The Japanese teachers at my school make constant references to my predecessor. Apparently if he got more than three lessons a day he complained about being tired and overworked. And he made a big fuss if he was ever asked to proofread something or do any other extra work…..
11 comments
Asking in the nicest way possible, what are we supposed to do with this information?
I mean try to not be like your predecessor I guess? I was in a somewhat similar situation, where my predecessor kinda left low expectations for me. My first day one of the teachers implied that I was better than them and my second day the teacher just flat out said I was better lol.
To be honest, it has worked out in my favor.
Maybe you can remind them or give them assurance, that if they need anything you are always willing to help!
You don’t know your preds situation. There’s likely a lot of information you don’t know.
Don’t participate in gossip and focus on doing *your* best. I don’t really know what you’re asking here.
You have the chance to set a good bar for those who come after you.
But I’d avoid doing it by shitting on your pred which is east to do.
Just give a crap about your job. It’s people like your preferred that cause problems for other JETs down the track
Sounds like he was “acting his wage” as they are now calling it.
Yep. They are politely asking you to proofread stuff, do extra work, do more than three lessons a day, and keep smiling 🙂
There are people who clearly should not be in school or education programs. Those very few people aside, you don’t know what your predecessor was dealing with. I saw so many people having a hard time. American Japanese who were shamed for not being Japanese enough.
New college graduates were being told to do everything from choosing and ordering textbooks to creating curriculum for the English department. People dealing with illness and family issues back home.
People suffering from mental health problems because they felt isolated and singled out due to language barriers. Some introverted personalities are being told to be more charismatic.
People coming from warm environments to a cold gray wet and sad/ lonely winter months. seasonal affective disorder.
I walked in with my 5 years of teaching experience and masters in linguistics and TESL/ TEFL, speaking Japanese and I was God. They crapped on my pred like there was no tomorrow.
It’s easy to say that someone is/ was lazy and not entertaining enough for students. But unfortunately it’s common to see ALTs NEEDING mental health care after a few months.
Sounds like he was being nice to you by setting the bar low.
Well tbh I was tired a lot when I worked as an ALT too. I worked at a higher income school so there was already high expectations. I also worked in a city where multiple ALTs went to every school. That sparked some major competition vibes amongst us. I did notice an air of “I am the best foreigner” syndrome going around my providence which really sucked sometimes.
Also during this time Covid just popped up and group activities were a no go in classrooms.
I have anxiety so getting up and teaching took a lot out of me. I also wasn’t entirely fluent and not used to kids. I was placed in elementary despite wanting to work middle or high school. Whenever we had school meetings I would be so tired just trying to understand what was happening around me.
I believed myself to be a hard worker, but my ALT coworker who was fluent, got more praise as an ALT and it did a number to my self esteem sometimes. He was included more and asked to do extra activities.
I was friends with a teacher who spoke English and one day I caught her sobbing in the hallway by herself. She was under a lot of pressure from her coworkers and hated working at my school. Upon leaving the school she messaged me on Line a HUGE message about the pressure and the acts and thoughts she had of hurting herself. Really put it in perspective for me.
There is an insane amount of pressure in Japan’s work environment. I was fortunate enough to only get a percentage of that pressure that Japanese workers get (being a white woman) or those ALTs that are half Japanese/American or any Asian descent get during their time as an ALT. My senpai was Thai/American and I saw Japanese coworkers expect a lot more out of him than me, I thought it was because I was new, but when he left, the pressure I got compared to him was significantly less.
During my time teaching I knew ALTs who were discriminated against, sexually harassed, and put in awkward positions of do it or be shamed. So honestly you don’t entirely know your predecessors side of the story.
Now overall I loved my time teaching and I grew so much as a person, but I knew I didn’t want to stay in Japan so that end date helped during the hard times.
After two years, I came back to the states and work at an University where I am well known with my coworkers and have a reputation as someone who can get things done. I realized I liked working in Education, just not teaching. I work at a University on the administrative side.
So maybe your predecessor just wasn’t cut out for teaching.
Who knows, he may have been terrible, may have not been. It’s not your concern. The comparisons to the pred happen to everyone. It’ll stop in a few months.
Just focus on you and doing your best and don’t worry about the last person
And…?
1) You don’t know what your predecessor was going through. 2) What kind of responses were you expecting when you posted this?