What do I do?
- Aimee Miessler
- Dec 2, 2022
- 4 min read
Hello!
So, you know that I help the main teacher teach English, but you might be wondering what that entails. I will dedicate this post to answering exactly that as well as some other questions that have been asked!
What do I do inside and outside of class?
I am an Assistant Language Teacher for elementary and junior high school students. I help the Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) or HomeRoom Teacher (HRT) with their lessons. JTE`s are employed as dedicated English teachers whereas HRT`s have English lessons to teach on top of all of the other responsibilities they have as the student`s main teacher. In junior high school, the JTE's teach the grammar points, and I come in once a week to do an activity with the students to help solidify the grammar point. I use an ALT-created website that has many fun games and activities to use in class as well as suggestions from Mal in order to create a fun learning experience for the students (altopedia.net).
In my elementary schools, I have less autonomy in lesson planning for the moment and I usually help out more with pronunciation and translation of basic vocabulary. My JTE's tend to follow and complete the activities from the textbooks. I want my students to enjoy English class as much as they can, so I tend to make wild gestures during explanations, dance whenever we listen to songs, and find connections for words they have a difficult time remembering the pronunciation to. For example, my 4th year elementary students have a difficult time remembering how to say "glue stick" because there is no L in Japanese so Mal gave me the suggestion of referencing Gru (グル) from the Despicable Me/Minions movies.
Do I need to know and speak Japanese in class?
Technically, knowledge of the Japanese language is optional but beneficial when applying for the JET program. However, some ALT's have a basic knowledge of Japanese under their belt and can communicate very basic words and phrases with students and teachers. I asked an ALT who came to Japan not knowing a single word of Japanese how she works in her classes. She mentioned how it hinders a lot of her encounters and her points often do not get across to the students and teachers. She wants to learn more Japanese during her time here.
I have found it very helpful to have some level of Japanese because it became a conversation starter amongst the teachers and staff in the first days at my schools. Google translate is helpful, but sometimes doesn't accurately communicate the point I want to make across. I once tried explaining the meaning of the phrase "There are things you know you don't know and there are things you don't know you don't know" to one of my work friends and the farthest I got was "I understand that I do not know things." I can also talk to students in Japanese if they are stuck on their work or can write it down in Japanese to make it easier for them to read and remember the pronunciation.
How are the students?
Students are generally shy and wary of strangers and new people and tend to avoid them and stay quiet around them. My predecessor, who is a taller man with scruffy facial hair, said it took some time for his students to get acquainted with him.
However, I believe that because I am a smaller, half-Japanese, Japanese-speaking female, I have luckily found the opposite to be true. Students come up to me and have started talking about random things and asking me questions they have about me. They are fascinated that I am left-handed and one class asked me to write with my right hand. Two of my students gave me little drawings after my first class with them and the shy students will respond to me if I ask them a question in Japanese. I've been trying to ask them how to say words or read kanji in Japanese to show them that I am also learning Japanese and that it's okay to make mistakes! Some students are taller than me (I have a 12 year old 6th grader that looks like he is 5'10"/178cm)!
Junior high school students are the most shy. Between my two schools, I have found that the 1st graders are kind and shy, but will respond to you; 2nd graders are wild and always speak and make jokes to each other; 3rd graders are shy and will not speak to you at all (they will go as far as hide their laughs so you don't hear them). I have since been able to connect with some 3rd graders on Halloween since I came dressed as a witch and the female students thought I was cute and kept telling me "kawaii!" to my costume. I`ve also bribed them with stickers and candy.
I will continue to update this post so feel free to check back to this post!
Thank you!
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