A day in the life of an ALT

One thing that’s frustrating about being a new ALT is no one seems to tell you what you’re going to be doing once you reach Japan. I used to think this was a JET thing, but talking to ALTs in other companies, it seems to be and anywhere thing. It is ESID and all that, but at the very least it’s good to see what other ALTs are doing. So as a service to you new JETs and other ALTs, here is a day in the life (specifically April 25) of me, a typical junior high school ALT.

Now that you’re in JET. . .

I figured I’d take a moment from my lack of updating and congratulate the shortlisters for the 2009 JET Program. One of you lucky kids will be working with me come August, so you better be cool! Or at least tolerable.

Anyway, you’re coming to Japan and I’m sure there are a million things going through your head right now. Here’s just some quick unsolicited, half-baked advice on what to do now that you’re just a few months away from a year (or more) in Japan.

Do save your money: Local government offices were feeling the budget crunch long before the current economic slowdown. As a result, there seems to be an increasing number of BOE’s asking their ALTs to pay for the start-up costs of their living arrangements, such as key money (think of it as large deposit . . . that you will never get back). Usually you are warned if you have to pay such fees, but never-the-less some JETs get it sprung on them the day they get here. Even if you are lucky enough to not have to pay key money, you will likely be asked to pay your rent and other utilities the day you get to your town . . . and weeks before your first paycheck. Many contracting organizations will give ALTs a loan if the start-up costs are high, but you don’ want to spend your first few months in Japan indebted to your C.O. Save as much as you can.

Do learn *some* Japanese: If you don’t speak a word of Japanese, there’s no better time to start than now. JET will send you a beginners Japanese textbook in your welcome package. It comes with a CD and a chart of kana (the phonetic Japanese scripts). Practice 5 kana a week and you can have it mastered by the time you reach Japan. Also, you’ll probably meet people like the mayor of your town, superintendent, and principals when you first reach your placement, so it’s a good idea to practice basic intros. Don’t worry about it being perfect, you’ll likely be complimented on your Japanese no matter your skill level.

Do read the General Handbook: The GHB is awkwardly large and makes for some dry reading, but it’s important because your supervisor will have the same book. Your supervisor will not any kind of ALT affairs expert, heck, they are likely to not speak English at all, so this book (which has Japanese on the left and English on the right) can be valuable when trying to sort something out. Read through at least once before you come here and highlight the important bits. Oh, and do watch the ‘JET Life’ movie. Yeah, it’s cheesy, but for someone like me who hadn’t been to Japan before JET, it helps you visualize what your life will be like.

Do whatever needs to be done now!: It’s all too easy to think, “Eh, I have till the end of July to do this”. You will be shocked how quickly the end of July comes around. If JET sends you anything that requires a response, don’t even look at the deadline, just do it and send it back. Don’t depend on your coordinator too much to tell you exactly what you need to send and where you need to send it. They’re busy getting ready to send dozens off people to Japan (and, of course, some are less of top of things than others). This applies especially to alternates; I understand not wanting to spend the money on the physical, the FBI check or the tax forms, but if you’re serious about going to Japan and want to be able to go on short notice, it is in your best interest to get this stuff done now.

Don’t worry about teaching (yet): When browsing JET forums around this time of year, there’s always people who are already worried about things like what their self-intro to their students will be, or what lessons they should have planned out. I have one word of advice: Relax. First off, at this point you have no clue what age/level you’ll be teaching. Second, after you arrive here, you’ll have around a month before you even teach a class. That’s plenty of time to sort out what your JTEs will expect from you.

Don’t assume you will recreate the awesomeness of the semester you spent in Japan 2 years ago: Studying here and working here are two different things. Many of the ALTs I’ve meet that have been less than satisfied with their experiences are people who studied abroad. During study abroad, you’re in an urban/suburban setting, surrounded by people your age, are being taken care of by a host family or other student housing, and able to be constantly doing non-academic related things because, let’s face it, college in Japan is not the most difficult thing in the world. JET’s certainly not the most difficult job in the world either, but you do have to be at work 8-4, Monday-Friday, and you’ll (likely) be in a rural setting, living alone in a town of sweet little obaa-sans. I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t let your previous Japan experience shape your JET expectations too much.

Don’t decided how long you wanna stay just yet: When I surf JET message boards, I’m always surprised to see a lot of people saying, before they even set foot in their towns, ‘I’m gonna do JET for 3-5 years, then move to (such and such place in Japan) and work there’ or ‘I’m gonna only do a year, then come back and do this and that.’ I understand having a goal, but sometimes it turns into an obligation you put on yourself. Don’t stay in a terrible placement just because you promised yourself ‘three years’, and don’t leave a great placement just because you told everyone you only do a year then go to grad school. Just say, ‘My contract is a year, and we’ll see after that’.

And last, do be freakin’ excited! You’re going to Japan! Don’t let the nay-sayers diminish that by telling you, ‘A desk job in Japan is like a desk job anywhere else’, it’s certainly is not. There will be awesome moments and awful moments, but it will always be pretty interesting.

Brushing up that Statement of Purpose

As I’ve mentioned a few times, I didn’t make it past the application round the first time I applied to JET. When it came time to apply again, I was faced with having to gather transcripts, letters of recommendation, and of course, the Statement of Purpose. After spending so much time on my first SoP, I decided it would be a shame to simply scrap it. So I didn’t. In fact far from it, I kept my intro and conclusion (and probably 2/3rd of the body) virtually unchanged and adjusted three things. Yep, three things.

The best advice I got was from a friend who got into JET the same year I was rejected; make it about the kids. It’s a bit misleading since the essay criteria says “you” or “your” 10 times, so naturally you think they want to hear about you! No, they don’t, they want to hear about them.

Here are the changes I made to my SoP.

Revision 1:

Before:
It will be a challenge to live in a different country, but I feel my education and my willingness to learn will help me to adjust to the Japanese lifestyle.

After:
I feel my education and my willingness to learn will help me to adjust to the Japanese lifestyle.

It’s a much more definitive statement without the “it’s a challenge” line, which I now feel probably set off the “this girl’s gonna freak out and quit” alarms in the reviewer’s head.

Revision 2

Before:

The Japanese Language program at my university provides students with great learning tools by bringing volunteer teachers from Japan to aid in our language studies. These teachers assist my classes in listening and speaking activities, as well as providing knowledge about the Japanese language and culture that we cannot learn from a book. In applying for the ALT position, I would appreciate having the opportunity to return the favor by helping Japanese students with their English studies, as well as teaching them about the culture of my country. As educators themselves, my mother and grandparents have passed on to me a love of learning and taught me to have a patient and positive attitude in working with people of all ages.

After:
The Japanese Language program at my university provided students with a great learning tool by hosting volunteer teachers from Japan who aided in our language studies. These teachers assisted with listening and speaking activities, and provided knowledge about the Japanese language and culture that cannot be learned from a book. I have had the opportunity to return the favor in tutoring Japanese exchange students and volunteering as a conversation partner at the university’s Intensive English Program. In applying for the ALT position, I aspire to further this intercultural exchange by helping Japanese students with their English studies, as well as sharing the culture of my country.

Eliminating this collective “we” business gave the sentence about the volunteer teachers a little more punch. “Tutoring” simply sounds more official than “helping”. As for the Intensive English Program, I only did the conversation partner thing for one month, but it gave me something concrete to list as “teaching experience”. If you can do anything like this before mid-November, do!

In retrospect, the whole “comes from a line of educators” thing only drew more attention to the fact that I had no real teaching experience, so I dropped it.

Revision 3:

Before:
Living in Japan would provide me with an opportunity to experience the language and art of the Japanese people first hand. As an artist, I would gain a new perspective that I am certain would be a positive influence on my future design work.

After:
Living in Japan will deepen my international perspective, and working with Japanese students will deepen their international perspective.

The before was me thinking that they when they asked what I wanted to “gain professionally” from JET, they actually wanted me to address what I can gain that would be directly related to my major in graphic design. Second time around, I determined they really don’t care, so I went with the much more vague “international perspective” then emphazied I will be working with students and deepening their international perspective. It’s all about the kids!

So that’s it, eliminated a few “me”, added a a few “Japanese students” and “Internationalizations” and I was gold. Good luck to you all, especially those of you trying for a second time!

Where the Hell am I?

After being here nearly a year, I’m proud to say I’ve never gotten on the (completely) wrong train, nor have I ever missed my intended station. Yes; I have boarded locals that I thought were rapids, and I did once buy tickets for a 7am bullet train when I meant to get them for 7pm. But for the most part, I think I do pretty well navigating the train system.

It’s when I get off the train that I start to have problems. If the numbering system in Japan seems arbitrary: it’s because it basically is. Cities are broken down into wards, wards into neighborhoods, and then numbers are assigned more for when the building was built than where it is on the street. And speaking of streets, good luck finding one with a name. In Tokyo, there’s a street supposedly named “Meiji-dori” that runs parallel to the train tracks from Shibuya through Harajuku to Shinjuku. It’s on the tourist maps and even on some of the posted maps around the stations, but asking someone at the combini “which way is Meiji-dori” pretty much only gets a blank stare. This is the case in many big cities that purportedly have a named street. But I suppose it’s just as well to not name streets since they seem to twist, turn, merge, and end with no warning.

So what’s a foreigner in Japan to do? My first suggestion is to take a deep breath and accept that Japan is hard to navigate and no map or even good sense of direction will make it easy.

Did you do that? Okay.

Next, never attempt to just try and find a place. This includes trying to find a place with a Lonely Planet guidebook map. LPs maps are pretty much crap; they really only give you a sense of the general area you should go. Also, downtown areas in Japan have a tendency of looking all the same, even having the same stores! I was meeting some friends in Shinjuku, and the directions they gave me were “Down the street from Isetan and OIOI” but I was one block over: where there was also an Isetan and OIOI!

Which is another thing to remember: don’t split up with friends, unless you’re both absolutely sure where you’ll met up again. Even within department stores, it can be a bad idea to split up since escalators have a tendency of not being close together from floor to floor.

Now, since I just told you to never try to just find a place, this means you have to ask for directions. Utilize information booths in large stations, they are your friends! They might speak English and even if they don’t, they’ll probably have an English information brochure and maybe even an English language map. They also can tell you if the place your looking for has closed up shop (this seems to happen a lot with no warning). Make sure to ask which station exit to use since many stations have gates at the exits and therefore make it hard to pass through if you exit on the wrong side.

If you’re not near an info booth, a combini might be your next best bet. If you have the address of the place you’re looking for, they should have a map of the area handy. It’s important to ask what is around your destination. Don’t just ask what next to it, ask what’s across the street, cady-corner, and what’s just past it so you know if you went too far.

Now when you’re on your way, with your map and directions, keep you eyes peeled! Do not underestimate how “tucked away” the place you’re looking for may be. I’ve been to many-a-places with a tiny sign about 3 feet high as it’s only indication that it exists. If you’re in a major downtown area where the buildings have long vertical signs telling you what shops are there, remember they’re not necessarily in order. I once went to a restaurant where the sign for it was the 4th one up. This would indicate to me that it was on the 4th floor, but it was actually in the basement!

Get a map, find a buddy, get clear directions and be very aware and you might find your destination! Maybe.

I actually wrote this whole post because I wanted to share a link. It’s a website called “多摩地区そして日本各地の画像集” which Babelfish translates into “Picture collection of Tama area and every place in Japan“. If you’re going to a town for the first time, you can look here and get a little familair with the place. Note: You do need to know the kanji of whatever town you’re looking for for this site.

Say “Uncle”!

Today, one of the vocabulary words for the 8th graders was “uncle”.

Saying this word caused more giggling that usual amongst the student. I racked my brain. What is wrong with “uncle”?

Then it dawned on me. “Uncle” sounds a bit like “unko.” “Unko” means poop.

Ah, unko!

EDIT: You probably found this post because you ran a search on how to say “uncle” in Japanese. Uncle in japanese is “ojisan” (oh-gee-sahn), not to be confused with grandfather, “ojii-san” (oh-GEE-sahn)

Don’t Make Waves, Stay in Line

Sometimes when I think about the laws and unspoken rules here in Japan, I think of the little ditty Shrek and Donkey hear when they go to Duloc, “Don’t make waves, stay in line, and we’ll get along fine. Duloc is a perfect place.” Now, Japan’s not Singapore or anything, but the laws are strict and the police and justice system have a farther reaching authority than you may be used to.

First, take a second to read this hilarious incident of drug-dog training gone wrong in Narita. Now, funny as that is, I have to feel sorry for the person who has all that weed because they will have a hell of a time if they want to return it. Japan has very strict anti-drug laws: I saw a news story about some famous guy being busted for having 0.2 grams of marijuana. Now, I think everyone whose ever been to a Dave Matthews Concert ingests that much weed without even meaning to, but the way they were talking about this guy you’d think he was peddling heroin to 12 year olds. It’s not only the ganja that you have to beware of, some perfectly legal over the counter medicines in other countries are illegal here because of Japan’s anti-stimulant laws.

Now here are a couple cautionary tales: one of a tourist being found with a pocket knife, and another of a JET accused of shoplifting. While I think both of these people could have benefited from knowing more Japanese and just using a bit more common sense, it shows how severe Japanese police can and will treat you for things that may only be a minor infraction back home. If you’re arrested, you can be held without formal charges for nearly a month. Japan’s justice system is “Guilty until proven innocent”, and really, they’re not interesting in proving you’re innocent, only in getting you to confess.

This also brings up the fact people here are simply more suspicious of “gaijin”, whether or not there’s really any statistics to back that assumption up. Once a cop stopped me on my bike. He claims he saw my bike lock was broken, and it is, but there’s no way he could have been able to tell that from glancing at my bike while I was riding, so I think the real reason he pulled me over was clear. He then proceeded to ask where I got the bike; in other words accusing me of stealing it. I fortunately knew just enough Japanese to explain I got it from the previous JET (and also don’t know enough Japanese to say “If I were to steal a bike, I’d steal a better one than this rust-pile”), and he let me go. The lesson is, yes, you are being watched.

Some other things to remember here in Japanland:

• Until you get your “gaijin card” (alien registration card), you should carry your passport at all times. Even after you get your card, I recommend carrying your passport when you travel in Japan just to save hassle.
• In multi-level stores, you need to pay on each floor. Also beware of places where there are several shops on a single floor. Just go to the nearest register after you pick up anything. (If there’s no register, look for a calculator and a woman not paying attention).
• You are representing your school, your BOE, your country, and all foreigners in general. So, try to behave well. Don’t buy too much booze at the combini, some mom with nothing better to do will call the school and tell on you.
• Keep off of the grass, shine your shoes, and wipe your . . . face.

Your life in two suitcases or less

First off, congratulations to those of you short listed for the 2008 JET Programme, (and to alternates, also. Hang in there, I was an alternate too!)

This post probably isn’t necessary to put up for another month or two, but many of you are itching to know what to take, I’m sure. Every year, hundreds of new JETs make tough decisions about what to bring, maybe shed a few tears, but will invariable bring stuff they may find they’ll never use. This list is to help you make those tough decisions, and hopefully give you a lighter bag to carry around Tokyo (at the height of summer, mind you) and eventually to your placement.

Let’s make us nonsense sentance in bed

I feel incredibly fortunate to have the JTEs I have, they are all nice and I get along with everyone. That said, there is one teacher I somewhat dread teaching with who I shall refer to as Clueless-sensei. He’s a very nice guy, but I’m almost positive he never intended to be an English teacher. The theory I work with is he applied to teach some other subject, and the school said, “Well, we don’t need anyone in that department, but can you teach English?” Most of the time, he seems to be about a lesson ahead of the kids in his English ability, and this year he’s teaching 9th graders. He can also kind of flaky and often forgets to make the handouts he needs, in addition to forgetting he has class with me and leaving me in the teacher’s room least half a dozen times now.

At best, his classes are an exercise in patience. But yesterday, he had an activity that provided me with enough entertainment that I didn’t look at the clock every 3 minutes and wonder when it was going to end.

The 9th graders are learning passive voice (“The chair was made by Jim” instead of “Jim made the chair”) and the activity was to make a silly sentence. The first student in the row would write a person or thing on a piece of paper, fold over the top, and hand it to the 2nd student who wrote a passive-verb and folded it, then the 3rd student wrote the agent (by so-and-so), 4th student wrote the location, 5th wrote when it happened, and bam, ridiculous sentence. One of the phrases in the “Location” word box was “in bed” so I knew I was in for a treat.

Here’s what we ended up with:

A bird was eaten by monkeys at home after school.

Son Goku was made by Mr. Hayakawa at school last Friday.

Okay, nothing too exciting yet, but wait!

Takahiro was lost by the police on the sun last week.

Mr. Ito was made by the girls on the moon 10 years ago.

The kids are really interested in the cosmos.

Now, it finally goes to the gutter:

Clueless-sensei was bought by the girls in bed last year.

Mr. Terata was loved by space out people in bed yesterday.

I initially thought they meant “spaced out people” in which case, I was quite impressed the student knew that phrase. But it turned out he meant “alien”. It’s always only a matter of time until someone gets probed.

And last:

Our teacher was taken by Megumi at home yesterday.

This ended up making me break down and giggle like a Japanese school girl. Clueless-sensei didn’t understand the connotation of “being taken” and was a bit confused as to why I was laughing. Sometimes I’m grateful for his limited English ability.

Nothing’s fine I’m torn

No, I’m fine, I’m not really torn, but I am going to talk about awkwardness, and Natalie Imbruglia’s song “Torn” just happens to be a part of the awkwardness.

Last November, when I came to my current (East) school for the first time (I switch every two months with the other ALT in town) they asked where I wanted school lunch. I commented that over at West JHS, I had lunch with the students. I don’t know why, I guess I figured the way I was not asked but told at the other JHS that I would eat with the students, that it was maybe tradition for the ALTs. Anyway, the head teacher completely pounced on the idea and I’m afraid I have doomed all future ALTs at this school to eat with the students forever more.

What so bad about eating with the students? There’s nothing really “bad” about it, but several factors contribute to it being “not good”. Lunch break is short, technically 25 minutes, but it takes forever to serve up the food and for every kid to stand in line and get their tray (there’s no cafeteria, so the food is served and eaten in the classrooms; this is pretty much the norm in Japan). In the end, students only have about 10 minutes from the “Itadakimasu” (let’s eat) until the bells rings.

Lunch is also not really the “social hour” that it is in America. Since there’s no time, the kids have to eat quickly. They also have to sit at their desks, rather than sitting where they want to, so they’re usually not close to their friends. There’s a little talking and occasionally laughing, but on the whole lunch time is really quiet. Combine that with my poor Japanese, and there’s not a lot of conversation to be had.

All this means that school lunch is one of the more awkward times of my day. But this week, it’s been topped off by the school playing some orchestra versions of Western Songs over the PA, including Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”. I’m not sure if I can convey the strangeness of being in Japan having school lunch with a bunch of vegetables I can’t name, and hearing flutes play the bars where “I’m all out of faith, this is how I feel” would be in the song. But I assure you, it’s strange.

Down with the man!

I don’t know if it’s really “Engrish” since there’s nothing grammatically wrong with it, but still pretty funny to look out the window and see this in your silver-haired Japanese neighbors laundry.

The questions is, what system? Solar? Cardiovascular? Of a Down?