samurai

Originally Posted By: Kumapix I'd like to hear Samurai how you can get Japanese Elementary School teachers to teach correct pronunciation (ie non-katakana) without an ALT? good question. trade secrets, my friend. to be launched in august. (if you really are curious and interested, you can PM me.) Perhaps I created a monster by bringin it up. Originally Posted By: Kumapix Also the stats that you posted at the beginning of this thread (that students can't speak English after graduating from JHS & HS) have no bearing on ALT's. The tests are on grammar, which are not taught

puking golf balls in yamagata as this storm gets colder. I don't know if zao has been making snow on their lower mountain this year or not, (they have really nice snowmaking facilities, unlike the other thread) but I imagine people will get some turns in this weekend, nonethelss. I'll be picking up my pass, anyway. The gotamas will go with me being as I imagine I'll be riding many closed runs.

Good for you CB, for speaking your mind but having the cultural sensitivity to try it. I can imagine others handling that situation a bit differently.

That's sad to hear about the freakshows and hiding. I imagine she'll be struggling with it a bit as she gets older. For some reason I sense a lot of emotional issues developing. Good luck to her and I hope she remains healthy.

see my previous posts.

many locals were worshipping her, btw.

Actually, I'm not an ALT. I was, but my contract has changed. The curriculum I am designing will make foreign teachers obsolete. I'm quite content with that. My school will inherit my curriculum, and with it, they won't need me anymore. If you don't make yourself obsolete, someone else will. Should they want to hire another foreign teacher after me, then I applaud it. I think the value the students get from a foreigner in the school has more to do with multi-culturalism than English. However, I should clear something up. I am not anti-ALT. I'm just not pro-alt. If a school finds value

You're right... nobody is paid enough. And... they aren't trained properly. Nor are any of us. (Let's get real about that statement.) peanuts and monkeys... huh. As the leader of any country's public education, I could easily justify doing away with both. I know you offer native pronunciation... but I don't need ALTs for that. No disrespect. That's just the foundation to the curriculum that I'm designing. I honestly don't need teachers to provide that. "A working knowledge of how to teach English." Do you mean- to foreingers? To the Japanese lexia? To who (or, more spec

school uniforms bombed for me. I thought they would want to express their opinion about why they wanted to wear something different. they didn't. Their uniforms were great to them. debate is tough in this country. Personally, I fade away from debate-based lessons. Think cultural upbringing... when have they ever argued about anything in Japanese? It's just not that kind of culture, they just don't grow up fighting their parents. yes, I think that debate is a necessary skill in this world. But I'll admit that debate is not the best avenue for any students not at the uppe

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver I sure as hell wouldn't. If I didn't need to work then I wouldn't. However I do need to and will continue for the forseeable future. I had a bit of a think about our discussion and I stand by what I have said before but would like to add that for Elementary kids I think that the game system is a great way for them to learn. If its structured properly kids will learn much quicker as they will be unaware that they are learning. Getting kids up and moving around while learning greatly increases their ability to retain new information. Having them sitting at d

surgery is done... she's healthy. AFAIK interesting that it's coming from a hindu community, eh?

yes. maybe only once a week, but I should score 20-30 days. by the way... I owe you an email.

toko graphite base-prep is not expensive. It's light grey and about 2000yen per block. high and low fluoros, imo, aren't necessary for the recreation or even the lifestyle rider. Racers, yes. an iron will damage your board if it is too hot. hence the no smoke limit. I know 1 minute seems like a long time, it is. Your board will be quite warm at the touch, and the camber will probably be reversed while it cools. don't worry. racers store their boards in hot boxes (around 130) for days on end. If your iron is smoking, so is your base and eventually the glues inside. just keep i

Originally Posted By: Captain Stag Samurai - If you were independently wealthy and didn't need to work to live would you teach English at a Japanese Primary School? It's not a loaded question and I'm not trying to prove anything I'm just curious. Yes, but I would have built it... amongst others. Building schools is actually a dream of mine. Not so I can run my own business and live the dream, but so I can provide international educations to our youth in an attempt to bridge the culture gap relevant to the lack of world peace existent today. Sounds pretty cliche, but I'm de

you mean base-prep wax? think of it like a conditioner that will allow the wax you apply each time to flow more evenly, soak in more evenly, and last longer. The graphite base-prep gets applied by me once or twice a year. The graphite in base-prep also fights static that exists in new snow. Perhaps you've experienced that severe friction in new, cold snow. That's static. I highly recommend applying a coat of base-prep early season, scraping, and then just waxing as you normally do. it's worth it. It will also help with those chips you mention. Your iron should be as hot as you can get it

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver I am not arguing for you to hire me or not, I don't need to justify myself to anyone. I'm not in the management of the company or in the position where I can make changes to policy. I have been hired to do a job a certain way because thats what the Board of Education has said it wants it to be, if that is contrary to what their bosses in the Ministry of Education are saying then thats their fault, not mine. Like I said, why are these people still in positions of policy making if they are allowing these policies to be re-written? The policies are being r

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver Did I set the goals?? I answered an ad that asked for this type of approach, if we aren't meeting goals set by the Ministry of education then they are asleep at the wheel and should be fired for allowing companies such as mine to teach what they consider to be sub-standard english. They should enforce the goals that they come up with instead of complaining that no one is meeting their goals, they ARE the Ministry of Education for Japan after all Dude, you just burned yourself. You just provided zero reason to hire your company again.

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver I am an Elementary ALT, I work in 3 schools throughout the week and teach on average 3 classes a day but sometimes I do 4 (I know, what a hard life ) Basically we play games all class, with some form of English skit thrown in, I play loadsa games that I remember from my childhood and simply build the language into the game. This is the first year that Yokohama has had it across the board in Elementary schools and as a result there isn't an official curricullum as such. I came up with my own stuff for one school, another had been given a curricullum that a p

Originally Posted By: Captain Stag I disagree. There are not too many people on earth who choose to do a job because they want to see that job done. Again, I wouldn't hire you. Originally Posted By: Captain Stag I dont wake up in the morning and leap out of bed because land needs subdividing and I'm just the man for the job! I go to work to get money. If I'm good at my job then I will be likely get more money in the future. I dont have to make my sole life objective Surveying to be good at it. Why cant teachers be the same? don't forget we're talking about hiring foreign en

Originally Posted By: paradoxbox I just don't see the need for criticism. The lack of a degree is a minor setback but a large number of NOVA employees were people with 1year working holiday visas who similar to me only had 1 or 2 years of university education. I'm sensing a bit of elitism here, what's wrong with someone wanting to go to Japan and looking for ways to make it work? Elitism? you don't have a degree, you have no teaching experience and you're thinking of setting up privates to sustain yourself. I thought we were giving it to you straight. That whole "a large nu

way ahead of ya... snow-forecast.com but cheers for the words of encouragement.

If you haven't done a search already, I'll make it easy for you- Unless you have plans of setting up your own school, outbidding 4000 experienced ESL teachers who are fighting for their survival, and willing to be a member of the group who actually exist in japan for the sole purpose of teaching, I suggest coming up with something else. I'm biased (see other threads on this forum). But quite frankly, I don't see teaching privates working with your goals in perspective.

According to the JET website, only 28% of English teachers chose "teaching" as their primary motive for coming to Japan. The other 72% chose things like; wanted to travel, wanted to gain international work experience, wanted a job, had a previous interest in Japan, etc. Not many JETs have a desire to teach or even have any training for that matter. A degree in education is not required. Take that into account with how different many of us foreigners consider our discourse styles to be in comparison to Japanese. Think- the Japanese non-linear/empathetic vs. English's linear/logical approa

you should get more than a few years out your bag, ebc. quality down bags last decades if taken care of properly.

somebody call the police.