ALT and professional development, further study

There are many ways to further both your personal and professional development whilst on the JET Programme both inside and outside the classroom. You can take advantage of cultural hobbies such as shuji (Japanese calligraphy), aikido, karate(martial arts) or even ikebana (flower arranging) -many of which may be available through your school or Board of Education so please ask your Supervisor about these cultural activities. In addition you might like to further your education by doing a Japanese course or a higher degree to improve your employment prospects later on.

However, perhaps one of the most important things that an effective ALT can do whilst on the JET Programme, is to forge a strong relationship to his or her working environment.　In short, it is important for the ALT to "fit in" with the rest of the staff.　The ALT should feel like part of the school, not like a foreign visitor. Firstly, this is because effective team-teaching requires such a close relationship between the two teachers.　Secondly, the main purpose of having a foreign teacher in a school is to promote intercultural ties between that native speaker and the students.　However, if the ALT cannot relate to his or her Japanese work environment, how can he or she expect the students to effectively bond with them?

While this may seem like common sense, many ALTs, particularly "one-shots", might find this quite difficult.　"One-shots" are typically in a given school for 2　 4 weeks at any one time.　Sadly, it often seems that just as they start to fit in or make friends in the teachers' room, they are whisked away to another school and forced to start all over again!　It is therefore important for such ALT's to keep relationship-building in mind.

Every school and Board of Education office is unique.　The ability of a new staff member to fit in to any given position is entirely different, depending on the nature of that office.　"One-shots" in particular can attest to this, as they are required to consistently renew the experience of fitting into a new school every few weeks.　In some schools, a new staff member may feel like "part of the family" within minutes of entering the teachers' room for the first time.　In other schools, the same staff member, (particularly if he or she is an ALT with poor Japanese language ability) may spend three weeks in a school without ever once speaking to a non-JTE staff member.　This disparity in the nature of working environments means that there are no absolutes in terms of one's ability to make friends within the workplace.　

· Japanese Office Vocabulary.　If you've been teaching in Japan for more than 2 weeks, you've no doubt recognized a variety of set expressions that are used in the office every day.　Virtually every ALT orientation manual makes references to this, and we, here at "Communicative English", feel compelled to follow suit.　So here is a list of CRITICAL Japanese Expressions:　

You've probably seen lists similar to this one a hundred times since coming to Japan.　However, using this vocabulary has such a profound effect on the office that it is definitely worth mentioning again.　

· Make friends with non-JTE staff members.　Even if they don't speak a word of English and your Japanese isn't so great, there is still a great opportunity for communicating.　Try and make friends with the people whose desks are adjacent to yours.　Bring in pictures of your home town, or currency from your home country.　Point and use other gestures.

· Study Japanese.　This is another way to make friends with the people near you.　Teachers of any subject are invariably interested in helping you learn a few words or phrases, or new kanji characters.　Most of the time, you don't even have to ask.　If they see you with a Japanese text book open in front of you, people from all over the room will come over and try to teach you new things.　Furthermore, this is a prime example of how to strengthen those intercultural ties mentioned above.　People at your school will see that you want to learn from them so they will naturally be more interested in learning from you.　

o Try to sit in during art and music classes.　This will be fun for you, as you don't need a strong command of Japanese to enjoy these subjects.　It will also be great for the students and other teachers to see you taking an active role in their school community!

Another major reason for having native speakers of a foreign language in the classroom is to provide students with the motivation to learn a new language.　This is achieved primarily by your mere presence in the classroom.　However, there are many things you can do to increase the motivation of your students to learn.　

· Make English real to the students.　Your students may view English as a purely academic subject. A compulsory subject with no practical, real-world application.　Show them that English is fun and practical!

o E-mail.　You can set up an e-mail account just for students to write to you.　This way, they can practice real-world communicative English outside of the classroom.　It becomes something they want to learn and use on their own.　(This is a particularly good idea for "one-shot" ALT's who only see students for 2　 4 weeks at a time, and therefore don't normally feel they have much impact on their students' motivation.)

· Rewards.　Rewards can be in the form of verbal praise for correctly　 spoken English, or in the physical form of stickers or small trinkets from your home country.　

· Textbook and Lesson Planning.　This should go without saying, but it really helps to have a good understanding of the textbook and the lesson plan.　Ideally, the ALT should be collaboratively involved in creating the lesson plan; however this is not always possible.　In any event, the ALT should definitely know what is happening in the classroom.　The lesson should not present any surprises for the ALT.　It is important for the ALT and the JTE to present an image of solidarity and support throughout every lesson.　

· Activities and Resources.　The JTE often looks upon the ALT as a source of miscellaneous activities for the students.　It is therefore a good idea to keep some resources of your own to hand.　There are numerous collections of activities available.　We highly recommend Vinko Bosnyak's Team Teaching Gambare!,　There is also AJET's Team Taught Pizza.

Whilst you are working in Japan, why not further your qualifications and improve your employability at the same time? One of the easiest ways to do this is by distance learning. There are a multitude of courses available that can be studied over a period of one to five years.

See　http://www.hoyle.com/distance.htm　an extremely useful site providing a wealth of information on worldwide distance learning courses, internet links, professional development courses and more

There are many universities, colleges of further education and specialist language schools offering both distance learning courses online and via post. For a quick guide to what is available, please see:

http://www.teaching-english-in-japan.net/directory/cat/17　 for information on graduate TEFL degrees and some courses specifically geared towards people working in Japan.

You may well be thinking about leaving the JET programme at the end of this academic year. If you are, then you are probably wondering what you will be doing next year and what job opportunities will be available to you? How can you use the transferable skills and experience that you have gained during your time in Japan, as a JET, to further your career development etc.? Every year, CLAIR holds a special seminar usually in January or February for those JETs that are due to leave Japan within the coming year.. This seminar is designed to provide the JET with as much career development advice as possible in order to facilitate your reintegration back into your home country and employment.

In addition The Japan Exchange and Teaching Alumni Association (JETAA) http://www.jet.org/ has a wealth of information and links for both specific post-JET career opportunities ( there is a searchable job bank with employment in various countries ) and other useful topics relating to the JET programme.