When I accepted the job as an English teacher in Japan, I thought of our contracts as projects with two stakeholders: ALT's/(Foreign) English teachers and students. Over the course of my 2 years, I learned that not only are there more, but that we also have different priorities, stakes and interests:
ALT's/Foreign English Teachers - We come for a variety reasons but to summarize, we're mostly here to teach the youth and explore another culture.
Students - While they don't directly have a say in things, students are the cornerstone of the these contracts. Possibly unbeknownst to them, their stake is in improving their English communication and learning about diversity.
Japanese English Teachers - JTE's interest is to effectively utilize foreign English teachers to ensure that students can pass the English portion of tests that transition them into the next chapter of their lives. For high school, this might mean the English portion of a student's university, technical school or workforce entrance exam. In junior high school, it means passing the English portion of their high school entrance exams. For elementary school, though there's no test, it means setting the baseline that that junior high school education starts from.
School Staff (Japanese teachers of other subjects, administrative staff, maintenance staff) - For them, it's less academic, and more along the lines of being cultural ambassadors and professionals. Their interest is in making sure that we foreigners get a good impression of Japanese people.
School Heads (Vice Principals, Principals) - Making sure that the school runs smoothly even with the addition of a foreigner who may or may not know anything about Japanese culture and work environments.
Board of Education (B.O.E.) - Making sure that all schools under their jurisdiction run smoothly, while providing enough Foreign English Teachers to adequately serve each school throughout the year.
English Teacher-providing Organizations/Companies - Though they serve the public through their hiring, training and staffing of ALT's/Foreign English Teachers, these organizations--with the exception of the government-sponsored JET program--are businesses, and with that in mind, their number one concern is money (as it should be).
Parents - While not always as visible as the others, parents want to make sure that their children are getting a quality and well-rounded education from the schools, the teachers and even us ALT's/Foreign English Teachers.
Just like in project management, ALT contracts also come with their own stakeholder balancing act. Though there's overlap, it'd be impossible for such a diverse set of interests to not also occasionally bump and collide. It was easy to get wrapped up in my own priorities or focus on just one or 2 other stakeholders. But with so many connected parts, and because I came into contact with all of them on a regular basis, it was important to rememeber that each one had their own vested interest in it all.
In light of the current attitudes and hate-rhetoric being spread in the U.S., I've come to appreciate the egalitarianism of the ALT industry. In the eyes of the Japanese ALT system, we're all the same.
On January 31st, 2009, I walked into a hotel in L.A. to interview for one of the many teaching positions that my organization was looking to fill in Japan. In the lobby there was also an ex-hedge fund guy from San Francisco, a recent architecture graduate from Portland, a Mississippi native who had previously taught in Japan for 3 years, and a few others. "Wow", I thought. "This is a pretty diverse group. And we're here to interview for the same type of job."
Two months later, I'm sitting in a conference room in Tokyo, training with about 50 other new teachers. We briefly go around the room to introduce ourselves and once again, I can't help but take note of the diversity. There were men and women from all around the world with an assortment of degrees and different levels of exposure to Japan. We represented different countries, religions and races. But we still had one thing in common: we had all been hired to do the same job.
The ALT system in Japan has created an industry unlike anything I've ever known. Nowhere else have I seen this sort of equality. It doesn't matter that I didn't know konnichiwa from oyasuminasai before coming here. In the eyes of the system, I'm exactly the same as the Aussie who speaks the language fluently. We both got hired and are now, in theory, interchangeable.
Here's a great excerpt from the Loco in Yokohama blog about teaching English in Japan:
I teach them how to interact with people they wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to interact with. And I think every student that spends three years with me will go out into the world with little or no fear of the un-alike. To me that is much more important than whatever English they might be able to retain from my lessons. I mean, most of them will never use English in their lives…but what I teach them will probably make them more inclined to open their minds…if I can even approach achieving that goal, then I feel I’ve done a world of good. I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile. And the students benefit, as well. It’s a win-win.
Loco is a Black-American male like myself but the quote is applicable to all foreign teachers here. Japan is a very homogeneous country and it's surprisingly (for someone coming from a mixed American city) rare for anyone--students and professionals alike--to come into contact with people who are "different". Here's to remembering that as English teachers, not only are we teaching the language, we're also teaching diversity.
There's a lot to be said about teaching English in Japan but one of the most rewarding parts, IMO, is correcting my students' writing. It's also one the most challenging.
On some days, I'll go through about 100 student notebooks to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. It's tedious and monotonous, and inevitably, way before #100, I'll want to quit.
Thoughts of lightly skimming or ignoring "minor" mistakes will creep into my mind. But each time, I recommit to diligently push forward and check each one as if my life depended on it. We're laying their English foundations here, and if I don't show them the error of their English-writing ways, who will?
The reward comes over time. There is a direct correlation between their ability and the edits I make with my mighty red pen. When I see that Asami is no longer spelling "beautiful" with a 'd' or that Kosuke now writes "I like to play basketball" instead of "I basketball like", you realize just how vital these edits truly are.
And so I enjoy the struggle. It's challenging, but there's also a great feeling of accomplishment when I use purpose--their English improvement--as motivation to overcome my own lacks. There's a definite blessing in that struggle.
I love Taylor Mali's poem "What Teachers Make", but first heard it before entering a classroom as a teacher. When I listen to it now, the truth in what he says is much more clear.
My company trained us with a variety of activities and techniques to use in our teachings, but I've gotten ideas from other sources as well. L.A.'s Freestyle Fellowship inspired a lesson last year and another musician, Bobby McFerrin, has helped me teach pronunciation.
Though students learn to read and write English, pronunciation is another beast entirely. Repetition addresses this but simple "repeat after me"'s get played out quickly, causing students to zone out or do it unconsciously(which leads to less retention). So I was constantly trying to figure out a better way to teach it.
And then this clip of McFerrin and the pentatonic scale started circulating:
After seeing it, and noting how the audience associated his physical location with relative pitches, I thought I'd give it a shot with my students. But instead of scales and pitches, I used vocabulary words and syllables.
For example, the word "communication" would be broken into 5 syllables, "com", "mu", "ni", "ca" and "tion", and I'd demonstrate each one at a relative location. In the clip, the audience was able to follow McFerrin as he physically (and sporadically) moved between pitches. Likewise, my students could follow me as I moved (sporadically) between syllables!
It turned out to be a great way to teach pronunciation. The McFerrin technique made practicing more puzzle-like, and their desire to solve each puzzle kept them attent and focused while participating.
Not only that, but by concentrating on the syllables, they ended up doing better with similar sounding words. A word like "immunization" would be intimidating until the syllabic breakdown revealed "mu", "ni" and "tion"--3 syllables they had already learned and felt comfortable with.
I wouldn't have guessed that you could learn something about teaching English from Bobby McFerrin; I only thought of him whenever someone said "Don't Worry, be Happy"! But by keeping an open mind, I was able to once again see how unrelated things can help you solve a problem.
Or more appropriately, how do you teach the idea of it? Style—and the importance of having it—repeatedly comes up in everything from art to fashion to writing. Icons have dropped quotes which help us rethink our understanding of it, but little guidance exists on how to define it in the first place.
This question has popped up a couple of times for me in Japan. The first was while I was teaching breaking to students. They were learning through emulation so I wanted to emphasize that developing their own style was the never-ending end-goal. The question came up again—this time as a classroom vocabulary word—and though I ultimately taught the dictionary definition, I would have preferred to express it as a concept and not a label.
The notion of individual style has been hard to covey because of the language barrier and cultural differences. How do you elaborate on it when words like “unique”, “character” and “individual” aren’t at your disposal?
I hadn't been teaching for too long before I realized there was something very familiar about the the way I was working. It later occurred that from a process level, working as an English Teacher (ET) in Japan hasn't been too different than working along the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Here are the steps to the SDLC and how they resemble teaching.
1. Analyze user requirements
In the SDLC, this means extracting the problem your software is supposed to solve. As an ET, it means recognizing your lesson's learning objectives (e.g., a grammar point, new vocabulary). In both cases, you're understanding the ideal user end result.
2. Design the program
In the SDLC, this means organizing and specifying any and all relevant components to your solution. As an ET, it means organizing and specifying any and all relevant pieces to your lesson. In both cases, you're working out the details.
3. Code the program
In the SDLC, this means writing code, modifying databases and anything else needed to implement your solution. As an ET, this means creating worksheets, getting supplies for activities and anything else needed to conduct your lesson. In both cases, you're going from conception to reality.
4. Document and Test*
In the SDLC, this means ensuring your solution meets user needs, isn't broken and plays nicely with other code. As an ET, this means ensuring your lesson achieves it's educational goals, flows smoothly and fits in well with your student's current knowledge base. In both cases, you're making certain that things will not only work, but also work well.
In the SDLC, this means releasing your code to a production environment and regularly updating it to provide a better user experience. As an ET, this means conducting the lesson and using the same learning points in future classes or any other time you run into a student. In both cases, you've delivered a solution and then begin using it as a new base to later build from.
So that's the similarity. The ideas behind each phase of the SDLC have also supported each step of my overseas English Teaching. However, I can't help but wonder if I'm forcing this to happen. I’m not sure if I’m leveraging what I already know to fit into the workflow or if by coincidence, a similar process just happened to exist. Either way, it works.
I had a lesson this week over the SVO sentence structure. That class is in the middle of learning different ways to construct sentences so I wanted to make it easy to remember this specific type. At some point, Freestyle Fellowship's "Hot Potato" popped into my head and an idea was born: use the words of Aceyalone, Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E. and Self Jupiter to teach it!
First, I gave some background on Hot Potato and taught them the hook from the song:
Hot potato, pass the potato (x4)
After they got the words down, I taught them tempo and tune by leading the class in chorus and metronomic claps. I couldn't get them dancing but I did get some enthusiastic claps and a few head bobs!Next came some rounds of Hot Potato. I paired them up and gave each group a "potato" to pass back and forth while singing their newly learned song. And then I snuck in the grammar.While demonstrating Hot Potato with the JTE, I visually broke down the sentences "I passed the potato", "I passed JTE-Sensei the potato" and "JTE-Sensei passed me the potato" into their SVO components. And before I could ask them to make their own sentences (relative to their groups), some already had! I checked for their understanding (e.g.,"What did you pass?") and found that many could create and understand SVO sentences. After a few more rounds with newly paired groups, most of the class could. Success!I wonder if Freestyle Fellowship ever envisioned this?
Interested in Teaching English in Japan? Wondering what it takes? While I can't attest to the program or experience itself (yet), I can give an account on my application process.
Before seriously considering this move, I had only heard of the JET program (it seems to be the most popular...most folks ask me if that's who I'm going through), but in addition to their popularity, they also have a November deadline. Fortunately, there are other established and reputable programs that offer the same opportunity and accept applications through January. Here are the ones that I looked into:
Google Translate works wonders for the ones written in Japanese. And for supplemental reading, there are also tons of forums out there where English Teachers congregate to talk about all facets of their experience, including employer reviews. But just like any other forum, there are trolls so use your best judgment to discern and extract useful info posts.
I liked a few of the companies but ultimately decided to continue with Interac. And because I applied at the tail end of the application window, the whole ordeal only took about 3 weeks:
January 24th - Applied Online
January 27th - Received request for follow-up essays and turned them in the same day
January 30th - Interview with Interac in Los Angeles, CA. This consisted of a presentation on teacher life in Japan, a mock lesson where I taught my fellow applicants, a basic grammar test, a personality test and a 1-on-1 interview
I'm growing more familiar with 4 of the 5 W's (and 1 H) of Journalism. After mentioning that I'm going to teach English in Japan, I usually get something along the lines of "You're going to teach English in Japan? Wait...what? When? How? Where? Why?". It's not always in that order but they're typically asked at some point.
And I can see why: I'm a Nigerian/Texan IT and SW professional living in San Francisco and this is a 180 degree turn from the last 4 years of my life.
What? Nope, I'm not kidding. I'm moving to Japan.When? I'm starting on Monday, April 5th, 2009.How? I'm going through Interac, an organization that places native English speakers in schools throughout JapanWhere? No idea, but I'm open to anything. Tokyo? That'd be nice but probably not...they usually reserve spots in Tokyo for people who can do more than say "Hello" in Japanese. And I can't even do that correctly.Why? This one is trickier because it doesn't warrant a simple response. It's the culmination of a few things: personal interest, professional development and the economy.I've been interested in Japan since Jr. High School and have been actively trying to visit since 2005. Like many, I got my first taste of the country by watching Anime (specifically, it was Vampire Hunter D, Ranma 1/2 and Akira) but grew increasingly fascinated over time. From their innovation (e.g., the World's first bullet train) to their culture (e.g., the high work ethic, ridiculously low crime rate) to their unique and inventive products, news of Nippon gradually moved it to the top of my list of countries to visit.Professionally, it's inadvertently beneficial. I have a B.S. in Computer Engineering and have been working full time since 2005. This move is not directly related to my career path, it's a cut in pay and I could easily get technologically rusty during my stint away from the Bay. That said, it will also give me international exposure, help me learn Japanese, provide a leadership opportunity and most importantly, be challenging. I have no illusions: this won't be a walk in the park. If it was, it wouldn't be as appealing.But it was the economy that really put the wheels in motion: I made this decision after becoming economic collateral damage even though there were other options available. On one hand, I could join another exciting startup in Silicon Valley but that would mean gambling with job security at a volatile time in an already risky work environment. On the other hand, there are still many stable IT jobs, despite the recession, but that could mean working in a less stimulating environment.In addition to those 3 elements, this gig also helps me reach a dream: becoming a teacher. The disparity between honor and regular classes--both of which I took--back in high school highlighted how vital a good teacher was to student success. I graduated from an athletics-focused school and felt that students weren't always motivated to want more because they were stuck learning from teachers who resembledBen Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I responded by promising myself I'd become a teacher one day so that I could do for my students what those teacher's didn't. This job affords me that opportunity.To be fair, I wasn't 100% sure of teaching English in Japan when the thought first crossed my mind. But the more I looked into it the more it felt right. Not only do I get to travel, achieve a dream and develop, I also get paid for it! I'm looking forward to becoming both a student and a teacher. It's going to be quite an adventure.
