Hey Stephen,

“Work” is very subjective when it comes to the JET Program. Everyone on the program will tell you that it’s “ESID,” which means “every situation is different.” I hated being told that phrase every time I asked a question related to JET. The unfortunate part is that it’s true. Your day at work is determined by your school placement, the staff you work with, and your ability. Let me go over this a little bit.

If are placed into an elementary school, which is highly likely since they are making English compulsory for 5th and 6th graders, you’ll probably be running the show. This means it is very possible that you will have to create, plan, and teach the entire class on your own. There will usually be a teacher in the class with you, but they are mostly there for decoration. They are just there to deal with any kids misbehaving or things like that….truth be told though, many of them don’t even do that. A lot of them sit in the back doing their own work, completely ignoring what’s going on. However, this is not all teachers. Some teachers are really great, and will help you run the class. If you get really lucky, you’ll have a teacher that will actually team teach with you. Some teachers will even plan and prepare everything, so all you have to do is show up and teach with them. In my experience (I’ve probably taught with around 200 elementary school teachers all over Japan) around 80% of teachers will do nothing/minimal supervision for class. 10% will actually help you or join in the activities. The last 10% are the superstars. They will teach the class, or even lead the class and plan everything with you. Working with these teachers are a pleasure. These teachers are usually 5th or 6th grade teachers, since they already have to teach English to the students even when the ALT isn’t there. But the rule of thumb is prepare to teach the class on your own. That way, you won’t be blind-sighted when you show up to class and they ask you teach it. Definitely prepare a 45 min self-introduction lesson for your first day.

If you get placed in junior high school, you’ll most likely be team teaching, and on rare occasion, be asked to teach the class yourself (although this is against the rules I think). Team teaching in jhs ranges from you just standing there and repeating words and phrases, to you planning the class. More often that not, the teacher will ask you to pronounce and practice English words/phrases with the children, and then ask you to think of some activity or game that relates to the material they are studying.

High school alts pretty much do what jhs alts do…team teach. But I know many high school alts who also teach their own classes. So I would be prepared for this if you are placed in a high school. You’ll probably also get more involved with the students. It’s common for the alts to help students with English interviews or speeches.

You could also teach adult night classes. If you do, then more often than not, it is 100% your class. You plan, prepare, and conduct the class on your own.

This may all sound nerve-racking…and it is in the very beginning. However, after a couple of months, you’ll feel right at home, even if you never had teaching experience before. After a year, you’ll feel very comfortable with the job.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the application man!

Hi there!
As much as I hate the “ESID” (every situation is different) phrase that is used a millions times when describing the JET program, it’s true. But I have worked at quite a few elementary schools, junior high schools, special schools, and high school events during my time as an ALT. Every school I’ve been to would have loved their ALT to help out with student clubs. Most schools love it when you get involved and get to know the student outside of class (as in clubs and school activities, not dating them or going to karaoke together haha).

I would say almost any student club at your school would love to have you get involved. The important question is how much do you want to get involved? If you just want to join in a student club to chat with the students and help out with their activities, then I would say no school would have a problem with that. But if you wanted to take on a more serious role, such as becoming a member (going to EVERY practice they have, even on the weekends), or even a coach, that will depend on the teacher who is in charge of that club, and probably your vice principal/principal will have a say in it too. Some teachers like being in charge, so they don’t want ALT’s taking on a leadership role and possibly interfering with their set schedules.

However, I know quite a few ALT’s who became a coach for one of the sports clubs at their schools. Just remember though…unless you really love being a coach, or really love a certain activity, I would advise against taking on a leadership role. That’s because it will take up A LOT of your time. You’ll have to go to their practices (depending on the club, they may have practice every day after school and even on weekends), their games/events, and might even be held responsible for their actions in and out of class.

But definitely go and check out the clubs at your school. If you want to join, go for it. When you first go to a club, I would tell them that you’ll drop in every now and then when you have time. This way, they won’t expect you to come every day. But if you want to go every day, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Depending on your school, there might be English speech contests, or English events that your students might enter. So that would be a good way to get involved with them. If not, students usually have a short break after 2nd period and then a longer break after lunch. You can go out and play with them outside or talk and get to know students who hang out in classrooms during their break.

Hi fellow ALT,

Thank you for your comment. I have a feeling many ALT’s encounter this problem. I was an ALT for 6 years all over Japan, and I know exactly how you feel.

In the beginning, I was just like you. I planned and prepared all of my lessons in advanced, and finished all of my work quickly. So I had LOTS of free time. I wondering if those complaints from JTEs’ were direct specifically towards your school, or to all ALTs in general? Has anyone directly said anything to you about not using the computer during your free time? It may feel like they disapprove sometimes, but they are just curious, or just don’t understand what you are doing. Or maybe a previous JET used to fool around playing computer games all day, so they have a bad taste in their mouth. Some teachers are just dicks. I hate to say it, but every situation is different as an ALT in Japan.

As for me, I know that sometimes it felt like teachers didn’t want me using the computer. I wasn’t on social media or playing games. I read articles on Wikipedia or searched things on Google. In my opinion, doing “educational” things like that should be allowed. I figure if it was really a problem, someone would mention it. But as you know, many teachers don’t like confrontation. So what I did instead was check my performance evaluation. Every semester, the principal fills out a performance evaluation about you. You’re not supposed to see it. But in some cases, if you ask your BOE/contracting organization, they will let you see it. Or they might be able to talk to you about it. I never had even a bad comment about how I spent my free time at work.

Here are a few things that most teachers/BOE approve of doing during your free periods: studying Japanese, sitting in on other classes, interacting with the students, speaking to staff that have free time, helping teachers with their work, cleaning. Not very fun activities. I think most schools are okay with reading books as long as it’s not manga. Pretty much anything that involves the students or makes you look like you are being productive is cool.

However, most ALTs (me included) wants to fool around on the computer, text/Facebook on our phones, or watch YouTube videos. Most schools are NOT cool with this (unless you got a super chill school). But I used to do this all the time. I became a master of how to “look busy” while secretly doing all of the above. I always had an English related website or Word document open in the background when I was on the computer. Whenever a teacher came near, I would subtly switch it to that screen. I would also take a lot of my materials and literally build a fortress on my desk, blocking me from my vice principal and other teachers so I could text while no one could see. Yes, super elementary school tactics, but it worked for me. Or you might be able to find a place at school that no one uses and go there instead of the staff room.

You even asked teachers if they need help, so you sounds like you’re doing an awesome job. But you are going to leave this year, so to be honest, I wouldn’t care about what other teachers think. As long as you get all of your work done and have good classes, I would read all the books I want in my free time.

However, if you are want to make teachers happy or if you are a new ALT, here is how you make teachers never complain about what you do in your free time..become a super ALT. Now hear me out here. If you’re not super genki, have trouble relating to the kids, or just don’t like doing the work, don’t worry. You just need to be a super ALT for a few weeks or months. As a super ALT, you should be friendly with all the staff, but give them space to do their work. You should be interacting with the students during the breaks, and greeting them in the morning and/or when they leave school. Above all, you should work on having a good rapport with your JTE in class. They should feel super happy when they know you are coming to their class. You bring the energy and fun to the classes, while making it super easy for them to teach. You give the teacher good ideas and prepare awesome activities. I did all of this and even cleaned the school during my free time. If you do this, you probably won’t have much free time. But I’m lazy so I actually loved having free time at work. Well, after a few months, everyone thought I was such an amazing worker, that even when I sat at my desk all day looking on my smartphone everyone thought I was busy doing real work.

What do the other ALTs in your school think?

What do they truly expect us to do in our free time? I put a kindle reader on my computer and started reading recently when I’m done with everything and often leave my gmail open on my computer.
I plan for my classes weeks in advanced, down to printing all assignments so I’m usually left with nothing to do. I’m leaving Japan this year so I’m going through the phase of not wanting to study Japanese anymore. I often ask for work to do from random teachers and JTE’s around the office usually don’t get anything. I’m also quite organized so the entire year is already planned, printed nicely, labeled, and shoved in a binder for my successor.
I feel sometimes that they still disapprove that I sit and read; but if I don’t do that I will literally be staring at a wall fighting off sleep. What do they want us to do?