I have been working as an ALT for a few months now. I am under a dispatched company. So for the past few months, I am basically like a robot. When she wants me to speak, I speak. When she doesn’t want me to do anything I will not do anything. So on my free time, I asked her what can I do to help, she didn’t even know what can I do. Not even once did she give me a chance to help her. I know I’m just new to this new ALT thing but I will not be eligible to teach if I am not qualified and didn’t go to a proper school or university.
I have been living in Japan for more than 5 years and have been working in different industries. So I know how the Japanese treat gaijins.
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Now, I am stuck here because she just wants me to clean the restroom or the hallway or anything in my free time. Is there someone who has the same experience as me?
22 comments
You just have one JTE, is that correct?
Not all JTE’s are created equal, some out there will only use their ALT’s as tape recorders and don’t feel comfortable delegating any part of creating the lesson plan.
Unfortunately this is can be a common experience. I was lucky to have not had it this bad when I was an ALT but the JTE definitely preferred to be in control too.
When you have nothing to do, see if you can offer to help other teachers – they might be more receptive to assistance. As busy as they are, I imagine at least some of them would welcome some help. If you’re in elementary, I’m sure you’d be able to join a few other classes as well. It’s great experience to watch different teachers teach.
Honestly, what I did was I just started making my own worksheets for future lessons and when done, I just show them to my JTs and say “I made this with so and so in mind, you can use them if you want. ” And show them what it is and how to do the worksheets.
Sometimes they like the worksheets, sometimes not.
Edit: this is junior high school
Sometimes I just find its easiest to do as the JTE asks. This is especially true if you are teaching Year 3 JHS. COVID has fucked the school year so teachers need to make sure students are ready for tests. ALT lessons usually don’t cover what is on tests.
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Maybe you could prepare some worksheets for grammar points and the whip them out if the opportunity arises?????????
I’ve been an ALT for way too long (some idiot took a screenshot of this fact to make fun of me a while ago, but anyway…). Up until the the end of the 2019 school year, I was the “English teacher”. I made the lesson plans, made the material, did everything (this is ES by the way). I loved my job. I at no point considered it a career, but at the time I could see myself doing it for the foreseeable future because I really enjoyed it. Being a direct hire on 33man, plus able to moonlight meant that I made enough money, around 50K, and can easily afford a mortgage and buy new cars every 9 years. I can still do all that, but;
2020 rolled around and English became a subject. I’ve been relegated to the “robot” you describe. I do nothing. In my spare time I look at reddit and pretend to work. I even have Bluestacks installed on my computer to play games while pretending to work.
In class, some teachers use the iPad (we have them in my city, some have chromebooks) with the textbook installed and uses that to read passages. WHILE I’M STANDING RIGHT THERE!! I mean, I’ve complained to the BoE, quizzing them on why on earth they even hire us if we’re relegated to teacher aides. This is no exaggeration. I’ve gone from speaking 100% of the time to about 10.
So, you’re not alone. I’m very interested in hearing if other long time/direct hire ALTs share this situation.
I regret buying my house and choosing to stay here. It’s by far the worst decision I’ve made in my life. But I can’t do anything about it. Like you, I’m not even close to qualifying to be a teacher, I have a degree in Musculo-Skeletal Anatomy, and I can’t make 50K a year doing anything else with two kids to feed.
Most other ALTs in my city share my concerns but say “at least I have a job”. My worry is there though that as soon as one in BoE decides that dispatch would be cheaper and probably more efficient considering we don’t really do anything any more, we’ve lost our cusshy relatively high paid, low hour job.
Find any chance to just do your own thing.
Like, the first 5-10 minutes, I would have to do the exact same thing.
“Hello Students, how are you? What’s the date?”
Every… single… day..
I ended up using that time to do games like shiritori or culture presentations without telling my JTE first. Now sometimes I get 15 minutes to do whatever I want. No more boring same questions.
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It really depends on your schools as I’m sure you’ll know.
If she doesn’t want to use you then honestly there’s not much you can do. You could try suggesting things to her but at the end of the day, it’s up to her what she does. A lot of it is down to how comfortable the JTE is in delivering an English lesson.
Either way i wouldn’t take it personally. I’m afraid this sort of thing is “shouganai” when you’re ALTing.
What OP described is what the ALT role is and should be despite eager ALTs wanting to be T1 and control everything. I’m not demeaning ALTs either cos i’m sure there are people who are capable and passionate.
MEXT wants the JTE to be T1 but as you know it’s different for every school and Japanese teacher. Some schools/teachers are fricking lazy and tell you to do everything while they sit back, while others are on point and lead the lesson themselves.
Honestly I’m in the camp that ALTs should just do whatever the school tells them to do. If you’re over qualified and want to lead the class, get a Japanese teaching license and become a homeroom teacher yourself. Why put in so much extra work for a job that pays peanuts, no career advancement, inherently no school responsibility, no winter and summer bonus or other benefits like shakai hoken and so on.
I made the mistake of asking what I could do back when I was an AET. The head of the English department pointed to a wall filled with notebooks that the students turned in daily, and my new job was to “no look check” the pages, which meant circling each page filled with all the lofty sentiments that could be copied from New Horizon.
Instead of asking what you can do, be a bit more proactive. Look ahead in the unit and create a game or worksheet that can help supplement the lesson. Then show it to the JTE for some feedback. Reach out to your coordinator for advice. Just asking people what to do isn’t going to help you in the long run. Especially if they don’t know what you can do, so show them.
Wait your JTE does all grades?
I’m still free to do grades 1 to 4 how I like with the HRT. 5th and 6th grades are with a JTE. When it comes introducing the fundamental concepts, they take the lead. If there is a game/activity to be played, they like the ALT to take the lead.
Unlike the ALT, the JTE has to take responsibility for the students’ development. With 5th and 6th grade being treated as an actual subject, you can see why they prefer to just trust themselves.
Also, there has been a lot of talk/meeting with elementary schools and junior high schools about trying to get a benchmark standard to at least prepare 6th graders for JHS. Some towns that have several elementary schools that funnel into a single JHS have a problem where students’ abilities are so wildly inconsistent, they have to basically start from scratch, which is dead ass boring for the JHS first graders that actually paid attention, or had a decent teacher in the 6th grade.
It isn’t your job to teach.
>I am basically like a robot.
That is what your job is. CD player and activity dispenser.
With all due respect, you’ve been working with this JTE for a couple of months. What have you done to prove yourself trustworthy and able of doing more than just the taperecorder role?
JTEs have a hard, and frequently thankless job. Many of them have been burned by, let’s call them less than stellar ALTs in the past. If you want more responsibility, you’re going to have to earn it by not only doing the best job you can, but by convincing your JTE it’s worth their time and effort to take the chance on you. JTEs don’t ask for ALTs in their classes. The BOE assigns us there. A bad ALT can put an entire class of course and schedule.
Have some sympathy. Do what you’re asked. Offer to do more. Do your best to make your JTEs life easier, and watch the new opportunities roll in.
Tbh with Covid rampaging through the schools and with the lessons being moved all over the place, I’ve taken the opportunity to move a ton of material online for the kids to look at when they are using their little Chromebooks.
You have to take the initiative and do things on your own. The teachers are notoriously busy and don’t have time to delegate things. Go to their lessons, chat to the kids outside of class, create an English wall or something.
> I have been working as an ALT for a few months now.
Take it slow. When I was a JET Program ALT, the teachers asked me to observe and do 感想 in weekly journals for the first term. In Term 2 we started to plan lessons and tasks together.
> I am under a dispatched company.
What kind of contract is it – 派遣 or 委託? If the latter, it’s against MEXT policy. The itaku contract conditions mean you cannot receive instructions directly from the school or the teachers.
> I know I’m just new to this new ALT thing but I will not be eligible to teach if I am not qualified and didn’t go to a proper school or university.
You’ve got nothing to offer. Make yourself useful. Learn about Eiken, go visit other lessons, and keep offering to help the JTE.
> So I know how the Japanese treat gaijins.
Let me fix that for you – So I know how Japanese teachers treat inexperienced, unqualified people with no knowledge of the curriculum.
I envy your lack of responsibility.
Seriously though, you’re still new and being a glorified tape recorder is pretty much in line with what an ALT is actually supposed to do.
Do as your told, get familiar with the curriculum/materials, and you’ll get more on your plate in no time.
Sorry, but you are not qualified and didn’t go to a proper school or university – what makes you think you should be making lesson plans? Teachers take entire courses just on making lesson plans when they are in school for their license/credential.
domo arigato, mr. roboto
How about get a Masters degree and a teaching license.Not sure if you know the testing procedures and amount of effort and money it takes to become a Japanese teacher here. It is rigorous, and a super competitive job application process. You on the other hand, were born speaking English, and therefore think…..you can teach English, which is absurd.
Just because you have been in Japan 5 years, doesn’t make you an educator. You are a teaching assistant, and your job is to assist in all of the schools needs (including staying busy during your free time). Get a license, then you will be treated like a teacher I imagine.
I was assigned a JHS as a new ALT last year and I told all my JTEs that I’m new to this job. During my first year, all of them assigned some tasks for me about which part should I do in our class and whatnot. But now in my 2nd year, my 1st and 3rd-grade JTEs are letting me take over the class. And I thought only ES ALTs only are assigned as T1s. I don’t know if this is normal or what. I:m not sure whether they are just lazy or just confident that I’m doing a good job.