It’s fine! The kids are so sweet and it’s very chill for the most part. Since it is Special Needs, my teachers teach the lessons and use me as a tape recorder which I am totally ok with. Whatever will best benefit their learning.
I only have it as a visit school so Im only there every other Wednesday, but it’s been a nice experience so far!
I had the opportunity to business trip to them twice in my tenure and actually it was AWESOME. Those kids treat you so well compared to normal schools. You have to remember that your goal is not to teach them (at either school). Your goal is to make English fun for them. With that in mind it’s very easy to go forward.
I played all kinds of English games with them including Mario! Great experience.
Special needs classes (learning difficulties) are awesome. They are the 1 situation where the ‘just have fun’ mentality is actually legitimate and correct, there’s no exam pressure or toxicity. And the kids are insanely respectful (of course sometimes some students have behaviour issues, but it’s obviously nothing personal and they can’t help it).
Currently teaching at a Special Needs school once a week! I teach elementary school all the way to senior high school. Honestly, the kids are so lovely and eager to learn English. In my case, I have to make all of my lessons and act as the main teacher for junior and senior high school levels.
The lessons and activities are usually pretty relaxed. I have 1-3 students per class, so it’s really nice getting to know every student.
My advice would be to brush up on your Japanese! The students really want to get to know you, but may feel intimidated or embarrassed to speak in English outside of class. Just showing that you’re putting a bit of effort to communicate in Japanese speaks volumes. They will really appreciate it!
I visit a school for kids with different educational needs every couple of months. It’s attached to a mainstream elementary but is separate. It’s always fun and I learn a lot.
Coming from teaching mainstream primary in the UK, it’s interesting to team teach with a highly specialised staff. Plans are very detailed and there is a high staff:student ratio. We have a dedicated planning meeting at the end of each visit. Lessons need to be very active with lots of talking, singing and dancing. It’s great! I also join in with PE and whatever else is going on that day.
Although the number of students is relatively low, their needs vary widely. The ways in which lessons are made accessible is impressive to see.
It was my favorite part of being an ALT. I regularly visited 3 different special education schools. Unfortunately, I only got to visit them around once a month or even less. It is super fun. The class sizes are usually very small and you have the chance to play/lead some very fun games, songs, activities. I didn’t usually have to plan a lot, except I would bring prizes like stickers and pictures for the introduction lesson. The schools I experienced were elementary through high school age. I even got to ride the bus with some of the kids on the way to and from school sometimes. The kids are usually very sweet and excited to have you there and I really and truly will never forget some of those kids for sure! As far as I know, if you want to teach the special education schools, you need to be a prefectural ALT, so usually you are a high school ALT and then will visit the special education schools on top of that.
Taught a few special education classes at regular JHS and elementary schools. There are usually fewer than 10 students and 3 or 4 teachers / teaching assistants, so everything goes smoothly.
I looked forward to my weekly visits to the special needs school as a Kobe ALT. Lots more teachers per student, really eager and happy students interested in English, new and clean facilities.
Second every comment here, my special needs schools were my favorite part of my placement!
I visit a special needs school twice a month. The age range spans from elementary to high school. I can only give you my experience as other people’s may vary of course.
I’m essentually there for a single “English lesson” and the rest of the day, I just hang out with students in different classes. Usually these are job skills for senior high, dance, or sports class, etc. This is more of where the cultural exhange comes into play, since I’m more like the exotic exhibit that everyone wants to see. Sometimes the teachers take pictures to show “hey, look at the ALT doing things with the students!”.
That being said, I love the students. A lot of them look up to me as an “older bro” type, so I maintain the responsibility of living up to their expectations as best as I can. The teachers are much more talkative and engaging with me than the ones at my main school. We have a lot of fun and I stay busy all day long.
I haven’t been put in any super uncomfortable situations, but I have had some sudden moments that caught me by surprise. The ability levels of the kids range vastly, but I get to know each of their quirks. Ultimately, I am just there for culture exchange and everyone is happy. It’s very rewarding.
I teach at a blind school once a week. There are 11 students total- 4 high school, 1 middle school, remainder are elementary school. Consistently I have classes with the high schoolers and two of the elementary students. As others have said, it’s more cultural exchange and making English fun. Along with being blind, most of the students have some sort of developmental disability and learn very slowly. I have absolutely no background in special education. I teach at a high school and visit the blind school once a week or less depending on their schedule. Personally, because I have no background in special education I did feel out of my depth for a while. But once I kind of accepted that it’s about having fun rather than them actually learning it has helped a lot and I’ve gotten more comfortable and they’ve gotten more enthusiastic about having class with me.
I teach one special needs class a week at a JHS. There are four students and one support teacher who speaks very good English. I speak very minimal Japanese so it was daunting at first but now, it feels manageable. I lesson plan for this class but with left with minimal notes from my predecessor about the students. So the first few lessons were me trying different activities so I can see what theyd like to take away from my class. It’s less teaching but a class where they can have fun and engage in English.
So far, they really enjoy story time because they like to hear me speak English and I would ask them questions about the story. They’re also fond of drawing and speaking activities so I incorporate these activities into the lessons. The students are sweet and can be very engaged in the lesson, making it fun for me.
I like the smaller class sizes and appreciate my students for being patient and open with me about what they like since I am new to teaching. I feel very humbled for the opportunity to be their teacher. It’s one of the classes I look forward to. 🙂
13 comments
It’s fine! The kids are so sweet and it’s very chill for the most part. Since it is Special Needs, my teachers teach the lessons and use me as a tape recorder which I am totally ok with. Whatever will best benefit their learning.
I only have it as a visit school so Im only there every other Wednesday, but it’s been a nice experience so far!
I had the opportunity to business trip to them twice in my tenure and actually it was AWESOME. Those kids treat you so well compared to normal schools. You have to remember that your goal is not to teach them (at either school). Your goal is to make English fun for them. With that in mind it’s very easy to go forward.
I played all kinds of English games with them including Mario! Great experience.
Special needs classes (learning difficulties) are awesome. They are the 1 situation where the ‘just have fun’ mentality is actually legitimate and correct, there’s no exam pressure or toxicity. And the kids are insanely respectful (of course sometimes some students have behaviour issues, but it’s obviously nothing personal and they can’t help it).
Currently teaching at a Special Needs school once a week! I teach elementary school all the way to senior high school. Honestly, the kids are so lovely and eager to learn English. In my case, I have to make all of my lessons and act as the main teacher for junior and senior high school levels.
The lessons and activities are usually pretty relaxed. I have 1-3 students per class, so it’s really nice getting to know every student.
My advice would be to brush up on your Japanese! The students really want to get to know you, but may feel intimidated or embarrassed to speak in English outside of class. Just showing that you’re putting a bit of effort to communicate in Japanese speaks volumes. They will really appreciate it!
I visit a school for kids with different educational needs every couple of months. It’s attached to a mainstream elementary but is separate. It’s always fun and I learn a lot.
Coming from teaching mainstream primary in the UK, it’s interesting to team teach with a highly specialised staff. Plans are very detailed and there is a high staff:student ratio. We have a dedicated planning meeting at the end of each visit. Lessons need to be very active with lots of talking, singing and dancing. It’s great! I also join in with PE and whatever else is going on that day.
Although the number of students is relatively low, their needs vary widely. The ways in which lessons are made accessible is impressive to see.
It was my favorite part of being an ALT. I regularly visited 3 different special education schools. Unfortunately, I only got to visit them around once a month or even less. It is super fun. The class sizes are usually very small and you have the chance to play/lead some very fun games, songs, activities. I didn’t usually have to plan a lot, except I would bring prizes like stickers and pictures for the introduction lesson. The schools I experienced were elementary through high school age. I even got to ride the bus with some of the kids on the way to and from school sometimes. The kids are usually very sweet and excited to have you there and I really and truly will never forget some of those kids for sure! As far as I know, if you want to teach the special education schools, you need to be a prefectural ALT, so usually you are a high school ALT and then will visit the special education schools on top of that.
Taught a few special education classes at regular JHS and elementary schools. There are usually fewer than 10 students and 3 or 4 teachers / teaching assistants, so everything goes smoothly.
I looked forward to my weekly visits to the special needs school as a Kobe ALT. Lots more teachers per student, really eager and happy students interested in English, new and clean facilities.
I go to a school for special needs including kids who have been victims of abuse. I’m only there once a month. It’s ES to JHS and the classes are very small, so it’s easy to get to know every single student and their personalities. This school only accepts female ALTs for obvious reasons. So far I’ve been able to have a tea party with the JHS students, play Pokémon Dobble with the ES students, eat boiled chestnuts and drink tea in the morning. It’s lovely. The kids may have bad days, but there are staff to deal with that. You just have to accept the way the staff deal with it as it may be different to what you expect.
Second every comment here, my special needs schools were my favorite part of my placement!
I visit a special needs school twice a month. The age range spans from elementary to high school. I can only give you my experience as other people’s may vary of course.
I’m essentually there for a single “English lesson” and the rest of the day, I just hang out with students in different classes. Usually these are job skills for senior high, dance, or sports class, etc. This is more of where the cultural exhange comes into play, since I’m more like the exotic exhibit that everyone wants to see. Sometimes the teachers take pictures to show “hey, look at the ALT doing things with the students!”.
That being said, I love the students. A lot of them look up to me as an “older bro” type, so I maintain the responsibility of living up to their expectations as best as I can. The teachers are much more talkative and engaging with me than the ones at my main school. We have a lot of fun and I stay busy all day long.
I haven’t been put in any super uncomfortable situations, but I have had some sudden moments that caught me by surprise. The ability levels of the kids range vastly, but I get to know each of their quirks. Ultimately, I am just there for culture exchange and everyone is happy. It’s very rewarding.
I teach at a blind school once a week. There are 11 students total- 4 high school, 1 middle school, remainder are elementary school. Consistently I have classes with the high schoolers and two of the elementary students. As others have said, it’s more cultural exchange and making English fun. Along with being blind, most of the students have some sort of developmental disability and learn very slowly.
I have absolutely no background in special education. I teach at a high school and visit the blind school once a week or less depending on their schedule.
Personally, because I have no background in special education I did feel out of my depth for a while. But once I kind of accepted that it’s about having fun rather than them actually learning it has helped a lot and I’ve gotten more comfortable and they’ve gotten more enthusiastic about having class with me.
I teach one special needs class a week at a JHS. There are four students and one support teacher who speaks very good English. I speak very minimal Japanese so it was daunting at first but now, it feels manageable. I lesson plan for this class but with left with minimal notes from my predecessor about the students. So the first few lessons were me trying different activities so I can see what theyd like to take away from my class. It’s less teaching but a class where they can have fun and engage in English.
So far, they really enjoy story time because they like to hear me speak English and I would ask them questions about the story. They’re also fond of drawing and speaking activities so I incorporate these activities into the lessons. The students are sweet and can be very engaged in the lesson, making it fun for me.
I like the smaller class sizes and appreciate my students for being patient and open with me about what they like since I am new to teaching. I feel very humbled for the opportunity to be their teacher. It’s one of the classes I look forward to. 🙂