"NOT REPLACED"
Those were the words I saw printed in big bold letters by my name at Tuesday's meeting. What I thought was a poor translation note for ALTs not recontracting for another year turned out to be a quite accurate announcement that I, and my fellow ALTs of Nanto City, will "not be replaced."
More and more BOEs in Japan are dropping the JET Program due to budget cuts and switching over to the popular Interac, a temp staff agency that employs private ALTs in Japan (Interac is more affordable for smaller Boards with less money, but not without good reason). This is the third city in our region of Toyama that's made the switch-over to private ALTs and I assume it's happening elsewhere in Japan as well. It's put us in a tight spot, since now we're possibly left with a house full of 16 years worth of ALT junk to dispose of.
Makes me wonder though...if this trend continues it might be the beginning of JET's demise. Which might not be a bad thing imo. We ALTs are reminded at every seminar, orientation and regional meeting of how much it costs to employ us. If we're so darn expensive, why not redirect their tax dollars spent shipping over and employing young foreigners towards training proper Japanese English teachers, especially at the elementary schools where the ALTs (many who don't speak Japanese and most without teaching experience) are expected to plan and execute the English program solo. Japan can't possibly expect their country to learn English from a bunch of untrained, part-time foreigners.
Two years ago the Japanese government decided one way to solve their sorry English abilities was to place ALTs in elementary schools as well. This might be good exposure for the students to foreign culture, since it's possible for many kids in inaka to grow-up without ever meeting a single non-Japanese person. But as far as English is concerned ALTs are as much use as a chocolate teapot.
This did not go unnoticed. Last week the Nanto City ALTs were assembled for the first ever Elementary Teaching Method meeting. There we were told that a "new system" was to be implemented starting next semester- from now on, all elementary schools will be designating a pre-employed Japanese teacher to receive "special training" to take on the responsibility as official English instructor (in addition to their regular classes). So we ask the obvious: "So this teacher, they'll speak English, right?" The answer: "No. But they'll be real teachers!"
Seems like Japan's got a ways to go... in more than just one department.
More and more BOEs in Japan are dropping the JET Program due to budget cuts and switching over to the popular Interac, a temp staff agency that employs private ALTs in Japan (Interac is more affordable for smaller Boards with less money, but not without good reason). This is the third city in our region of Toyama that's made the switch-over to private ALTs and I assume it's happening elsewhere in Japan as well. It's put us in a tight spot, since now we're possibly left with a house full of 16 years worth of ALT junk to dispose of.
Makes me wonder though...if this trend continues it might be the beginning of JET's demise. Which might not be a bad thing imo. We ALTs are reminded at every seminar, orientation and regional meeting of how much it costs to employ us. If we're so darn expensive, why not redirect their tax dollars spent shipping over and employing young foreigners towards training proper Japanese English teachers, especially at the elementary schools where the ALTs (many who don't speak Japanese and most without teaching experience) are expected to plan and execute the English program solo. Japan can't possibly expect their country to learn English from a bunch of untrained, part-time foreigners.
Two years ago the Japanese government decided one way to solve their sorry English abilities was to place ALTs in elementary schools as well. This might be good exposure for the students to foreign culture, since it's possible for many kids in inaka to grow-up without ever meeting a single non-Japanese person. But as far as English is concerned ALTs are as much use as a chocolate teapot.
This did not go unnoticed. Last week the Nanto City ALTs were assembled for the first ever Elementary Teaching Method meeting. There we were told that a "new system" was to be implemented starting next semester- from now on, all elementary schools will be designating a pre-employed Japanese teacher to receive "special training" to take on the responsibility as official English instructor (in addition to their regular classes). So we ask the obvious: "So this teacher, they'll speak English, right?" The answer: "No. But they'll be real teachers!"
Seems like Japan's got a ways to go... in more than just one department.
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