Hello. It’s my first time as an ALT (Junior High School) and today is my 8th day.
I looooove my experience so far. The teachers are very nice, the students are very friendly, I only need to walk 3min. to school, I can go home as soon as 4:30pm strikes.
I have heard a lot from ALTs and former ALTs that there will be a lot of downtime. And I didn’t expect it to be THIS MUCH!
I was so used to having 5-7 classes in a day and 4 classes in a row. Here, I only have 4 classes max. and today, I only have 1!
Don’t get me wrong, I love how relaxed I am, but it doesn’t feel right either. While other teachers are busy preparing for their classes, here I am trying to figure out what to do with my downtime.
I always ask my JTEs and HRTs if there’s anything I can do to help and they always say that there’s nothing yet. I would be glad to clean the whole school with my downtime. I don’t have internet on my laptop, so I can only do so much. I try to read books, but it only makes me feel shameless.
Do you have any tips on what I can do to make my job more “useful”? Or tips on how I can improve my relationship with my JTEs and HRTs? They’re very nice to me, but maybe there’s something else I can do (in the future perhaps) to make our relationship better 🙂
P.S.
I hope those people who think that ALT job is not a real job or those who think that ALTs aren’t real teachers don’t come for me.
16 comments
How is your Japanese? Could simply be a language thing. I’ve heard of teachers just not trying/cbf explaining through a language barrier. Could be something to do if your Japanese isn’t great yet.
If thats not an issue, I’d say just keep trying to build rapport. The more comfortable they are with you the friendlier and more they’ll trust you with tasks etc
Aside from that, as long as its productive, I say go for it. You can do anything in your downtime. I would recommend skilling up, depending on what your future plans are, ALT work doesn’t do much for your resume (In my experience at least). Use this free time wisely, jobs like this are rare, where you have ample time to study while being paid a ‘decent’ salary.
P.S Not trying to come after you or say ALT work isnt proper work, just a suggestion for making your (Inevitable) future transition smoother
I completed a distance learning MA program with all the free time I had at my desk, and I know several other ALTs who have done the same. If you’re serious about teaching here in Japan, I recommend looking into doing one in TESOL/Applied Linguistics. There are several excellent distance learning courses, particularly in England.
If you were thinking of transitioning into a different job, you could also study Japanese for translation work or coding for tech related work as well.
Use your downtime to study Japanese. Get a book with furigana and an electronic dictionary. The teachers will be impressed to see you reading a book in Japanese and you’ll be improving your Japanese.
I spent a Lot of time practicing kanji at my desk. It was totally worth it to the other teachers (and to me). I got the workbooks from bookstores.
Either think of activities to match the textbooks that are being used, make something like a bulletin board for the kids to interact with, or something along those lines.
If you show you’re willing to think of things to do and act on your own instead of asking for something to do, teachers may be more likely to see you than more than “just an ALT.” Not only is this important for keeping one’s sanity, it’s important for networking. You know, if you ever plan to become a real teacher – because in most situations, an ALT isn’t a real teacher in terms of workload or what they do in the class. If you ever **are** doing the same amount of work and prep as a real teacher, you’re doing too much unless you’re direct-hire.
I can’t connect my laptop to the schools network either, but I tether it to my phone and am able to do everything on my own laptop. That could be personal stuff like studying, or stuff for school like making presentations or worksheets. If you need to get it on a school computer to present or print, I’ve had good luck with Google Drive (ie it’s not blocked on their networks). As long as your phones data plan is enough, it’s a good option.
I used to be a JHS ALT too for a couple of years. I went to 3 different schools. I was occasionally very busy, other times, only a couple of classes. I took my own pocket wifi with me, and got online when I was free. I used to do my own stuff, research and writing for my blog. I`m a HS history/English teacher and I love Japanese history. I`m kinda hoping someday to publish my own stuff. As for helping the HRT, best thing you can do is nothing really. You will make them happy just following their instructions. They are busy and stressed so you don`t wanna make life anymore difficult for them.
What companies do you all work for that allow you to bring a laptop or study Japanese at your desk? I get neither, not even allowed to bring a USB drive and have to stare at the student textbooks and pretend to be working for hours
Ask the JTE’s at the beginning of the week or month to give you assignments(lesson prep) ask them what day and what kind of lesson/materials you want.
Asking the English teachers if there’s anything you can do is already more than enough. Study something in your downtime. The ALT job is crap, but downtime is one of the perks, so don’t waste it.
One thing I did to fill the time (and not necessarily improve my career but gave myself a creative outlet) was to make informational posters about cultural things. I made a chart during World Cup that tracked standings and gave info about the countries in the tournament, I made posters introducing Halloween (before it was widely known), I made posters about differences in school life between my home country and Japan. The school was happy to give me wall space near the teachers’ room to hang them. I also got the library to buy some English books and comics and wrote reviews/summaries about them and made a display in the library.
Little projects to give the more eager (but perhaps shy) students something to look at or read. It was appreciated by the school (and maybe a few students lol) and was fun to make.
Something I do is make English boards – info about different holidays, a tongue twister, this month I have different June weather in Japan, Iceland, and Spain. Japanese teachers really want an ALT for the culture/opportunity to speak English aspect.
I also make communication cards for each year, with a couple topics for grammar from last year and then grammar from their current year. Third years get more free talk spaces, haha. When they ask and answer the topic question, I stamp it. If/when they finish every question, I make them an English certificate.
Alternatively, I read a lot also because there IS a lot of free time haha
Learn the students’ names. It takes a lot of time and is well worth the effort. Visit their other classes as you have time too.
I did a second online job with my downtime and read books. They did expect me to make fun presentations for the kids but didn’t take too long
Don’t worry about it. Teachers who work as assistants or who don’t have to write curriculum are usually paid less because they have less responsibility. If you’ve done everything you are responsible for, have a hot drink, grab a biscuit and chill guilt free.
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