Currently an ALT while I work on my Japanese speaking ability and finish my graduate degree and I have nothing but positive stuff to share. School is great, staff is amazing, everyone is understanding and patient of certain situations, and I have tons of flexibility to work from home (during days students aren’t in school) and take nenkyuu whenever I feel like without any pushback. I work at a public high school, not eikaiwa.
I don’t take advantage of the kindness, but hearing the horror stories from current or past ALTs all over Japan, I was a bit worried coming over here.
I initially came here as an ALT because the pandemic closed the border, so it prevented me to get married to my fiancé on a tourist visa (while we worked out the logistics of where we are going to live and stuff like that). Now that I’m here, making a decent amount of money, saving and have many resources, I might stay longer here and see what else I can do in Japan before going to the states 🙂
Again, nothing by positive stuff to share on my end but it’s not going to be my final/only career move here. Im still working on other skills and my degree.
Edit to add: if it helps, im with JET , so maybe that’s why my school and BOE are pretty chill/laid back or maybe just purely coincidental
I’m surprised to see such a positive result considering how people talk about ALT positions on this sub and others. There must be a lot of lurkers.
We really ought to have a “Yes, and it is/was meh/mixed bag” option imo
If you treat it for what it is – a good way to see Japan for a couple of years – then it can be positive. If you think it’s a good career option then it’s likely to be negative.
I had a wonderful time on the JET Program for a year. Great BoE support, JTEs who mentored me, and sweet students.
I only did one year as a break from five years of adult ESL teaching back home.
Good 13 year old girls but horrible dispatch company and boring coworkers except for one
No, and was never interested in it. I have always had my own classroom, and I’ve just never been interested in children.
It was good in the beginning, especially staying at some great schools with great teachers. Then the city contract was lost, I left to join another companyin another area and it started go to down from there.
Had a great three years on JET, one year direct hire, and four years as ALT supervisor.
Not perfect, but had some good times and learned a lot.
The work is easy and for the most part I get on with my colleagues, but it gets very boring with all the desk warming! I used to work at a very busy hospital in the UK where you didn’t have a moment to rest, so it’s a very different environment!
I’m using the desk warming time to improve myself (get a teaching qualification) so it’s not like it’s entirely wasted, but I wouldn’t be opposed to having a bit of a busier schedule!
Yeah, sometimes I miss those days. They were fun. I speak Japanese pretty well so got along great at work and in life. The pay wasn’t so hot but I had almost zero responsibilities.
3 years on JET. My role was the legendary human tape recorder. Only reason I stayed so long was because I married a local.
8 years direct hire. Was a lot better than my JET time, I was often asked to make original / custom lessons. However, no advancement opportunity and have to interview yearly was the biggest negative / leaving factor.
Now I am a private HS teacher (not ALT). Full control of the whole class from HW, classwork, tests etc. I am on the board of various things and a few clubs. A lot more work, but a lot more satisfying.
I have a new found respect for my old JTEs now.
Honestly, right up until the very end when I did get screwed over by my former company, I actually had a great experience. Even when I started with Interac (pre-Covid), I had a fantastic time as an ALT. Mind you, I was only at elementary and JHS level, and ultimately ended up being more ES than JHS. I’m currently in a very strange (but super-fun!) role with my new, current company, and I’ve found that I enjoy teaching English to the kids.
Just remember one thing: so long as you’re in a dispatch company, no matter what good experiences you might have or great things you might hear about a company (and yes, these things are possible!), a dispatch company only cares about one thing at the end of the day: their contract with the BoE. You are 100% replaceable, especially considering the amount of people who want to come over as ALTs and have been denied for the past two years.
No.
Yes and it was both positive and negative
Had an amazing JET experience (some downs but mostly ups). Since then I’ve gained my teaching license and am teaching in an international school.
16 comments
Currently an ALT while I work on my Japanese speaking ability and finish my graduate degree and I have nothing but positive stuff to share. School is great, staff is amazing, everyone is understanding and patient of certain situations, and I have tons of flexibility to work from home (during days students aren’t in school) and take nenkyuu whenever I feel like without any pushback. I work at a public high school, not eikaiwa.
I don’t take advantage of the kindness, but hearing the horror stories from current or past ALTs all over Japan, I was a bit worried coming over here.
I initially came here as an ALT because the pandemic closed the border, so it prevented me to get married to my fiancé on a tourist visa (while we worked out the logistics of where we are going to live and stuff like that). Now that I’m here, making a decent amount of money, saving and have many resources, I might stay longer here and see what else I can do in Japan before going to the states 🙂
Again, nothing by positive stuff to share on my end but it’s not going to be my final/only career move here. Im still working on other skills and my degree.
Edit to add: if it helps, im with JET , so maybe that’s why my school and BOE are pretty chill/laid back or maybe just purely coincidental
I’m surprised to see such a positive result considering how people talk about ALT positions on this sub and others. There must be a lot of lurkers.
We really ought to have a “Yes, and it is/was meh/mixed bag” option imo
If you treat it for what it is – a good way to see Japan for a couple of years – then it can be positive. If you think it’s a good career option then it’s likely to be negative.
I had a wonderful time on the JET Program for a year. Great BoE support, JTEs who mentored me, and sweet students.
I only did one year as a break from five years of adult ESL teaching back home.
Good 13 year old girls but horrible dispatch company and boring coworkers except for one
No, and was never interested in it. I have always had my own classroom, and I’ve just never been interested in children.
It was good in the beginning, especially staying at some great schools with great teachers. Then the city contract was lost, I left to join another companyin another area and it started go to down from there.
Had a great three years on JET, one year direct hire, and four years as ALT supervisor.
Not perfect, but had some good times and learned a lot.
The work is easy and for the most part I get on with my colleagues, but it gets very boring with all the desk warming! I used to work at a very busy hospital in the UK where you didn’t have a moment to rest, so it’s a very different environment!
I’m using the desk warming time to improve myself (get a teaching qualification) so it’s not like it’s entirely wasted, but I wouldn’t be opposed to having a bit of a busier schedule!
Yeah, sometimes I miss those days. They were fun. I speak Japanese pretty well so got along great at work and in life. The pay wasn’t so hot but I had almost zero responsibilities.
3 years on JET. My role was the legendary human tape recorder. Only reason I stayed so long was because I married a local.
8 years direct hire. Was a lot better than my JET time, I was often asked to make original / custom lessons. However, no advancement opportunity and have to interview yearly was the biggest negative / leaving factor.
Now I am a private HS teacher (not ALT). Full control of the whole class from HW, classwork, tests etc. I am on the board of various things and a few clubs. A lot more work, but a lot more satisfying.
I have a new found respect for my old JTEs now.
Honestly, right up until the very end when I did get screwed over by my former company, I actually had a great experience. Even when I started with Interac (pre-Covid), I had a fantastic time as an ALT. Mind you, I was only at elementary and JHS level, and ultimately ended up being more ES than JHS. I’m currently in a very strange (but super-fun!) role with my new, current company, and I’ve found that I enjoy teaching English to the kids.
Just remember one thing: so long as you’re in a dispatch company, no matter what good experiences you might have or great things you might hear about a company (and yes, these things are possible!), a dispatch company only cares about one thing at the end of the day: their contract with the BoE. You are 100% replaceable, especially considering the amount of people who want to come over as ALTs and have been denied for the past two years.
No.
Yes and it was both positive and negative
Had an amazing JET experience (some downs but mostly ups). Since then I’ve gained my teaching license and am teaching in an international school.