Welcome to ALTing: Working with your senseis

By: Jacky Killian. Co-writer and editor: Rachel Roberts. Editor: Ayanna Willis

It’s your second day of school; the self introductions are over, and you have your first official English lessons. So…what next? Some of you will work with many teachers at many different schools, ranging from kindergartens to high schools. With those teachers come different approaches to teaching and different needs from you as an ALT.

Team Teaching: Ideal vs. Reality

Ideally, you and your teachers will team teach. Ideally, your Japanese teachers will take the lead and provide some directions for you. Ideally you will be able to propose and share activities to keep the students engaged with the material. Ideally you’ll work together in the classroom to make English a little more fun and approachable. There’s a nice level of give and take to the system as it is proposed.

However, reality is quite different and plans rarely survive first contact. Some of your teachers will have little for you to do and you’ll find yourself regulated as a human tape recorder (i.e., you’re basically reading straight from a textbook or other such material). Other times, you might find yourself taking on more of a T1 (T1 = teacher one) role and leading the English class with little to no support. Being a T1 can involve creating the lesson plan, determining the class’s instructional needs, finding or making activities to help them practice the target language, and post-class reflection and assessment.

Being a T1 feels like this sometimes.

Managing your role and responsibilities

ALTs can have many responsibilities, especially if they find themselves in more of a T1 as opposed to a T2 (teacher 2, or assistant teacher) role. At the very least, your responsibilities are working a full day at your school and helping teach classes. Other responsibilities may include helping check student work, finding or creating activities and games, meeting with your teachers to discuss the next classes, making English boards, and answering student letters (something I do with my JHS students); all while leaving at a reasonable time. Of course, there will be odd days or the odd week or two where you have to step up and get stuff done. However, if you find your workload interfering with taking care of yourself and your health begins to suffer, it’s time to think about and discuss ways to manage that workload with your co-workers and supervisors.

Us ALTs are busy people too, and it can be tricky to handle our own workload at times. That’s why it’s important to remember you’re not the first ALT to ever exist, and help is out there! Instead of making your own, you can use resources to find activities and games to use with the students. ALTopedia.net is a great resource with lots of PowerPoint games, worksheets, and other goodies for time and creativity strapped teachers. Having a means to keep track of your upcoming lessons is also helpful. I personally use a notebook for that purpose. I jot down notes about a lesson’s particular grammar point, brainstorm and plan activities, and write down what I need to complete before that class. Preparing (or at least starting) materials as soon as possible and being ready early can also help reduce stress.

Conversely, if you find yourself with not enough work to do and want to find ways to help out with the school, you can ask to do more — it’s allowed! Not just with your JTEs in class, but also on days where there’s not a lot for you to do in general, a helping hand is most often gratefully received. Contrary to popular belief, deskwarming doesn’t have to be a drag — you can help out any other teacher who needs a hand. This has the added bonus of helping to build relationships with teachers in your staffroom you might not otherwise interact with. Sometimes even just offering to do some photocopying for someone in a hurry is a big help, and it makes you look busy too. Of course, there won’t be extras to help out with all the time, so if you do find yourself in possession of an abundance of free time then that’s something you may just have to get comfortable with if you’re not already.

If you find yourself unable to fulfill your responsibilities, you should negotiate for your needs. This could involve asking your teachers about checking less student work,asking them to take on a more active role in class, or to develop half of the lesson plan. Talking to a coworker (another teacher or another ALT) you can trust to help you formulate a plan or negotiate for yourself can help. If you’re feeling isolated, unsupported, and don’t know who to talk to, there’s always the AJET Peer Support Group, available at 050–5534–5566 or on Skype (voice call only) from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. everyday.

A healthy teacher with a reasonable workload is better than a burned out one ready to scream and break down at any given moment. Don’t be afraid to pump the metaphorical brakes if you find yourself being overworked.

Working and communication with your teachers

Sometimes it is best to do what makes your homeroom teacher or JTE comfortable so they can teach and the students can learn. They might have a certain way of running class and they’ll take full control of the plan, so let them do their thing. You’re not going to single-handedly change all of education in Japan by trying to restructure and micromanage all your teachers’ classes. One of my coworkers knows exactly what she wants to do in class, how she wants it done, and I just help her in the classroom with student engagement by asking questions and spot checking their work. Sometimes she’ll say yes to one of my activities, but she does it on her terms.She knows she doesn’t have to say yes to everything I propose, but I think it’s a way to let her know I’m engaged with the content we’re teaching, and she can use my ideas when she wants to. Help out where you can and how you can.

A little one on one interaction is a simple and effective way to help students.

Just doing spot checks for students or checking in with zoned out students in class is helping your teachers. This can be especially important in junior high school and high school as some students will want feedback that you can provide as a speaker of the target language. For your teachers, ask to look over student work or offer to help them with checking tests. A second pair of eyes is usually welcome and appreciated.

It can be difficult to plan for elementary schools because while many of the homeroom teachers have a reasonable grasp of English, they may lack confidence in their abilities to communicate and work with you. Other times, their English ability will not be much higher than their students. In elementary schools, the homeroom teacher (HRT) teaches every subject to a single year group. They are up to their eyeballs and beyond with work. They make lesson plans, administer and grade tests, have parent-teacher conferences, attend meetings, and still somehow have to work in five or ten minutes each week to talk to the ALT. This is a big ask, and you may find that your HRT often doesn’t have time to talk to you about the lesson because of everything else they have going on. That’s okay! Flag them down where you can, even if it’s just to let them know if you have something in mind for a specific class. You’ll likely take a weight off their shoulders by letting them know you have a backup plan or an activity the students can do.

At junior high school and above, teachers teach one subject to multiple classes, so they may have a little more time to discuss their plans with you. Sometimes, ALTs in junior high schools find themselves teaching a little less because JHS teachers are specialists in a subject and they typically have their own way of managing and teaching class. It is not uncommon to bring an activity or game for class to practice the grammar point the JTE is teaching that day, or to simply just be present and let the JHS JTE do their thing.

With consistent communication and effort, you can develop a healthier teaching relationship with your teachers in the classroom. Learning and using some Japanese phrases will be very useful.

Some useful phrases are…

“Chotto mo ii desu ka?” (Loosely; “May I have a minute of your time?” Very useful when planning in the teachers’ office.)

“Shitsureishimasu.” (Loosely; “Sorry for interrupting.” Use this before entering a teacher’s classroom and asking for a moment.”)

“Arigatou gozaimasu.” (Thank you. Should be one of the first phrases you memorize.)

“Raishuu no…[insert ___yobi here]…” “Raishuu” is “next week.” “___yobi” refers to days of the week such as Kayobi (Tuesday), for example. This language chunk is particularly useful for talking about the days you will have classes.

There’s tons of other phrases you’ll learn and pick up as you go along. Most of my Japanese has emerged from self-study and noticing phrases and words people say a lot and asking what they are, jotting down the hiragana, and asking trusted co-workers about kanji characters and their meaning.

Being Proactive

Taking a more proactive approach to lesson planning and showing (and sometimes demonstrating) an activity with your teachers is quite helpful. A yes is great, but an “it’s too difficult / muzukashii desu” is OK. You can always use a rejected activity later after some fine tuning, or try it out at a different school.

Another advantage to being proactive is that it demonstrates your willingness to work with your co-workers. You are willing to help them without being asked to do something. It takes some of the mental burden of creating the whole lesson plan off your teachers’ shoulders. Japanese teachers have many responsibilities, so that simple English activity you made or found on ALTopedia might help more than you realize. Planning just one or two small activities for class can be a bigger help than you might think.

A final advantage to being proactive is that it directs your energies towards something. I’m a recovering perfectionist and procrastinator. As a teacher, there is no time to be perfect and no time to procrastinate. Perfection exists only in a vacuum. Act! Be a time warrior, not a time manager because “time management” is a bullskat business phrase. Try telling time what to do and see what happens.

Don’t take it personally

Sometimes, you might find yourself working with a teacher that for some reason just rubs you the wrong way. It could be their personality, the way they conduct class, or that they ask you to do too much or too little. Whatever the case may be, don’t take anything personally. Chances are they aren’t thinking about you. They’re more worried about teaching the kids, hitting the curriculum, and fulfilling their other responsibilities. Other times, it comes down to simple language and cultural barriers. If for some reason you do find yourself not quite getting along with a coworker, try to resolve it. Learning a little Japanese can go a long way to helping create smoother and more productive relationships, and it’s also a long-term strategy. Try to appreciate them as they are and take things with a little grace. Other times, you and a teacher might just be at a plain and simple cowboy-stand-off with each other. Remember: you don’t have to be friends with your co-workers, you only need to work with them. As long as the classes go smoothly and the students learn something, rest easy knowing you did your job until it’s time for the next class. Practice a little patience for those times and get through them.

If you have a rough day at school, the nice thing about it is that it’s over. You can’t relive that day or fix it. Sometimes, the best thing to do is something that turns your brain off and helps settle your nerves, be it bad TV, YouTube, video games, or trashy novels or comics. A healthy distraction can be just what you need to decompress.

Closing Thoughts

Welcome to being an ALT. As a current 2nd year JET (officially, I’m on my second contract), you’ll find this job both challenging and rewarding. As this “Welcome to ALTing” series progresses, we’ll be discussing working with students and other aspects of being an ALT. If you have specific questions, feel free to submit a question to “Ask Jacky.”