Being an ALT in the Classroom

July is an exciting time of year in the JET world. We're saying goodbye to old friends, and getting ready to welcome new ones in the coming weeks.

Nestled in among all the excitement and vigor are the usual fears of starting a new life and job, chief among them just how the actual job will go. As most JETs will hear ad nauseum, every situation is different, but here I'd like to describe how a typical class goes for most ALTs working with the Sunshine curriculum as of spring 2015.

Physical Space:

Let's start with the space you'll be working in. Here's a typical Japanese-style classroom:

   

You'll spend most of your time in the lower third of the space, but feel free to walk around the room during free activity, tests, projects, etc. Teachers will usually stand on the right of the chalkboard (facing the students) with you on the left. 

DON'T feel like you have to stay in your little corner of the room though. It is team-teaching after all! Try to stay just left of center as much as possible unless the JTE needs the room to write or your students are trying to copy things down.

Always be aware of your JTE's movements. Some will write only a few key points, but some (especially third-year) will fill the entire chalkboard with text. Often, you'll find yourself moving farther and farther to the left as the period progresses. Sometimes they will need to reach for a piece of chalk right behind you or demonstrate a key point with actions. Depending on the classroom, it can feel a bit cramped so it's important to be constantly aware of where you both are and where you're moving.

If you get there before the period starts, chances are you students will be bustling around handing back assignment and tests and preparing the blackboard for class. Considering they will be wandering around and going back and forth to and from the front desks and the blackboard, it's best to stay out of their way until they've finished (or offer to help!).

A Typical English Class:

-Greetings- Japanese classes always begin with a declaration of the beginning of the class. In other classes, the students call everyone to attention (the students will stand) and declare the beginning of class after which the teacher will start the day's lesson. Your English greeting may follow this mold exactly or be entirely different depending on your JTE. My JTEs simply initiate it with a "Good afternoon, everyone!" to which the students reply, "Good morning Ms. [   ] and Ms. Tierra!". My schools also like to ask them, "How are you?" after which they reply "I'm [fine]! And you?". After you and your JTE reply, they will be asked to sit and then the lesson will begin.

-Day, Date, and Weather- these will always be on the board in some form and the lower years will usually have you ask the students before writing them on the board.

-Today's target- the JTE will go over the day's topic and possibly the agenda for the day's lesson.

-Warm-up- Many JTEs will start with a small game to get their brains on track. These can take many forms such as Hangman (using a different object since the hangman is bad juju here in Japan), telephone, bingo, etc.

-Any short tests/quizzes

-Main lesson- again, your JTEs may very loosely follow the textbook, but at the very basic level will consist of two main parts: learning the grammar point and vocab, and reading a brief passage. Some JTEs can stretch everything to cover two days while some may rush through both parts in one class. Needless to say, if you have any control over lesson planning, the longer they can study each grammar point and practice the vocab in a variety of contexts, the better.

Let's take a look at an actual page out of the first-year textbook:

• Basic Dialogue

As you can see, first we start with a basic dialogue passage. This serves as a model of the grammar point in the lesson. Some JTEs will simply read it with you to the class while some will come up with their own version or get really creative with it. After the model reading, JTE will translate the meaning onto the blackboard and explain the grammar. Then the students will repeat after you and the JTE for practice.

• Vocabulary practice

Students have a special notebook that corresponds to the Sunshine curriculum with pre-drawn tables to write down each vocab word and its meaning in Japanese. The words appear in the textbook activities and the reading passage on the next page. Games can be used to reinforce memory.

• Practice Activities

After basic dialogue practice, you'll usually do some sort of activity to reinforce the grammar and practice communication. There are three sections underneath the basic dialogue: listening, speaking, and "let's try!". Many JTEs like doing the listening section because it is good ear training. The other two activities can be a bit on the boring side, so it's a good opportunity to come up with something fun and interesting.

***This should conclude day one of the section**

• Reading the Passage

Hopefully in the next lesson, you'll get to reading the main passage on the right-hand page. If there is no dialogue, the JTE should have you read the entire passage (unfortunately, some may use the CD even while you are there). If there is dialogue, they'll split the roles between you. Again, the JTE will go over the meaning of the passage and point out where the key grammar point appears. After that is more reading practice.

Good JTEs will have a more engaging way to practice the reading For example, the students can do a reading relay race with their rows where the front pair will stand and read the passage and then the next will start when the front is finished and sits down. Or you can go around the room having each of them read a sentence and time how fast it takes them to get to the last student.

Supplemental Activities

In the back of each Program are extra activities to enforce and expand on what they learned. These take the form of Speaking where the book presents a common situation and corresponding dialogue such as shopping or asking for directions, Writing such as writing a diary entry or self-introduction, or Listening where students listen to a passage such as a commercial, public announcement or some other common dialogue and answer comprehension questions, or a My Project where students may take two or three lessons to complete and perform a more presentation-oriented project. Chapters may have a special activity or reading unique to that chapter as well.

In all of the supplemental materials, students should be encouraged to produce their own original work and make it relevant to themselves.

Corresponding Materials

The Sunshine and Hi Friends! (elementary school) curriculum come a plethora of visual aides and other materials such as flashcards, the aforementioned notebooks, and huge picture cards to go along with all the chapters. These can usually be found in your school's 準備室 ("junbi-shitsu") or prep room where all school materials are stored.

Making it Work for You

There are many viewpoints on the English curricula in Japan, mostly negative. While many aspects of the textbooks can seem outdated (even though the Sunshine series was last published in 2012!), have questionable phrases and grammar, and straight-up spelling and pronunciation errors (it's tur-"bine", not tur"bin"!), you can still work with the material and use whatever you deem useful and make things up in places where the book just isn't up to snuff.

Also keep in mind that these books were designed to correspond with Japanese standardized tests and entrance exams. If it seems like the book or your JTE is teaching some strange phrase that no one uses, check the tests your students take; chances are it's on there. For example, I saw on one test that one of the correct answers was "make a trip". Thankfully, my JTEs are nice and will give them a point if the student actually wrote something that makes sense ("take" a trip).

It Is What it Is

Japan's unrelenting exam system has been the subject of controversy for a long time now. As Japan continues to revise it's English curriculum, it's going to have to come to terms with the fact that language-learning less about testing and more about the organic flow of communication. This isn't just an English problem either; pretty much every foreign language is taught with this same paradigm and students can ace every test and still have no communication skill.

Until Japan comes up with a system that can teach students to actually communicate in a foreign language and work around the test system or throw out the exams altogether, we're stuck with a typical culturally Japanese phrase: しょうがない("shou ga nai") or "there's nothing to be done" or in a broader sense, "That's just the way things are." This a concept that can be very frustrating for foreigners, but it's a way of coping with things beyond your control.

A mere ALT in a sea of Japanese beauracracy isn't going to change the way things work. In my mind, ALTs are here not to "teach English", but to facilitate an atmosphere of interest in foreign cultures and a broader world-view in not only your students and teachers, but your community as a whole. Your mere presence is enough of a spark to ignite that interest. Use that to your advantage, and you'll be able to create an enjoyable learning atmosphere for your students.

卒業、そして未来へ

The end of the academic year is drawing to a close here at Nicchu**. Teachers are tying up loose ends in their lessons, students are studying hard for the proficiency tests this week, and final preparations for the graduation ceremony on Friday is underway.

For those wondering why middle school graduation is such a big deal, Japan's mandatory education only extends through middle school. After that, they can either enter the work force or advance to high school. Moreover, anyone wishing to entire a high school must pass the entrance exam for that particular school so those applying to multiple schools must take multiple tests. For more prestigious schools, there may even be an interview involved. The stress and exam fees can really pile up. And once they graduate high school, the cycle starts over as they either enter the workforce or start taking exams for universities they want to get into. At either academic level, hopefuls that fail the exams become a "ronin" (literally a samurai without a master) for the year and try again the following year.

But all the stress and brain-hurt is done with and now my third-years can sit back and look forward to Friday morning. Well, besides practicing for the ceremony up to two hours a day. Starting last Thursday, all students and teachers with homerooms donned their jackets and congregated in the freezing gym to practice for the graduation ceremony during the last two hours of the day. One hour is spent on entering/leaving, sitting/standing, and bowing. They even make the first and second-year students applaude as the third-years and their teachers leave (which can take a loooong time and they do it more than once). The second hour is spent practicing the school song with the music teacher. They practice and sing it for the opening and closing ceremonies each semester.

Today, the head of the English department and I had our last lesson with our graduating third-year students. Last week, he asked me to write down two of my favorite songs so he could type up the lyrics for the students and he provided his favorite song. After we played those during class we ended playing a couple others and what we ended up with was a kind of graduation soundtrack for them.
I thought it would be fun to share it here:

The Nikaho Graduation Class of 2014 Playlist

-We Are the World, various artists

 

-Time Stand Still, Rush

-Perfect, Pink **yeah, I hate censored versions, but it's middle school...

-Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Green Day

-卒業、そして未来へ, MONKEYMAJIK **"Graduation, then on to the future"

And that concludes our graduation playlist. We tried to find songs that had a good message for them and I feel we did a great job. They may not of understood all of it (especially Rush considering how old and abstract the song is), but I hope they got something out of it and will look into some of the lyrics later. I wasn't able to get to know them well, but a part of me is still a bit sad to see them go. At least, from what I can tell from the happy and looks on their faces that they're off to a good future no matter where it takes them.

**Japanese Mini-Lesson!
The words for elementary, middle, and high school are 小学校 (shogakko), 中学校 (chugakko), and 高校 (koko). As you can see, the kanji that differentiates between the three is the first one. 小 means "small", 中 means "middle", and 高 means "high" or "tall". The remaining kanji 学校 or just 校 simply mean "school". However, since 仁賀保中学校 (Nikaho Chugakko) is a bit of a mouthful, people generally like to abbreviate it down to 仁中 (Nicchu). Similarily, my elementary school, 平沢小学校 (Hirasawa Shogakko) is usually shortened down to 平沢小 (Hirasawasho).

The Office

The reason I applied to be a CIR (coordinator of international relations) instead of an ALT was because I wanted to get some office experience. What I failed to remember is that Japanese teachers work in an office  too. In the States every teacher has their own room and sometimes departments have their own small offices. In Japan, there is one huge office where all teachers have their own desk. At the beginning of the year (typically April), students are assigned a classroom where they stay the whole day for their non-elective classes. Teachers go to the classrooms when it's time to teach or direct club activities.

The atmosphere (at least during summer vacation) is very relaxed and low-key. Besides helping children with work and coaching clubs there's not much to do. Speaking of which, yeah, kids go to school during summer vacation. That is, the serious ones do. Which is a good deal of them. However, it's important to note that summer vacation for them is mid-school year. The first two days of this semesters consists of tests to make them study over the break.

At the beginning of each semester, there is an opening ceremony. As far as ceremonies go, it's pretty strict. Almost military strict. Don't get me wrong, the teachers are very open and friendly to their students and the kids come and go freely from the teacher's room. But when it comes to ceremony and tradition, they know when to show a lot of decorum. Teachers eat lunch with the students in the cafeteria which is fun since I can get to know everyone better.

One of the nice things about the office is that it's not a cubicle farm and one of the walls (the one directly behind me is the front wall of the building with wall-length window looking out onto the front lawn and parking lot. We do have fluorescent lighting, the the natural sunlight is a great boon. I have a feeling it'll help naturally warm up the office when the infamous frigid winter gets here.

Like most non-public buildings, there is a genkan to take off your shoes and put on indoor-wear. Because of the Fukushima accident, Japan has been promoting energy conservation. As a result, buildings are no longer as warmed or cooled as they used to be. To compensate for the decreased climate control, the government has instigated "cool biz"- that is, a slackening of the dress code to allow for cooler clothing such as button-down polos, lack of suit jackets, sandals, and short pants. Many teachers that coach sports clubs will even wear their track suits in the office.

The atmosphere in the office is very positive and surprisingly relaxed. Coworkers are extremely friendly to each other all the way up to the vice principal (the principal's nice too, but nobody ever really sees him). Like I said before, students walk in and out at will looking for help from teachers and they're never ignored. The structure of the school adds to this since the hallways are large and spacious and rooms are usually never closed (most are sliding doors) and are lit by natural sunlight. The feeling created is one of openness. Most teachers get to school extremely early and stay ridiculously late, but the overall atmosphere creates a sense of comradery and you don't feel the need to bolt out of there as soon as possible.

It's nice to finally work in a place where people seem to genuinely care and you can do your work at your own pace.