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Being an ALT

Setting Goals in Each JET Year

by R. Sean Corrigan

8^th-year ALT Coordinator, Kitaakita City

2023 Recontractors Conference

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How to ALT

Let’s Tape Recorder

by R. Sean Corrigan

8^th-year ALT Coordinator, Kitaakita City

2023 Recontractors Conference

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I am…

a Canadian who grew up in rural New England.
fascinated by Japan (and have been since a young age).
an 8^th-year ALT Coordinator in rural Kitaakita City.
a former 5^th-year JET ALT (and two-time Block Leader).
void of any prior teaching experience.
fluent in Japanese (but not really).
about to give you one man’s opinion on how to ALT.

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Fitting Into the System

Change your immediate area

守破離

You are always wrong

しゅはり

– protect, break, remove

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Japanese Culture

Social interaction

U.S. – independence
Japan – interdependence

School system

U.S. – arrive at the same point
Japan – travel the same path

U.S. and

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Japanese Culture

Emotion and humanity

U.S. – laughing
Japan – crying

Communication values

U.S. – conversationalist
Japan – 以心伝心

U.S. and

いしんでんしん

pt. II

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Japanese Culture

Feedback

U.S. – direct (to you)
Japan – circuitous (to your supervisor)

Feedback (the remix)

U.S. – comprehensive
Japan – “one-point advice”

U.S. and

pt. III

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Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme

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Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme

Ambassador of your country
Exchange goes both ways

Cultural
Professional

New Taboos

Some things don’t count as exchange

Ambassador: Salary too high? You’re on the clock 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not only ambassador, but also public servant.

Exchange: Flexible with eating habits, personal space, etc. Expected to give priority to the plans of the workplace; to the Japanese way of life.

Taboos: Have to learn Japan’s taboos and not to infringe upon them, even if it seems like no big deal. Also have to not be offended when Japanese infringe on your taboos. (fat, pregnant, body contact, etc.)

Not exchange: the JET Programme is not College 2.0. Just because you’re not getting the backlash you expect, doesn’t mean you’re not being negatively evaluated. People admonish your supervisor about you; not you directly.

You can exchange your “culture” as long as it doesn’t interfere with work and Japanese culture.

“It’s my culture” is not an excuse for not being punctual, not being sincere, not being a team player, not being sensitive to Japan

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To be a Teacher

Everything you do, you do for your students.

Your goals, desires, and feelings are never more important than those of your students.

You are an adult and a role model.

You must always smile.

You are on the clock every hour of every day.

(Most rank-and-file teachers have taught with dozens of ALTs before you. It’s up to you to stand out.)

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1^st-year ALT

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1^st-year ALT

You’re here to learn

The Japanese education system
Japanese work culture
Living in Japan
Interacting with students

Waiting to be told what to do is seen as childish
You will be evaluated on how well you act independently

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2^nd-year ALT

You’re here to learn

The Japanese education system
Japanese work culture
Interacting with students

ALT 2: This Time it’s Personal

(Have you internalized the curriculum yet?)

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3^rd-year ALT

By this point, you should know the curriculum
You also probably know your students
Now you have a choice:

Activate auto-pilot, or
Teach the students, not the curriculum

ALT 3: Tokyo Drift

This Time it’s Personaler

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4^th-year ALT

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4^th-year ALT

Now y’er a sempai, ‘Arry!
Respected in the JET community

With great power…

Respected in the workplace

You’ve got ideas
Do they follow the Course of Study?

ALT 4: The Goblet of Nikka

Fire

Hopefully…

Says 4^th, but all this applies to 5^th-year ALTs, too.

Now that you’ve been around the block a few times, you should have an understanding of the curriculum, and if you followed the advice in the previous slide, how different students learn.

Respected by not only your fellow teachers but also your fellow household appliances.

Naturally you have ideas. You have things you want to do.

Remember how I said “everything you do, you do for your students?”

Or “expected to give priority to the plans of the workplace?”

Or in this slide “with great power…”?

Being a 4^th or 5^th year ALT doesn’t give you the authority to impose your ideas.

In the ALT community it’s a long time – but when compared to your coworkers it’s really not.

Many of them have been teaching for as long as you’ve been alive.

These years may be the hardest; your reward for all your hard work is that the burden of conformity falls hardest on you.

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5^th-year ALT

ALT 5: The Matrix Recontracted

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING,

THAT I CAN DODGE BULLETS?

NO, NEO, WHAT I’M SAYING IS

THAT WHEN YOU’RE READY, �YOU WON’T HAVE TO

change the Japanese education system

ALT

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The ALT’s ABCs:

considering yourself a tape recorder

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Okay, but what about when I’m not a tape recorder?

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Okay, but what about when I’m not a tape recorder?

Study Japanese (immersion learning)

You have the immersion
Don’t neglect the “learning”

Visit clubs/classrooms (and events!)
Make lesson plans/materials
Yadda
Yadda…
… yadda…
いやだ？

Even in desk-warming, you will be judged by how well you make use of your time autonomously.

Events is a tangent – the difference between actual desk warming and not following along by mistake.

Some of the most interesting lessons I’ve watched were math TT lessons.

Not trying to be snide (yes, I am), but this is oft repeated advice.

Interacting with your students has no upper limit of efficiency… so in clubs it’s okay, but the ROI of student involvement vs time spent is low if you’re just watching them.

Studying Japanese is never ill advised – except that you will use up your available brain RAM if you study too much; not only is this bad for your studies, it’s also not going to help you when you DO eventually have some important tape recorder’ing to do

You can’t make lesson plans for non-existent lessons – well, you can, but how many emergency lessons do you need up your sleeve?

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Okay, but what about when I’m not a tape recorder?

Have a project

The sky is the limit – the bigger the better
No deadline – that would defeat the purpose
Immensely personal – I can’t tell you yours

My own examples:

(ALT) A comprehensive guide to the pronunciation of English spelling
(ALT Coordinator) Translating the MEXT Elementary School Course of Study

pt. II

… a big project

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學

まな・ぶ

ガク

学

to study

子

冖

臼

メ

roof

child

two hands

sticks

守

破

離