A Day in the Life of an English Teacher in Japan

I started my blog in 2012, yet I have got only 4 posts. This time around, it looked like writing a blog addressing some good (or bad) working experiences from Japan would be a fascinating comeback.

After my graduation, I dreamed of working in some corporations or organizations when RCSC refused to enroll me in PGDPA. The HR Officer or Research Officer, that kind of job. The dream did not include working in Japan, leave aside teaching English to the Japanese kids. Had I seen this coming, I wouldn’t have given up the other option RCSC has offered me in PGDE. In fact, it would have been a plus-point here! And I wouldn’t have wasted the damn 4 months figuring out what to do in a foreign soil. However, had I chosen that option, I would have missed this great opportunity here. You see, everything happens for a reason. I’m a firm believer of this adage.

I began teaching in Japan since June this year.  I work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Public Schools. Basically, I plan the lessons and team teach the lesson with a Japanese teacher to 5^th and 6^th grade students. Japanese Elementary Schools have grades 1-6, students aged 6-12. Due to the shortage of English teachers in Japan (or say just human resource management), one ALT covers several schools. For instance, I go to four different elementary schools, one school every day. I’m grateful that this allows me to approach the work with different brand of sweet and adorable kids every morning.

“Japanese are really time conscious” is what most of you would say. I agree with you, but you got to know this too- on time in Japan means before time. Every day I get to work, I cannot help but awed by people’s punctuality and dedication to their work. Let me disclose the mystery if you’re pondering why people care too much about time in Japan. To have a basic understanding of our work, we are trained prior to our actual working day. It so happened once that I was late for the training by 5 minutes. I was cool until I found out my month end salary was down by ¥1000. Who’s counting 5 minutes though? But one thing I know for sure is there’s no room for excuses here. In case you’re planning to work in Japan, you should be healthy and outside the emergency zone all the times. None of these real or unreal emergencies should ever hinder you. I don’t know how it works in other companies, but for my company being late will incur a deduction of your salary in an increments of 30 minutes (0-30 minutes= ¥1,000, 31-60 minutes= ¥2,000, and so on). You see, time is money! There’s the cost for being late.

I work from 8:30 until 17:00, Monday to Friday, off on weekends and public holidays. For the first few weeks, I showed up to work early just to make a better impression. But it does no good because works are already underway by the time I get there. I can’t be this busy because I teach only 2-4 classes on average in a day depending on the size of the school. Soon, I found a solution to move on from the initial awkwardness of not having to do anything when I showed up early to work - I started arriving to work just few minutes before and that helps.

Greeting is the key to get along with everyone at work. I would offer a hearty ‘ohayaugozaimasu’ as I enter the staffroom, and so does everyone in the room. I was shown my desk, shoebox and other things related to my work before. Some schools would start up the day with a morning staff meeting, for which I just sit quietly and listen. My daily schedule is subjected to change. I would check up my schedule either with the Principal or the Homeroom Teacher-HRT (Japanese teacher who co-teach English with me). “Good morning, Yamamoto sensei!” “When do we have class today?” I would ask my HRT. Before he gets lost, I would try out my Japanese skills “kyo wa nan jikan me desu ka.” Okay that’s better! “Ahh…san-jikan me,” he would respond. So I have class in the third period. In some schools, Vice Principal has the full authority over ALT. As soon as you get to work, Kyoutou-sensei would walk in and say “Dechen Sensei, today wa lesson,” and hand me a piece of paper or direct me to the white board behind him.

There’s a different designated room for you to teach English. Students and the HRT come to the English classroom for the lesson. Oh! I have been racking my brains to remember the formalities of the start/end of a Japanese lesson. They say something like “We are going to start English Lesson! Stand Up! Good morning Dechen Sensei.” All students in the class would take turn for this. Some HRTs have trained the student in charge to greet in English. Then, the HRT and I would usually demonstrate the lesson together and I lead the games/chants. Again it depends on the HRTs. Some HRTs want you to be the main teacher while they would help you look after the students. Whereas some HRTs would take the lead, and you’ll play the role of assistant. My teaching requires more of a gesture and less English. The 45 minutes long lesson usually consists of games, activities and songs. You show a flash card of Rabbit and if your students say ‘Rabbit’ instead of ‘Laaa-bit’, that’s your job well-done for the day. It is a fun job when your students follow your teaching and take part in the lesson. If students look lost, I would ask HRT to go over once again in Japanese. After the lesson, students would get back to their usual class while I wait for other class to come. I would return back to staffroom if I’m done for the day.

One thing that makes teaching easy in Japan is everything is digitalized. Any teaching materials can be prepared in the school within no time. The audio-visual teaching methods help to get students involved and engaged in the lesson. Good thing about English in Elementary School is not having to give exam, and impress anyone with your good marks. Because of this I find some students really hard to motivate, totally lethargic in every class. Japanese students never repeat their grades in Elementary, Junior and High School. Irrespective of their academic performance, they are promoted to next level. That being said, there are equally enthusiasts who would always look forward to English lesson.  Also students would instantly like you because you are not there to discipline or grade them. As an ALT, you possess very minimal authority, not even to wake a sleeping kid in your class or shout at someone who won’t respond to you. And those drowsing kids are left unattained by the HRT for some reason (I would never understand this). Aside from sleeping in the class, students are really well mannered. I haven’t seen any student miss their classes nor do they arrive late for school.

Japanese students are provided lunch at school and have it in the classroom. I would take turn to eat lunch with every class. They have a standardized menu, pretty healthy and very Japanese (I am doing a separate blog on school lunch because there is just so much to say about it). During the 45 minutes recess, I would go out to the playground with the students. I would prefer basketball but soon I realized that that it was seniors’ game (by seniors I mean 5^th and 6^th graders). Just to be fair, I would do random games like hide and seek with the lower graders as well. When I get back to the staffroom, teachers would thank me for my presence with their kids in the playground. Students would enjoy your company, if you have worked little harder on your Japanese language skills. But you would still be the center of attention as you are the only foreigner in the campus.

If I finish my classes in the morning, I would engage myself with lesson plans - preparing flash cards and worksheets, uncountable printings and laminating. Sometimes I would go online and read some random blogs or research on places to visit during the break. We are told not to engage in our personal business during the working hours. However, I’m not being checked upon by anyone at work which is nice. The classes would be over by 3:30-4:00 depending on the schools. But schools isn’t over. There’s one more thing to go while I wait for the clock to tick the end of my shift. I would have a meeting with HRTs to discuss about the next lesson. We would usually go through the pre-made textbook lesson plan together, add/remove the games, or change the orders of the activities according to our fit. Japanese are way forward in working. This is how things work in all the schools. If there are 3 classes of grade 5, all 3 teachers would sit and plan the lesson together.

Finally, I would fill out the attendance sheet, write a report for the day, and get it signed by either Principal or Vice Principal. As the clock strikes 5, I would grab my bag and head out. I have mastered this phrase to say goodbye when leaving the workplace- osakini shitsurei shimasu (excuse me for leaving first). The only Japanese I know from watching drama- Sayonara doesn’t work here. Your colleagues who might not be lucky as you are would shout back otsu karisama desu (thank you for your hard work). I was hesitant for first few weeks to leave at 5 because your colleagues keep working at their desk. But they are nice to foreigners. They don’t expect you to over work like them. Once there was a staff meeting after the classes were over and it went on even after 5. I didn’t dare to walk out and interrupt the meeting. So Principal walked to me asked me to leave (how nice).

Anyways, this is a lot information at one go. Let me know if you’ve questions. I’ll try to answer them in my next blog.

My current status- in case you’re wondering, I certainly haven’t learned how to speak Japanese very well. But it’s my own fault for not really studying. I do a little in the staffroom when I don’t have class, but it’s not enough. Many times I’m stuck up in a situation trying to make sense of people talking Japanese to me. Being in Japan for almost a year becomes fairly useless because it makes me think I’m as clueless as when I started. But I’ve made many Japanese friends; most of who are retired, 60 years+ men and women, desperately wanting me to return home so that they can visit the county on my invitation. And I would like to believe that I’m now a pro cyclist and a master of chopstick.