Life as a Junior High School ALT

Oh my God! Junior High! What am I doing here? Who are these kids? I don't even speak the same language. How am I ever going to make an impact here?

These are just a few of the questions I was asking myself when I arrived at Matsuyama Junior High School. I came here with no teaching experience and no Japanese (beyond the occasional konichiwa) Some of you now find yourself in the same situation and I hope that this article will explain some of the mysteries and help you adjust to your new job in Japan.

The Board of Education

If you are working at a Junior High then you will ultimately be answering to a town board of education (kyouikuinkai). Some of you may be required to spend time at your Board of Education as part of your job.

The BOE is headed by the kyouikuchyo. After this there will be a host of friendly people who will in some way or another be your superior. Remember that you are at the bottom of the ladder here, so be sure to pay them all the utmost respect. If you are skilled at office relations (kissing-up) here is the place to use your talents. These people are in charge of your holiday time and good relations can make all the difference when you are trying to negotiate for time off.  

When you are planning to take time off for that necessary vacation it is best to let the BOE know as soon as possible. It is never too soon. You don't have to give dates, but casually in September, throwing in a "I'm going to Antarctica for Christmas" will prepare them when the time comes to sort out details.

I have been fortunate enough to have a supervisor who speaks adequate English. It is, however, advisable to have a friend who may work for the town (not necessarily a teacher or BOE employee) to help translate and negotiate in the event of a problem. Often teachers and BOE employees are not good translators as they have an obvious bias (or fear) and often they will not translate exactly the emotions you may be tying to display to their superiors.

I have been lucky enou9h to have a great relationship with my BOE. Unfortunately, in some situations, a bad precedent may have been set by your predecessor regarding relations between the ALT and the BOE. My best tip for coping with this is to remain cheerful and optimistic.

Also inquire about town events at the BOE. The BOE is the best place to get really involved with town happenings.

Teachers

The teachers at your school will work inhumane hours. This includes holidays and late nights. As the ALT, don't feel obliged to stay as late as the others do (you'll never have a life if you do).

At the top of the ladder is your kocho-sensei (principal) and kyoto-sensei (vice principal). After this, you will have a head teacher for the school and three head teachers, one for each grade. The teachers will be a little apprehensive about approaching you at first but generally speaking you will find them to be friendly and open. They will probably all know SOME English, but it might take three or four months for them to get over being shy about using it with you. It will help them if you use really awful Japanese because they might not be so worried about making mistakes if you make them first.

The English teaching situation will vary from school to school. You may find teachers that are very eager to work with you and who speak excellent English or you may find the complete opposite. It is important to be assertive to begin with because what you do in the first few weeks will set the tone for the rest of your year. It is difficult to be assertive if you are not a qualified teacher and are coming to Japan completely green but my advice is: Try. Don't just be a human tape recorder. Use the materials that Tokyo and other orientations provide and get your foot in the door so to speak, right away. Also, you will probably be the energy provider in class. The kids will feed off your energy if you provide the right atmosphere.

When it comes to planning classes your teachers may be very busy. Try to make time with them. Be persistent. Also, don't forget on Friday to plan Monday's lessons.

Students

As pessimistic as this sounds, keep your expectations low. Your self-introduction has to be as simple as possible. The first graders will have only had four months of English and will have forgotten most of it over the summer vacation. Be visual and speak slowly. This advice works well for all the grades.

The Students will dislike English unless you give them a reason to like it.

They often feel it is too difficult and unnecessary in life. However, if you provide the energy and show them that English can be fun and useful, you can inspire them. Please note that some students will probably never come around to liking English but you may get them to like and respect you - which can be just as rewarding.

I've found the best way to get to know the students is outside of class. I use games outside of class time wherein the students ask me questions in English to gain points  (this has been very effective). Also, joining sports and clubs will get the students interested in you and hopefully your language and culture.

The students are basically good kids. Try to remember your adolescence and that life is difficult and trying for them. Be understanding and be a friend.

Office Workers

The office at your school (jimoushou) is often an excellent place to hang out. The people are often friendly and there always seems to be snack food floating around in the office. The office staff will usually provide you with help on how to run photocopying equipment and how to go about getting supplies. (P.S. it's the office person who will likely provide you with that big envelope of cash each month).

Note:   It is helpful to learn names. It will seem very difficult at first. It will help if you can get one of the English teachers to sit down with you and draw a floor plan of the desks in the teachers' room with all the teachers' names on it. The same can be done for your school and BOE offices. Also, all teachers will have a seating plan for the students in each class. Get someone to go over it and put the names in the roman alphabet and TRY to learn some or all of them. I work in a school of about 300 students and it really adds a personal touch to know the students by name.

Scheduling

The daily schedule will vary from school to school. The morning starts out with homeroom and then periods one to four are before lunch. There are ten to fifteen minute breaks between classes. Then there is lunch and a lunch break followed by period five and six. Then the students have about twenty minutes to clean the school followed by another homeroom. After school all the club and sports activities take place.

In the morning, try to check for schedule changes. There are an amazing number. Even the Japanese teachers get confused about them, so don't worry if you don't know what's happening. Look for numbers out of sequence (125634 for example). These relate to the order of classes. If lessons are cut you might see 3,4 katto (in katakana) etc. It is also not unknown to have Monday's lessons on a Tuesday. Look for the kanji for the days of the week. If you see 45 followed by the kanji for minutes, it means 45 minute periods.

The reasons for the changes to the schedule are often difficult to fathom. Usually it is something that shouldn't affect you too much. Sometimes, however, there's going to be something going on that you're expected to attend - or might want to avoid. There are a variety of events that take place during the school year; speech and singing contests, prize giving, jump-rope competitions, preparation for the school festival and sports day, and area sports events. You might even get afternoon classes cut to pick up garbage or weeds from the school grounds.

The best advice for scheduling is to always have a spare lesson plan ready (crosswords are ideal) and take your cues from the other teachers. If the teachers' room has suddenly become empty and you are sitting by yourself you might want to find out why.

Well, I guess I have rambled enough. I hope that this article has been a little useful. Please note that everyone wants to get to know you but they may be intimidated by the fact that you are a foreigner. Never under estimate the communicative ability of a smile! Also even though I know some Japanese now, I always TRY to speak English only with my students. After all, that is why I am here - to teach English. Best of luck!

by Heidi Merriman