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I'm not talking about mutant hamsters or gerbils, but about blinking for 50 minutes at a time, all the while with a slight smile of infinite patience frozen on my face, whilst some wreck of a JTE (Japanese teacher of English) blathers on and on and on in Japanese about exceedingly obvious points of grammar (well, they'd become obvious enough if the students ever met enough genuine input). Quite why the Ministry of Education here in Japan doesn't just insist on books with parallel texts in both languages I don't know, it would save everybody a lot of time and might actually leave a few seconds here and there for looking beyond the current page...ah, but then the JTE would be out of a job, eh.

Todays' beauties:

1) JTE (in Japanese): Copy the words from the vocabulary list six million times each into your notebooks. (Students begin writing 'sea', 'sea', 'sea' etc etc, which'll lead to the inevitable corrections later - doubtless delegated to me - when marking their "essays" about needing to use 'the' before 'sea'; 'Look again more closely at the actual text' etc).

2) Students have translated from Japanese. Here's the model answer:

Where did you go last weekend? (We don't even know if B did go anywhere yet) > I went to Tokyo station > What did you see there? (Again, how do we know B saw anything of interest? And people don't usually go to train stations to "see" very much at all. The JTE prevented me from changing it to 'do'. I'd've preferred changing the question entirely: Why did you go there?) > I saw a big white lion (Change to 'To see our JTE jot a hurried lesson plan onto a crumpled Starbuck's napkin with a piece of chalk').

3) Use past forms of BE:

I am Taro now > I was Taro yesterday (JTE then changes latter name in mid-thought/scrawl to 'Jiro')
I am in Tokyo > I was in U.S (Tell me, class, what does 'the definite article' mean? If you don't know, how about telling me what 'America' means instead?)

Apologies if you don't teach in Japan, but criticisms of JTEs can meet with a frosty reception (for some reason) on the Japan forum, so I thought I'd bung these bits of trivia here on the AL one instead.

You're not quite immune here either! One of my students who has an MA and is one of my proteges in conversation analysis is now a JTE and has in her classroom a lazy bible-thumping Texan with apparently little knowledge of language or language teaching -- and apparently quite happy with his life as a "human tape recorder."

I've suggested that she take a firm hand here and not let this guy "steal" any of her teaching time. I also suggested that they have a sit-down and discuss possible roles in the classroom. Only after he has proven his willingness and abilities to prepare 5 minute activities related to the specific goals of that day's lesson plan would I consider giving him any expanded responsibilities.

Presumably you object to the guys laziness and not the fact that he's a Texan or a bible-thumper (unless that affects his teaching somehow).

Well... you can't blame the teacher for teaching grammar, because as I said once before the students have to know it, not English. I guess you can be bummed that they aren't teaching that well.

I teach with a JTE who is famous in my Ken. He is a super-teacher! He teaches exactly as it is written. He does everything just as the teacher manual and suplemental exercise books say. His students are great grammarians but I find myself blinking for 50 minutes. Actually, i'm sitting there taking notes and trying to formulate in my head how I would do it differently. It would be really horrible if he could see what I was doing.

I have tried to offer some suggestions for things we could do or offer some advice, but like me he is so pigheaded that he won't listen. I had a really hard time when he first came. However, when it comes down to it, it's his class and I'm a guest. So, I've given up and just follow his lead.

Although, along the lines of Abu's remarks, I'm seen as a wonder ALT. Because... I show up on time, in pressed clothes, have some ideas, can answer simple grammar querries...

It's pretty hard to cast stones.

lolwhites wrote:Presumably you object to the guys laziness and not the fact that he's a Texan or a bible-thumper (unless that affects his teaching somehow).

Texans are OK. Some of 'em at least.

ALTs seem as varied as JTEs. I'm met some great ALTs and some great JTEs -- and some pretty awful of both.

In my Second Language Teaching course I emphasize that there are several ways to be a competent teacher all of which involve different ratios of three basic abilities: Good preparation, Language knowledge, and Teaching technique. These spell out the anagram GLT = "Great Language Teacher" which makes my students think of GTO!**

Ideally a teacher should have an equal amount of all of these abilities. Competent ALTs and JTEs typically have different ratios and thus differing ways of being competent. Of course there are also a good number of both ALTs and JTEs that come up short all around.

**For those of you not in Japan, GTO is (was?) a Japanese soap opera (and manga series) where the leading character is this really cool high school teacher.

(Headline screams) English education in Japan in safe hands:

JTE: FluffyGere-sensei, please read out new words. Don't repeat.
Me: Hamster. Prophylactic (begins with 'c'). Vaseline. Actor. Buddhist. Silly. Rumou...
JTE: Please say the words twice.
Me: But you said 'Don't repeat'.
JTE: I mean the silent, still-writing students don't repeat.
Me: (fast, p-ed off) Hamster. Hamster. (etc)