For ALT's: Keys to Teaching Well with Japanese Teachers

Mother-Baby Crying Bears at Odaiba

ALT stands for Assistant Language Teacher. 

Because an ALT is an assistant in the Japanese classroom, there's a Main Teacher. 

The Main Teacher is a Japanese Teacher who is believed to be competent enough to teach English. They are called JTE. How competent the JTE's are to teach English is a possible point of contention. (I'll write on it next year when I'm done with my job.hehe!)

JTE's are expected to teach with ALT's at least once a week. However, to what extent should they work together depends largely on the JTE. 

Here are the types of "team teaching" of ALT-JTE in Japan:

• ALT teach during the whole class period while the JTE stands at the back of the room. The JTE will only help when asked. 
• ALT  do the reverse- they stand at the back of the room and will only help when the JTE request for assistance. 
• ALT  is given half of the class time. I like this kind of ALT-JTE team teaching. I get to teach but half the effort.
• But my favorite is when the ALT and JTE actually teach as a team. It's when I can rely on the JTE to support me and when the JTE can also depend on me to deliver a great lesson.

I've worked with more than 10 JTE's in my 3 years in Japan but I've only experienced consistent great team teaching with 3 JTE's. Because of this, they're my favorite JTE's, unsurprisingly.

So what makes a good ALT-JTE tandem for team teaching?