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Post by regi2 on May 1, 2008 8:11:37 GMT 8
Does anyone else have this problem...? I've been at this school for almost 2 years. Recently, with the change of teachers I got a new JTL. Yay.
Whenever we discuss lesson plans, she pulls out plans from her previous ALT. I admit, I know the work of this ALT and it is very good, but what frustrates me is that the JTL won't even let me have a go. I love seeing the new ideas and working with them to create my own plans, but it seems like the teacher doesn't even want the plans changed.
Anyone else have a case of the previous ALT hanging around, after they have gone? Or perhaps they have found thier way into your school- wihtout them even having been there?
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Post by Otaku on May 1, 2008 8:56:21 GMT 8
I've had this happen but the ghost has never hung around too long. I think this could 1 of 3 different things going on here: 1. The material has worked in the JTE's other classes 2. The teacher is lazy and doesn't want to keep ears open for new ideas. 3. The teacher doesn't know what kind of situation they are walking into via ALT experience. I feel sorry for JTEs who have been working with experienced ALTs, and then get changed to another school, only to be working with an ALT still fresh behind the ears. No matter what the case may be, I think it will just take some time to show the new teacher that your ideas are also equally cool, if not better.
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yopparaisaru
Englipedia Fana
I drink copious amounts of fire and piss excellence
Posts: 312
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Post by yopparaisaru on May 1, 2008 8:58:05 GMT 8
Yea I had that a little bit, but not too bad. My main jhs was pretty easy to establish myself as the only ALT, my predecessor was only here for a year but the one before her was here for like 4 so she didn't leave too strong an impression. So it was easy for me. My main problem came from my ES's actually. Apparently the ALT before me there was insanely popular, so aside from the kids and teachers calling me by his name, I was advised after my first few times of teaching there to teach more like him. Or The kids really loved his classes, you should do what he did. Except they never told me what he did, just that I should be more like him... But I eventually found my place with them too.
Sorry to hear about your teachers though, it sounds pretty bad compared to my relatively minor experiences. It especially sucks since your JTE's the newbie at your school and you've been there longer...
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Post by regi2 on May 1, 2008 10:35:08 GMT 8
I asked to look at the plans and realised that thay are mostly written and listening, whereas my head of english and the other JTL's classes are always communication classes. Problem found... now to trick her into the way we do things around here...
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Post by junkdna on May 1, 2008 13:00:10 GMT 8
crap, if the JTL wants to plan everything including using old ALT plans I am ALLLLLLLLLLLLL for it. Remember, the less you do at this job, the more you get paid. Won't ever catch me whining about that!
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Post by regi2 on May 1, 2008 14:07:34 GMT 8
If you got nothing constructive to say; dont say nothing
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Post by Otaku on May 1, 2008 14:11:38 GMT 8
crap, if the JTL wants to plan everything including using old ALT plans I am ALLLLLLLLLLLLL for it. Remember, the less you do at this job, the more you get paid. Won't ever catch me whining about that! Seriously dude, I can't tell if you're joking by your comment but if you're for real, this is precisely the kind of attitude that gives ALTs a bad name. That kind of comment is kinda stinging considering what me and a couple of other ALTs are trying to do with the Englipedia website.
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Post by junkdna on May 7, 2008 7:57:54 GMT 8
you have got to be joking. while i appreciate and respect all the hard work you guys do, i can't believe you are trying to create more work for yourselves in a literal dead-end job. take a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep whiff of the situation around you and smell the reality.
and i say this with all due respect, but this is like the pot calling the kettle black, dude. you have a lot to learn about living and working in japan in my opinion. so let's call it a draw and agree to disagree on both points.
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Post by gumby on May 7, 2008 12:33:51 GMT 8
I can agree with junk that being an ALT can be a dead-end job. Any teacher, veteran or not, has to 'prove' themselves when they have to work with new teachers. I find I have to 'prove' myself 5 times over every year when new teachers are transferrred to my town, and I've been here longer than any one teacher in my town! BUT I have some very good years. This year in fact teachers are really listening. One teacher told me that the way I teach is so much better than any he has seen at other schools and he has asked me for advice on how to teach English. I've seen very positive attitude changes within the elementary teachers and I can only hope for some sort of ripple effect. It's taken me a long time to get here, and I know that it can be taken away from by a very unsympathetic supervisor, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. When that time comes, I'm already thinking about other options....
Websites like Englipedia make it so much easier for ALTs to 'prove' themselves by giving them the resources and information that help make a successful lesson. Also the ideas are slowly making their ways into the Japanese teachers' networks. Both of these factors ensure an improvement over the 10+ hours of bingo and fruit basket! Take it from me, Otaku, you and the others who work so hard on this website are truly making a difference.
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Post by junkdna on May 7, 2008 13:19:41 GMT 8
Beyond (a neutral) gumby, I don't think either of you has understood a thing I have said:
1) That I'm happy I don't have to make worksheets and creative activities if there is already suitable material for the job. I see nothing wrong with this. The less work I do, the more I am paid. That's a fact Jack, and I'm happy to exploit it because...
2) The ALT job is a dead-end job: no benefits, no pay raises, no advancements. The ceiling is built into the job at Day One.
So as selfish as it sounds, the less I have to bust my ass, the "better" I get paid. Hell, even my wife approves of this.
I don't know what folks are reading into my statements, but those are the only two points I have made, and I don't see one thing wrong with them. So bite me if you don't like them.
...And strangely enough, someone(s) pumped my karma toward the positive after I made both these statements. Maybe Otaku is punishing me. (That was meant as a lighthearted joke Otaku.)
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Post by Otaku on May 7, 2008 13:40:31 GMT 8
I could care less if you're selfish, lazy or burnt out being an ALT. You can exploit Englipedia and continue taking all the worksheets you want without giving back a little bit so you can continue sitting on your ass all day and not giving a crap about your students English education...that is your right and who am I to tell you anything different? After all, like you mentioned, we all get paid the same salary. I think we both know the reason I tagged your karma. I did it because on top of your post, you made a biting comment that you have since erased. It went a little something along the lines of: "...you can bite me." Whether you meant that comment as a joke or not, it came across harsh. And exercising my right just like everyone else on this forum, I nixed your karma.
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Post by grumpyoldbastard on May 7, 2008 14:24:53 GMT 8
Don't be all quick to jump on Junk, 'lazy' and 'selfish' doesn't characterize his thinking, I would use words like 'practical' and 'smart.' I think anyone who any really went out of their way 'caring about [their] students English education' would go insane in this job, unless you're actually seeing the kids a lot. For a lot of us, for example me who teaches at a 700-kid school 3 times a week, what we do in the classroom has very little impact on their English education.
That isn't to say, though, that our existence in the school, even when we don't get to visit classes that often, isn't a positive influence on their upbringing, if we make an honest effort to see them outside of class often.
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Post by regi2 on May 8, 2008 8:34:19 GMT 8
You're choice to be here and work in the 'dead end' job. Its up to you whether or not you make the effort to try and improve your situation and make your life and 'existence' count. Or you can just be lazy and selfish and bag on the efforts of people who give a crap about their life and the lives of others they come in contact with. Just sayin
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Post by grumpyoldbastard on May 8, 2008 8:56:33 GMT 8
I'm fine with my dead end job, as long as it's giving me experience with teaching, Japanese skills etc. But I'm not going to be here very long, because I realize that there's nothing much I can do to improve the situation any more, and I realize that there's only so much impact I can have. I know that's not every ALT's situation, but it's mine and I know I share it with a lot of people.
So I'm not going to rip on a guy who says it doesn't matter what worksheet you end up using, because I honestly don't think it does. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I think the positive aspects of this job reside mostly outside of the classroom.
BTW, Regi2, what you're teacher was/is doing is fucking rude and unprofessional, and wouldn't be acceptable in a lot of other jobs. I think that just underscores how little we're valued.
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Post by hellndie on May 8, 2008 17:12:33 GMT 8
Regi -- I am sure all ALTs have that ghost ALT experience.... Its annoying especially when the JTE would say "this is what XX did.. maybe you can try." It sounds like your JTE is probably uncomfortable team-teaching and just wanna rely on the 'old things'... like my JTE now. I'm basically doing the 'skit, fill in the blank, translate the 1 sentence, interview each other for 10mins and repeat after the ALT"..... lesson plans straight out from the book. Nothing original or creative or fun about those lessons. I don't mind doing skits -- its good listening practice but I hate doing "the skit" where everything is written out and students have a copy of the dialogue and they have to fill in 2 blank words. Fortunately I got my JTE to trust me to start creating the games... even though "the skit + filling in the blank dialogue" is still there.. eventually I'll slowly take it away and replace it with a normal conversation/ listening practice.
It takes a lot for teachers to trust that ALTs know what they are doing/ teaching... because they are the one who are responsible for students' pass/fail on the exams, they are the mothers/fathers of these students. If ALTs don't show that they care about teaching English or anything for that matter, its extremely hard for the JTEs/BoEs to care how ALTs are being treated/ viewed. There are exceptions of course & all I'm saying is that if you don't care, they dont care.
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Post by junkdna on May 9, 2008 7:42:28 GMT 8
@otaku,
re: Karma, it's all a joke, so no problems. I think it's funny too, so heap on the positive or negative. Either way, it's just a way to tease each other.
But re: the lazy and selfish comments, you have not seen me in class, so you have little right to say anything.
re: taking sheets from this site, I have taken all of two. TWO. TWO for the seeing impaired. and I contributed more than that. WAY MORE. even if you don't like the amount I did or didn't give in comparison to others, I GAVE more than I have ever taken or plan to take.
@regi2 :
yeah yeah, \/\/. I can see you give a crap about improving your life here and the people you come into contact with by going home.
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yopparaisaru
Englipedia Fana
I drink copious amounts of fire and piss excellence
Posts: 312
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Post by yopparaisaru on May 9, 2008 11:17:27 GMT 8
It takes a lot for teachers to trust that ALTs know what they are doing/ teaching... because they are the one who are responsible for students' pass/fail on the exams, they are the mothers/fathers of these students. If ALTs don't show that they care about teaching English or anything for that matter, its extremely hard for the JTEs/BoEs to care how ALTs are being treated/ viewed. There are exceptions of course & all I'm saying is that if you don't care, they dont care. Well just the same hellndie its not like the exams count at all, except if your talking about the all importand high school entrance exam and then the subsequent college entrance exam, it doesn't matter what the kids get on their other tests they'll be graduated to the next level regardless. And its obvious that many JTE's know this and don't care about the outcome of the tests. I mean the students who do good get a sticker and a verbal encouragement, those who do bad get a sticker and verbal encouragement maybe mixed in with you should try harder next time... From that argument what does it matter if the ALT in the class cares about their job or not. Its not like we actually teach anything to these students other than bad grammar and useless pre-scripted conversational phrases. We can either engage the students in bad grammar or dejectedly repeat the rhetoric. And even if you do care and you try your utmost to help the students, you end getting "kindly reminded" that the book doesn't teach it that way and please change your lesson plan/accent/speech to accomodate the all important book from which all English is derived and spread to the masses. And as for the BoE/JTE's caring about how we the ALT are treated, is crap. Even if they see us trying our best and really reaching out the kids our treatment doesn't change. Like junk said (while i may not agree with the attitude percieved in his posts, he brings up good points) our job has no benefits, no advancements, no anything. for example, If we ganbaru working on POS computers with less than Microsoft Office software for a year or two before our commitment to the job shows the BoE that we deserve what we already should have been given, thats not an improvement, it just further shows the fact that they don't care about us. And they have no reason to. After all ALTs are a dime a dozen, the majority of us come for a year or two and then leave. Only a select few actually stay long enough to even make an impression on their BoE/JTE's. So its only natural that the few who do stay and teach and try are automaitcally lumped together with greater "I'm only here because i wanted an adventure" crowd. So ultimately I'm trying to say that even if you care, they still don't. BUt for me, I'm in GOB's boat, I'm fine with this job, cause its giving me valuable experience in teaching. And placing me in a position to watch good teachers teach (I do have some rather good JTE's) and learn from them. BUt just the same, try as I might to be a good teacher, I know they don't really care about me, I mean they know my job is temporary and soon someone will come to take my place. then the process will start all over again. If we really wanted the JTE's/BoE's to care about us, then what we need are more permanent ALT positions. contracts that are several years long so the everybody involved knows and understands the level of commitment the ALT is offering and can suitably respond in kind.
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Post by junkdna on May 14, 2008 7:44:30 GMT 8
It takes a lot for teachers to trust that ALTs know what they are doing/ teaching... because they are the one who are responsible for students' pass/fail on the exams, they are the mothers/fathers of these students. If ALTs don't show that they care about teaching English or anything for that matter, its extremely hard for the JTEs/BoEs to care how ALTs are being treated/ viewed. There are exceptions of course & all I'm saying is that if you don't care, they dont care. If we really wanted the JTE's/BoE's to care about us, then what we need are more permanent ALT positions. contracts that are several years long so the everybody involved knows and understands the level of commitment the ALT is offering and can suitably respond in kind. I agree with you a million percent. For most people (me included), JET was a way to GET BACK to the wonderful side of Japan I had experienced in my high school and college years here. Being an ALT was not meant to be a perm job. Reality has set in for me. Beyond financial and IT jobs, there is little, jobwise, for the average expat in Japan. So English is the fall back position. I think many use it to check out Japan. Too bad it has affected so many so horribly so recently. Too bad Japan isn't more open to creative individuals. I think this country would benefit greatly from them.
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