It’s April and the new school year is just starting! If you made a bad impression when you first arrived in Japan, now can be a good time to remake your image as a good, hard-working, and appropriately dressed ALT. With many teachers changing schools, you will be meeting new teachers for the first time, and making a good impression with them can be important. After the recent high school ALT meeting, I was a little shocked at some of the attire and accessorizing of a few of the ALTs. Follow these pointers to make sure your appearance is up to par.

And remember, just because your school doesn’t tell you not to do it doesn’t mean that they approve.

What not to wear:

1) No jeans. Ever. Unless your school has specifically told you it is OK. If casual clothing is allowed, sports clothing is the way to go (track suits, sports pants, fleeces, etc).

2) Ladies, do not wear a lot of make up. A little is OK, as long as it’s not distracting. Your students are not allowed to wear make up, and while we are adults who can make our own choices, it is important to set a good example.

3) Ladies, if you like wearing nail polish, only very sheer pink or pastel colors are acceptable. NEVER wear bright colors, such as red, and especially DO NOT wear strange colors such as black, or dark blue, neon colors, etc. If you choose to wear pale nail polish, keep it well coated. There is nothing less professional than flaking nail polish.

4) Big, dangling earrings are not acceptable in the Japanese workplace. Unless you come from a country or region where there is a clear and important cultural significance to wearing a certain type of big earring, limit your earrings to studs. Facial piercings are also not acceptable.

5) Gentlemen, generally facial hair is not well received in the workplace. However, if you do have facial hair, it is acceptable if it is well groomed. The same goes for long hair. Short hair is best, but if you have long hair please pull it back and keep it neat.

These guidelines also extend to ALT meetings and seminars.

Originally published in Gunmania: http://www.gunmajet.net/node/1014

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“What does my school think of me?” is something that many ALTs often wonder. With little feedback from teachers due to time constraints or cultural differences, some ALTs are left without a clue as to how they are viewed in their job. Combine that with the Japanese tendency to “gamansuru,” or put up with it (lit: have patience), some ALTs may not know that their work or personality is considered sub-par until they are declined a contract for a 4^th year (in the case of JET Programme ALTs).

But though many ALTs may not be aware of it most schools do evaluate the ALTs performance. At a rare few, the ALT may even find out the results of the evaluation, though often evaluations are done by the principal or board of education and due to communication problems or time constraints, the results of the evaluation may never be revealed.

You may wonder what kind of things your school likely evaluates their ALTs on, so I am going to give a brief rundown of the kind of things which are usually considered in workplace evaluations.

Workplace evaluations are usually from A (the best) to E (the worst). Things that are included are your JET information, your nationality, how many sick days you’ve had (byoukuu), and how many absences you’ve had (nenkyuu).

The categories likely include:

1. Leadership: Experience and ability to do the job, adopting a proper manner in the classroom, and ability to understand the student’s situation and understanding.

2. Responsibility: Diligence, consistency, and amount of reliance on others.

3. Outlook: Voluntary participation in activities and work assignments, initiative, positive outlook, cooperation, and involvement in student activities.

4. Cooperation: Works well with others, cooperates with other teachers, is considerate of opposite opinions.

5. Fairness: Judges or grades fairly in class related matters, and is fair to the students and people in the workplace.

6. Interest in Japan: Understanding and interest in Japanese culture/customs, language, and active involvement in the workplace (getting to know your co-workers).

7. Personality: Do you have a good personality? (i.e. Friendly but not pushy, patient but not lazy, active but not aggressive, confident but not conceited.) Good qualities include being cheerful, rational, patient, careful, modest, honest, and cooperative. Bad qualities include being silent, gloomy, too emotional, careless, selfish, and proud.

JET Programme evaluations are unfortunately optional and are likely done by the JET’s supervisor, who they may or may not work with directly. The new JET Programme evaluation form has just been introduced to schools.

Some parts of the form include similar factors as above, but the main points are as follows:

1. Attendance: Frequency of tardiness, absence, and medical leave.

2. Performance of Duties: Instruction/Planning/Development of materials, enthusiasm for teaching, and relationships with Japanese teachers.

3. Other: Sense of responsibility (diligence, reliability), activity (participation in international events), fairness (relationship with coworkers), and interest in Japan (culture, language, exchange).

Comments may be included.

If you have not received the results of an evaluation, and you wish to know their opinions of those you work with, it can be rewarding request the evaluation results, or to design your own survey, either relating to your work performance in general, or to specific classes.

Questions such as: which activities from the textbook do you think are the most useful, which games do you think are the most useful, which areas do you think the students need to work on the most (reading, writing, speaking, listening), which areas do you think I am the most useful for the students (reading, writing, speaking, listening), or do you think my English is easy to understand for the students?

All these can be used to improve your work performance, relationships, and specific classes. Using an anonymous format can encourage JTEs to be more open and honest.

I went back to Numajo.  Numajo was the all girls’ high school I taught at my first two years in Japan.  Still working in the same prefecture, I took a job last summer as an advisor for language teachers and a teacher for special needs students.  I didn’t realize how sad I would be when the time came to leave the girls’ high school, but when the time came I held back tears.  Nine months later I had the chance to back.  The words, “I went back to Numajo,” sum up something life changing for me.  I am not sure how I can explain what it meant to me or the depth of exhausting emotions I experienced going back to the school; all the memories it brought up and feelings of nostalgia, confidence, inadequacy, hope, frustration.  When I returned home the other day, on the train I used to take so many times, I felt so tired.  My mind was in a way numb, but numb because it was so overloaded with thoughts and emotions.  My time at that school, learning to be a teacher, learning to be a mentor, stumbling through Japanese, and experiencing connections with Japanese people and experiencing a new culture, was an instrumental time in my life.  At times, I feel that I went into Numajo as a teenager (though I was in my 20s) and came out an adult.

Why?  What was it that changed so much about myself?  It was a hundred little things all mixed into one that changed me.  It was living on my own for the first time.  It was meeting my husband to be.  It was teaching.  Most of all, it was the school itself and my experiences there.  The first few times I walked into a classroom I was terrified.  There I was, standing in front of 30 or so students all looking expectantly at me and waiting for me to teach them something.  I felt stage fright. I felt inadequate and unprepared.  I couldn’t speak Japanese. I was nervous.  The previous ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) left me with very little.  No lesson plans besides a textbook and a short note about each class.  No guidance about what makes a good teacher or how to behave in the classroom.  Those were things I had to learn on my own and things I had to prepare myself for by drawing on my past experiences and the new ones I faced everyday in Japan.

So I started, carefully, to follow the textbooks; to choose which pages were most useful and relevant for the lessons.  I started to get to know the teachers; I made overtures of friendship, though a bit hesitantly, through the communication barriers that existed.  At first these simple things seemed to be enough. I gained confidence in front of the class and I tested out the different roles I could have in this new job.  After a short time, it became clear to me that the textbooks were not interesting; not for me, and not for the students.  So I began to suggest new and different activities; ones that were based on the book, but added an element or two of my interests or my students’ interests.  As I got to know the teachers, we were able to work together to develop material for our classes; we could offer suggestions and criticisms constructively.

My tactics seemed to work and my role at the school evolved.  For classes where we had previously merely followed the textbook we added new, bold activities to increase the students’ interest.  For one class, I worked closely with the JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) who I taught with and together we developed our own, new and interesting, curriculum for the class.  Her enthusiasm for teaching, and for English, was infectious, and as we became friends our friendly banter showed the students English in a new light.  I truly believe the lessons we developed unleashed more of the students potential than the previous uninspired textbook topics, such as “Are real pets better than virtual pets?” and other things which the students had little interest in, and which had even less application to their real lives.  We incorporated my strengths as a university theater major and created a skit based curriculum which boosted the students’ interest in English.  Gradually, my class-load increased, for which I was grateful.

As supervisor for the English Club I honed my skills at guidance and explored the possibilities of my role.  My first day at the club, the room was crowded and I had no idea what I was doing.  I later learned that most of those students were not actually club members, but had come just to see what the new ALT was like.  The English Club actually consisted of a handful of students, or at least only a handful regularly came.  In spite of the small size, I tried to build our relationships and do interesting things.  It may not come as a surprise that English Club is not really a “cool” club to be in. It is the club that students join when they don’t want to commit to a serious club like basketball or chorus.  They join so that they can at least put on their college applications that they were in a club, never mind their level of participation (or lack thereof).

But, as the years progressed, we gained momentum and members.  The first time I participated in the school festival to entice new students into joining clubs, I was thrust onto the stage with little preparation to introduce the club in English, along with the club president introducing the club in Japanese, with of course the Beatles playing softly in the background, while most of the other clubs did choreographed dance routines, or shot arrows at balloons or soccer balls into goals.  Surprisingly, we managed to gain a few new members that year.  The next time the school festival for clubs came around, I was ready.  I filmed the clubs activities and made a video.  The club leader and I introduced the club in English and Japanese, while Gwen Stefani’s ‘Harajuku Girls’ played in the background, and the video played upstage.  It was a great success!  That year we gained many members, but not only that, they were dedicated to the club.  That year, English Club evolved a lot and I got to know the students exceptionally well which allowed my relationships with them to take on deeper dimensions as I tested the role of mentor; someone more than a teacher, but not quite a friend.

My second year at the school was, in whole, completely different from my first year there.  The atmosphere was different; I had clarified my roles, learned how to be a better teacher, and bonded with the students.  I learned how to prepare easy to use lesson plans, and to find the best opportunities to meet with the other teachers.  The atmosphere with the teachers was more friendly and open, and feeling with the students was as well.  I ate lunch a few times a week with several dedicated students who I have kept in touch with after they graduated.  I think I fully realized the benefit of my role as part-teacher, sometimes almost-peer, when one student asked me about a crude lyric from a Franz Ferdinand song.  I am sure that she did not feel comfortable asking a Japanese teacher the same question, as I believe she suspected the meaning might be a bit different from their usual vocabulary words, but she felt comfortable asking me, and I was greatly touched.

I helped students prepare for speech contests, and spoken English tests; spending hours after school to ensure that they felt prepared.  I had students come to me afterward and thank me profusely because they had passed the oral exam, or had gone far in the speech contest finals.  I prepared students for their exchange programs in the U.S. which for many of the students profoundly changed their relationships with learning English.  I worked hard and did the best I could.

I learned so much in those two years; though not every day was full of successes.  There were days I was frustrated with my language studies, or stressed in the rush to decide the final grades. When I left the school I felt a great sense of achievement and an overwhelming sense of sadness.  One student threw herself crying into my arms, and I could barely hold back.  The students gave me letters of affection, thanking me for everything, and leaving their cell phone email addresses for me to keep in touch.  The English Club bought me a parting gift, a “Nightmare Before Christmas” wall clock, which, though I have no place to hang it, I truly treasure.

Every morning as I drink my coffee out of the Mickey and Minnie Mouse mug that English Club students gave me for my birthday, I think about the school, and remember.  These are the reasons why going back felt so big.  The emotional hangover I had on that train going home was intense, and in some ways is still lingering.

Just out is the newest issue of Gunmania, our prefecture’s online magazine of which I used to be the editor. While I am currently not the editor, I have contributed a few articles to this season’s issue. This issue looks pretty good so please check it out.

If you’re interested, check out the back issues edited by me:

• Gunmania 2006 (vol. 3) — Summer
• Gunmania 2006 (vol. 4) — Autumn
• Gunmania 2007 (vol. 1) — Winter
• Gunmania 2007 (vol. 2) — Spring

I also contributed a few articles to the issues before I became editor.

(Nihongo wa muzukashi!)

OR

Language Learning IS Cultural Learning.

In October 2007 I gave a talk for 14 Japanese elementary school teachers. Almost all were homeroom teachers. Most only teach with their ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) once a month. The information was basic: Effective Teaching Methods and Useful Conversation Methods for Elementary Schools, but toward the end of the workshop something a little more interesting came out.

I asked the teachers in groups of 3 and 4 to think of phrases that they think are the most important for the ALT to know. Some groups choose phrases for talking about lesson planning, some phrases to discipline the children. But the most popular phrases were overwhelmingly phrases we don’t even have in the English language!

One group choose 戴きます (itadakimasu), which is an expression of thanks before meals. They also thought ご馳走様 (gochisosama) or ご馳走様でした (gochisosama deshita) was important. You say this after meals and it means roughly “thank you for this feast”. Wow, I thought. That is a strange thing to choose, especially as it has no bearing on teaching. But I realized that many ALTs eat lunch with the students, and this is something very polite that the students are taught to do. As the teacher, the ALT should set a good example by also doing it, even if it is something they will never use in the classroom.

Though I could understand their choice of that phrase, I still thought it very strange to be the phrases they had chosen as the most important for the ALT to know. But that was just the tip of the iceberg; the next two groups were much more interesting!

The next group called me over while they were working on their phrases and asked me, “What does yoroshiku onegaishimasu mean?” Well, that’s a difficult one. Depending on the situation the meaning changes and we don’t have that same kind of phrase in English.

よろしくお願いいたします ( yoroshiku onegaishimasu) most literally means “please treat me favorably,” but I am not sure that the translation really does it justice. It is a part of Japanese culture and how to use it is often baffling to foreigners. If you use it when you meet someone for the first time is means “nice to meet you”. In other situations, for example when a student hands you a paper to check, it means “please help me”. Shortened to just お願いいたします (onegaishimasu) it means please, but in a much politer sense than　下さい (kudasai). The situations in which to use these expressions are varied. They are often times in which we would merely say, “thank you very much,” in English.

The final group also shared a few expressions that I was surprised at, and yet my first supervisor taught me one of them in my first few weeks in Japan. お疲れ様でした (otsukaresama deshita) is what you say at the end of the day, and it means “thank you for your hard work; thank you; that’s enough for today.” お先に失礼します (osaki ni shitsurei shimasu) means “excuse me for leaving the workplace before you.” When you are leaving the workplace at the same time as everyone else you can say otsukaresama deshita, but if you are leaving before them, as most ALTs do, you should say osaki ni shitsureshimasu. And this is surprisingly important for good workplace relations.

These phrases which really don’t have a direct translation into English were what these teachers felt were the most important things an ALT (an by extension, a foreigner) should use. They felt that these expressions are so important that to not use them is rude and strange. For good relationships with Japanese teachers they told me that ALTs should use these phrases; it is a way to bridge the gap. The use of these expressions is so ingrained into the culture that even teachers who have the experience with travel and a fluid grasp of English, who know that we do not have these expressions in our home countries, feel that these phrases are vital to healthy workplace (and potentially personal) interaction. If teachers who know about our cultures feel that way, imagine how Japanese people with a tenuous grasp of English and little to no experience of worldly travel must feel when we don’t use them!

What I learned from those teachers on that day was that language learning is not a matter of simple translation; so many things in Japanese do not translate adequately into English. Feelings that I’d had for a long time were clarified. To learn Japanese and to exist well in this culture is not only about learning the language. To just learn the words does not make you fluent. But to learn to use these phrases in the way as a Japanese person would; that is true fluency. Even falling short of understanding, your attempts will not go unnoticed by those you interact with here in this land of the rising sun.

がんばってください！