For ALTs teaching at multiple schools…

17 comments

1. Not doing it now, but I’ve been there.

   Cons – Hard to make a connection when you are rarely there, teachers may not actually get a line on what you can do so may just want you to be ~~HRT~~ HTR.

   Pros – Generally less responsibility, treated more as a guest than anything else.

2. I had 5 in my first year here.

   Pros would be that if one had a complaint, your alt company could balance it against the others to see if that’s just a that school thing. You could also get some ideas done by telling a stubborn school about what the better schools are doing as a stubtle hint on changing things. You are are a bit more a special occurrence when you do turn up so the students really look forward to you.

   Cons would be how hard it is to make a connection with anyone at the schools. The year I had 5, I wasn’t invited to any office drinking parties becuase I didn’t belong to any one school enough. Organization is more difficult too.

3. I got lucky in that the most I’ve had is 2. I feel like any more than that and those meaningful connections are going to be really hard. That said, if you come more infrequently then your lessons may generate more excitement (unless your teacher sucks and uses you as a tape recorder or something).

4. I had 14 from all levels one was 5 mins from my house other an hours drive.

   Pros: got to be a real part of the community and see everything and everyone.

   Cons; nightmare keeping track of things and always being a bit of an outsider.

   Advice; if you’re teaching ES or kindy first lesson make name tags.

5. [deleted]

6. The most I’ve had is 3. 2 schools I would rotate weekly and another was once every 2 months. The only con really was that if you go to the same school often then the kids get used to you and are less excited about you being in their classes. The kids at the every 2-month school were really excited to see me in their schools and would be much more engaged in the classes since it is a rare opportunity for them to speak to a native speaker.

7. I had 12 which was later reduced to 8.

   You need to be a long time teacher to make any meaningful connection when you have that many schools. Otherwise, you become a blur to the students and staff. I basically went to each school once or twice a month so you’d imagine how long it took to get to the point where you feel established.

   Also, as someone else has pointed out, you tend to be forgiven for making mistakes or have a lot less responsibilities since you aren’t a regular.

8. Con: It’s really hard to remember everyone’s names, so when I see them in public (and I will since I teach all the children on the town) I don’t remember their namessss.

   It’s also hard to keep a good relationship with students and teachers because I’m there so infrequently. So it’s a little different than the teachers they see all the time, I feel like I have to always be super genki because I can’t make up for a bad mood the next day because the next day is like a whole week later. And it was hard to get a good relationship with teachers.

   It’s a mixed bag on how much the expect from me. The jhs gives me nothing and i don’t really plan at all for class because I’m not there enough to even know where in the book they are by the next time and it’s just a random draw on what i do. While sometimes the elementary I plan all the lessons and am given free range.

   Sometimes I can’t get away from being recognized but I just wanna go out in sweatpants and unwashed hair.

   Pros: I know all the students in my area. The all go to the jhs I teach so I see them again.

   I sometimes don’t get as much work.

   I get lots of connections with different teachers and people because I know them all (at least a little).

   I get lots of experience in different school settings and teaching styles.

   I really do enjoy knowing all the kids in my town, it’s like I’m a mini celebrity at the grocery store lol

9. Work at three schools.

   Pros – less responsibility and easier in that respect. Other than one ES which has me song T1 for the whole school, which isn’t bad just hard work when you have two other schools you frequently go to as well.

   Cons – Don’t really fit into any of the schools. One school I get on well with, another school is just normal, and third school just feels foreign. More time spending going around Tokyo to get to each school.

10. Max 4 schools. Small schools so I was very well integrated but it was hard at first to remember staff names. Bigger cities must be really difficult for one teacher to handle up a large amount of schools. Good work and good luck to those teachers.

11. The whole time I’ve been on JET I’ve gone to 5+ schools.
    Pros- different school everyday so things stay interesting and I get to meet a lot of people, also a lot of people around town know me
    It never gets boring because I’m always changing schools
    If you don’t like a school as much you only have to go once a week (lol)
    Less responsibility bc I’m not around enough

    Cons- more difficult to make deeper connections and form bonds
    Pretty much impossible for me to learn my students’ names
    Much harder for me to be involved in lesson planning so it’s kind of just on the fly for most of my classes
    The weeks fly by because I’m always so busy (but I suppose this could also be a pro)
    Very hard to make English boards every month because again, 5 schools is a lot

12. I go to 3 Elementary schools, a lot of staff and students at each school.
    Pros: Get to meet a lot of people, depending on how much interest people put in to knowing about you and vice versa, you can build relationships with a lot of people and expand your connections.
    Cons: I haven’t had any yet, maybe the travel?

13. Teaching at 5 schools rn.

    Cons- each week you have to go to two different schools that means you have to pack your shit and leave every single time. And you forget the students name and they forget your name lol.

    Pros- can repeat LP’s.

14. I had 11 schools.

    It was nice because if there was a teacher I didn’t particularly like, I only had to see them once in awhile anyway.

    Schools consider you less of a teacher and more of a guest speaker, per-say, which has pros and cons.

    Sometimes the one day you come, the school has some sort of event (for kindergartens, the tanjoubi-kai is a popular one). They obviously put more emphasis on those events, so you end up not doing anything that day, and you have to wait for the next time you show up there.

    I think the biggest con though was that I would come in 20 minutes before class and have no idea what the day’s plan was until 5 minutes before class when the teacher rushed in.

15. For me, the main pro has been that it allowed my work to be varied and interesting. The schools I’ve worked at were all relatively small though, and the most I’ve ever had was 5 (most of the time 3 + the occasional class elsewhere), so I could actually get to know the people I worked with, as well as the students.

    The main cons? Too much work (very much a case of ESID) and difficulty remembering all the students’ names, though the former was partially because I was doing two people’s workload half the time. Another downside was regularly being asked to pass along complaints/requests from the schools to the BoE, usually concerning my schedule. Let’s just say ES and JHS teachers all had their own ideas as to where I should be spending most of my time.

    Personally, I’ve enjoyed the variety multiple schools gave me, but optimally, no teacher should go to more than three schools on a regular basis. Going to 5+ different schools just seems kind of wasteful, as the ALTs are simply not visiting often enough to have any real impact.

16. Was shit. More people to please in vague and impossible ways. Less chance to build a good rapport with teachers/students. An eternal novelty. No thanks.

17. I’m at one school mainly and the other once a week. It was going swimmingly; mostly kids are happy that I’m around and they are interested in speaking English to me, even if all they know is “I’m good!” There is one teacher that turned sour towards me in the once a week school so that kind of sucks. But f*ck it! I’m an ALT. It’s not my problem.

    Edit: grammar check