Elementary English School Education

[gerard 6]

"Importing Diversity" by David McConnell gives a thorough background of the JET programme and a lot of insight into how things work at the government level in Japan and it's a fairly fun read too, I think.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I have never said that it does work!! Neither have I said that I am indespensible to the teaching of english in this country (or any other for that matter). The same could be said about any job that predominately employs foreign workers. With the correct training and proper support networks in place, there is no reason that the native population can't fill all the required positions. But that is not the case, at this moment in time I am considered to be needed to teach english to Elementary school kids. At this moment in time I haven't met a Japanese Home Room Teacher who could do it better than me. Also, a thing to think about is that technically we are only Assistant Language Teacher's, but as you well know we are leading the class in many instances (at elementary school anyway), so it would seem that within Japanese Teachers there is no interest in being able to teach english without a native speaker's help. Whether that changes in the future I don't know.

 

One question though, you are also burning yourself with all these introspections. If it goes the way you see it then you are effectively doing yourself out of your current position. What do you plan to do if they do get rid of all ALT's.

 

As a by word, when I started this year, I was told by the principal that within 2 years the HRT's would be teaching the class, she didn't exactly say that ALT's would no longer be needed but that was what was inferred.

[samurai 0]

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 in having a diverse staff, then more power to them.

 

Nonetheless, I'll be releasing what I consider to be quite the modernization in ESL curriculum designs come August. It is not teacher dependent. The teacher will no longer be required to create materials, design activities or do any preparation whatsoever.

 

(consider that a teaser... I'm already giving too much away.)

 

I recognize through your passionate responses, tubbybeaver, that you take pride in your job. Good for you. You're one of the rare ones.

 

And ger, I'll seek out that read you suggest.

[gerard 6]

You might have a lot of reading to do, Samurai. Curriculum development is a big field but you won't learn much about it from JHS teachers in Japan.

[samurai 0]

see my previous posts.

[Kumapix 0]

I work at elementary schools and my job is to teach children the fundamentals of English pronunciation (in a fun way). I can safely say that there is no Japanese person currently working for the board of Ed that could do that, or for that matter, an elementary school teacher (that I have met). The odd teacher can speak some English but even discounting the grammatical mistakes, their pronunciation sucks. This includes JHS English teachers!

I'd like to hear Samurai how you can get Japanese Elementary School teachers to teach correct pronunciation (ie non-katakana) without an ALT?

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 by ALT'S.

[samurai 0]

 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 by ALT'S.

good point. Now you have me checking my sources regarding whether that was oral or written proficiency. oral was how I had remembered it, but I'm willing to look it up at home again. Nonetheless, they're god-awful stats that require attention to curriculum design, instructional methodologies, classroom materials, etc.

I'm really passionate about my current work and I'm digging things up a bit here. So, I'm going to simmer down my responses in this thread. If any teachers have any professional inquiries regarding any information that I am not providing, please feel free to PM me.

[daver 0]

after spending time with students in thailand, cambodia, and nepal from all age groups i can quite confidently say the system in japan is pathetically failing. all of the students i met spoke better than any of my students in japan. and none of the students in these countries have nearly the same resources the kids in japan have. they certainly do not have a well dressed foreign monkey coming to their class every

day to play with them or do a trick for a cookie at the JTE's request.

 

the one thing they all had that only a few of my students in japan had was motivation to learn the language. there was a specific, tangible advantage to being proficient or at the very least capable in english; learn to speak english and get a job that gets me out of the shanty town when i grow up. (most could also speak a little of a third language too.)

 

the biggest motivation to learning english in japan is perhaps watching foreign movies or listening to foreign pop music. you could argue they are motivated to pass their examinations but really all they are learning to do is pass the test. there in lies the flaw in curriculum development in japan.

 

my experience as an alt, and i worked with some very good educators involved in curriculum development research, taught me that i really could do nothing more in the classroom than a well trained and properly motivated JTE could do. what i could do was provide a tangible reason and motivation for students to learn. if they practice and study their english they can try to speak with weirdo foreigner in their 5 minutes of free time. and that only works if the alt is motivated and approachable. that being said, for the most part the students who benefited most from my help were students who were already keen and motivated to learn english prior to my arrival. those who were not interested simply talked to me in japanese.

 

so can alt's be effective in the classroom? as teachers no, as a teaching resource sure. but i don't think any more effective than any other teaching resource. they certainly aren't needed to effectively teach kids. if their job is to get kids proficient in english they definitely are not doing their job well. but then again neither are most JTEs. and neither is the system of education that places such emphasis on rout learning and systemized testing as the only means to gauge success.

 

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Is the number of JET Program people increasing or decreasing these days?

[soubriquet 0]

I teach a mix of phonics, survival English, phonics, vocab, phonics, adjectives, phonics and verbs. In case you have missed the point, Japanese can never teach Japanese phonics.

 

I also speak English very well. My students have excellent enunciation. This is something that no-one else in the area can teach.