Senior High Schools and the Permanent ALT

Team-teaching in a Senior High School affords the JTE and the ALT many advantages. In most cases, the ALT is based solely at that particular school.　This is arguably preferable to the situation of the many one-shots that frequent various Junior High Schools, since the Senior High ALT has the time to establish an effective working/personal relationship with both the school staff and its students.

　

In Senior High, the ALT and JTE not only plan lessons together, but also have a fantastic opportunity to learn from each other and maximize on their collaborative strengths. They can essentially forge a good working relationship as, in most instances, each class will have contact with the ALT at least once a week.　

　

Many Senior High ALTs will agree that their role is quite demanding due to the pressure on teachers and students alike to obtain good examination results. However, despite this, working at a Senior High School can be very rewarding both personally and professionally.

Below is an essay written by Angela Brenner on the pitfalls and triumphs of being a Senior High School ALT:

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"I'm so proud of you!" I said sobbing, while I hugged Matisha and Ronaldo. There they stood wearing their graduation robes and a shocked concerned look. "Are you OK?" they asked me. "Yeah, sorry. I just can't believe that you are graduating. It seems like yesterday you were just freshmen." And it was true, I had watched them grow from being children in so many ways to adults with their own goals, talents and opinions. But, all my students were not simply kids who sat in my class, they were more like family. I knew their strengths and weaknesses and insecurities. I knew their sense of humor and when they were having a bad day or were sick. I used to confuse people who knew I was unmarried by talking about my "kids." But, anyone who has ever been a teacher knows the most important and rewarding thing is your relationship with your students, your fellow teachers, and your superiors; it's what drives the whole thing. It's that love and respect that keeps you coming back even after you have had a day when you'd rather crawl under your desk and hide.

　

In Japan as an ALT and team teacher those relationships are even more crucial for good teaching, a sense of belonging, and the motivation to overcome all the new challenges that come your way. ALT's and JTE's have to invest time to talk about lessons, and classroom concerns as well as time to get to know each other as people. Sometimes it's difficult to find the time either in school or outside to have time to talk about your lesson plans, much less to just sit and chat, but even the smallest investment will make life at your school more comfortable and productive. Bringing in a package of snacks to share with everyone, asking your fellow teachers how their vacation was, even just smiling and saying good morning will make everyone more comfortable and willing to work with each other.

　

Talking with your JTE's about your lesson plan is absolutely necessary! You have to meet with each other to insure that your goals and objectives match, so that each person knows what they will do in the lesson and what students will do. It may seem like a hassle, but class will go more smoothly and you both will feel better teaching together and your students will learn more as well.

For ALT's, who often have no teaching experience, it is also helpful to have your JTE's help you trouble-shoot your lesson, helping you iron out potential problems in understanding, directions, or activities that may just be flops. We all know how stressful it is to have a lesson bomb! Where students are bored or don't understand the assignment and therefore become frustrated and unruly. Your JTE's can help you to create more successful lessons. Remember they know the students much better than you because they see them everyday and they have 200 students where you have maybe a few hundred or a thousand.

　

What if your JTE is too busy to chat, or is reluctant to chat with you? (Often because they are insecure about their own English skills.) It's true that they are adults and there is nothing you can do to force them to talk with you. But, try some alternatives and try to be flexible. Perhaps you need to spend some extra time before or after school to meet with that teacher. Or maybe you need to resort to showing up at lunchtime with your lesson plan and handouts. Even if that means you give them the lesson plan the day before your lesson, so they can simply read it and know what you expect from them and the students in the lesson, it will help out during class.

　

ALT's who are lucky enough to stay at the same school everyday have chances that traveling ALT's do not have. Firstly, we have the time to get to know our fellow teachers, and our students who we see, usually quite often. We also usually get to have more say in what students do and learn. We usually are left to create the lesson plan, activities, and often how student learning is evaluated. We work with our JTE's to create year-long goals for what students will learn and what our shared goals are for students. We can decide what form the lessons will take. Will the lesson focus on listening and speaking, or reading and writing? The JTE's can decide how best to use the expertise of their ALT, as a source of native and natural spoken English or as an editor of written English. If your JTE's are unsure how best to use you, take the initiative and try to offer some help. The first time your help may be politely refused, but your JTE's will remember your enthusiasm and willingness to help and appreciate it. They may later decide to take you up on your offer or ask for your help another time, knowing you are ready and willing to assist them.

　

As an ALT who stays at the same school you have a huge chance to make a difference in your school outside the classroom as well as in it. Start an English Club or create a special project for your present club members, like a play or a movie, publish a book or newspaper, or create a service-learning project. Do language and culture activities with your English Club that you cannot do in class because of time constraints and the sheer number of students. Create bulletin boards that explain your home country culture: holidays, pop culture, slang. Create an English newsletter for students and teachers using simple English. Start a pen-pal exchange using the internet. (www.epals.com is an excellent site) Start an English cafe where students can come have lunch together and speak English. Create an English room where students can relax, read English magazines, and chat with you. Create writing contests and display the work at the yearly Culture Festival. Or set up a display of your home country at the Culture Festival complete with games and food and whatever else you think will be fun. Join in on the teacher's play or activities at the Culture Festival. Join in on club activities after school. Join other classes and help teachers who are not English teachers. Volunteer to help with English workshops, exchanges, and to go local elementary students. Usually people just don't think to ask the ALT if they would like to join in or tell you what to do with all that free time you have sitting at your desk. Take the time to make a difference at your school and in your community. Sharing your talents and everyone getting to know you is the best way to share your culture, English, and feel like your job is fulfilling.

　

And how can you make the biggest difference in your classroom? Plan, plan, plan! Just like the first rule of real estate is "Location, location, location." Planning is the first rule of good teaching. Good classes and teaching are no more of an accident than a great NBA basketball game. It takes hard work, a lot of thought, and creativity to make a stellar lesson. When you first arrive, or it is the start of a brand new school year, sit down and make a list of goals for your students and classes. If you haven't a clue at all, sit down with the textbook and see what things the textbook thinks is important for students to know. Sit down with our JTE and talk about what the emphasis of your lessons should be: listening, speaking, reading, writing. Ask them what their goals are for the class. Ask them questions about the textbook: How closely do you need to follow the textbook? How much creativity you can have working with and around the textbook? Which units are most important for students to learn and really know well? --From these lists and conversations, you should come up with goals and objectives that are the basis of all your lessons, no matter their content or topic.

　

In planning individual lessons, take these guidelines as the basis for your decision of topic and content. Should you include a writing activity, listening and speaking activity, a reading activity? Should the lesson be interactive, or more teacher-centered? Once you have made all of these decisions you can start choosing individual activities that will suit your needs. For example, I teach first year Oral Communication B. For me the focus of my class is listening and speaking using everyday useful English, such as asking directions or ordering food in a restaurant. Because the focus of my class is communication in English my JTE's and I want students to speak and listen to English as much as possible. Therefore in developing lessons, every class needs an activity where students are talking with each other in English, sharing needed information, or gathering it. Since students tend to be shy speaking to the whole class and that also means only one student at a time had a chance to speak English, smaller group activities work better, or activities which involved students going from classmate to classmate to collect needed information. It also works well because then my lessons are interactive, high interest, and keep students moving so we have fewer or no discipline problems. Keeping all of these elements in mind, then all I have to do is find fun and meaningful games and language activities to use in my lesson and determine what vocabulary was the most important to practice and focus on.

　

Planning is also the key to good discipline and motivation in your classroom. Lessons that are boring, irrelevant to students, disjointed so activities don't fit together well by build on information, or are just plain unorganized, are just asking for the curtains to be set on fire. Bored students are more likely to cause problems. If the information is challenging but not impossible, students are active and most work centers around them, and lessons reflect student experiences and interests, you will have few if any problems in your classroom. Students will also enjoy your class and feel more motivated to study and learn English. We all like to learn things that we find fun and interesting. Keeping lessons fun and fast-paced will make teaching more fun and less stressful because your students are also having a good time learning.

　

So, what if a lesson bombs? If in the middle of the lesson you are visualizing that you are on a deserted tropical island, meanwhile dodging origami airplanes? What do you do then? First try to have a sense of humor, everyone has terrible lessons, it's really OK. Think about if there is a key piece of the activity or assignment that students are not understanding, stop your students and explain, have your JTE help you by translating if necessary. Ask yourself if the students knew all the vocabulary and grammar they needed before they started the activity. You may need to stop and remind them, or teach them a few key words or concepts. Ask your JTE what they think would make the activity work better. You can do this during the lesson, so you can stop and teach the students missing information or instructions. Or, after the lesson, ask your JTE what they thought went wrong. And never be afraid just to press the "panic button" and end the activity if it's not really working. Always try to have some back up games or variations of the activity in mind while you are writing your lesson plan, especially if it's something you've never tried before. Try to learn a few games that only need calk and a little imagination just in case. Lastly, just try to improve your lesson; there's no need to throw the whole thing out. How can you change it so that it works? Some of my best lessons and activities have come from activities and games that first bombed, but then I changed them to meet the needs of my class and students.

　

As I said before, relationships are the key and the joy in teaching. Take time to build a relationship with your students. Be clear from day one what you expect in your classroom. What students will be expected to do, learn, and what they will be tested on. What behaviors do you want to encourage in your students? Do you want students to feel free to make mistakes in English as long as they are trying to communicate? Then tell them, "I expect you to try your best! Speak as much English as possible. I don't care if you make mistakes. I like to hear mistakes, because it means you are learning." Have high but realistic expectations for your classes, students will usually rise to meet them. Keep your high expectations, even when perhaps the other people around you have given up on the kids long ago and say things like, "They don't care about English. They'll never be able to speak English. These are the stupid kids." (Which many ALT's encounter in lower level schools.) Give your students sincere encouragement and praise. Be positive. Smile. Try to have a relaxed classroom where everyone enjoys learning. Build trust in your classroom so students feel free to make the mistakes that lead to learning. Try to get to know your students' hobbies and interests. You realistically can't get to know all your students, but even getting to know a few students will encourage them and make you feel good about your teaching. And you never know what long term effects your interest and friendship can have on your students. Think about all of the things you were brave enough to try and discover because a beloved teacher inspired and encouraged you.

　

Last year at a conference for ALT's and JTE's, there was a discussion about the role of ALT's in school and in team-teaching. The JTE's said, they felt that discipline was something they could offer in the team-teaching situation, but that most important thing ALT's have to offer, as native speakers of English and role models to students, is motivation. ALT's, the JTE's said, are young and cool and fun. The students enjoy their sense of humor, friendliness, and many talents. One JTE pointed out that because the students like the ALT for who they are as a person, they want to speak English, so they can get to know them better. So, taking into account all the stress we feel living in a new culture, new language, having a new job and having all new relationships.

Perhaps of all the advice given to ALT's, the best advice is that which was given to me by my mother, so many times I could have screamed, "Just be yourself!" Try to have fun with your co-workers and your students. Have a fun in your classroom, smile, laugh when things get tough, or even cry when needed. But just be yourself, all the talents, humor, and even short-comings that make up who you are. After all, if teaching is all about relationships, people also want to know who you are. Let them know who that is. The best and brightest pieces of who you are.

　

By Angela Brenner

3^rd Year JET and Regional Prefectural Advisor for Gifu City

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