The untold story

It’s a really slow day in school today, so I thought I’d put my time to better use by writing this up. Like I mentioned earlier here*, I don’t find my job that great at all. It’s nothing to do with the schools I’m in – the teachers are fantastic and the students I have are in general pretty cool. The main problem with my situation is that i don’t get much (any?) fulfilment from my job.

For starters, I don’t feel like I’m gaining much through my work. the tasks I do are simple – I basically just do what my JTE tells me to. My role is very much that of an assistant indeed. Some JETs plan lessons, draw up activities and essentially come up with the English language programme at their schools, but not in my case. My teachers will come to me with a lesson already planned – and they’re always pretty well drawn up lessons – so all I have to do is whatever’s already laid out in the plan.

And what’s in the lesson plan isn’t much either. It usually doesn’t go beyond me explaining things in simple English – which the JTE then will translate – or the JTE and I having an example conversation and having the students try to figure out what is going on. As I said, I’m very much an assistant, while the JTE takes the lead in most classes. It’s partly because the teacher’s whom I’ve worked with have really good English and don’t need much help in that aspect, and also because they have their own ideas as to what the want to do in a lesson or how they wish to carry it out. Sometimes I’ll be asked for ideas on games and activities, but it’s not that hard nor does it take up that much time.

One reason why some other JETs are able to be the main teacher in the class is also because they work at only 1 school and more or less teach English to all levels. Except for the first 2 terms, I’ve been working in more than 1 school per term, and my senior high classes aren’t just the general English classes – I’m in writing classes, English communication classes and so on. So the focus of the classes is different and the Japanese teachers themselves only teach 1 particular class. In that sense, it’s impossible for me to be the main teacher even if I were at my senior high school full time.

My work then is pretty much a no-brainer; things are easy and not much input nor effort is required of me. Some other ALTs get satisfaction from chatting with their students and so on, but I don’t see my kids that often – my school is big compared to other schools, or I’m in that school only 1 day a week and have classes back to back, so no chance to hang around to chat. Even if I saw them more often, I think I’m not enough of a novelty to inspire students to come and talk to me – being city kids, they’ve pretty much had ALTs throughout much of their school life and are used to us. I don’t even think they’re that eager to talk in English to begin with – even the Brit whom they’re always excited to see (tall, male, white and so on) doesn’t get anyone wanting to talk to him.

Club activities after school are a personal no-no; it’s already such a chore to be sitting in school with nothing work-related to occupy my time that i’m quite eager to head out every day. So I’m definitely not one of those ‘super JETs’.

Hence, I can’t find any scope to develop professionally in my job, as my capabilities aren’t stretched because so little is required of me, and the challenge I face is mainly to try to keep myself entertained and engaged during and outside of class. I am quite underworked in terms of the number of classes I teach too, mainly because lots of classes that I have scheduled never happen because the teacher needs to focus on teaching the syllabus and cant always accommodate ALT presence in the classes. Other permanent classes sometimes also don’t occur for some reason or another – 2 of my classes (4 periods in total as there’re 2 batches of students per class) only occur about 14 times in 2 terms, which is something like every other week? And I’m not even the least worked ALT among us; some of the others at my school – I think it’s my school in particular that’s slack – have less classes than I do, and another JET I know of elsewhere has even less classes than anyone else. But I am, indeed, very free timetable-wise.

It is possible to derive job fulfilment through others, for example, to feel a sense of achievement when you see your students mature and grow and improve at English. Unfortunately, that avenue isn’t available to me either! As mentioned above, I either see them too infrequently that don’t even quite have the chance to have a good gauge of their English abilities, or that they don’t have English classes often enough and hence cant improve. As we all know, languages need to be constantly reinforced for absorption; one 50 minute oral communication class once a week would achieve little, much less at the (in)frequency mine have their lessons.

I don’t feel like there’s enough time dedicated to English here. I don’t teach at an English-intensive high school where the students ‘major’ in English and have loads of English classes everyday and are super motivated to learn English. In some of those schools, the students spend about 1 to 2 periods each morning having everyday conversations with their ALT, and naturally are more comfortable using English and actually build up the ability to communicate in English too – just compare that to what my students get!

It doesn’t help either that English language education at high school level in Japan isn’t great. There’s lots written about teaching English in Japan around on the web and elsewhere, and the main criticisms are the emphasis on rote learning and reading rather than writing and speaking, having teachers with poor English teach students English, a focus towards university entrance examinations rather than acquiring the actual skill to use the language and so on.

All those are true, but I feel that English at junior high school level is a lot more effective than English at senior high school level. At least at junior high school, there’re set textbooks teaching a set level of English for a specific purpose – and students that graduate from junior high school generally attain a certain level of basic English understanding.

I feel however that things go downhill from there. I haven’t been involved much in the general English classes, as those I teach are the elective, additional classes taken by the students who are supposed to have a greater focus on language than others who focus on art or design and so on (goodness knows that’s not quite true, but never mind). I have seen, though, the books that are used for general English class, and the difficulty of the English used in them is astounding. It’s at a level way higher than the students’ actual level, as the aim is to make them pass their university entrance examinations, which are at a very high level of English too. So understanding those texts is basically achieved through having the teacher translate everything for them, and they copying the English text and Japanese translation into their notebooks.

What really gets to me though, is that there isn’t really a proper syllabus or path progression laid out for senior high school English. Lessons aren’t designed such that they build upon and reinforce knowledge already gained, but instead there seems to either be a huge gap between senior and junior high, or that they simply continue learning the same things over and over again. For example, I’ve done classes on giving directions to students in all 3 grades of high school. So they’re not really learning anything new.

Although you might argue that since my 3rd year students don’t seem much better at giving directions than my first year students, then perhaps the class is worth doing again. But you see, that shouldn’t be the case! Topics and classes that have been covered before should NOT have to be covered again, as the students are meant to have already acquired the vocabulary and expressions relevant to that lesson. For some reason, however, quite a lot of them are never quite able to distinguish between the question words – how what why where when – or things like “how long does it take” and so on in conversation, and I attribute that to not having enough practice. It’s fine if you’re teaching more advanced expressions and vocab in classes on the same topic, but we’re always starting from scratch almost.

Moving back however to there not being a proper syllabus or path progression for senior high, is that teachers teaching the same general English lesson to students in the same year can have completely different lesson plans. Back in the beginning when I first arrived, I taught in general English classes with 2 different teachers to 2nd year students, and they did completely different things. One more or less had a proper plan whereas the other did not, and basically went from one week to the next trying to think of some not-very-meaningful/useful game or activity to occupy class time. And I have no idea why the difference exists, or why they didn’t just pool resources.

Japan’s school system is also interesting in that students don’t really have to put in much effort in their senior high school life so long as they do enough to graduate – which is very little – and pass their university entrance examinations. So moving from 2nd year to 3rd year saw a stark difference in my students. Their English teachers changed from a really good one whom they liked to others whom they didn’t like as much (and perhaps weren’t so effective), and while their interest waned their English level dropped, as there was a lot less reinforcement occurring in class. They also started paying more attention to passing their university exams, and since the actual classes they attend are essentially unnecessary for graduation and university, not long after the beginning of their 3rd year already saw them sitting listlessly in class, sleeping, chatting with their friends, reading manga, playing with their phones or listening to music. And such are Japanese schools that such behaviour is allowed and not sternly reprimanded – I’ve been told that one of the reasons is because senior high school isn’t compulsory, so students have the right to be in class regardless of what they do and you cant chase them out or send them for disciplining.

the long and short of it is that my students arent getting any better in their english either, which is frustrating. they make the same grammatical and spelling mistakes over and over again in their writing, miss their articles all the time and even in their final year of senior high might still fail to begin a sentence with a capital letter or capitalise the beginning of names and places. gargh. junior high textbooks teach students that it’s ok to begin a sentence with “because”, and teach them uniquely Japanese expressions, like “My friends are my treasures” and “I enjoy TV” without the verb attached. In a way, my english too has been dumbed down somewhat, and i use the word “enjoy” a lot more, mainly because all of us here as ALTs hear it being bandied about all the time.

so… this has become more of a rant than anything else, but the good news is that i’m done now, i think. hurray.

 

*: thanks very much for all the comments and encouragement! I really appreciate those comments; it makes me feel like there’s some worth in me having my blog. Haha.

being yellow in japan

this not good especially if you’re trying to teach english or land a job as an english teacher.

the teachers in regular schools are okay enough, i dont ever feel like i’ve been discriminated against in my schools just because i dont fit the stereotype of an english speaker. in fact, i’m often complimented on my supposedly clear pronunciation and easily understood accent (of course, i dont speak in class the way i do with my singaporean friends).

however, things are different once you start talking about being a private language teacher. firstly, it helps to be male. in that way, the older men can relieve their youth by interacting with you, and the older women are happy to be speaking english with a young (and possibly not-bad-looking) male person.

if you’re female, you’re already disadvantaged, but that can be redeemed if you’re blonde and blue-eyed. apparently, someone knew someone else who could charge a steep hourly price for english conversation lessons because of her genes.

of course, no matter what, if you’re white things are going to be easier. there’s so much to be said about being a white person – especially if you’re male – in japan that i dont want to talk about it here again. but anyhow, even if you’re not white, it’s ok if you have a “white person’s accent” – that is, you sound either american, canadian, australian or british* (and maybe new zealander). that’s because it’s the accent the japanese want to learn too.

so basically a person like me is three-times disadvantaged in this business because i’m female, asian (seriously, i get mistaken for being japanese all the time) and have the wrong accent. awesome, isnt it?

 

*: the japanese are fairly pro-american when learning english – they use american spelling and terms, and in some rare cases teachers might even request ALTs to speak using an american accent rather than their native one. however, there are people around who prefer the Queen’s English, and those who do feel rather strongly about it. To the extent that i know of someone who, by virtue of being British, is getting paid 10000yen/hour for english conversation lessons. that, by the way, is a bit more than USD100 or SGD160.

just cause

there’s nothing really much going on lately – seems to be a perpetual state for me! – but here’s a post just cause i can..

i discovered last friday that that day was definitely my last day at the school as they dont have ALTs in the 2nd and 3rd term, when all the while i was under the impression that even though everyone was behaving as if it were really my last day, i’d most likely be back there next term too.

it was a good thing that i had prepared a small souvenir from singapore (merlion keychains, what else?) for the vice principal and my JTE.. i honestly had no clue that this school would only be for term 1, as the teachers in my other 2 schools all hope that i’ll be there again next term.

i’m quite glad that i wont be teaching at that school next semester actually. it’s not that it’s a bad school or anything of that sort. the situation is rather pleasant enough, just that things are rather boring and most of the time i serve as a human tape recorder reading out conversation, new words and new phrases and having the students repeat after me.

what’s more, the teacher also uses the actual tape recording, which happens to be the most awful recording ever. i have no idea who they got to record, but they sound extremely unnatural and exaggerated, and have the most annoying voices ever. even some of the students find the voices very odd and make fun of them!

i’ve been teaching quite a lot of junior high this term, and i’ve been finding it rather boring mainly cos of the nature of english at this level.. i’ve expressed my interest to teach at an english-intensive school, and while chances are low due to me being liason, at least with the fact that i wont be at this school next term, the possibility is a bit higher i hope?

changes

so i just came back from a beautiful, relaxing, enjoyable week in okinawa last night, and went to the principals' meeting this morning.

its the first day of work in the new school year, and what happens at the principals' meeting is that all the osaka city JETs are given their school postings for the new term (and likely for the rest of the year; apparently there are few changes after this in the next 2 terms) and get to meet the teachers in charge at the schools they will be working in.

i dont think i've mentioned this before, but the JETs in the city are living in 3 different apartment complexes, and each apartment complex has a liason that 'looks after' the JETs in that complex. basically, those 3 liasons act as the go-between for the board of education and the JETs, help out with paperwork and admin duties at the BOE on mondays, chair the monday meeting and so on.

i've been elected liason for my apartment, which is nice because i get a variation in my responsibilities and job, but the unfortunate thing is that my schedule has changed! the brit is still at our school full-time, and i'm quite sure that it'd be the same if i werent liason. but since i'm liason, i'm only working there on tuesdays and thursdays, and have work at 2 different junior high schools on wednesdays and fridays each.

was quite disappointed when i found out about these changes actually. i really like working at my school and have developed a sort of relationship with the students i think, plus the fact that its so comfortable working there! our own private ALT room, being able to cycle to and fro from school, having nice teachers and being able to leave my stuff in school throughout the term, being able to wake up a bit later than the rest... one of the new schools i'm at is pretty far too! and i'm the only ALT at those 2 junior high schools, which means that while i had the brit to talk to in the past, now i have no one! it can be a wonderful opportunity to chat with the other teachers and get to know more japanese people, or can be an awful experience where i dont really talk to anyone in those 2 places at all.

sigh. i think i just dont handle change very well, and the cushy life i've had for the past 2 school terms didnt help i suppose. i think it means that this is the time i have to really put in effort at breaking out and interacting more with japanese people which is the aim of JET anyway and what almost every other JET has to deal with, rather than living in this little comfortable gaijin-bubble that being an osaka city JET has resulted in. at the moment i'm sort of afraid of what working in those 2 new schools would be. going to be teaching 3rd year junior high students in both schools; at least 3 classes in 1 school and 4 classes in the other. in fact, i'm really rather apprehensive of what's to come next week onwards!!!!!!!!!!!

:S :S :S

i need to be positive, and i need to be strong, and at the very worst i'll be whining A LOT. friends, beware!

drawing the fine line between how much is too much Japanese..

considering that i've been hired under the JET programme to provide japanese students the opportunity to hear native english being spoken as well as to give them someone to communicate with in english, i've definitely been trying as far as possible to use as little japanese as i can. The Brit at school festival commented that it's interesting how while he always tries to speak to students in japanese (to practise his japanese), i speak english to them as far as i can. he says that he doesnt see the need to speak to them in english outside of the classroom - and he didnt know that all japanese students learn english in school - and so communicates in japanese on other occasions.

however, i feel that firstly english should defnitely NOT be confined to being a classroom subject, and that by speaking to them in english outside the classroom, it demonstrates that english is a living language that can be used on any occasion. moreover, i can practise my japanese with other people on other occasions, whereas the students wouldnt have much opportunity at all to use english or even hear english unless i speak and try to make them respond in english. added to the fact that i've been hired to speak english, english should definitely be what i speak to the students. in addition, that japanese ability isnt a requirement to work as an ALT further reinforces the idea, in my opinion, that english should be used and not japanese.

of course, that i'm writing the above at all means that i'm really having second thoughts about that (i'm not using 'beginning to have' because it's been there for sometime). already, i feel that sometimes i use too much japanese, because i have a choice whether to use japanese or not, which is more than what those ALTs who know no or less japanese than i do have.

however, i'm actually wondering whether i should even be increasing the amount of japanese i use, believe it or not.

at the orientation, some ALTs who were giving speeches said that they sort of try to hide their japanese ability from the students in a bid to make the kids use more english, but right from the second week i did away with that resolution because it's quite impossible to do so with the level of english among my kids. and i do feel that a moderate amount of japanese used does help because the students can communicate with me, even if it means me saying something in english, repeating it very slowly and translating it into japanese if necessary (as it is most of the time). moreover, it's very frustrating for them - and you can see it - when they want to say or ask something but cant express themselves in english. they end up giving up altogether because communicating just requires too much effort, and i think that them NOT using english to clarify something is better than them not asking at all.

but i wonder if i should be using more japanese, mainly because there's the possibility that speaking more japanese will lead to the students being more willing to talk to me and becoming more familiar with me, and when that familiarity and willingness to chat with me in general has been established, i could then perhaps try to make them use more english. the reason being that yesterday, i ended up talking to a class entirely in japanese - i dont know how it came to that, but it happened nonetheless - while the main teacher went to zap some notes for them, and wow the class was so hyper and lively when that happened, and i think the atmosphere in the classroom improved a fair bit after that brief episode!

and today, one of the teachers actually said that she hopes i can use as much japanese as possible for the writing class that we take together. i guess the rationale is that they're to be trained in writing (rather than listening or conversation), so japanese can be used to explain grammar and the usage of words, etc. i dont really know how that works, but she said that she was really happy to discover that my japanese is rather good (which it isnt, but well if she says so.... heh).

and this all makes me confused! i think there's a fine line between using enough japanese and using too much, yet i have no idea where that line is. i dont want to fall into the same trap that some Japanese teachers of english make by using too much japanese in class, yet i dont want to discourage the students from making full use of my presence here as a foreigner ALT in japan. i think it definitely helped somewhat, when i explained to yesterday's class  - in japanese - in response to their comment that my japanese is very good so why do i keep speaking to them in english that the reason why i'm here is because they dont have much chance to speak or hear english, hence i try to use as much english as possible. i think they sort of get the idea now, i hope. but whatever it is, english has to be the medium of teaching in english class, as that's how kids learn! so i dont know.

i'm really wondering about this, because i dont know how the rest who dont speak japanese get on in their classes. if it's just me who's having these dilemmas, something must be wrong perhaps? the rest of them get along with their students fine without using japanese i think. then again, it could just be the students in this school, because i dont see The Brit - and he's a white male, see here for the significance of that - having students clamouring to talk to him either.

わからへん！！