostly due to me trying - badly i might add - to start conversations with them. Just learning a simple question in japanese and asking every teacher e.g. what are you going to do this weekend? even though i`ve understood almost nothing, they`ve been friendly and patient. I`m aware that this isn`t always the case, as i mentioned above, different experiences an all. It has been a case of being bold though and really making the effort.

I join in the cleaning with the kids every day, I tend to go to different classrooms and parts of the school to help different kids each day.
There are no sports on Wednesdays, so I started the schools first English club, i get three or four kids every week, which although isn`t many in a school of 400 students, it`s easily good enough for me and allows me to try out lots of new things and get to know those three or four kids a lot better.

Lunch is always an experience, never having really eaten "Japanese" food before in England - I used to ask what it was I was eating, now I don`t bother, i just eat, this works well because sometimes I`d rather not know what they`re feeding me!

I`ve got awesome neighbours who have helped with little things like collecting things from the post office, translating some mail/bills. I`ve been incredibly lucky.

At the moment, i wouldn`t want to be anywhere else, doing anything else. I love where i live, far enough away from the big cities, but close enough to commute, a couple hours away from Tokyo with a great view of Fuji - on a clear day . The japanese people I work with are really friendly and helpful, the students are engaged for the most part and really like to have fun and laugh - I couldn`t ask for better.

Hope this is of some, if any, help, more than willing to answer PMs from anyone who has questions, if any...

(Second post in response to a few replies)

Cheers guys,

Yeah I know that I`m kind of throwing myself into, which I think is to be expected as I`m still new to all of this. I have had a few days where I just didn`t feel like doing sports so i just wandered around watching for about a half hour and left early at 4.30pm which is great because as mentioned above, burnout can be a problem.

I enjoy my personal space/free time, I joined a local Aikido group about 4/5 weeks ago and they`re a really friendly bunch, not great at English but just awesome communicators and fun people. I enjoy going up to the next town with my neighbour and generally just relaxing, reading and studying. It`s all good fun and at the moment i don`t ever feel pressured for time, like the weekend was too short or the weeks too long.

I`m still waiting on the whole culture shock thing though, so far, no issues or problems, and the little things that keep coming up I just think are cool. There`s only another 5 weeks of term left and then it`s the summer vacation, I already have a couple of things planned, a short trip to Tokyo etc. Nothing too far out of my way because there`s lots of cool places to go visit in the area where I`m living, there`s a couple of local festivals going on which should be good fun. I`m really hoping to spend most of the time studying as best I can so that when i return to school after the break I can really hit the students and teachers with some Japanese! We all need things to aspire to

I have no doubt at all though that my thoughts and feelings will change over time, it`s only natural, maybe I`ll remember to post something 6 months down the line about how it is then, but for now, my Japan is a good place.

Many thanks

[PAULH]

Culture shock is not something you wait for its a mental and emotional adjustment you go through. There are several stages and each one can take from one to six months. There is no electric shock or trauma you experience.

Its not really something you are aware of, but its simply you reacting to your environment, how you deal with your surroundings. At three or four months you are still in the honeymoon stage, then there is a critical stage where the novelty wears off and you start comparing Japan with your own country. this is where homesickness kicks in, you start saying ''In America, Australia/back home we do this..." , Japanese are so....."

The final stage of culture shock is acceptance, where instead of swimming upstream and butting your head against walls you learn to accept and adapt to your surroundings. japan is not going to change for you, so you learn to work within the society as a 'gaijin' as a foreigner, for as long as you live here you will never be Japanese.

Forget about being 'accepted' on the same terms as a Japanese person. it will NEVER happen.

[moot point]

As per my reply in the "Newbie" forum, I congratulate you on being great teacher, but I forewarn you that you will become tired of your extra efforts. Make it clear to your principal now that what you are doing is above and beyond your duties.

[PAULH]

[Ai]

It's great to hear a positive experience! Thanks for sharing.

[Squire22]

I don`t really consider playing sports to be working, i play because i love sports and have instant access to 400 playing buddies. The fact that i get interaction with the kids too is the bonus for me. It`s not as though i`m going out of my way to play sports deliberately, i played lots at home, so it seems only natural to do it here.

I don`t see the need for "Brownie points" either, i can neither go up nor down a career ladder at the school. I teach the English club, albeit to 3/4 students each week, because i don`t generally get to teach classes 100% by myself so it`s great for me to improve my timing and explanation of activities and try out new things(as a new teacher this is incredibly helpful). Also, I run the club whilst the teachers are in a staff meeting, seeing as I understand basically nothing, they told me that I needn`t bother attending, so instead of sitting around it gives me something to do.

I`ve done enough jobs that i disliked where i received no appreciation, now i`m doing a job that for the moment, i genuinely like, and i feel as though I get enough back from the kids each day to know that I`m doing alright, I don`t need someone from above to tell me.

[earthmonkey]

Congratulations!
It's great that you are enjoying your life here so far.

Thanks for posting your positive experiences. It's not too often that we hear such things here.

Good luck!

[TK4Lakers]

Nice post. I can honestly say that I felt like I was reading about my own experience. About 95% of the stuff you wrote easily compares to my own experience. Hey, we might even work for the same company ;P.

I had one question to ask.....can you elaborate on your "English Club" you started? It sounds like a great idea. What kind of content/cirriculum do you teach? For how long, and during what hours? How did you implement this into the school?

It sounds awesome. Good luck on your experience.

[Squire22]