Hi guys. I’ll be heading over to Sendai, Miyagi prefecture next week. I have no experience teaching and also my first time outside America. I’ll be working with jhs. Also I’m slightly lazy, not very organized and a bit of an introvert. But I always pulled through somehow when I was in college. Any advice for me to succeed?
Thank you in advance. 🙂
Edit, thanks guys for all the comments. When I’m overthinking I get so drowned in my own thoughts that I start to lose confidence. But hearing everyone’s responses have really given me a bit more of a push to continue forward. I keep telling myself that this is the dream and I have to do it or else I’ll regret the opportunity forever. Thanks y’all. Would love to hear more comments and I will update you all of my experiences in weeks to come.
21 comments
Be energetic (what is usually called “genki”), even if you consider yourself an introvert.
Oh, and I hope you like kids. Dealing with teachers in one thing (some are great, others less so), but if you don’t like kids, you’re going to have problems very quickly.
I was nervous about JHS but you most likely won’t be leading the class. Follow the teacher’s lead and you’ll be fine. I barely plan anything but I watched the teacher long enough to get ideas on my idea.
The students will be curious about you so if you’re friendly enough, they will take to you. The trick is that their English isn’t just bad, they can’t pick up your tone, so they won’t hear that you’re nervous and they won’t understand if you say anything embarrassing. I walk around my school and say hi. It’s good practice to get over your own nerves I think.
I love my kids now and I was afraid of them at first.
Don’t treat the kids like they are idiots. Think how you were at that age and how it felt.
Edit, goddamn auto correct.
How did you get the job? ALTs do not need any teaching experience. You got the job so I think they saw something in you. Do not tell anyone you are slightly lazy, not very organized and a bit of an introvert. Fake it! Good luck
LOL
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Well, to start with Sendai is an amazing place. I really love it.
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Listen to your teacher. You’re an assistant, not a real teacher. If you want to be a real teacher you can work on it during your downtime. Watch and read things about teaching to help.
I think a willingness to learn and adapt is important. As long as you have that you will be fine.
Awesome. Will you be in Sendai itself, or one of the surrounding suburbs? I used to alt in the suburbs right next to Sendai. My advice would be to prepare an intro lesson that helps the students get to know you.
When I was new I did the same thing for each class I went to the first time. Give each kid some paper. Ask several questions about myself (how old am I, what’s my favorite Japanese food, what sport did I play when I was in junior high school, etc). To make it easier you could do some questions T/F style. (True or false, I played basketball in Jr high).
Then go over the answers (bonus if you have pictures to show them) and see how many students got right. It’s a great way for your students to get to know you. Maybe at the end they can raise their hand and ask you any questions they want. Talk to your jhs teachers and tell them you want to do a lesson like this, and ask them how many minutes they will allow you to do it for. Some will let you go the whole 45 min and others might want it shorter.
Other than that a HUGE thing you should do is after they get to know you, take the time to visit every single club at least once. This will require you to stay after school an hour or so a couple of times but it’s so worth it. Just show up to their club activity and watch for a little bit (a few minutes is fine). When I did that my students love for me went through the roof and our relationship with each other was pretty special. Since I play basketball I sometimes played with the basketball club, but I still made sure to visit all the other clubs at least once
What company are you with? I’m starting a new gig as an ALT in 2 weeks, and beyond the job description and my limited experience with jhs students, I’m not sure what to expect
Be on time, don’t complain, and enjoy the kids. You’ll be fine
Make sure your fly is zipped before going into class. After that, it’s easy…
Best advice I can give is ask the Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) what you can help them with i.e. preparing for lessons. They will most often *not* approach you first about this so best to be proactive and ask them daily.
As an ALT I think you can be pretty quiet… just do what you’re told and be friendly to everybody.
In my experience the ones who fail (some do) will do things like:
– Not make any ‘cultural’ adjustments (IMO many aren’t cultural, they’re just personal ego adjustments. Example eeerm… Pentecostal dude who wanted prayers before/after classes and brought God into everything).
– Are too angry/stubborn so don’t get on with the teachers. That or have their own agenda (e.g. old English dude who kept pulling out some ancient textbook to teach 5 year olds ‘proper’ grammar… while refusing to sing songs and play games).
– Are too immature to hold down a job (e.g. surfie dude who’s there to surf, not to work).
The first few months will be an adjustment but ao long as you’re relaxed, smile and are happy to try new stuff then you’ll be sweet.
Your company **should** give you minimal “training”, try to remember what you do as it will probably reflect what they expect you to do in the job.
Work on your Japanese. Work on having the confidence to speak in Japanese. How you communicate will determine whether people can work well with you, or even what kind of friendships you can make.
Good luck and remember to always keep your eyes on the prize
Sendai is a great place (I got sent here on JET 22 years ago and never left).
Try to be helpful, enthusiastic, and friendly at work.
Find a hobby or two that involve leaving the house (that don’t involve alcohol).
There’s only a few cardinal sins in Japan that you will have to worry about. Learn to observe and help out when you can, be flexible and consider the group. Listen to your co-teachers and observe how they conduct classes. Try to alter your teaching style to cater to what they are doing. You will have a much easier time convincing them to try something you think is good or alter their own teaching for the better after you get them on side. Try to be friendly and approachable for to your students, you will be a big source of interest for them at least initially. Being the ‘loud foreigner’ is not necessary. Be yourself, the kids are far more perceptive than you think. If you want them to take you seriously, respond in kind.
If you’re lazy and disorganized might you not forget to update us?
Your authority will derive from 99% outside of your classes and 1% inside of it. If you don’t attempt to help them outside of your class, they will see you as a boring little addendum to their school-life and nothing more. One of the best experiences I had was teaching the SN kids how to dribble a basketball in gym class. Don’t be scared to drop into the lessons that are more interactive. Look for lessons that are marked 学活 – normally 5th/6th period.
Don’t let the kids walk all over you. If they sense they can fuck around they will. My rule is that you can’t be more annoying or irritating than me. Think, stand-up comedian vs heckler. If you have thin-skin then you’ll last two seconds in this job.
Your lessons will suck at first but the key is to reflect on what went wrong and how you can change it. A key to a good lesson is trying to have an end-goal to an activity. If its a specific grammar point, then try to imagine when, where and how you use this English grammar in your daily context and then apply it to something the kids will like or understand.
Don’t do the whole “genki” shit. Its cringe-worthy. Just act normal like you actually care about being there. I’m an introvert but that doesn’t mean I’m socially awkward, it just means having to be “on” drains me and I need solo-time to recharge my batteries. There is a difference between having fun and acting like a dipshit with no social awareness.
Don’t bother trying to change shit with your JTE and try to just work around their ideas. If something dies on its arse that’s on them, not you.
If you have technology in the classroom then USE IT. Most Japanese teachers can barely send an e-mail let alone add captions to a video. Make sure you have a full understanding of what is available. Schools should have new Chromebooks for the kids but a lot of schools treat them like decaying deposits of uranium.
I was the same as you, you’ll be fine m8 and most likely have a good time. I never really had a bad day at work