Toji's Guide/Thoughts on Being an ALT

Ms. Baker (left) is best ALT waifu

In a rare change of pace, I'll be posting a kind of guide here today. I had actually written this up a few months earlier, but decided to hold off on uploading it until it was much closer to the end of my current ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) contract. I figured that since I'll be moving on to a new job at the beginning of next month, I should probably summarize what it's been like for me to be an ALT out in the woop woop parts (a.k.a rural) of Ibaraki  and things to be aware of, for anybody who is thinking of wanting to come to Japan to work. While some might think that ALT work is incredibly easy work, that's not always the case.

Note that these are purely from my own experiences only, and while some of these experiences and pointers may vary from place to place, other pointers are generally applicable to all schools.

1) ALT work does not pay much these days*. 

When I first started working as an ALT in Kamisu city back in mid-2016, I was earning about 13,000 yen a day - approximately 260,000 yen a month. However, after having to move to a different city, my pay was reduced to about 12,500 yen a day - around 250,000. In my current city now? I'm not even earning that. Due to some number manipulating on my employer's part, I'm earning about 12,000 yen a day - 240,000 yen a month. However, this includes the expenses to cover commuting to school. In my previous two cities, the commuting pay was separate from my regular pay.

Regardless of the company, anyone who has been an ALT will generally agree that these days, it's a race to the bottom for companies to pay as little as legally possible to ALTs. While it would seem at first glance that dispatch companies are being tight with money, it's more to do with the Board of Education being tight with the money - but not necessarily by choice. The problem is that the budgets assigned to them by their local/prefectural governments are getting smaller. Despite this, Boards of Education still want good quality ALTs, even if they can't/won't pay accordingly for said ALTs. Dispatch companies want to pay their ALTs more so they'll stay on, but they also want to win more contracts and build up their reputation throughout the country. So it's a snowball effect, starting with governments being stingy on children's education.

While I won't say avoid ALT work like the plague, I would advise that you carefully check how much you will get paid per day - or at the very least, per month. Some job advertisements will show the annual pay, but it seems to be an attempt to hide how little you will be paid. If you can, only take the jobs that pay at least 250,000 yen a month. Also, with the current situation of the CCP virus, dispatch companies are desperate for ALTs right now, and I would dare say that you might have a bit of room to negotiate. Just don't be too greedy if you do try negotiating.

This won't be a problem if you're only thinking of doing a year or two in Japan as an ALT, or using ALT work as a means to get a better job as soon as possible in Japan, but this is not the kind of work you would want to do long term. Some people can make this their living, but I've found those sorts of people tend to be few and far between.

*... However, this is from my experience working for a ALT dispatch company. Companies like Interac and Altia Central are examples of such dispatch companies. If you get lucky and work directly for a city's Board of Education, you will get paid significantly more (I spotted a job-ad not too long ago that was offering 290,000 yen a month), as there is no middle-man taking a cut out of your pay. However, from my own observations, it's rare to see a city's Board of Education advertise for an ALT. In my 5 years in Japan, I've probably seen only 2 - 3 positions advertised, and heard of a co-worker successfully get a direct-hire position. Also, you will most likely need a Japanese driver's license to be eligible for a direct-hire position.

2) Your role will vary depending on your schools. 

Officially, ALTs are there to assist the teacher in teaching English to students. In Junior High School and High School, this will generally ring true. At those schools, there will already be dedicated Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) to teach English. Your role there will usually be reading from the textbook, checking the students' work, and preparing any extra material that you think may be useful, such as English boards, worksheets and so on. Basically, you get the easy work, and it's no surprise that many ALTs would prefer to work at a JHS or HS. 

Elementary Schools on the other hand... well, that's a different story. Unlike JHS and HS, there's not always going to be a dedicated JTE at an elementary school. There will more often than not be at least one teacher there that can speak English, and therefore, your only point of contact if you have questions or concerns regarding day to day operations at the school (unless you've got some Japanese ability under your belt), but will either not be confident enough to run an English class, or may have other responsibilities running classes for their assigned grade. This means that you will more than likely be preparing the lessons, preparing the materials (assuming the previous ALT didn't leave any materials for you to use) and running the classes, with the homeroom teacher usually playing the assistant role. You may get lucky and have some teachers that will get involved in the lessons and planning process, but I have found that to be the exception, rather than the rule. If you're lucky to have a head teacher who has experience teaching English, and takes charge of lesson planning and running classes for some of the grades - enjoy it while you can. In my five years, I've only encountered two or three teachers who took the lead for the class; two of those teachers were involved in the planning process, while one planned the entire lesson, and kept me in the loop on what they would be doing for what lesson, occasionally asking for my input or ideas.

3) Not all students are created equal.

Presumably, if you're wanting to be an ALT, you should at least have a little bit of experience working with children, or at the very least have the patience to work with children. I mean, you are going to be working at a school after all. A school. Full of children.

While I have been very fortunate to have had pretty good students overall, that streak came to an end this year, with my 6th graders at my elementary school. One class is usually ok, but the other... fucking hell. I hate the class, and I have found that the source of why the class is so bad is down to most of the boys in that class being absolute pieces of shit - disruptive, won't listen, then complain they don't understand because they're disruptive and won't listen. You need to have patience with children, and if you don't have patience for children, or willing to learn patience, do not bother becoming an ALT. 
Generally 6th graders can be arrogant, because they are essentially the kings of Elementary school - of course this comes to a crashing halt the second they go in to Junior high school. But basically, you need to learn to keep your cool in front of the kids, regardless of what happens in the classroom.

In my experience, 4th graders can also be a handful. Oddly enough, despite my earlier comment about 6th graders being arrogant, my experiences have been generally positive aside from this year. The 6th graders I have worked with have mostly been shy, but rarely have they been disruptive. Though the 6th graders that I have worked with for more than 1 year I have found to be a bit more lively, but again, rarely are they disruptive, and I have found those kinds of students to be fun. 
This does carry on a little bit in to junior high school. The 1st graders are usually still full of energy and enthusiasm, though by the time they reach 3rd grade, it's pretty much non-existent - the weight of trying to pass their entrance exams to get in to their desired high school is on their shoulders, and I do not envy the kind of pressure that has been put on them. All I can do for them is help where I can. If they ask for my help, great. If they don't it, that's fine too.

More importantly, what you need to realize is that because you'll be working in a public school, not every student is going to be enthusiastic about learning another language, let alone English. Yes, you'll have a few that genuinely want to learn and improve their English, and in my experience - not just schools in Japan, but language learning in general - girls tend to take English (and language learning) more seriously than boys. That's not to say that there aren't boys who want to learn and improve their English, but you'll find it more likely that girls will be studying harder for English. So, if you aren't getting a good reaction from your students, it could simply be that they're not really in to English, and not necessarily a problem with you personally.
Of course, if you decide to work in an Eikaiwa, most of your students are there because they want to improve their English (or at least, their parents want them to).

4) Welcome to the rice fields, motherfucker. 

While you might get assigned to a major city, and be able to get by with zero or very little Japanese (more on that in the next section), chances are, you're going to be assigned to work in a rural city. Depending on your personal preference, this could be seen as a paradise of peace and quiet, or it could be absolute torture and boredom. If you're in the latter category, I'd suggest finding an apartment near a train station that can take you somewhere more lively for the weekend.

On the other hand, while it is possible to get to your school by bike or walking, having a driver's license from your home country will make you more appealing to ALT dispatch companies, as it means they can assign you to cities and schools where you might need a car. Most companies will provide a car  (for a certain monthly fee) to get to school and to allow you to go about your day to day business. If you do decide to go for a company car, the company will reimburse you for the daily cost of commutes to school, and will pay for the regular car inspections (the shaken/車検). In addition, they will cover any repairs to the car, provided it wasn't your fault. If you have a valid license from your home country, it means you have the opportunity to transfer it in to a Japanese driver's license. 

Also, being in a small rural town means news travels around fast. This also means that as an ALT, you could potentially face greater scrutiny if you're caught doing something you're not supposed to or, just as bad, be accused of something you didn't do (especially if you're a man). Potential punishment can vary between having to leave the city (and your employer having to assign you somewhere else quickly), to being outright fired by the company. I have known this to happen to some friends who are no longer ALTs, but have fortunately bounced back and are still living and working in Japan.

5) If you want better work in Japan, git gud at Japanese, gaijin.

While ALT dispatch companies will advertise that Japanese ability isn't required, it's partly true. While you might not need Japanese to teach English at your schools, you will definitely need Japanese ability to get by outside of school. If you happen to be assigned to a rural city as discussed above, Japanese ability is a must. Need to go to the doctor? You're going to need Japanese to adequately tell them what's wrong. Need to set up an account for your apartment's utilities or phone? You're going to need Japanese. Need to go to city hall for anything? You will need Japanese, but some city halls will have a booth dedicated to assisting foreigners, though I am not sure if this is standard across the country or not. Fortunately, some cities have night schools for learning Japanese, and it might be an idea to take it up if you're thinking of living in Japan long term.

Alternatively, you could work at an Eikaiwa school, which pays more than typical ALT work. However if you want a job in Japan beyond being an ALT or Eikaiwa instructor, you will need Japanese proficiency, along with physical proof of that proficiency. By that, I mean you need to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test - more commonly known as the JLPT (or 能力試験). Most non-ALT jobs these days will require that you at least have JLPT N2 certification, which is roughly the equivalent of advanced/business level Japanese, with N1 being considered the equivalent of native level Japanese. If you can at least get N2 certification, it will open up a lot more job opportunities for you within the country.

If you're intending to take the JLPT, there are plenty of textbooks available to purchase to cover vocabulary, grammar, kanji, reading and listening. The JLPT is held twice a year in Japan (first Sunday of July and December), whereas most other countries only hold it once a year in December. Registering for the test isn't cheap, but the benefit of having that certification is worth it.

6) The Summer Vacation - the good and the bad.

There are two things you need to be aware of concerning working as an ALT in public schools: Your schedule follows that of the school year, and you're paid based on the number of days you work each month. But the thing is, you will receive your pay the following month. For example, your pay for January will arrive in February. Since you won't be working in August because of the summer vacation, come September... see where I'm getting at here?

Some companies will pay between 50-75% of your regular monthly pay to help you get by until you receive your September pay in October. I believe Interac is one of the dispatch companies that does this. Unfortunately, my employer is not so gracious, though they do offer a little extra work during the summer break so I got a little bit of pay to get me through the following month, which was why I loved only having two weeks of summer vacation last year. In any case, it's recommended that before the summer break, you save up some money to help you get through September.

Also, be especially aware if you're starting in August (or even April), this is even more important, as your first pay won't arrive until two months later. Fortunately, my employer was upfront about this part before I moved to Japan to start work. At the very least, you should ask your employer what their policy is regarding pay for the summer break when factoring in the initial cost of moving to Japan.

In Conclusion

Those are my pointers for the moment, though I will be sure to update this post if there are any other key points that I think would be important for anybody who is wanting to become an ALT in Japan. However, due to the coronavirus, it's more difficult to enter the country at the moment, so you'll need to factor the cost of quarantine on top of everything else if you are able to get in to Japan

Lastly, while this post could be seen as hating on ALT work (and there are plenty of former ALTs out there who do hate the job with a passion), ALT work is not all bad. There is some joy in teaching students English, and see them improve over time. But as I mentioned earlier, this is not a long term job. At the very least, it's a good experience, and also a good way to move on to better jobs in Japan - provided you're willing to put that extra work in to be eligible for a better job. On top of that, though, you need to be prepared to accept that Japan is not exactly like what you see in anime and pop-culture. It's quite different from western culture in some ways, but in others it borrows a lot from it too, creating this weird fusion between old and modern. In any case, the first few weeks will be a little bumpy as you acclimate to your new environment, but if you're able to stick it out, you'll come out of it for the better.

At some point, I will probably shift this guide over to my main site, as this will probably get buried by future posts.

Playing teacher for a day at JHS

（分かった、分かった、五ヶ月ぶりだ。）

Due to the English teacher being absent for the past two days, and one of the first grade classes hasn't had an important English lesson this week, unlike the other first grade classes, I was asked together with another assistant teacher to run an English class today. 
What's different in this case, is that unlike normal circumstances where I will just hang back, and check students' work in class while they're doing worksheets and such, I was going to be running the class jointly with the other assistant teacher. Her English is pretty good, and she has had experience teaching English at other Junior High Schools in the past, but has never taught at this particular school. On top of that, she's only at this school for two days a week, so she's not too familiar with how certain things go in a typical English class at this school. So with my knowledge of how the class is run, and an idea of what they were supposed to be doing today, combined with her ability to properly convey and explain key grammar points in greater detail in Japanese, we managed to make it work.
Fortunately, today's class was fairly easy, as it was revision for their upcoming end of semester test. The worksheet was already prepared by the English teacher previously, and I had already helped go through the material with the other first grade classes. The teacher and I covered each section with the whole class and checking answers, along with explaining the grammar points, and pointing out where to be careful, such as spelling. On top of that, I think this class is better than the other classes, and they generally behaved themselves, so it worked out in the end.

While I'm ok with hanging in the background and helping where needed for demonstrations, it was a nice change to help run the class directly. Especially when you get to use Japanese to help explain why they should be careful on certain points (such as taking pictures vs. talking pictures). However news came that the English teacher is doing better and likely to return in the next few days. The assistant teacher talked to me about the possibility of coming in next week on the day that I'm usually at elementary school to help her out with running the class if the English teacher is not back by then. She also talked to the vice principal about it, and he said he'd talk to my elementary school about it if the situation required it. While I wouldn't mind doing it again for this particular class, some of the other first grader classes can be a handful. However, between the two of us, I think we could  make it work again.

Unrelated news, I passed my JLPT N4, and am currently preparing for N3

Thoughts After a Month

It has been over a month since I started teaching English in Japan, so what are my impressions so far? To be honest, aside from bouts of stress here and there, my overall experience is not that bad at all. Based on the feedback that the company has given to me, the teachers have no problems with me, and are happy with my work, and the children generally like me. Up to this point, I have found that the company has been pretty hands off in the way it does things. They usually only notify me of anything important, such as upcoming events for the schools, or if they need some information from me.

I do have to admit, compared to working in IT and hospitality, this type of work almost feels like a walk in the park (but not quite). I don't have to deal with drunken guests or any kind of troublesome customers like hospitality, and I do not have to worry about any type of rush hour, as the number of students I deal with at any one time is constant. Furthermore, unlike my time in IT, I don't have to sit behind a computer all day wracking my brain on how to solve a client's problem, something which could take days, and the customer can get snippy about how their company is losing millions a day whenever their required application is not working, nor do I have to worry about work following me home - the only time I will do work related stuff outside of school is when I have to print something in colour, as the schools' printers only in print in black and white - which is fine most of the time.

Also, I have an upcoming observation lesson coming up on Thursday. From what I have been told, the teachers observing me will only be doing it for 5-10 minutes, but it is enough to warrant preparing a special lesson for that time. I have already submitted a lesson plan to my coordinator, and the topic itself is easy. The trick for me is time management. I can usually accomplish most of what I need to do for a lesson - the only exception being the review portion at the end of the lesson. Usually the games that are played in class take up a bit of time, especially when factoring in explaining and demonstrating the game (as I am not allowed to explain it in Japanese). In any case, the teachers are apparently happy with the way my lessons are structured, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it.
In addition, I need to try and plan a special Halloween lesson for some of my classes. In Australia, Halloween is not all that popular, thought it has started to slowly gain popularity over the years. However, it is still nowhere near as popular as in America. I can try and teach it to some extent based on what I have heard and picked up though the media and pop culture, but I can't really say that I know much about the celebration. Well, I just need to keep it simple for the kids and come up with some related activities for them to do - I do have some ideas in mind, though I will need to look in to it a little further.

It is halfway through October now, and it won't be too long until I finally get paid. It will certainly take some of the edge off from living day to day, but it will also be the first step in saving money to go to Kyoto during the winter break.

Company Meeting: The Other ALTs

On Thursday, there was a meeting for all the other company ALTs working in Kamisu. I have been told that this is a monthly thing, but more importantly, it was an opportunity to meet the other Kamisu ALTs that work for the company. Before this, I had only met two that lived next to me, and one other I met at the ALT barbeque that was held just before the semester began.

While it was mostly an introduction session for the new ALTs (specifically me, and one other person), it was also gave an insight as to what everyone did during the summer break. Some went back to their home countries to visit family and friends, some traveled to other parts of Japan, while others just stayed in Kamisu for whatever reason. In addition, I was able to speak to some of the ALTs as to their thoughts on the company and working as an ALT in Kamisu. Most were critical of the company as a whole, but had no problem with the current coordinators for Kamisu - I agreed with them regarding the coordinators, as they come across as being particularly friendly people, and easy to approach for any questions that I had. 

I also had a chance to speak with ALTs who used to work at the schools that I am working at now. One of the schools I work at 3 days a week, one ALT said was a pretty good school, and very few troublemakers. However, the other school where I work 2 days a week didn't get such praise, something I started to take notice of when I was teaching there earlier that day. I found that the home room teachers were either busy doing their own thing, or were just not in the classroom. In any case, I was left to run the entire class on my own, with little assistance - and this did become a little problematic when trying to demonstrate a game to the students, and despite being able to speak Japanese, I am not allowed under any circumstances to speak it while running the class - that responsibility is left to the teacher that is supposed to be there. Fortunately, I was able to make do with what I had.  In any case, I suspect it's not because they don't like me personally (I've only been there for a total of 3 days so far), but it seems it's more of a case of being cautious of ALTs in general. I have heard both from Japanese teachers and fellow ALTs that earlier this year, there was a high turnover of ALTs, which has led some schools to be bit wary of incoming ALTs. I have noted that at the 2 day a week school, I do not feel welcome. Of course, there is the typical Japanese polite to your face act that I'm familiar with, but I feel that behind that, the teachers just do not want me around. This is completely the opposite to the 3 day a week school, where some of the teachers will come up and talk to me and ask how things are going, and generally just want to get to know me, and usually stay in the classroom, follow the lesson, help me out when I ask, and translate my instructions in Japanese for the students so they understand. After these 6 months, I would gladly stay on at the 3-day a week school if given the offer. However, for the 2-day a week school, I have no problems going to a different school if given the opportunity. 

After the meeting, I decided to go hang out with some of the ALTs for food at Gusto, and just chatted about general things. However, they did give me some advice about the shower in my apartment, which has proven to be problematic with hot water. Turns out I need to completely max out the hot water before slowly introducing cold water. Yesterday, I had the first comfortable shower since arriving in Kamisu 3 weeks ago.

Being able to meet the other ALTs proved to be a good experience. On top of meeting new people, I also got a better understanding of life in Kamisu, and some useful tips on work and living matters.

First Two Days of Work: Impressions

After two days of work, my first impression was that it wasn't all that bad. Admittedly for my first day on Thursday, I did no teaching at all. However, I had to do an introduction in front of the entire school during the school's opening ceremony for the new semester. After that, I was pretty much writing up lesson plans for next week. Despite not teaching any classes that day, it was still productive. The vice principal was pretty friendly too, and had no problems answering any of my questions.

The school I worked at yesterday was my first real test, in that I was teaching 6th graders across 3 periods. Despite having a lesson plan, it could have gone better for my first class. I could not believe that 45 minutes went by really quickly. Fortunately I had two more classes of 6th graders to address the problems, and with the help of the home room teacher, the lesson went a lot smoother. He had no problem participating in demonstrations, or just some silly talk, especially when I did my introduction. Furthermore, he also gave me advice and suggestions for future classes, and him being there really took the edge off. I also had lunch with the one of the 6th grader classes - a meal consisting of spaghetti and meat sauce, something which I can only describe as a prawn croquette, small salad, a mandarin, and milk. It was a pretty decent meal, and while it is not free (it will be deducted from my salary), the daily cost for a lunch of that portion is pretty good - less than 300 yen a day easily.
After lunch, I spent more time preparing lesson plans for next week. Also, the teacher who gave me the tour of the school on Wednesday invited me to help her and some of the other teachers to walk the younger students off campus to the nearest shopping center where many children's parents were waiting to pick them up. Naturally, all the children wanted to talk to me, especially since some of them have never seen a foreigner before. Being able to speak Japanese made it a lot easier when they wanted to ask me a variety of questions, including favourite foods, favourite colours, pets, bugs, etc.
It was kind of amusing to see their reactions when hear a foreigner speaking Japanese to them for the first time. Even funnier when I was listening to the conversation during lunch time, before I started asking them questions in Japanese, and they were shocked to realise that I understood what they said earlier.
As I mentioned in my previous post, most of the teachers at this school are young - some I think are younger than me. Including the home room teacher, and the teacher who gave me the tour, there was another teacher who seemed to really have fun talking with me in Japanese/English. He admits that his English isn't all that good, but it didn't seem to stop him from coming up to my desk to see how I was going for my first day at the school.

Between the two schools I am working at, I enjoyed being at the school I was working at yesterday. However, considering that I did not do any teaching on Thursday at school, I feel that this is an unfair comparison. On the other, I felt a bit more welcomed at the second school, though that is not to say that first school's staff are d*cks or anything, it might be because the teachers are a bit older, it might be they might have a harder time interacting with me because I'm younger than them. Or, it could be something different. In any case, I will wait and see in the following weeks to see how this turns out.

Overall, it was a good experience, and the one thing I learned was that 45 minutes can go by really quickly, and therefore, I need to be more strict on time management when it comes to teaching future lessons.

Before Work: Visiting the Schools

Today I went with my coordinators to visit the schools that I will be working at starting from tomorrow. For confidentiality purposes, I won't name the schools I will be working at, but I will describe my experiences from today's visit.

The first school we went to wasn't all that far from where I live. Maybe 10 minutes or so by car. We were greeted by one of the teachers who explained how things run at school, including my lesson plans, and the weekly schedule, and where and who I would be working with on Friday. We also had a tour of the school, which I noticed was a very wide school. Along the way I was introduced to the various teachers. I found them to be rather friendly people, and they all seemed to be surprised when I spoke to them in Japanese. I also had to introduce myself to everyone in the teacher's room in Japanese. One thing I noticed was that they're mostly young people (though the teacher who had been giving us a tour of the school and giving me the explanation really wanted to know my age, and told everyone my age *laughs*). My coordinator commented after that I probably be able to get along with them more easily because they're closer to my age.

The second school we went to is a bit further away compared to the first school - possibly 20 minutes. The visit was fairly brief, with an introduction to one of the teachers, along with the vice principal, and again, another self introduction in Japanese to everyone in the teacher's room. They also explained that while I will have no classes tomorrow, there will be a ceremony for the new semester, where I will have to introduce myself to all the children at school. Since it's the entire school, I can't really use flash cards to reinforce what I say. However, I plan to print out the Australian flag at least.

After school tomorrow, I plan to do my lesson plan for the first school on Friday. Fortunately, there were notes left from the previous ALT, so I do have something to work from. I also do not have class until 2 period, so I will have a bit more time to prepare.

Considering I have to wake up early tomorrow for an 8am start, I should probably go to sleep now. I will be sure to post about my first day experiences tomorrow.

Kamisu City - Initial Thoughts

After about an hour and a half of driving from Mito city, I finally arrived in Kamisu city yesterday afternoon. I had heard, and also read up about how you would need a car to get around. Man, they were not kidding. Since the driving system in Japan is pretty much the same in Australia (left hand drive, right hand steering wheel, etc), it was pretty easy to get to the hang of things. One thing I will say though: I'm not sure if this is just a Kamisu thing, or Japanese people in general, but for a country that is really hung up on following rules, nobody around Kamisu even tries to do the speed limit. On the major roads, I think it's about 50 km/h (which for me is pretty slow, since the average on most roads in my home city is 70 km/h), but it's not uncommon for people to be going faster. On top of that, I hardly saw any pedestrians out and about - at most I probably saw 10 people, with the majority getting around by car. When even the convenient stores have a sizeable car park, it's definitely a sign that Kamisu is car-dominated city.

Anyway, my apartment upon arrival was completely bare - no fridge, no washer, no microwave, not even any curtains. However, I was advised that the fridge/washer/microwave would be arriving on monday afternoon. On the other hand, I had to go out and buy everything else, and I also spent today purchasing the remainder of my necessities. Learning from my times as an international student, I've stuck to purchasing cheap things, including a cheap mattress, a cheap fold up table, and a cheap stool. As I'm not going to start getting paid until late October, I've been putting together goals, and keeping a closer eye on  my purchases so I can keep my expenditure as low as possible. As I also want to travel to Kyoto for Christmas for the 2 week winter break to visit my girlfriend, it's even more important that I try to get on top this now while I'm in the settling period. Fortunately, most of the necessities I've purchased are the sorts of things I can use in future accommodation, so it's short term pain for long term gain.

I will be starting my first day of work on Thursday. I am a bit nervous, especially because I did so-so on my demo lessons during the training, though I was told in feedback that my lesson plan is technically sound; I just need the confidence to be able to perform in front of a classroom of students, and I am hoping this will become easier after the first few days of work.

Almost time to go

After over two months since my last post, I'm now in the final 11 days before I head off to Japan. While my training in Mito city does not begin until the 22nd of this month, I decided to leave earlier to spend a week in Kyoto. It is strange how it's been over a year since I was last in Japan. While my girlfriend came to visit me for two weeks, I feel I should spend a bit more time with her before starting my new job. Fortunately, while we will be apart (again), we'll at least be in the same country this time (laughs).

Since my last post, the company has confirmed where I will be working - Kamisu city, in the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture. To give you an idea, it's about an hour and a half drive away from Tokyo.
I've never been to Kamisu city before, let alone the Ibaraki prefecture, and neither have any of my friends. As far as I can tell it is a rural area - something I was not surprised about, and I certainly do welcome the opportunity to experience a different aspect of Japan, as all of my previous experiences have been in the major cities.

Despite some training being provided, I am admittedly nervous, as I will be teaching elementary school kids. Because of this, I have been told I will be running the class, and coming up with lesson plans, as opposed to assisting - a role that is usually more for foreigners working high school students. They have told me that there is a syllabus to work from, but I am also free to write up my own material. Having no experience in teaching children in a classroom environment, I am panicking a little bit. However, I know that there are other resources available online for teaching english as a second language - resources that I used in preparation for my demo lesson for the interview process (and follow up interviews for city placement). Furthermore, my mother used to be an English teacher, and has been providing me with advice on materials, and how to write up lesson plans.

I know that the first few weeks will be particularly stressful, just as it was stressful adjusting to studying abroad. Hopefully, I can adjust fairly quickly this time around. I will probably look in to support groups for foreigners teaching working in Japan. I have heard and briefly come across such a thing while job hunting earlier this year, so I think I'll follow up on that before I go.

From International Student to English Teacher

It's been over a year since I last updated this blog, but I do have some news with regards to what is happening in my life.

Recently, I have been employed by a company in Japan to be an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) to help teach English to children at public schools in Japan. Due to the conditions of my contract, I won't name the company that I am with, but I do plan to post about my experiences in dealing with them. As I haven't started working yet, I intend to post about the process that led me to being offered a job - in another post, which should hopefully be coming soon.