How to ALT – Assistant Language Teacher

How to ALT – Assistant Language Teacher in a Japanese School

I once saw a forum post saying something along the lines of: “How do you ALT? HELPHELPHELP I’m starting my ALT position tomorrow and I don’t know how to ALT.” I remember chuckling at it for a few seconds before my brain was distracted by something else and it was gone.

Purpose of this Post

The purpose of this post is to share some of the questions I have about my upcoming ALT job. I’m two weeks away from starting the job, and I feel like I have little knowledge about what is expected. I intend to write further posts as I find out the answers to some of the questions. And I’m hoping they will become a resource for anyone in a similar position.

About me: For some context

My name is Nathan. I’m 37 years old. I’ve been teaching at English conversation schools (eikaiwa) in Japan for over 7 years now. I have little to no knowledge about the public school system in Japan. I’ve never even stepped inside one. As well as this my Japanese is embarrassingly poor for the amount of time that I’ve been here.

My new position as an Assistant Language Teacher

A few months ago I learned about a job opportunity to be an ALT directly employed by the Board of Education. This is an ALT that is directly recruited by the City’s Board of Education rather than the JET program. I jumped at the opportunity: my wife is pregnant and an 8am to 5pm day seemed a lot more family friendly than the 1pm to 9pm that I currently work in my English conversation school job. I had recently taken a part-time position giving one lecture per week at a local university. So before I applied for the ALT job I let them know that I had already accepted this part-time job, and asked whether I could do my ALT job around it. The Board of Education came back to me saying that that was fine and I would be employed in my ALT position 4.5 days per week. So I went ahead and applied for the job.

How do I ALT?

So, now I’m in the same position as that stressed person asking for advice the night before their job started. It’s not quite the day before, but I’m two weeks away from starting my ALT job and not only do I not know what I’m doing, but I have no idea if I can get the information before my job starts.

Half Yearly General Meeting

Last Friday there was a meeting with all of the ALTs in our city and the Japanese English teacher representatives from each school. There I had the opportunity to meet some of the English teachers I’ll be working with. The area that I’m working in covers three schools, one Junior High School and two Elementary schools. At the meeting was also the ALT that I’ll be taking over from, which was very helpful.

The Introductory speech

The official part of the meeting was a bit of a daunting experience. The staff-member of the Board of Education who is in charge of all the ALTs spoke for about 15 minutes in Japanese. He took us through a booklet of guidelines about being an ALT. I sat through that, wondering how much my fellow ALTs were understanding and beginning to feel as if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. All I could follow of the Japanese speech was the page numbers of the booklet that he was referring to. At least most of the booklet was translated into English so I could read along.

Sorting out my schedule

After the introductory speech was finished each individual group of schools split into their small groups and it was time to talk about my schedule. That is how was my time best split between the three schools. The representative of the Junior High School apologised and told me they were going to talk about my schedule in Japanese. I told her that that was fine as with my complete lack of knowledge about what the job would entail I didn’t really feel I had too much to offer. So they started talking about where I would be on particular days. I could understand that they were talking about specific days and times and ams and pms and school clubs, but I couldn’t follow the details of what was being decided.

An awkward moment

A minute into this negotiation I started to worry that the message that I was not available on a Tuesday morning had not gotten through to these teachers. I hadn’t considered this before because I’d assumed that the query I made before applying for the job had gone to the teachers of the schools I would actually be teaching at. I was in a bit of an uncomfortable situation. They were having a conversation in Japanese and although I was right there, I wasn’t really part of the discussion. I didn’t want to interrupt, but at the same time I didn’t want them to be wasting time making a plan that would have to be changed.

“Sumimasen” [excuse me] I said. Before changing to English.

“Do you know that I’m not available on Tuesday mornings?”

There was a pause.

“No… we’re not aware of that,” said the Junior High School teacher.

There was some general consternation between the teachers. The Board of Education representative who had given the introductory speech was called over and asked some questions. He seemed to allay their fears, and they continued with their negotiations.

Given my schedule

About five minutes later they were finished and they told me the days that I would be at each school.

I also learned (to my great relief) that the first week I would be at work was actually the last week of the spring vacation. This meant that I’d have a week to orient myself at the schools, in which I could try to figure out what my job actually was.

I was then asked to fill out a form in which I stated what I would be doing during that week when there were no students. Of course, the students are off but the teachers are expected to work. I explained that generally having no idea what was expected of me I’d have trouble filling in that form. I got some advice about what it could consist of, and it sounded as though it could be pretty vague. eg. orienting myself with the materials, preparing materials etc…

My current situation

So, I’m starting my new job in two weeks. At this stage I have no idea about the syllabus, what is expected of me in class (in terms of working with the Japanese teacher), whether I should have anything prepared for my first day.

I am able to get in touch with the leader of the ALTs in our city. I’ve known him socially over the past few years. I’m also in contact with the previous ALT that I’m taking over from. He of course has two weeks left on his contract.I also have the contact details of the representative of the Junior High School. I will send them these questions to try to orient myself.

Questions – directly pertaining to the job

What (if anything) am I expected to have prepared for the first day?

Is there any way I can see the syllabus (text books) for next year?

How many different classes will I be teaching a day?

Just for the Junior High School

What is the total number of students at the Junior High School?

How many different English classes are there?

How many times per week do I see a particular English class?

About how many students are there in each class?

What I do know

I know I’m teaching at three schools, I know what the schools are and where they are. The Junior High School I will be working at is my home base and I know the days I am at the other schools.

Perhaps contrary to the general tone of this post, I am relaxed about it. I am working hard to figure out what I am supposed to know or have prepared for when I start. I’m looking forward to finding out and being able to share that information.

Has anyone ever been in a position like this before? Not only starting a new job but being unsure of what’s expected of you on your first day? Has anyone been an ALT in a Japanese school? What was your experience?

Check out my next post about my ALT experience: How to Start Your First ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) Job