Advice on being an ALT

I have just come home from celebrating my friend's birthday. She used to be an English teacher and we sat next to each other for a year. During that time we became friends, and although shse no longer teaches with me, I still see her every week because we study together. She studies English and I study Japanese, and we study with the same teacher.

Anyway we were celebrating her birthday and I was talking to all of the teachers we were with. This was an event which I had organised (a fact of which I am proud because there was a lot of Japanese involved) and which a total of 8 people turned up for (including myself). While we were talking, something came to mind. It is something I have been thinking about for a long time. If I were to give any advice to a new ALT coming into this job what would it be? Well here are my thoughts.

1. communication
This is undoubtedly the most importnat thing in my opinon. Your teachers are busy. EVERY day. You may be busy but I can almost guarantee they are busier. so it is up to you to speak to your teachers. Before you start teaching with them, talk to them. Don't ask them vague questions 'what shall we do' etc. These will get you nowhere. As with most things in life you need to be focused. What would you prefer, lessons based on the textbook, lessons based on world/local culture, lessons based on grammar, lessons based on conversation and listening skills?' Maybe not all at once but choosing two or three of the above options to offer as a choice usually works well.

Find out about their teaching techniques. Ask to see their worksheets and see if you can work in something to use with that. For example if the students translate the text into Japanese have a reading race. (this idea is taken from a very talented Miyako High school teacher, however since he doesn't know I am writing this I won't mention his name). What happens is that the students do rock, paper scissors. the loser reads one line of Japanese followed by the winner reading the same line of English. They stand up while doing this and complete the whole text in this manner. When they finish the entire text they can sit down. To add extra excitement to this add a threat. The third last / fifth last etc. students to finish will have to do a forfeit. (Try to avoid always making it the last students becuase if you have a class with signifcantly stronger and weaker students, the weaker will always be punished which is incredible demoralising). This is an example of how to work with the teachers, covering relevant material to the course and still make it fun for the students.

Before each lesson (at least a day before if possible) approach the teacher you are going to work with and talk about the lesson. If you wait for them to come to you, you might be waiting forever. This is something I always try to do (although I do go through stages where I get behind in my work and I end up talking to them an hour before the lesson) and it is something teachers have commented on that they really like. Just to reiterate, your teachers are busy, so approach them, don't wait for them to approach you. This is the same for taking holiday leave. If you ask your ALT coordinator if it is ok to take holiday and a week later you haven't heard anything back, it IS OK TO ASK AGAIN. If they haven't confirmed your holiday with you after a week there is a chance they forgot all about it. After all they are not the ones jetting off to foreign locations.

2. Learn Japanese
Really learn Japanese. It is not just your English teachers who want to speak to you, in all honesty most Senior High School teachers can speak some English but are nervous about doing so unless you show a willingness to try to learn Japanese. The same goes for your students. My students know I can speak some Japanese, but I still pretend not to at times. Most of the time, they play along. However if you study a foreign language you will be more quaified to advise the students how to study and what methods work and don't work. You will also better understand the problems that they may encounter when learning your language, because they will likely encounter the same problems except in reverse.

3. Be prepared to suck at everything.
Well it depends on the country you come from. However the main sports in my area are volleyball, basketball and baseball. 'Soccer' (although I really wish I could convert them to calling it football) is also pretty popular but definitely less so. So anyway three extremely popular sports which I have never played before. Before coming here that is. And what a humilitating experience it was. Volleyball: I managed to hit the ball into my own face. Luckily my sunglasses didnt break. Baseball, I refused to play because it was with my students from the technical high school and they are a bit difficult to control at the best of times. I didnt need the added humiliation. I don't think I could have faced the laughter. Now i regret it. Those students struggle everyday with English. They really hate it and for the most part they aren't good at it either. Thats why their main discipline at school is in other, more practical, areas. If I had played basaeball with them, they would poeeibly have seen that everybody struggles, even their teachers. For these students I think that is important, but it cant be helped, the opportunity passed. Perhaps on that note I would say think about what you might be passing up.

4. Adopt some of the local customs for classroom purposes. For example saying correct and making a big circle above your head with your arms makes it easy for the students to understand the meaning. (in japan they dont use ticks, those are for Nike only, they use circles) for some reason the sound 'ping-pong' works equally well, as does a cross for incorrect with the alternative of a 'boo-boo' sound.

5. Bring your own country to the classroom. MOST students in Japan hate being singled out (there are definite exceptions), so it is better to find an impartial way of choosing a student. For example i like 'eenie-meenie-mineie-mo, catch a tiger etc) You know, those chants you use as children to decide who will be 'it'. In fact some students even ask me to teach it to them after class. They have a version of it in Japan and it fascinates them to know that we have it as well.

6. Be yourself
If you are crazy and off the wall, be crazy and off the wall. If you get angry, find a way to vent it that doesnt involve shouting at the students. I have a friend who swears at her students in a language which the students don't understand. Therefore they obviously are unaware that she is swearing. However, rather humorously, it has resulted in some of them being genuninely interested in the language and asking her to teach it to them.

Why shouldn't you get angry? Because it will get you absolutely zero respect from Japanese students. In Japan the ability to control your emotions is highly valued, and while they dont mind if you are happy and friendly they do mind if you are scary and angry. If you are angry find a way to get their attention in a positive and easy to understand manner. For example all Japanese students know 'OH, my GOD!' and they will often say it to you. If you are Christian try not to get too offended, most of this kind of thing they are just using because they heard on tv and its easy to remember because it is said with emphasis. However you can also use it to show them they are doing something wrong without ruining the class atmosphere. E.g. 'Oh my god, you are soooooo noisy!' Usually they will laugh and then ask what noisy means.

Triathlon aftermath

So another strongman has passed and it wasn't without its ups and downs, luckily almost everyone I was cheering for managed to finish the race - and in a race that lasts for 14 hours that is not a small thing.

In the afternoon I was standing and talking to one of my english teachers, in between running up to runners and attaking their legs in the hope of removing the time chips from their legs before they vanish through the arch. I gave my usual spiel about how I would never want to try a triathlon like this because you see so many people collapsing, vomiting and generally being taken away in wheelchairs. Usually people laugh and agree with me. That is after all the Japanese way, and the way which makes me feel like I have the potential to be a professional comedian (which perhaps I could in Japan, but anywhere else the blank stares would be unbearable). However this teacher floored me by saying 'that is probably because you have never experienced anything like that before'. Ok so it wasn't rocket science, but it was refreshingly straightforward. And it got me thinking, she is right, I have never experienced anything like that before. So I am retaking up running (the fact that I have gained a bit of weight recently is obviously unrelated). In all honesty I am loving it. I look forward to it all week. This is from a girl who SWORE she would never run and hated it. Well guess what, I was lying because I have always known I am not naturally good at running. All these years I have harboured secret dreams of being able to run well.

It should come as no surprise to you that I am still not good at running but someday...
Sooner or later Japan changes all ALTs in small ways or gives them opportunities to try something they always wanted to.

Strongman Triathlon

Tomorrow is the big day of tears triumph, and in my personal opinion, mild insanity. Literally thousands of people come to Miyako, a tiny subtropical island in Japan, to compete in the Strongman Triathlon. 3km swim, 152 km bike and a 42km run. The time limit is 14 hours and if you are even 1 minute late it counts as not finishing the race, which is pretty tough when you think about it. You have trained for 5months (at least) and you completed the distances but it's too bad, no certficate of completion for you!
However the island is buzzing and has been for a few weeks. The roads are lined with flowers and banners for loved ones and tomorrow there will be live music and shows along the bike and running routes. The brass band from one of my schools will be playing for 5 hours. Really the whole event is similar to an island wide party, including ambulances ready to pick up the people who collapse. No different from a student night out in Birmingham.
What's my role? I am volunteering. Which is kind of funny because I didnt actually volunteer. I arrived at school on friday afternoon (having been at a different school in the morning) only to be told my t-shirt badge and hat were in the staffroom waiting for me. After that it was a case of 'see you at the running track at 2.30 on sunday, enjoy your weekend' or at least whats left of it. However I don't really mind, the triathlon is a LOT of fun. and this way i will be guaranteed to see the people I want to cheer for along the way. It just interests me that although the Japanese have adopted the word volunteer, or should i say boluntia, into their vocabulary, something was miscommunicated along the way.

seisa pain

So i mentioned that I went to watch Japanese tea ceremony last weekend. What I didn't mention was the humiliation I experienced while I was there. In Japan there is a certain way to sit in formal situations called "seisa" basically kneeling with a straight posture and your feet under your bum. Easy right? Let's try it together.

3 mins later... No problem right? Easy enough to keep your back straight and feels pretty good

10mins Starting to regret wearing skinny jeans

15mins serious pins and needles

20mins feet are feeling heavy and cold

25mins can't really feel anything from the knee down

30 mins wondering if the deprivation of blood and therefore oxygen to my legs will cause any lasting damage

31 mins slightly shift my weight forward. MISTAKE!!! the blood rushes into the lower half of my legs and I am immobilised. I cant sit back on my feet in the kneeling position because of the pain, the lack of blood means I have no control over the movement of my feet

33mins can move my feet with the aid of my hands

34mins Am escorted from the room by one of the women conducting the tea ceremony. Tears are leaking from my eyes as I walk out the room, I can't stop them and I can't work out if it is because of the pain or the humiliation, or if I have finally cracked and become hysterical. Yet there is still a small corner of my mind which is finding the whole situation funny. I am led to a chair, seated an informed I can watch the rest of the ceremony from here.

At least the food was good.