Teacher Perks

For those of you who work in the public or private school system in Japan, you have likely noticed that many teachers are always (or at least seem to be) very, very busy. To make matters worse, public school teachers aren't exactly rolling in money when you look at their raw salaries. However, there are some very substantial job perks that almost make the long days and low pay worth it.

WS: Alphabet Maze 1st G JHS

Here is a nice activity for 中1 students (or even elementary students) once they've finished learning their minuscules and majuscules.

The alphabet letters are laid out in a grid pattern. Each student begins with his or her pencil at "START" and draws a line through the grid as the teacher says letters aloud. As an easy and fun way to check everyone's answers at the end of the activity, this pattern and answer set is designed to form a picture: Have the students color in all the boxes through which they drew a line while solving the "maze". The resulting picture should be of a Space Invader.

By the way, some students of this age group probably won't have heard of the actual 70s arcade game, but they may still know this character if there is a Taito Station video game arcade in your town.

Get the file (with answers) here:
OpenOffice Document
PDF Document

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Japanese Textbook Characters: Part 2

Continuing last week's article, here's a look at the characters of the other three junior high English textbooks.

Total English
Art Style: The Most Generic Anime.
The ALT: Female. From Canada.

Click to enlarge!

Japanese Textbook Characters: Part 1

Next in our textbook bonanza, let's take a look at the characters appearing in the six new junior high English texts.

New Horizon
Art Style: Educational comic book.
The ALT: Female. From the US.

Click to enlarge!

Supplementing Junior High English Texts

The other week we learned about the six MEXT-approved textbooks for teaching English to junior high school students in Japan.

Ostensibly, MEXT leaves room for other textbooks that meet its curriculum guidelines. However, those six books are the official English text for 99.9% of junior high schools students in Japan, according to the annual 教科書レポート (kyokasho report, "textbook report") released by the Japanese Publishers Union.

I qualify the books as "official" texts because although every school in Japan must assign MEXT-approved texts to their pupils, some schools, especially private ones, may not actually use those books in class.

MEXT's 2011-2013 Curriculum Update

In last week's post, we mentioned MEXT's massive update to their 学習指導要領 (gakushuu shidou youryou, "curriculum guidelines"), already in place in elementary schools since April, 2011 and scheduled to roll out in junior high schools and high schools in April, 2012 and April, 2013, respectively.

These guidelines define what must be covered in textbooks, so let's take a look at the new changes before we delve into the new editions themselves. (And if you teach in Japan but don't know what these guidelines are, you probably should.) So here we go!

New Junior High School Textbooks in Japan

Heisei 17 books are so 7 years ago.

Last summer, we gave you a sneak peak at the upcoming edition of New Crown for the 2012 (平成24年度) school year. New Crown is actually only one of several texts approved by MEXT (the Monkasho) for use in junior high school classrooms in Japan.

As all major publishers update their content to stay in line with MEXT's curriculum guidelines, rolled out last April in elementary schools and scheduled to go into effect at junior highs from April, 2012, Japanese textbooks are getting major facelifts.

Today we kick off a miniseries by introducing the big players of junior high English. Here are the new editions of the six major textbooks used around the country:

Demoshika Sensei: Protesting Teachers

In a past Being an ALT series entry, we talked about the kinds of Japanese teachers you might encounter while working as an ALT. As a bit of an addendum and a bit of a departure from that line of thought, today we'll introduce the term デモしか先生 (demoshika sensei) and some of its associated history.

Being an ALT #16: School Lunch

We've posted before about school lunch, several times. But to be more comprehensive we've decided to update our old entries and incorporate them into the Being an ALT series.

So, let's explore the wonders of school lunch time in Japan.

Being an ALT #15: Elementary Lesson Plan Example

One of our readers recently gave a very insightful comment about being a new JET and feeling overwhelmed by the elementary school lessons she's asked to teach as part of her position.

Elementary is definitely a different ball game from the (until recently) more common junior high school and high school ALT placements. Today we'll offer some brief opinions on what makes the elementary environment different and share an example lesson format that struggling new ALTs can try out.

Being an ALT #13: Demo Lessons

Most ALTs will be expected to perform demo classes during the year. Some will be just for in-school staff, some for the PTA, and sometimes you'll have to perform in front of a pretty large crowd of teachers from the area. Very occasionally, you'll find TV/radio crews, too.

Being An ALT #12: Is It Really This Easy?

One thing which will probably occur to you pretty quickly in this job is that not a lot is usually expected of you.

You can potentially change that, though I wouldn't guarantee it. This entry is about how you can use your free time at school.

Being an ALT #10: More School Hopping

In the last installment of our Being an ALT series, we discussed how some ALT jobs cover more than one school and how hopping between schools can affect your experience as a teacher in Japan. This time we'll continue that discussion and look particularly at how an ALT's time is split between multiple schools and the ways that can increase or decrease your workload.

Exclusive Preview of New JHS Textbooks!

Here at AccessJ we're always one step ahead of the game. We tear the competition in two with our cut-throat professionalism and unstoppable momentum. Out of the way "Gumper ALT Life Stories" and "JipanGU" sites, AJ gone crazy.

Anyway, so we got hold of a copy of next year's JHS textbooks (at least, for selected schools). It's a reworked version of New Crown - that series I got so angry about last year with my "5 Most Annoying Pages in New Crown", "4 Stupidest Characters in New Crown", and "3 Appalling Stories from New Crown" posts.

Here's your chance for a sneaky peak before 2012!

Being an ALT #9: Hopping Between Schools

In some ALT positions, you will teach at not just one school, but instead rotate through a set of assigned schools. This is especially common among junior high school and elementary school ALTs, but even high school ALTs may find themselves covering a few small, rural high schools or trucking out to a special needs school once every couple weeks.

This game of musical workplaces can be good or bad, depending on your preferences. Over our next two Being an ALT posts, we'll discuss some of the pros and cons of this arrangement. First, we'll look at some of the interpersonal impacts of having more schools to visit, and next time we'll consider scheduling issues it might provoke. If you're considering a move to a multi-school job, we hope these posts will provide you some food for thought.

Being an ALT #7: Physical Resources

This week we'll cover some of the objects you can use in your lessons.

The 100 yen store is your friend for this one, but some things are also best bought in bulk from the internet.

Read on.

Being an ALT #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

A typical Japanese school staff room.
I'm sure all of these people are lovely.

Thanks to Japan's system of workplace transfers, every new year of work here is like a co-worker lottery. The grand prize is a team of socially adept, caring, hard workers with whom you'll spend a smooth year of work. The grand un-prize is a year-full of people you can't stand and an all-you-can-eat buffet of frustration and despair.

Here are some bread-and-butter stereotypes that may or may not be remotely accurate of the kinds of Japanese English teachers you may work alongside as an ALT:

Being an ALT #4: Planning Classes

As I mentioned before, a lot of classes will involve you making a game, activity or worksheet. This is an acquired skill, although you'll be surprised how quickly you pick it up, and often horrified when you re-examine the sheets or activities you made last year/when you started the job.

This week we'll talk a little bit about the process of putting together something for your class.

Being an ALT #3: An Average Day

We kicked off this series with an explanation of what an ALT actually is, and how it differed from an ELT. We later explained your role in school.

This time, we'll have a detailed look at the average school day for an ALT.

Being an ALT #2: Your Role in School

Your Role
As mentioned last time,

"An ALT is supposed to act as support to a Japanese English Teacher (usually abbreviated to JET or JTE, but not to be confused with JET programme participants), while an ELT usually plans and executes classes alone by instruction from their employer."

You are not on the same level as Japanese teachers. You don't have the same status or responsibility. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your current and future goals.