Life as a Municipal ALT
Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:44
Hello and welcome to the JET Program! Congratulations on your acceptance, and further congratulations on being lucky enough to have been placed in Fukuoka prefecture! My name is Jessica, and I’ve been working as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Kurume City (the third largest city in the prefecture) for about a year. I majored in Japanese language and Asian art history in university in America and decided to do JET as my first job out of college. I have generally been very happy with my life and work here as a Municipal ALT as it is as challenging as it is rewarding and the position sees flexibility that other ALTs do not usually get to experience. I’d like to tell you all of the information that I wish I had known about my work situation prior to arriving in Japan.
If the Contracting Organization (CO) on your JET placement sheet ends in “-shi” (City, as opposed to “Fukuoka-ken” (Fukuoka Prefecture)), then you are almost definitely a Municipal ALT. This means that in almost all cases, you will be working at junior high schools and elementary schools within a municipality, but there is the very rare chance that you will be assigned to a municipally administrated high school. The old JET standby of “every situation is different” comes into play here. There is little difference in the job roles of Prefectural Junior High School ALTs (those contracted to Fukuoka Prefecture) and Municipal ALTs; it is merely an administrative difference since Municipal JETs work closely with both their Municipal Boards of Education (BoE) instead of the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education. However, all resources and support, both municipal and prefectural, are accessible to us and our Boards of Educations frequently consult with Fukuoka Prefecture to ensure that we are not having any difficulties with work or with Japan. It’s a double support system, in a way!
Don’t be fooled, though- just because you’ll be working for a “city” doesn’t mean that you’ll be living in an urban area. Over the past decade, larger cities in Fukuoka prefecture have assimilated outlying towns and villages into their jurisdiction, meaning that an employee of a Municipal BoE could be assigned anywhere in the jurisdiction of the municipality. For example, I am based in downtown Kurume City, a quite urban area, but my friend is based in the outlying countryside, where there is little besides rice fields, about twenty minutes away by local train. Even though we both work for Kurume City, our placements are very different! Again, every situation is different, and please be aware that there is as much of a variety to Municipal placements as there are to Prefectural placements.
Similar to the Kitakyushu City ALTs, Municipal ALTs report directly to their respective BoEs. We have one or more supervisors who guide us and act as our primary contact should we encounter difficulty of any kind. I actually have two: one to supervise my school visits and teaching and another to help with administrative things for the JET program such as taxes and questions about daily living. They will look after you and accustom you to your new job and life in Japan for the first month you will be here, helping you set up your apartment, giving you advice on teaching, and letting you get used to your new surroundings. I am quite close with my supervisors and actually see them as friends in addition to co-workers, but should you have anything that you feel uncomfortable discussing with your supervisor(s), Municipal ALTs have their own Prefectural Advisor (PA) who works closely with CLAIR and can act as a go-between should any trouble come about. During summer vacation we hang out at the office making lesson plans, materials, or generally just taking a break from the demanding school year, but the rest of the time we go to different schools to assist in English education, as is the job of an ALT.
Alright, on to the specifics of my placement! I work at eight different schools- two junior high schools, five elementary schools, and one special needs school. All are within thirty minutes of my apartment by bicycle. I teach all grades in all schools (ages 6 to 15). In one week I usually have three or four days of junior high school and one or two days of elementary school. I also have monthly Municipal ALT meetings and activity meetings since I volunteer to work on the Fukuoka JET Guidebook and website. Here is my typical monthly schedule:
Week one: Mon: Elementary (E) 1, Tues-Wed Jr. High (J) 1, Thurs: E2, Fri: E3
Week two: Mon: E4, Tues-Thurs: J2, Fri: Activities meeting
Week three: Mon: Monthly ALT meeting, Tues-Wed J1, Thurs: E5, Fri E3
Week four: Mon E2, Tues-Fri J2
At one of my junior high schools there are about 730 students, 19 classes, and six JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English, or the teachers you team-teach with), while at the other there are about 275 students, seven classes, and one JTE. At Junior High we always teach with a JTE, but there are rare occasions where you will be in charge of a class (after lots of practice, of course!) Our job is to show our team teachers and students natural pronunciation and language and generally be a living example that English exists outside of the classroom. Because of this, most classes you will join will be based around communication activities and will be quite fun for your students since they get a break from the boring textbook! A typical day at junior high varies from month to month with school activities and exam schedules, but in general I teach three to four classes a day and during my free periods I plan for elementary school visits, study Japanese, or work on my writing and drawing.
My many elementary schools vary in size and class numbers, but the one thing that they have in common is that I am almost always left to teach the lesson by myself while the homeroom teacher usually just stands at the back of the room and helps when you need it. I usually teach four or five classes a day (almost a full day of lessons). You are responsible for lesson design and leading activities, but there is less pressure here to actually “learn” English and more of an emphasis on introducing the children to someone from outside of Japan and getting them comfortable with learning another language. I’m always exhausted after Elementary school days, but they are quite rewarding and a lot of fun.
As far as the living situation of Municipal ALTs, most of us live in private apartments (not the jutaku) with reduced rent. However, there is the possibility that you will not be reimbursed for your rent as again, it depends on your situation. I live in the middle of Kurume City in a decent sized apartment with 43000 yen/month rent (water included) and get a 25000 yen housing allowance with my paycheck every month. It’s old and dark, but it’s mine! Municipal apartments range from old to new and small to large. The only real possible disadvantage to this is that it’s a total crap shoot with your living situation and you may not get a housing subsidy, but you are not required to live in the accommodations that your CO has picked out for you and they will help you find a new place if you so desire.
As in any work situation, there are positives and negatives to being a Municipal ALT. The main place where this comes into play is the sheer number of schools that we are usually asked to visit. It is quite freeing to be constantly moving around as you aren’t as easily bored with your work environment compared to if you were to be placed at only one or two schools, but it can be exhausting to always be on the move. Never being in one school for very long also makes it difficult to form deep relationships with your students and co-workers, and it takes a lot more effort on your part to really become involved using only the few days that you are around each month. You do get to meet and teach more students, but it’s at a much more surface level than teaching a smaller group of students over more classroom hours. Also, since you are an employee of the city, you may be asked to work outside of your normal work hours for city events to promote international relations (always reimbursed, of course). I taught a weekly Adult English conversation class, helped prepare selected junior high students for a weeklong home stay in California, and coached students for an English pronunciation contest. Although more work, such opportunities allow you to become more involved in your community and make new friends of all ages.
I’ve had a very positive time as a Municipal ALT and have learned so much about myself, about teaching, and about Japan. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your stint on the JET program!