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Quit job, move back to US, or what?
bumblebeetuna
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright this is kind of a long one.
I'm living in Tokyo and I have been for almost 2 years. Came over with a teaching job right out of college. I graduated a little late so I'm 25 now, 26 in June. The job was meh... some days were OK, a lot of days were shit, very few good days at work but that's why they call it work, right? The weekends and time off were great so that's why I've stayed so long. The job was at a private "eikaiwa" (English conversation school) for adults mostly, so they would pay a fee and then get a 6 month or year long course. Part of my job was selling more courses to the students or getting new students to sign up or convincing them to go on overseas homestays, etc. I didn't like this part of the job, selling shit to my students. That + working 1pm-10pm were the main downfalls.
I stuck with it for a year and a half and recently changed jobs. The new one is teaching at public schools as an ALT (assistant language teacher). I was assigned to 3 elementary schools. I thought it would be fun to play with the kids, and it kind of is. They mostly go crazy when they see me since I'm the only foreigner they've probably ever met before. That and the day time hours (8:15am-5pm) are the good points.
Here's the shitty part that makes me want to quit: my job description is ALT, like I said. Now, I'm at 3 different schools and I teach 29 different classes full of kids. Out of those 29 classes, only 1 of the Japanese teachers actually treats me as an assistant. She teaches the class and I help her out. In the other 28 classes, the teachers just say "dozo" and expect me to teach 100% of the class with no help from him/her except for the occasional "pay attention" or "be quiet" they say in Japanese. I have no real direction on what to teach except for a handout that says "1. say hello, sing hello song, 2. teach x 3. say goodbye, sing goodbye song." which obviously won't fill 45 minutes. So they magically expect me to come up with something to fill all that time. And this is driving me crazy because this wasn't what I applied for, this isn't the job I was told I would be doing, and I'm flipping the shit out.
Now I told one of the trainers at my company and he basically said "yeah, i know, the japanese teachers tend to do that. just try your best." He's a nice guy but that wasn't the advice I was looking for. I really have no business teaching classes of 30+ japanese kids by myself with no help. So I'm thinking about giving them 2 weeks notice, selling as much of my shit here as I can, and buying the cheapest ticket I can find back to the States.
If I go down that road, then I have to decide what the hell to do next. First of all, where to live. I have brothers in San Diego, Portland OR, and Long Island, NY (my home town). I could possibly live with one of them until I get settled. My Dad lives in Florida but I'm not really interested in living with him. My Mom lives on Long Island as well but in a tiny little condo that I would not be comfortable in at all.
Jobs back home are hard to come by, so I hear. Also, my B.S. in "Cinema and Cultural Studies" probably won't go so far. Not sure how my Japan experience will look. I'm not fluent in Japanese but I have level 3 of the JLPT. So I'm kind of conversational.
Also... my girlfriend of almost a year is Japanese. If I go back, that might be the end of the relationship. Her English isn't that great and I doubt she could get sponsored for a visa by any company in the US. And I'm not ready to marry her just so she can move back with me.
So..... arrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's where I am.
TLDR: fuck my life, move back to america or stay in japan with a shitty job?
P.S. Yes I've thought about getting another teaching job here... but I honestly don't like teaching that much and I'm just doing it so I can live here. So if I'm gonna quit this job, I think it's time to move home and get started on a real career that might actually give me some job satisfaction and enough income to support more than just myself. Income right now is less than 30k a year.
I'm living in Tokyo and I have been for almost 2 years. Came over with a teaching job right out of college. I graduated a little late so I'm 25 now, 26 in June. The job was meh... some days were OK, a lot of days were shit, very few good days at work but that's why they call it work, right? The weekends and time off were great so that's why I've stayed so long. The job was at a private "eikaiwa" (English conversation school) for adults mostly, so they would pay a fee and then get a 6 month or year long course. Part of my job was selling more courses to the students or getting new students to sign up or convincing them to go on overseas homestays, etc. I didn't like this part of the job, selling shit to my students. That + working 1pm-10pm were the main downfalls.
I stuck with it for a year and a half and recently changed jobs. The new one is teaching at public schools as an ALT (assistant language teacher). I was assigned to 3 elementary schools. I thought it would be fun to play with the kids, and it kind of is. They mostly go crazy when they see me since I'm the only foreigner they've probably ever met before. That and the day time hours (8:15am-5pm) are the good points.
Here's the shitty part that makes me want to quit: my job description is ALT, like I said. Now, I'm at 3 different schools and I teach 29 different classes full of kids. Out of those 29 classes, only 1 of the Japanese teachers actually treats me as an assistant. She teaches the class and I help her out. In the other 28 classes, the teachers just say "dozo" and expect me to teach 100% of the class with no help from him/her except for the occasional "pay attention" or "be quiet" they say in Japanese. I have no real direction on what to teach except for a handout that says "1. say hello, sing hello song, 2. teach x 3. say goodbye, sing goodbye song." which obviously won't fill 45 minutes. So they magically expect me to come up with something to fill all that time. And this is driving me crazy because this wasn't what I applied for, this isn't the job I was told I would be doing, and I'm flipping the shit out.
Now I told one of the trainers at my company and he basically said "yeah, i know, the japanese teachers tend to do that. just try your best." He's a nice guy but that wasn't the advice I was looking for. I really have no business teaching classes of 30+ japanese kids by myself with no help. So I'm thinking about giving them 2 weeks notice, selling as much of my shit here as I can, and buying the cheapest ticket I can find back to the States.
If I go down that road, then I have to decide what the hell to do next. First of all, where to live. I have brothers in San Diego, Portland OR, and Long Island, NY (my home town). I could possibly live with one of them until I get settled. My Dad lives in Florida but I'm not really interested in living with him. My Mom lives on Long Island as well but in a tiny little condo that I would not be comfortable in at all.
Jobs back home are hard to come by, so I hear. Also, my B.S. in "Cinema and Cultural Studies" probably won't go so far. Not sure how my Japan experience will look. I'm not fluent in Japanese but I have level 3 of the JLPT. So I'm kind of conversational.
Also... my girlfriend of almost a year is Japanese. If I go back, that might be the end of the relationship. Her English isn't that great and I doubt she could get sponsored for a visa by any company in the US. And I'm not ready to marry her just so she can move back with me.
So..... arrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's where I am.
TLDR: fuck my life, move back to america or stay in japan with a shitty job?
P.S. Yes I've thought about getting another teaching job here... but I honestly don't like teaching that much and I'm just doing it so I can live here. So if I'm gonna quit this job, I think it's time to move home and get started on a real career that might actually give me some job satisfaction and enough income to support more than just myself. Income right now is less than 30k a year.
bumblebeetuna on
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Most Japanese bookstores sell thick books that just list out jobs, and what the qualificiations are to get them. It might be well worth your time to get your hands on one of these books and just flip through it for ideas about what you can do next. You'll have a leg up in anything kokusai
On the contrary, I really really want to stay in Japan. I enjoy living here immensely. I love my girlfriend, I enjoy all of my friend's company, and I have a few hobbies I pursue here as well. Maybe I didn't make it clear enough, but what I don't want to do anymore is teach English.
And therein lies the problem: I'm pretty sure the only jobs I'm qualified for here are English teaching jobs.
What kind of books are you talking about? Do you know what they're called in Japanese? I've never seen them before. Unless you're talking about HelloWork type things but those are free. And if what you're talking about is totally in Japanese then I wouldn't be able to completely understand it.
And yes, I know I should have a solid plan before I go back. That's another problem. I don't think I'll be able to get a job lined up in less than a month. I've been looking on Monster and Careerbuilder, but I can't find much.
Sorry, I can't remember any specific names of the books. Just go to the bookstore (or library) and there should be a whole section devoted to 資格・就職 and probably 転職 is another small section.
What I'd really like to do is go to a full time, intensive language school for a year or two and see where that gets me. I just don't have the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to do that. But if I could do that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have to teach English anymore here.
Let me ask you, is your ALT gig anything like mine? Or are you actually an assistant?
I don't know the range of the students your teaching, but is it possible to ask the one teacher that is letting you assist to piggyback on her curriculum? Is it possible to talk to an administrator to find some guideline curriculum to piggyback on?
Just think about what you can tell potential interviewers when you get back if you stay the course. "Not only was I thrown in a position where I was ignorant of the language, but I kicked ass and took names, and you'd be a fool to miss an opportunity to not bring me into the fold"
That would be until March, 2010. It's not such an easy thing to do when I'm struggling this much already with the job.
They'll find another gaijin monkey to take my place, I'm sure.
She only teaches 6th grade. I'm teaching 1st-6th grade. And her lessons for 6th grade... well, let me just say that last week she spent the whole lesson making the kids write the letters V, W, X, Y, Z over and over and over for 45 minutes. If I did that, and any trainer from my company saw me do that, I'd get hell over it. Not fun, kids aren't smiling, no games, etc. So while I do appreciate her in that she does her job and I'm just an assistant, I wouldn't be able to use her lessons in other classes.
I posted pretty much the curriculum they gave me. "1. Sing hello song. 2. Teach X. 3. Sing Goodbye song." It's as bare bones as you can get. Makes me wonder why they even bother wasting paper to print that out.
Thanks for the reply and yeah I agree it would look good on a resume/at an interview if I just stick it out. I really just don't think I can do it, though. That's as simple as I can put it.
Wow.
Send him a box of razorblades and a pre-written suicide note while you're at it why don't ya. o_O
Don't kid yourself about the value of a JLPT1. It will give you an edge in the job market, but only if paired with a useful skill. Check out daijob, gaijinpot etc. and check out what companies are actually hiring for.
Start off with a vocabulary list. You can design it from a short story (age/skill appropriate Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, etc) or a unit you want to go over (colors, numbers, sports, etc). If all you can find is English manga or something (as long as its age appropriate) work with it.
Begin the unit by breaking the words into syllables for the students. "Base/ball" "Soc/cer" "Dod/ge" "U/ni/form" Have the students write them down and say them aloud as a class or individually.
Next, as they get used to the words and how they sound, introduce the definitions. Go over the pronunciation, and the definition of the word with the class. Remember Rote Memorization is your friend. Eventually you should be able to start the class (after that damn song) and have the students come up individually to the board and match the definition with the word.
Then, depending on their age/skill as a class. Move towards having them write sentences with the word. Model sentences for them first if they are having trouble with sentence structure (and for lower level students, you may need to go over basic sentence structure with them). Go over their sentences as a class and ask the class what needs to be corrected (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc).
You can have them draw pictures of a vocabulary word every day. You can spend 10 minutes during class group reading. There is so many things you can do. The important thing is build yourself a manageable plan that can be used from day to day and can easy be changed out with new words/lessons.
If I have trouble motivating the students, I use a "reward" system. When my students come into class and begin their warm-up or whatever we begin the class with, I usually hand them 3 shapes. They then can gain more shapes by participating in the class lecture (answer questions, taking initiative without asking, helping other students). At the end of the grading period the person with the most shapes get a prize of their choosing (candy bar, a small bonus to their grade, etc).
I think you've made it clear that you want to stay in Japan. Making up your own lessons for so many levels won't be easy, but I think you'll regret leaving what you have in the long run. Stick it out, grit your teeth, and by 2010 you can find a new job, come home, or at the least have some quality experience under your belt.
Heres a website to get some ideas from:
http://www.cfisd.net/dept2/curricu/ellang/Rdgtarget.htm
The problem is that in elementary schools here, the vast majority of the kids can't read or write yet. And they're not expected to until junior high. So any reading or writing activities are out the window from the get-go.
I've been rewarding students with my signature, they think it's cool. But I can't hand out candy or anything because if I do, then I have to give everyone something regardless of their effort (Japanese group-think).
In the end, I guess you're right. If I want to stay here, I just have to get through it somehow. I'm not sure how, but somehow.
What if you started teaching them the basics of English reading/writing (alaphabet, etc) anyway? Would the Japanese teachers put up a fuss or would they just not care?
I've had some ESL kids in my classes with horrible horrible english, but they may be above where your kids are. If you are allowed to "think outside the box" I could talk to my colleague who does teach the ESL Immersion program and ask her what sort of lessons/games/etc she does on Monday.
Shogun Streams Vidya
Which is basically what I've been doing, just playing games. But that is rather difficult as well because it takes 15 minutes just to explain how any game is played. I'm not allowed to use Japanese to explain the game, and the teachers don't understand English very well, so I have to mime and hope that they get it.
Worksheets are out, they can't read or write English yet. Maybe coloring for the 1st and 2nd graders occasionally would be OK.
Even playing games is a frustrating experience, since the kids will forget what I just taught them literally 2 minutes after. I can rote memorize 5 English words and 1 expression, for example "How's the weather today?" "Sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, snowy." for 15 or 20 minutes. I'll check that each student has understood by practicing with them individually. Then, I'll set up the game and by the time they understand the game, they've forgotten the target language already.
Pretty much every class is like this. 5 times a day.
I think this week I'm gonna tell each J-teacher point blank, in my best Japanese, "listen, you're the teacher, you should help me out, it should at least be 50/50 in terms of effort." We'll see how that goes.
Haha - I think that's kids in general. I worked at a middle school in the northeast for a while and those kids would forget instructions like it was a hobby that they enjoyed.
I don't have experience with middle school, only teaching middle school, high school and college, but you I know that in middle school and early high school - a lot of repetition is key and yes, some busy work is required, but I like to keep that out of the class and more as homework (think vocab).
*edit*
Also, I remember a forumer posting something earlier, maybe in the last year or so, about having worked 10+ years in japan and whatnot and having no upward mobility because of the fact that he was a foreigner. My guess is you should understand that things are going to be a lot harder for you in Japan as a teacher.
I mean, teaching is a hell of an under appreciated job enough as it is, but to do it in a culture that is sort of reluctant about assimilation (didn't they recently offer immigrants money to travel back to their own countries recently?) is going to be tough.
If you want to teach in the USA, teaching jobs are doing okay - not as awesome as they were, but better than a lot of sectors right now. If you wanted you could go through the ARC program (not sure if this is CT only) or get your masters in education and start at about 40+ grand. If you specialize in the sciences...50+.
Before you teach a game, be sure to demonstrate it for everybody in front of the class. If possible, have them actually play a practice round together with you. Even with all that done, hand out a sheet written in Japanese of the instructions to the game. Remember that you don't want to waste time explaining how to do shit in English. If they're playing the silly English games, there's no way their good enough to understand the explanation
You should use warm-up games to fill in a bit of the time. I used to start every class with a round of crossfire. A bit repetitive, but it was a sure-fire way to make sure that they understood and retained the material from the previous class. I've had success with pictionary, karuta and telephone as well. Doing adjectives? Show them this picture:
http://dragon.uml.edu/psych/woman.html
I'm in Korea now, and I have a lot of that "co-teacher sleeping in the back of the class" problem.
It's a little better for me because I've got middle school students so I don't have to explain everything as much.
Still, I play a lot of games.
Try to find neat ideas since your filling in your own lessons.
There are lots of sites I use for lesson plans, they might help:
www.bogglesworldesl.com
www.barryfunenglish.com
www.eslcafe.com
PSN: Corbius
Stick with it. Pay the bills, save some money, slowly get a usable degree on the side (without going into debt) and ride this economic downturn out.
There are some really good posts in this thread with GREAT advice and you are just throwing it away with "But, But, But..." STOP IT. You can do all these things, you just don't want to or are afraid to try. In my opinion, the best thing to do when in your situation is to just fake it. Pretend you are acting in a movie or something and just fake it. If you stand tall and do things with confidence(even if you are blatantly wrong) no-one will second guess what you are doing.
You really need to find a mentor. Someone that has been an ALT and can give you advice. Not just anyone that has been an ALT can be a good mentor, you need someone with role model qualities(mainly confidence).
As Big Ron Coleman says "There ain't nuttin to it, but to do it."
Moving home will not fix your situation. You will come home and if you are lucky enough to get a job, it will be one that you hate. You will hate it because you will be expected to do work, and it appears to me that you don't want to do work. You don't need a change in location/job, you need a change in work ethic/attitude.
I wish you luck.
Oh, oh, and i don't want to crush your expectations, but that's gonna be the same thing for any job... titles like "assisting manager", or "assisting executive" just means that you are doing the same thing as a full one, just with less pay, and less recognition.
This.
Also, you have 1 class where the teacher is helping you out. Study what goes on in this one.. mimic it.
Also, are you allowed to print up sheets for your classes both in Japanese and English? Basically give them guides that explain it both ways and work from there (even if they cannot read the English very well/at all).
Other than that, for young kids.. visual is the best way. Maybe have a collection of photo cards, pictures, objects, etc that any Japanese kid would know easily and have the English names written on it (perhaps double sided, one with the name, one without).
Honestly... just try and make up a whole bunch of fun yet EASY games as was suggested. It should not be this stressful for you past maybe the first couple days of not knowing you were flying solo.
I know what an ALT is supposed to do, and being main teacher isn't it. The Japanese teachers in those classes are slacking and taking advantage of a foreigner who will find it easy to complain about them in an effective manner. Yes, jobs are hard, but running a class isn't your job. You should talk to someone about this.
However, if you do try to teach the kids something
(a) don't view games as not teaching. If the kids are using English in the game, if you can design the game to get some language produced, then it's good for them. With clear presentation, drilling, and a little follow-up, games can be excellent teaching material.
(b) don't use Japanese in the classroom. English all the way. Using Japanese is a short-term fix, but it costs students a lot of chances to improve their English fluency.
Seems like your school, frankly, sucks ass.
There are cultural things going on that I probably don't grasp, but isn't japan about earning your keep to a degree? Where seniority plays a huge roll in what you can and can't do? Or is that a gross generalization? Because it sounds like the teacher's are treating this as a "well, I've been working here forever and you are new, so earn your keep" and the administrator just seems to be validating that by saying, "I know what you're going through but just stick it out."
Thank you for throwing out complete generalizations without adding anything useful.
Thanks, I use eslcafe.com but didn't know about the other 2. I'll check them out.
Where did I say that? My complaint, as others have noticed, is that my role as Assistant Language Teacher is being abused. I am not assisting, I am teaching 100% of the classes with no help from the Japanese teachers. I would gladly do the job I applied for and was told I would be doing.
Please read a bit more carefully. I replied to the helpful advice with gratitude, and I explained why other advice was not so useful (i.e. kids can't read or write English yet, I'm not allowed to use Japanese in the classroom, etc.).
Thank you for wishing me luck. As I've said, I've worked for almost 2 years here in Japan, away from family and friends, in a foreign culture, and I've worked damn hard. I don't appreciate being told that I don't have a good word ethic/attitude. I put way more effort into my work than a lot of the other gaijin I've worked with here.
Yeah, you're right. And I've complained to the training department of my company but to no avail. "Just try your best" was the only thing they gave me. And yeah, I've been using a lot of games. And no Japanese.
So I've come to the conclusion that I'll be giving them a month's notice, as stipulated in my contract, and in that time I'll look for other jobs here in Japan. Might go back to a conversation school, might try being an ALT at a Junior High (where everyone has told me they actually treat you as an assistant, 50/50 teaching or thereabouts), or might just string a few part time jobs together. Private lessons and such.
Anyway, thanks to all those who took time to give some useful advice.
If your visa is linked to your work, will you be kicked out of the country if you quit? Maybe you should get another job before quitting.
To the OP, it does sound like you've just gotten a bad school with a bad crop of co-teachers. Of course, a new school isn't guaranteed to be any better. If you come into this situation again at junior high or anything, try to talk to your co-teachers about it.
And, even if you still have some lazy co-teachers at a junior high or above, it might be more possible to handle that class better, since their English will be better (hopefully) at that point.
PSN: Corbius
Keep in mind that foreigners working in Japan are not offical employees of their company, but rather contracted workers. I do know that employeers are more hestitant about hiring people that they feel may not stick through the entire term of their contract. After all, they don't want to be hunting for new teachers in the middle of a school year.
The visa is sponsored by the company. I've never known an employer to try to 'withdraw sponsorship'. I'm not even sure if it's possible without a court case. I'm an employer in Japan, and I wouldn't know where to start. The visa belongs to the person (or actually the government but that's being picky).
The usual procedure is to get a 'letter of release' from your previous employer. This is a standard thing, not something you'd need to beg for. This would allow your new employer to take over sponsorship of your visa.
Many English teachers leave their job and then teach private students, private contracts etc until their visa expires. A new employer isn't even necessary unless you are going to need another visa.
Eikaiwas are basically always hiring, although at the moment, the credit crunch (which is affecting the 'West' more than Japan) means that there are less vacancies than usual. English teachers aren't leaving Japan to go home right now.
But yes, it's always good practice to arrange a new job before quitting your current one.
Is your employer Interac or a similar agency?
Teach English by sound and picture. Kids at that age have good ears for sound, so spend time having them do repeat after me exercises with some fun and useful English. Flashcards w/ pictures are great. Convert Japanese card games into English games. Teach English using simple songs from your childhood (ex. the cliche head-shoulder-knees-toes song). Do things like speed up the songs on each repetition to make it into a game for them. Have them perform very simple skits w/ greetings memorized by sound. They'll get a kick out of it. Think like a kid and what you would have enjoyed. Fight for the right to teach cultural (Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.) events in a mixture of Japanese and English. Mix it with some crafts (make masks, draw turkeys, etc.). Work your butt off so you can teach the basics in Japanese.
You probably don't see them enough to get that familiar with them, so don't worry too much about doing new stuff all the time. They'll have forgotten it anyway. Your real job is to expose them to English and enjoy learning.
Most ALTs don't want to be a human tape recorder, which is what you seem to want. Suck it up and take advantage of the opportunity to do your own lesson planning. Do research using other ALTs, buy some basic English materials designed for Japanese elementary students studying on their own, research ESL materials for children. This is also part of your job.
Games might not feel like the most satisfying use of time, but once you establish a set of games that are both fun and informative, it won't feel so like they're just ways to eat time. I liked using Q&A battleship, karuta, pair-match conversations, Q&A bingo, memory, and fruits basket.
What you really need to do is have a non-confrontational sit down with the teachers and explain why you're having trouble (so you're probably going to need to recruit a teacher with good English skills to act as interpreter). You need to understand what they expect the students to get out of English class for the term (so if nothing else, you at least have guidelines for what material your games should include), and they need to understand that you need in-classroom support from them as well. A real problem is once you have lost a certain level of discipline in the classroom, it's very hard to get back, so if the students associate English class with goof-around-play-time it's going to be hard to get things back under control, and that's going to take an effort from both you, and the home room teacher.
Frankly, having both learned and taught in total language immersion classrooms, I can confidently say that it's a load of BS. A good foreign language lesson absolutely does not require use of the foreign language and nothing but. A good foreign language lesson uses the _minimum_ possible native language to make sure the learners comprehend the lesson points, and by providing them with context that they are guaranteed to understand it helps keep engaged those who would otherwise lose interest from the constant stream of sounds they don't understand.
I was in a very similar situation to the Op's when I left. I lost my position due to budget cuts at the BoE, and it came down to go back to the states, or move in with my girlfriend and keep looking for a job until my visa was up. I decided to come back to the states, and although things are going well for me now, I miss Japan and I really regret making the choice that then lead to me breaking up with a very nice girl. If the OP enjoys the rest of his experience in Japan that much, his best bet is to do what he can to improve the classroom situation he already has.