I’m currently taking a TEFL & a TESOL course from Groupon… I’m learning, but I’m curious how vital this knowledge is once you arrive without classroom experience. Are most classes taught out of books and with a head teacher for beginners?
If you’re concerned about being a legit teacher that can do right by their students and be completely in charge of an actual class, then there’s a good bit of prep and training that is absolutely essential just to survive. You’d likely need/have a BA in your subject or in Ed., some sort of practicum/teacher training/student teaching with 30+ class hours, observations, and exit assessment, and a license of some sort (this can be messy for Japan if you’re not IB/international school track). For such a position, the school would expect you to be able to jump in and ask your peers for support where needed without entry training.
For an ALT position where someone else will actually be responsible for the class, and you won’t (ideally) have to T1 or make/manage testing and curriculum, then it’s really lax. You can have a BA/BS in anything and no experience/certs, and no training will likely be supplied because there will be a licensed teacher you will be assisting. By having certs, you’re probably already overqualified for a position like this, but any improvement you can make to both your understanding of language teaching and classroom management will likely be very valuable.
****starts laughing and laughing and laughing****
I’ve been teaching in Japan for more than 30 years and have never once team-taught. As for the TEFL/TESOL stuff, it comes in handy, especially for planning, but you won’t learn every best thing to do for every situation.
My training for my previous dispatch company mainly boiled down to, the president of the ALT company coming up to the front, holding up a manga with young idol girls and saying, “don’t touch this.” They also said try not to speak Japanese. If you work for dispatch companies the word, “training” is always enclosed in quotation marks.
I was a primary teacher in the UK before my ALT job in Japan, and although I took the 120 hour TEFL it seemed more relevant for teaching adults. I teach elementary and junior high now, a mix of T1 and T2 lessons.
I would really recommend a Year 6 SATs test revision guide as it covers all the grammar you need to know. I’m not sure what the equivalent level is in other countries! Anyway, when you’re asked to prep a lesson covering a certain tense or grammar point, it’s nice to have everything in one place with examples and explanations.
So… good news and bad news about getting those certificates.
The bad news is, you’re probably never really going to use any of what you learned with them in the classroom, especially at anything beginner level. You get 100% on-the-job training… and by on-the-job training, what I mean is (assuming you’re going as an ALT or such) you’re put into a school, told to follow the actual Japanese Teacher of English (Junior High School and above) or Homeroom Teacher’s (elementary school) instructions. You’ll be a glorified human tape recorder 99% of the time, making your certificates useless.
That said, there IS one major advantage you’re going to have, and it’s arguably using one of the major loopholes of Japanese bureaucracy to your favor. See, Japan is all about just checking off boxes on paperwork to make it look good. Because you have that certificate, you can technically check off that box on some of the better jobs that are out there, putting you leagues ahead of the vast majority of teachers who came here with just a pulse and being a native English speaker (and probably being white, since Japanese are incredibly superficial), and of course the whole diploma bit to pass immigration laws.
I don’t know about other TESOL courses, but don’t you have to do practice teaching? I did a graduate certificate in TESOL and had to watch lessons and do supervised lessons in an actual classroom before receiving the certificate.
>I’m currently taking a TEFL & a TESOL course from Groupon…
Stuff like Groupon courses aren’t good, and I’m sorry I had to tell you this after you spent your money. The issue is that that those courses have no component of assessed teaching experience. Early career teachers need feedback
Further, it’s not all a matter of knowledge, it’s practical. Language teaching has more in common with sales, theater, or improv comedy than it does with lecturing.
>I’m learning, but I’m curious how vital this knowledge is once you arrive without classroom experience.
The information therein can be found in books on teaching ESL/EFL/yourpreferredacronymidfk, like Scrivener’s *Learning Teaching*. Thing is, Japan is a special case in some ways. Many overseas methods and materials rely heavily on multilingual students who are very keen to produce output, which can be difficult to implement outside of highly motivated classes.
>Are most classes taught out of books and with a head teacher for beginners?
As an ALT in JET or dispatch, yes. In other contexts, no.
The groupon course is probably a borderline scam – they are probably trying to teach you *something*, but it’s worthless without assessment and standardization (your class may be learning completely different stuff than another class with the same school).
I took a CELTA. It was fairly extensive in the context of its communicative approach, considering it’s a beginner level course. It has definitely helped in teaching intermediate through advanced learners, but not so much beginners or small children.
​
I’m not sure what youre asking about the textbooks. If you’re asking about your teaching job, yes, most schools use a textbook. CELTA also uses a textbook, but I wouldn’t know about your groupon class.
You’ll be fine as long as you’re not a head teacher
11 comments
If you’re concerned about being a legit teacher that can do right by their students and be completely in charge of an actual class, then there’s a good bit of prep and training that is absolutely essential just to survive. You’d likely need/have a BA in your subject or in Ed., some sort of practicum/teacher training/student teaching with 30+ class hours, observations, and exit assessment, and a license of some sort (this can be messy for Japan if you’re not IB/international school track). For such a position, the school would expect you to be able to jump in and ask your peers for support where needed without entry training.
For an ALT position where someone else will actually be responsible for the class, and you won’t (ideally) have to T1 or make/manage testing and curriculum, then it’s really lax. You can have a BA/BS in anything and no experience/certs, and no training will likely be supplied because there will be a licensed teacher you will be assisting. By having certs, you’re probably already overqualified for a position like this, but any improvement you can make to both your understanding of language teaching and classroom management will likely be very valuable.
****starts laughing and laughing and laughing****
I’ve been teaching in Japan for more than 30 years and have never once team-taught. As for the TEFL/TESOL stuff, it comes in handy, especially for planning, but you won’t learn every best thing to do for every situation.
My training for my previous dispatch company mainly boiled down to, the president of the ALT company coming up to the front, holding up a manga with young idol girls and saying, “don’t touch this.” They also said try not to speak Japanese. If you work for dispatch companies the word, “training” is always enclosed in quotation marks.
I was a primary teacher in the UK before my ALT job in Japan, and although I took the 120 hour TEFL it seemed more relevant for teaching adults. I teach elementary and junior high now, a mix of T1 and T2 lessons.
I would really recommend a Year 6 SATs test revision guide as it covers all the grammar you need to know. I’m not sure what the equivalent level is in other countries! Anyway, when you’re asked to prep a lesson covering a certain tense or grammar point, it’s nice to have everything in one place with examples and explanations.
So… good news and bad news about getting those certificates.
The bad news is, you’re probably never really going to use any of what you learned with them in the classroom, especially at anything beginner level. You get 100% on-the-job training… and by on-the-job training, what I mean is (assuming you’re going as an ALT or such) you’re put into a school, told to follow the actual Japanese Teacher of English (Junior High School and above) or Homeroom Teacher’s (elementary school) instructions. You’ll be a glorified human tape recorder 99% of the time, making your certificates useless.
That said, there IS one major advantage you’re going to have, and it’s arguably using one of the major loopholes of Japanese bureaucracy to your favor. See, Japan is all about just checking off boxes on paperwork to make it look good. Because you have that certificate, you can technically check off that box on some of the better jobs that are out there, putting you leagues ahead of the vast majority of teachers who came here with just a pulse and being a native English speaker (and probably being white, since Japanese are incredibly superficial), and of course the whole diploma bit to pass immigration laws.
I don’t know about other TESOL courses, but don’t you have to do practice teaching? I did a graduate certificate in TESOL and had to watch lessons and do supervised lessons in an actual classroom before receiving the certificate.
>I’m currently taking a TEFL & a TESOL course from Groupon…
Stuff like Groupon courses aren’t good, and I’m sorry I had to tell you this after you spent your money. The issue is that that those courses have no component of assessed teaching experience. Early career teachers need feedback
Further, it’s not all a matter of knowledge, it’s practical. Language teaching has more in common with sales, theater, or improv comedy than it does with lecturing.
>I’m learning, but I’m curious how vital this knowledge is once you arrive without classroom experience.
The information therein can be found in books on teaching ESL/EFL/yourpreferredacronymidfk, like Scrivener’s *Learning Teaching*. Thing is, Japan is a special case in some ways. Many overseas methods and materials rely heavily on multilingual students who are very keen to produce output, which can be difficult to implement outside of highly motivated classes.
>Are most classes taught out of books and with a head teacher for beginners?
As an ALT in JET or dispatch, yes. In other contexts, no.
The groupon course is probably a borderline scam – they are probably trying to teach you *something*, but it’s worthless without assessment and standardization (your class may be learning completely different stuff than another class with the same school).
I took a CELTA. It was fairly extensive in the context of its communicative approach, considering it’s a beginner level course. It has definitely helped in teaching intermediate through advanced learners, but not so much beginners or small children.
​
I’m not sure what youre asking about the textbooks. If you’re asking about your teaching job, yes, most schools use a textbook. CELTA also uses a textbook, but I wouldn’t know about your groupon class.
You’ll be fine as long as you’re not a head teacher
No they’re mostly dancing and singing