Repost: 5 Depressing Side Effects No One Tells You About Moving Abroad

Nakatajima Sakyu, Hamamatsu

Just about this time last year, most of my closest friends in Japan left one by one. By the end of August, I've only had 1 friend. I still know a number a people but I wouldn't consider them as "friends." When I said goodbye to my friend who left last, I felt abandoned. I felt like I was left behind and it was painful.

This sense of abandonment surprised me. I've never felt this way when I parted with friends back in the Philippines. Perhaps because I know I can easily find other friends. But living in another country is a different matter. I have limited choices. Friendships abroad is like sand castles. You spend time building them only to be washed by the waves at the end of the day. This is one sad reality of living abroad.

Other sad realities I realized about living abroad were perfectly captured by an article in Elite Daily. 

5 Depressing Side Effects No One Tells You About Moving Abroad

This is written by Manon de Heus, a woman who lived in different countries for 10 years. In her list, she mentioned:

What Can You Gain from Japanese Schools?

credit: www.japantimes.co.jp

A Filipina recently asked me if she should enroll her daughter in a Japanese public school or in a private school. Since she knows I'm a teacher, she asked me what would her daughter gain in a Japanese school.

I told her that her daughter will have language and cultural exposure. I can't think of anything else during that time. 

But if I'll be asked again what can you gain from studying in a Japanese school, I'd share the following...

1. You'll have an early training for hard work and time management.

Even if I have part time jobs after working at the school, my tight schedule is nothing compared to the students here. If you're in junior high school, you'll go to school at around 6 or 7 to practice sports. Then you'll have school from 8 to 3. Sports club again until 6 or 8 pm. Then you'll go to cram school or juku. Before you sleep, you have to  do homework. You also to give up your weekends for more sports practice. This kind of schedule will get tighter when you go to high school. By the time you enter the Japanese workforce, you'll be more than prepared to work as hard as the others who can survive with barely 4 hours of sleep.

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?