Comments | noholzba: More secrets

noholzba

More secrets

Oct 11, 2006 15:26

I began my career as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) working at a junior high school, which, unlike an elementary school, has a set English curriculum and specialized English teachers whom I, erhm, assist.

Upon our first meeting they each sighed with relief, "Thank god you speak Japanese!" In fact two of the four insist on speaking to me in ( Read more... )

京都事変

Comments 6

pontapebunda October 11 2006, 18:59:59 UTC

your Japanese skills are awesome... please write more about your experiences in Japan... I really, really enjoy reading your entries!! How's life treating you? Sounds like a real gem of a life you've got there... :o)

shikamachu October 11 2006, 20:04:02 UTC

Haha XD, that's awesome. I wish either of the gaijin english teachers I had in Japan had the balls to do that (Or the language skills....)

I also noticed the english teachers always gave the translations right away too, and that always bothered me. It didn't happen at the technical high school (There the entire lesson was in english, both the students and the teacher) but the public school just didn't even try. None of the kids could remember the words five seconds later. All completely pointless.

noholzba October 29 2006, 16:08:29 UTC

Absolutely. How're the kids supposed to learn anything if you just feed it to them? They use the translations as a crutch--not cool!

pangloss October 11 2006, 23:13:35 UTC

Don't let those hooligans harass you.　＼(*｀∧´)／

atomicyak October 12 2006, 13:25:33 UTC

I pretend I don't speak Japanese - but when they ask, I don't lie to them. Well ok, I do lie to them a little. I tell them I can understand english outside of school, but as soon as I enter the school grounds I magically forget. During class I pretend not to understand them at all. I'm so convincing that even some students who I've told I can speak Japanese think I can't ( ... )

noholzba October 29 2006, 16:06:51 UTC

Yeah, I've decided to speak Japanese--but only outside of the classroom! Mostly. Other Japanese-speaking ALTs in the area seem to agree that it's stupid to completely hide your ability.

You're in senior HS, right? I plan most of my elementary lessons, but in junior high I work with or under the English teachers.

Haven't really spoken to anyone about over-translating, yet...but they seem to get the message when I start simply speaking entirely in Japanese. Hah!