My first month as an ALT

Looks like the rainy season already started in Tokyo.

Last week I completed my first month as an ALT, so I decided to write some thoughts and experiences about it, to share it with people who might be interested or in my same situation and also to keep track of it myself and notice my own improvements (I wonder if this will happen…?).

I am teaching in three different schools, this means, teaching with about 15 different teachers, each of them with a personal teaching style, which may include extreme preparation or total lack of it, use of technologies in a proper, improper, nonexistent way, use of the ALT to pronounce, to take part in activities or just to sit in a corner for 45 minutes. Then there are teachers who get detailed instructions and…well, feel free to change everything into doing nothing for 25 minutes. So, considering that I am just a parrot standing there with my best smile in most of the occasions it is difficult to consider myself a teacher, and even more when they call “teacher” their homeroom teacher but they call me “miss”!

But, there are good things too!

Like when you meet kids outside the school and the next day they come and tell you ‘I saw you!’ (it was very awkward when I had to spend 30 minutes on the same train with a student and her mother, though), when they follow you around the school asking you stuff or just shouting “I love you very much, you’re cute and lovely”, when they get excited because you’re going to their classroom to eat lunch with them, or when you see them smiling because they are having fun while learning.

Also, this is my first year so I am still lacking a lot of experience and confidence, and the first week was pretty hard. Now I am getting more confident everyday and I feel very happy when teachers compliment me. There is that one teacher in one of the schools who I admire a lot and I love his teaching style. I was able to attend one of his math classes last week and I thought it was amazing. I wish someone could have taught me math like that when I was in 6^th grade, the first time I failed a test with 47 points. Good teachers make you feel interested no matter how boring the subject might be. I would like to attend his classes during my free time just to take notes about class management. I would also like to ask him about his hair, if it’s his natural hair color...that guy is made of awesomeness.

The other day I was on my way to the school and I saw a kid who didn’t want to go to school. These things happen and I was running late so didn’t pay much attention. During the first period I was sitting in the English classroom reading a book (because I had nothing to do, these things happen...) when I saw the girl on the corridor with her mother and a teacher. I went outside and I introduced myself and asked her name…spoke a bit to her and she replied to me in English, which was very nice (and unexpected!) for a first grader. After classes the teacher came to me and told me the kid has a heart disease and she lacks confidence so sometimes she doesn’t want to go to school. Looks like the kid is taking an English course by correspondence, and being able to exchange some words with me made her feel more confident and after that she went to her classroom. I felt so happy about it.

 On the other hand, on Friday I had to deal with one of the most difficult groups and I was surprised because the homeroom teacher left the room and I was thrown to the river all alone and I could control the situation without losing my temper. Must say that I freaked out the first time I got into that classroom, it was like...wild. Actually, I bought a book some days ago, ESL Games: 176 English Language Games for Children by Shelley Ann Vernon, and it was really helpful, not only because it includes a bunch of games, also has some easy tips on class management. I found particularly useful the one on giving them the power to choose: instead of “we will do boring stuff if you do not behave properly”, “we can do boring stuff or we can have fun, what do you prefer?” kind of style. And I was able to say it in Japanese without hesitating (I do speak Japanese fluently but when I get nervous I do weird word-choices...), so it gave my confidence an unexpected boost on a rainy and gloomy Friday.

Anyway, having the situation under control, receiving compliments from teachers who I admire, having fun with kids made me feel more confident so I am really looking forward to increasing my teaching opportunities instead of just being a parrot standing in a corner. Let’s see how June turns out!