ALT job

[AussieBird]

Hi

I have an interview for an ALT job in Tokyo next week with a local BOE and I'd be really happy if you could give me some info on what sort of questions they are likely to ask me and/or what to expect from this interview?

Also, as I've little knowledge of what an ALT does having worked for GEOS up to now, I would really appreciate some info on an ALTs typical day? Any good advice will be really appreciated.

Elle:wave:

[Glenski]

ALTs assist (as the A implies) the Japanese teacher of English. You may or may not have planning time for lessons with him/her. You may be a human tape recorder or a full-fledged 50-50 teacher. Legally, you cannot teach alone.

Questions? What do you think they would ask?
1. Why change from GEOS?
2. How do you think you will handle a class of 30-40 students?
3. How well do you think you can work as an assistant, compared to being your own boss with GEOS?
4. How good is your Japanese? (Many JTEs' English is terrible.)
5. What sort of textbooks have you used?
6. What kind of lesson plans are you used to?
7. How long do you plan to stay in Japan?
8. Do you have any team-teaching experience?
9. Will you be willing to stay after school and work?

[Dutch Baka]

A day in the life of an ALT:

You arrive around 8.15 at the school, prepare your stuff for the lesson. From around 8.45 you will start your first lesson (45min) and will have 3 more lessons until around 12.30. Then you will have lunch together with the kids, clean and play with them, and you will then probably have 1 or 2 more lessons in the afternoon. After that you will prepare your stuff for the next time you will visit the school, discuss lesson plans with the teachers... and if you still have some time left over you will probably almost fall asleep on your chair or participate if there are some clubs on that day.

This is for the elementary schools... I'm not sure about J.H.S. or H.S.

[AussieBird]

I am used to a textbook orientated style of teaching. So, what is the typical style of ALT teaching, what kind of things do you do in the classroom in relation to how/what you teach? Some further info on this will be much appreciated. Also what the up/downsides of working as an ALT on the whole?
AussieBird

[Glenski]

Oh, you may very well have a textbook, one sanctioned by the Japanese government! It'll likely be bilingual with all the directions and explanations in Japanese. Typically, a real piece of manure to use.

Your role in using it will depend entirely on your JTE, as I mentioned above. Since you are a native English speaker, you might be nothing more than a human tape recorder whose job is to read aloud the various examples, while students repeat or shadow you. Or you might actually have a serious JTE who considers you a near-equal and wants to spend time sitting down with you to plan out lessons where you create things, usually ways to get students to speak in an enjoyable way. My guess is, it's pretty much in between the two.

Upside:
You can usually leave earlier than the JTEs and have evening time on your hands for whatever you like (studying Japanese, entertainment, or more work). You will probably have tons of time on your hands during the day. Use it as you like.
Downside:
Many ALTs are bored silly with that free time during work. Depending on your dispatch company, you will probably have zero benefits and little to no pay during the months when you don't work (while the agency continues to make money from the school). You may even have a performance review from the company, but beware of little things they cut you on because they will undoubtedly mean less of a bonus or raise. You might even have your contract dropped at the last minute in order to avoid paying you a bonus. More downsides include lots of travel in some cases, to more than one school, giving you lots of traveling woes and little consistency from class to class in any one school. Since you will probably have to have an instructor's visa, being an ALT prohibits you from working anywhere else but a mainstream school...legally, that is.

[AussieBird]

Thanks for this info too Glenski, some of which I had already gathered. Will surely stay away from the dispatchers as I've heard everything about them.

Thinking of applying to ECC, what can you tell me about them, I've heard mostly good things about them and I'm looking to apply to their local recruitment office in Kansai, it would appear that they are less anal than GEOS?

AB

[Glenski]

ECC.
Gets fairly high ratings from teachers, when compared to other members of the Big Four eikaiwa (GEOS, NOVA [now defunct], and AEON). May have a weird training practice, or I might have that confused with EC. ECC also has a kids program called ECC Junior, which a friend of mine is on part-time. ECC also seems fairly serious about language instruction in that it provides training to housewives (one of which was a student of mine) so that they can teach kids in their own homes.

You could do worse.

[orochi]

Good luck with the interview!