Rob's thoughts: Understanding Japanese school life
This page contains content written by Robert E. (Rob), a former ALT in Kitaakita from 2006 to 2010.
Dealing with Japan's All-Inclusive Education System
The following are my thoughts on how to avoid becoming a bitter cynic due to working in an Education System that you neither fully understand nor are fully compatible with. Take them for what they are worth.
You will notice from the schedules provided in the a day in a Japanese junior high school section how long junior high school students and teachers spend at school. Before passing judgement on this fact, I think one needs to consider that, in Japan, the compulsory education system really strives to be all-inclusive.
For an American like myself (Rob in Ani), it often seems that the school has taken over the realm of the family. This can be, and, for me, has been, disturbing. And yet for all that the Japanese School System has its flaws, it also has certain aspects that are both unique to Japan and incredibly wonderful.
Because all the aspects of the Japanese School System are woven together into a comprehensive whole, its important to look at every aspect from a dual perspective. Even though change is possible, it is likely that in most cases, it is not within an ALT's power to make those changes. For us, the good comes with the bad. Our job isn't to pass judgement on things we can't change. Instead, our job as members of a cultural exchange program is to get a well-balanced perspective of an education system different from our own. I find in my own struggles to gain a well-balanced perspective that it is often good to list out the cons for every pro I see as well as the pros for every con.
For example, here are some thoughts I have had:
- Students spend a lot of time at school:
- Pro: students from less than ideal family situations get a great deal of support from the school.
- Con: students sometimes come to expect parenting from teachers, and as such they might not acquire good parenting skills (this last, of course, is speculation).
- Students always work in groups.
- Pro: Students learn to work responsibly as a group.
- Con: Individual creativity sometimes takes a hit.
- Learning is based on studying for tests.
- Pro: Students acquire good life- and study-organization skills.
- Con: Once students run out of tests to take, they sometimes feel at a loss for how to learn.
- School culture is high-context (this means everyone shares the same experience)
- Pro: Sharing the same experience fosters a good sense of community.
- Con: Students don't have as many opportunities to learn from one another, everybody has the same experiences, and knows the same things.
Of course, I have to constantly remind myself that the above statements are not facts. I (Rob in Ani) am constantly amazed by how wrong I am. What once seemed like a Con becomes a Pro. What once seemed like a Pro becomes a Con. What once seemed to have a strong connection turns out to be unrelated.
The point of coming up with Con for every Pro and a Pro for every Con is to keep oneself from getting stuck in wrong thoughts. If you can see something from two perspectives, you have a better understanding of it and your mind becomes more nimble and adaptable; hence pros and cons.
I (again Rob in Ani) am not saying that I think the Japanese Education System is good or bad. I have opinions, to be sure and they become more and more complicated the longer I stay in Japan. The more complicated my opinions become, the more reticent I am to talk about them publicly.
I think it is my job as a member of the JET Program to understand the system and I try to limit my stated opinions about what is good and what is bad to those areas in which I have the power to promote goodness (and this is a very small area, indeed). Beyond that, publicly at least, I simply make decisions about which aspects of the Japanese Education System are compatible with me, and which are incompatible with me.
The beautiful thing about the job of an ALT is that, while me may have no power to impose our idea of goodness on the Japanese Education System, we do have the power to involve ourselves in areas of the Japanese School Day that we are compatible with and to disinvolve ourselves in the areas of the Japanese School Day that we are incompatible with.
If one keeps in mind that it is important to discover what one is compatible with and what one is not compatible with, and once this is discovered, to then devote all ones energies to promoting goodness in areas of compatibility. In this way, perhaps we can avoid cynicism.
A day in a Japanese junior high school
The schedule
The Japanese school day is very flexible. It often changes to accomodate school projects. Changing from A-schedule to B-schedule is a common occurance. Another common practice is cutting 5th and 6th period to make more time for school projects.
There are certain times of the year when the daily schedule really seems to go crazy. In my situation (Rob in Ani), this period starts around February in preparation for graduation and doesn't settle down again until the end of summer vacation in August.
Morning meeting
The morning meeting isn't usually a time when things are decided. It takes place for 2 reasons:
- In Japanese culture, most of the decisions about what to do are pre-set and it is the job of teachers to carry out decisions that have already been made. The morning meeting is a time for everyone to announce in what ways they are carrying out the pre-set decisions.
- Because everyone works in the same office space, everyone needs to know what everyone else is doing each day. That way, if a phone call comes, there is no confusion. Also, if students need a teacher at any given time, it is important for everyone to have a good idea about where that teacher might be.
In my case (Rob) meetings happen at my school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If some event prevents the meeting from happening on either of these days, there is a make-up meeting on Wednesday or Friday.
After teachers announce to the main group what it is that they are currently working on, everyone splits into groups based on grade and class.
For each grade, there is a teacher appointed to be in charge of the grade. This teacher coordinates the break-out meetings. After this, there are homeroom teachers. These teachers coordinate the plans for students of any given class. After this, there are various other teachers that perform various other tasks as necessary. These teachers make sure there is no slack in the system and that everything is running smoothly.
School lunch
School Lunch is a happy time. Students do all the preparation by themselves (no lunch ladies) and they eat in their classrooms on their desks. Because eating takes place on the desks, it is very important that you never sit on a desk, this is very rude in Japan.
Homeroom
Homeroom takes place twice a day and marks the beginning and end of the organized academic section of the day.
At my school (Rob):
- from 8:15 to 8:25, in the morning, students read books that they are interested in.
- from 8:25 to 8:35, homeroom teachers make daily announcements and make sure the group dynamics of the class are healthy.
- From 3:35 to 3:55, homeroom teachers check in with the students to make sure the day went ok, make announcements for the following day, and bring the class together as a group.
Example schedules
Times vary from school to school, or even depending on the season. The B schedule is like the A schedule but shorter.
- Example A Schedule
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 7:30 | School is opened by the teacher on door duty for the day. |
| 7:30-8:00 | All students and teachers arrive. |
| 8:00-8:15 | Teachers prepare for morning meeting. |
| 8:15-8:25 | Morning meeting for teachers. Homeroom for students. |
| 8:25-8:30 | Homeroom for both homeroom teachers and students. |
| 8:40-9:30 | 1st period. |
| 9:40-10:30 | 2nd period. |
| 10:40-11:30 | 3rd period. |
| 11:40-12:30 | 4th period. |
| 12:30-1:20 | School lunch. |
| 1:20-2:10 | 5th period. |
| 2:20-3:10 | 6th period. |
| 3:15-3:30 | Cleaning time. |
| 3:35-3:55 | Homeroom. |
| 4:20-6:30 | Club activities. |
| 6:30-8:30 | Some teachers prepare for tomorrow. |
- Example B Schedule
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 7:30 | School is opened by the teacher on door duty for the day. |
| 7:30-8:10 | All students and teachers arrive. |
| 8:10-8:15 | Teachers prepare for morning meeting. |
| 8:15-8:25 | morning meeting for teachers. Homeroom for students. |
| 8:25-8:30 | Homeroom for both homeroom teachers and students. |
| 8:40-9:15 | 1st period. |
| 9:35-10:20 | 2nd period. |
| 10:30-11:15 | 3rd period. |
| 11:25-12:10 | 4th period. |
| 12:10-1:00 | School lunch. |
| 1:00-1:45 | 5th period. |
| 1:55-2:40 | 6th period. |
| 2:45-3:00 | Cleaning time. |
| 3:05-3:25 | Homeroom. |
| 4:00-6:00 | Club activities. |
A year in a Japanese junior high school
| April | After a short spring vacation the new school year begins with an opening ceremony. There are often times welcome parties during April. |
| May-June | Students practice for their school's Sports Festival. |
| July | Third grade students’ last chance at glory, the final big tournaments and competitions begin for club activities. Summer vacation begins late July. |
| August | Summer vacation. Several students practice for the Junior high school speech contest. |
| September | School starts. New JETs usually start giving their self-introduction lesson. The speech contest is usually held. |
| October | School festival. Get involved with the preparations! You don’t have to sit in the school office during this time. |
| November | Chorus contest. Students often practice an hour or more for this contest, everyday. |
| December | School continues, testing, etc. Winter vacation begins in late December. |
| January | School begins again in mid-January. |
| February | High level students take high school interview test. |
| March | Third year students practice for graduation and take high school entrance examination. Some teachers will get switched to different schools every year. There are often times good-bye parties in March. |
Common problems
All too often, the lives of ALTs follow such a different rhythm from that of Japanese school life. As a result, ALTs end up sitting isolated at their desks while the currents of Japanese school pass them by.
For ALTs in junior high school
- ALTs aren't trained to teach English according to the Japanese curriculum, so it can be hard for us to prepare good activities at the appropriate time. In order to solve this problem, the grammar points have been divided into grades and presented roughly in the order that they are usually taught. At the top of each grammar point page, you will find a description of that grammar point. Knowing the names of the grammar points is very useful when communicating with JTEs.
- ALTs are often trapped into the role of serving as a tape recorder. We aren't asked to say things we would naturally say, but instead handed scripts taken from the New Horizons or Sunshine textbooks and asked to recite them. This is a very passive role that can be frustrating. In the Content-Based Activity Section, you will find Lesson Plans designed to give ALTs a more active role in interacting with these text books.
For ALTs in elementary school
- ALTs are spread too thin. This one is out of your hands, but talk to your supervisors so they can think about it in future years.
- There is little agreement on the English curriculum. Or what makes a syllabus good. So, resources are scarce. Accordingly, take advantage of the resources other ALTs have shared. In 2011, MEXT will be releasing the Elementary School Course of Study, which should help.
- No idea what your predecessor taught. Try contacting your predecessor. When that doesn't work, ask your school if they have an old syllabus. And make detailed notes for your successor.
Scheduling problems
Here are some examples of scheduling problems.
- For example, the rest of the staff is gearing up for a school festival, but the ALT's schedule says that the day before the festival, it will be time for the ALT to go to a new school.
- Or the rest of the staff is relaxing at an enkai after a sport's day, enjoying the knowledge that the next day will be a daikyu, but the ALT is stressed because s/he has to visit an elementary school in the morning.
- Or the students are excited for an upcoming competition, but the ALT can't feel excited because work ends before students start practice and the ALT's weekend is filled with events with other ALTs.
These problems have various causes.
- BoE out of touch. Your BoE and schools probably don't communicate closely. So, your BoE might not know if their schedule is creating a problem. And even if they do, they might not know a good solution. The ALT's role is often ambiguous, especially to the BoE.
- ALT laziness. Sometimes you need to talk to the scheduling people at your school. And to do that maybe you need an English teacher to help translate. That's irritating, so sometimes you don't do it. Or, sometimes you don't know what is best, so you don't do anything.
- No money. ALTs are expensive, and schools cut corners, so maybe you have to teach at more schools than is reasonable. As a result, it is hard to be in close contact with the schools and teachers.
- Cultural differences. Japanese working life combines work and play together, whereas many ALTs separate work from play. Because what is play for Japanese people can be frustrating work for ALTs, our mental health might deteriorate if forced to use Japanese-style schedules. Unfortunately, because Japanese workers tend to be goofing off every other minute as opposed to working hard for many consecutive minutes, and then goofing off for many consecutive minutes, it is difficult to provide ALTs with time to relax while at the same time providing them with the opportunity to work hard in the schools.
Solutions
It is important for both ALTs and BoEs to put renewed effort into solving the problems that face us.
- If you're lazy, don't be so lazy. ALTs are often lazy because they think no one will listen if you try to solve your problems. But over time, usually some people will listen and help you, within reason.
- If your BoE is out of the loop, talk to them more. Tell them about school some, and ask them what they expect out of you. The clearer goals the BoE has about its ALT, the better those goals can be accomplished.
In the end, your job is going to be flexible. After all, promoting grassroots internationalization has a thousand faces. So, it's your job to figure out how you want to be effective.
