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.
A future post will offer advice on how best to design sheets for different grades, while below you'll find some general advice and resources to get you started.

Aside from those "Anything OK" days, which generally result in a game or some kind of grammar casino-type exercise, you will often be asked to prepare something for a specific grammar point. If you're lucky, the last ALT will have left a folder of worksheets etc in your desk/on your computer. If not, and your creative juices have yet to fully ferment, the internet (and AccessJ) is your friend.

There are a lot of resources around to help you come up with ideas. Although not all of them are shining examples of fun things to do, there are often a lot of good, usable concepts which you can apply to your own style of teaching.

• ESL printables is the best of the bunch, with thousands of worksheets on every topic you can imagine. To download other people's sheets you need to share some of your own, but it's well worth it.
  People get very serious about making sheets to put on there, and some get a little over-enthusiastic, but there are still a lot of very good ideas.
• MES-English is a good site (almost too) full of game ideas and useful worksheet tools.
• JHSEnglipedia is a so-so site with a collection of worksheets specifically designed for teaching English in Japan.
• And thanks to Chris for recommending http://bogglesworldesl.com/
  
• Of course, let's not forget AccessJ's very own weekly Worksheet Sunday series, which features some activities which have been a big success for us, and that we wanted to share with our readers.

These sites are especially good when you find yourself dropped in it - given 15 minutes to prepare an activity for the whole class. If you were smart you would have created a load of plans in advance, just in case. But who's really that organised (apart from my woman)?

If you know of any good sites I've missed, or have any advice, drop them in the comments.

Daily sight at one of my schools

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?

Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School

Worksheet Sunday: Snake Eyes (All Purpose "Anything OK" Escape Plan #3)

This is another great group game which involves the whole class interacting with the JTE and ELT.

You will need dictionaries for each group, and some dice.

Keep going as long as they are enjoying it, which can quite conceivably be all lesson. 

Similarly to the Typhoon Game or Snail Salt Chopstick Attack, Snake Eyes involves drawing as many snails or houses on the board as possible. In fact, any certain-number-of-strokes picture is fine. You could use the kanji for English or something else, or an image of some sort. I find the snail and house to be pretty straightforward.

Setup:

• Make groups. The ideal size is between 2 and 6 students.
• Give each group a dictionary.
• Have at least two dice on the table at the front of the class. Two for you and two for the JTE is better. Big soft ones from the 100 yen store are ideal and don't get lost.
• Write up group numbers or names on the board with space for them to draw next to.

Rules:

• In their groups, students must make a sentence using the dictionary (if necessary). It can be any sentence they want, as long as it uses the target grammar. 
• One student from the group comes to you or the JTE and tells you their sentence. If it's good, they can roll the dice, if not they must go back and try again.
• I did "Why don't we..." today, and if I or the JTE wanted to do what they suggested, they could roll two dice, if not, only one.
• It's up to you how you award the dice rolls. You can have bonuses for great sentences etc.
• Numbers on the dice equate to points. One point = one line on their way to drawing a snail or house (which take nine lines to draw).
• One dot on the dice means they have to erase all their drawings.
• One dot on both dice is SNAKE EYES, and means they can erase all of another team's drawings.

Laura and I came up with this one, although she probably deserves the most credit. Feel free to use it, but please don't redistribute anywhere else.

Job Spotlight: Tsukuba City CIR Position

Tsukuba City has posted a hiring notice for a Coordinator of International Relations (国際交流員) position on their home page. CIR jobs are generally positions within a city hall or other municipal office arranging community events and international awareness. Some CIR positions include teaching community classes or visiting public schools as a guest teacher. Here's the scoop:

Application Deadline: Jan. 22, 2011
---

Job Title: 国際交流員 (Coordinator of International Relations)
Type: 12-month contract employee
Qualifications: An individual of any nationality who graduated high school and university courses of study in a region where English is the native or an official language. High-level Japanese ability. (CIR positions usually expect about a JLPT-2 [or N-2, in the new format]). Must have a valid working visa.
Duties: Translating documents, interpreting for foreign residents, making and receiving telephone calls (in Japanese or English), participating in or interpreting for local international pursuits.
Working Hours: 8:30 - 17:15, three days per week, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays.
Remuneration: Monthly, 150,000 yen, before taxes. Travel expenses reimbursed. 12 paid holidays per annum.
Insurance: No shakai hoken.


Application Deadline: Jan. 22, 2011
If your application is accepted, you will be asked to attend an on-site interview and interpretation test on February 2.


---


The pay of this position gears it more towards individuals nearby or with preexisting ties in Tsukuba. 
By the way, this is the second or third January in a row that I have seen Tsukuba advertising for a CIR; it may be worth checking this one out again in subsequent years.

NHTVZ2CP9UDJ

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.

Working in school can be very easy for some people, and very busy for others. It depends on your teachers and your ability/how well you apply yourself. If you are good at coming up with/using ideas, then preparation will not be such a big deal to you. Some people will struggle at first. Everyone will have times when they have been asked to create something for a grammar point which just has no inspiring aspect; it will seem like there's no possible solution. That's life! We'll talk about the creative process another time.

Anyway, a normal day will look like this:

• 8am: Arrive
• 8:35-9:25 first period
• 9:35-10:25 second period
• 10:45-11:35 third period
• 11:45-12:30 forth period
• 12:45-1:15 lunch
• 1:35-2:25 fifth period
• 2:35-3:25 sixth period
• 4-5pm home time
  

You will most likely not teach in every period. The average of most ALTs in my area is 3 per day, while I have slightly less and my girlfriend has a consistent 4. You are required to be on site for the whole day even if you have zero lessons, which you sometimes will (test days, etc). Sometimes you will need that space for preparation, but most often you will have a lot of free time to spend as you please (like writing a blog, for instance).


For a more real-life feel, I'm going to narrate my day today:

• 7:55: Arrive. My schedule says I have lessons 2nd, 3rd and 5th period today (6th period was cancelled)
• 8:05: A teacher asks me if I have any ideas for third period. Luckily I have taught this particular grammar point very recently and have an activity I am comfortable with.
• 8:10: Another teacher asks me what I have prepared for 2nd period (she asked me to come up with something yesterday). I tell her. Everyone is happy.
• 8:12-9:35: I photocopy for 3rd period, make sure I'm confident explaining my game for 2nd period, and use my free time to plan this blog.
• 9:35: I teach a great class of 3rd graders to use "Why don't we.." (I lead the whole class). They come out with some funny stuff like "Why don't we build a love house?" "Why don't we make children?" and "Why don't we find beautiful women?". I also think a girl propositions me, but it might be lost in translation: "Why don't we do."
• 10:35-10:45: Break. Talk with the previous teacher about the good lesson, and the next teacher about the next class plan.
• 10:45-11:35: Teach the 2nd graders (my part lasts all lesson), where we study comparatives and superlatives with what turns out to be a too difficult sheet. That is my fault, as I need to keep tighter track of which classes are at what level. I've done the sheet before with a different class who did manage it, but these kids fail miserably.
• 11:40-11:52: Mark the worksheets from the 2nd grade lesson. It seems their ability/motivation was even lower than I thought, and 5 out of 31 students haven't even attempted to do the final section. Accidentally stamp all the sheets with "Great work!" instead of my name...
• 11:55-12noon: Mark a diary that one girl gives me every day. Today it is very sad; about visiting her friend in hospital, and JHS coming to an end. Touching stuff.
• 12noon-12:45: Speak to the teacher for 5th period, who cancels it and asks me to come to his class in 6th period instead. Come up with something quick for that class. Write some blog material.
• 12:45-1:10: Lunch. Rice, sukiyaki, chikuwa and pickled veg.
• 1:10-1:55: Speak to teacher about my activity for 6th period. Have to totally change it for his low-level class (I had hurriedly found a sheet online earlier), which took maybe 20 minutes. Photocopy it.
• 1:55-2:30: Study Japanese.
• 2:30-3:25: Teach period six. It's mostly the JTE that teaches, while I help the kids, provide examples for things and think up true or false questions for the text. I do my sheet at the end, which isn't a huge success, but what can you expect from a grammar point as dull as "as cold as a fridge"?
• 3:30-350: Cleaning time. Clean the staffroom with the same good-for-nothing students as the last few months. I have to drag them around and demand they do a proper job.
• 3:50-4:15: Check email, finish this blog, etc. Go home.

Today was pretty typical in that my role in class was pretty large sometimes, and pretty much the backseat the rest of the time. The cancelling and moving around of classes is also pretty typical, as is the workload and short-notice to come up with lesson material.

You will also notice that some lessons will go very well, leaving you feeling great about yourself; and some will bomb completely and make you feel awful. This is often completely unpredictable. That's life!

Well, that's it! Time to go home. Stay tuned for further entries in this series.

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?

Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School

PT: Japanese Gardens

 

Everywhere you look in Japan, there are some immaculate and spectacular gardens. Future installments of our Destination series will give some recommendations, including the one above (Ritsurin, Takamatsu: Shikoku).

Peaceful, colourful, full of fish.

Differences Between Driving in America and Japan: Traffic Rules, Etiquette, and More

The obvious difference between driving in the U.S. and Japan is that drivers sit on the opposite side of the car and cars drive on the opposite side of the road. Although this seems like a terrifying difference, actually this difference is really easy to get accustomed to. The differences that trip people up tend to be smaller things:

Interior Differences
First off, when you sit on the other side of the car, it means dials and buttons for controlling the car will be situated in different places. In a Japanese car, the windshield wiper controls are on the left of the steering wheel, and the turn signal controls are on the right. You turn your head to the left to check the rearview mirror or look out the back window. When parking, you need to compensate for extra space on the left to avoid scratching your (and someone else's) bumper. And if you drive manual, you're now going to hold the steering wheel with your right hand and shift with your left.

Signaling to Other Drivers
Like in the U.S., a quick headlight flash is a common signal between motorists that a patrol car is somewhere nearby. In Japan, flashing with headlights is also commonly used as a signal to "go ahead" to another motorist, such as when you are giving up your rightaway to allow someone else to make a turn. In addition to this, many Japanese will turn on their hazards for a blink or two as a way to say "Thank you" to the driver behind them, and some Japanese even use a very brief honk (it ends up sounding like a chirp) to say "Thanks" to another motorist.

Turning into a Lane
In the U.S., I was generally taught to turn into the same lane as the one I'm coming from--that is to say, if I make a right-hand turn at home, I always turn into the right-most lane of the new street. If I make a left-hand turn, I always turn into the left-most lane of the new street. In Japan, this rule does not apply. If there is no oncoming traffic and you can confirm that the move will be safe, it is legal to, for example, make a right-hand turn into the far-left lane of a large motorway.

Stopping at Intersections
In Japan, a white line painted across the road does not necessarily mean you are supposed to stop. If there isn't an obstruction in the road (such as another car or pedestrians crossing at a crosswalk), a traffic signal, a stop sign, or the word 止まれ (tomare) painted in front of the white line, you are not required to stop. This differs from America, where drivers are generally taught to come to a complete stop at any intersection in which their rightaway is not specifically indicated.

Turning Guides
When turning at an intersection, often a diamond or a triangle is painted on the road. This is a turning indicator for drivers, and you are supposed to turn the car tightly enough that it doesn't cross over this symbol.

No Parking.

Roadside Parking
In Japan, parking along a road is illegal almost everywhere. This makes sense, because Japanese roads tend to be skinnier than American counterparts. But despite this, Japanese people "temporarily" park along roads all the time, and if you aren't prepared for it, it can be very obnoxious. Drivers will suddenly, without warning, pull over to the side of the road and flip on their hazards to "park" while they run inside a convenience store. But, if the road is too tight, there may not be enough room for you to maneuver around the jerk without bashing into oncoming traffic. On big roads in big cities, I generally avoid the left-most lane unless I'm about to turn in that direction; if you always keep to the left, there is no telling when you'll run up on a vehicle with its hazards flashing and be unable to merge right because of heavy city traffic.

No Parking or Stopping.

On the other hand, Japan's dearth of parking spaces mean that a two-minute roadside stop may be the only way for you to access a store. And, since everyone else is used to it, stopping like this probably won't surprise any Japanese drivers. Just be prudent about where you are stopping and ensure that other drivers are going to be able to squeeze past you without trouble. Finally, always be aware of signage on the road you're on. This red 'X' road sign indicates that parking and stopping are illegal on a given road.

So, keep these points in mind and drive safe in Japan. If you have any other good tips, please share it with a comment below.

Worksheet Sunday: Boggle Puzzle Generator

Boggle puzzles are an alternate activity to word searches and crosswords in the ESL classroom. They offer more flexibility, are easy to create, and can be presented to advanced students as a challenging vocabulary activity rather than the simple "search and mark" routine of a word search.

Here are some easy-to-use tools and hints for incorporating a Boggle puzzle into your classroom:


The Word Solver is a U.K. based website that provides a simple script for generating random Boggle-style puzzles of many sizes (from 3x3 to 10x10) and solving the puzzles for every possible word in an American or British dictionary. This is great for you as a teacher, because you'll have a record of every possible answer in the puzzle you use.

For advanced students, you can provide a large puzzle to students and ask them to find words based on their own vocabulary. You can allow students to use their textbook or a dictionary, or you can have them try to create words strictly from memory. This works well individually or in groups of three or four. Provide incentive by imposing a time limit or declaring whoever (or whichever group) finds the most words as the class champion.

Slight edits to a randomly generated puzzle (replacing some letters on the grid with vowels or common consonants like "s" or "t") will greatly increase the number of words that can be found in the puzzle, including many words the students will already know from their English course.

For low level students, you can also provide a list of all the words in the puzzle and let them solve it wordsearch style. For beginning English learners, I like to copy the puzzle in capital letters and write the answers to the puzzle in lowercase letters, making students practice their big and small letter matchup skills.

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.

Japanese Teachers of English will teach each of their designated classes about 3 times a week.

Because you are spread across every class of students in the school, usually you will be in one or more of those three English sessions each week; although in larger schools it will be less often, and the inverse for the tiny schools in the countryside.


The lessons in which you are involved will resemble one of the following, listed in order of frequency (based on the experiences of my friends and I).

The positions of 1 and 2 often change depending on the time of year:

1. Textbook lesson.
   The class is made to study the textbook, which means no preparation on your part, and usually reading vocab lists and a page of text several times for "Repeat after the ELT" segments. Not the most exciting lesson ever, but not the worst either. Often combined with number 4.
   
2. Your class.
   The JTE is still there, but you have been asked to make something which will last all lesson. It may be a game, activity or worksheet revolving around some grammar point. Check our Worksheet Sunday entries for examples of these. 
• The worst variety of this is the "Anything OK", where the JTE gives you no input whatsoever for the class. At first it's fun, but you'll grow to dread those words, especially with the short notice usually accompanying them.
3. 1/2 your class, 1/2 textbook or worksheet.
4. Worksheet.
   The JTE has either forgotten you are there or refused to use you, so your job has become walking around watching the students complete a worksheet the JTE put together/downloaded. Small amount of room for interaction. Pretty boring. 
5. Normal class.
   Meaning there's no need for you to be there. You kick off the lesson with "Hello, how are you?" etc, then stand and watch while the JTE explains grammar in Japanese. For about 40 minutes. Then it's over. Some nice teachers will simply cancel these lessons.

Aside from the obvious aspect of teaching, you will need to mark the activities/sheets you have set the class, and sometimes those of your JTE, occasionally you may have a diary from a student or two to correct, and you may be asked to attend staff/student meetings and other in-school events (sports day etc). You are also usually expected to eat lunch with the students. This blog explains that process, and here is a week-long example of what you will eat.

You are not usually required to do anything outside of school-hours other than attend semi-compulsory work parties (enkai) - click here for a blog on that.

 

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?

Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School

Job Spotlight: How to Get a Gaijinpot Job

Although I think there are other, better resources available for job searching, the well-trodden sites of the Internet are still worth a look; they are often well designed and because of their popularity, new jobs appear on them almost every day.

Today we're going to take a look at Gaijinpot Jobs.

(But, this advice is just as effective at other big job-listing sites, too.)

Most readers have already heard of Gaijinpot Jobs, so I'll keep the site description short: You create a profile on the site, write and save resumes, browse jobs, and send resumes with cover letters. Most of the jobs listed on the site are ESL teaching gigs, from small local schools to corporate giants like Interac. And Gaijinpot's ability to store your resumes means you can apply for a load of jobs with very little effort.

And that right there is what I want to focus on.

Think about it: If you can save one resume and one cover letter and send those off to a dozen companies in five minutes, so can everyone else. So, if you want to get in for an interview, the name of the game at Gaijinpot is quality and speed. Read on...

There are a lot of jobs with similar requirements here (visa, native speaker, TEFL certificate, driver's license, pulse). And there's a glut of people on the site who all fit those same credentials. Within 24 hours of a new job listing at Gaijinpot, it's not uncommon for dozens or even hundreds of people to one-click submit their resume to that company.

Unfortunately, many of the employers aren't so picky. They need to get onto the interviewing phase ASAP and there isn't a lot of time to dredge through two hundred resumes. Instead of waiting around for every resume that comes in before the ad expires, usually they just look at the first resumes to arrive. Once five, or ten, or twenty people who meet the initial requirements are identified, the company proceeds to interviews with this group and ignores all further resume submissions.

(Unless, of course, all five or ten or twenty people interviewed turn out to be duds.)

The point is, there's a very short window of time for you to get your application in. It's much shorter than the actual run time of the ad. You are more likely to get a callback from a company if you can get your resume in fast.

In order to do this, it's best to skim the site itself every day, as you'll see new jobs the instant they've been listed. Next best is to sign up for the daily job e-mail that Gaijinpot offers. I say next best because actually everything in the daily e-mail is going to be about 24 hours old; it's a compilation of yesterday's newest listings. Anyway, check it in your inbox every morning, and immediately apply for any jobs that look interesting. If you wait until the weekend, consider your chance already gone.

But, speed isn't everything. Recruiters know that on sites like these, any doofus with an "Enter" key can instantly submit a resume and a generic cover letter he wrote six months ago.

This means you need to keep your resume up to date, and you need to target it. Gaijinpot's even built a system for you to save multiple versions of your resume, for Pete's sake. Use it! Don't send the same thing to every company. Pick and choose the skills you'll highlight according to the type of job you're applying for! If it's a teaching job, your introductory lines should be about your degree in education and your past experience. If it's for an IT job, talk about your programming language proficiencies and certifications.

Most importantly, for non-teaching jobs, get rid of the teaching related talk! Unless you've worded it to show how your teaching experience has prepared you for the job you're applying for, your statements about "great lesson plans" and "getting along with students" will leave recruiters rolling their eyes as they reach for the delete key.

And finally, in the same vein, you need to write a cover letter for every job you apply for. Generic cover letters are really obvious: "I'm a 27 year old graduate from America. I'm really interested in everything about Japan and I've lived here for three years. In school, I studied..."

This is a bad cover letter because it talks about you. But the company doesn't want to hear about you! You're already attaching a resume full of that information! Your cover letter should talk about the company and position you're applying for. Mention what you know about the field and the company. Use the company's name in the letter. Talk about an experience you've had in the past and why you think it prepared you for this job.

Armed with this mentality, your likelihood of a callback will skyrocket. So get out there, and start customizing your next application. :)

PT: Lunch

Pregnant fish

We've written quite a bit about school lunch in Japan in the last few months. Steve wrote a very interesting article about why we have some very bizarre combinations of foods sometimes, and I wrote about what it's like eating with your students.

For a more in-depth look, I also put together a typical 5-day sample of what you can expect to be eating.

Getting a Japanese License: Do You Have to Take the Test?

The driving test is the worst part of converting a foreign license. But, not every nationality has to take it. It all depends on whether Japan has concluded a treaty with your country that waives driving tests for each country's citizens. (So, if you're required to take a driving test to get your license converted in Japan, so would a Japanese person moving to your country.)

Anyway, here's the list of countries who do or don't have to take a driving test in Japan:

You don't have to take the driving test if you're converting a license from... (in fantastic alphabetical order!)
Australia, Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland, France
Germany, Greece
Iceland, Ireland, Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway
Portugal
Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland
United Kingdom

You do have to take a driving test if you are converting a license from...
Anywhere. Else.
But notably for our primarily English-speaking readers, this includes the USA, Jamaica, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa, as well as everywhere else in Africa, everywhere in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the majority of nations in Asia and Oceania.

Worksheet Sunday: Pyramids - 1st and 2nd grade JHS (12-14yo+)

This is a great format which can be adapted to a lot of different scenarios. It's essentially a listening test, where students have to pick the correct choice on a descending pyramid of words, letters or numbers.

Takes about 10 minutes.

Full description:


First grade/limited ability versions - I have one with words, and one with letters (click to download, but as always beware of Google Docs' preview - it will look fine when you download and open in Word), and you could also make one with difficult/similar numbers (e.g. 13 and 30):

• Use the template and edit as you like
• In this example, students have a copy of the pyramid each,
• You read out one of the two options on each row, and the students must decide which,
• When you complete the pyramid, ask the students what letter they think the pyramid finishes on.

Simple, no? But very good listening exercise for young students.


You can also edit this to use harder words, and use that with second graders. Here's an example, but for best results tailor to your own classes.

Some of the words may seen too difficult, but that's fine. It's the sounds you are testing here.

And that's it! You can edit this for use with an elementary class, slow learners, "special" class, etc. Great stuff.