Why I'm Here

The JET Programme is a teaching position. JET after all, stands for Japanese Exchange and Teaching. But what exactly it is that we’re teaching can easily get murky. We work in English departments, so it would seem straightforward enough to say that we teach our mother tongue to the youth of Japan. And while this is true (and desperately needed. Next to North Korea, Japan ranks lowest in English proficiency in Asia. Next to North Korea), this doesn’t quite paint the whole picture.


I would go so far as to say that I’ve taught more English to Japanese adults than I have to students. It’s not uncommon for somebody to want to have a chat with a foreigner to brush up their skills, and I’m happy to oblige. Among the eager learners are even some teachers at my schools. In fact, I’ve had more teachers than students approach me for a conversation in the year and a half that I’ve been here. Only after they leave school do many Japanese people realise the advantages inherent in being able to speak the world’s most internationally accepted language. I’ve been asked to explain grammar points, asked to spell-check a written piece, asked to clarify differences between synonyms, even asked for hour-long chats, just to practice. Heck, include the fact that my weekly adult classes in the town’s International Forum are by far my most successful lessons and it’s easy to see an argument for adult language education being my primary role here.

Yet that’s not all I do, and it’s not even the most important thing I do. My other de facto role is a bit more disconcerting. My job title is ALT. Assistant Language Teacher. Assistant.

The term used for the style of instruction that the Board of Education intends to be utilised is “Team Teaching”. A dynamic approach where the combination of a Japanese teacher proficient in English and a native English speaker creates a vibrant atmosphere where students can experience real international conversations and see their Japanese teacher as something of a role model. Someone with a level of Japanese that they can aspire to, yet truly believe is within their reach. Someone to dispel the deeply held belief in this country that “Japanese can’t learn English”. But that my friends, is not how it works.

Two people stand at the front of the class. One of them is a fully qualified teacher with deep familiarity with the students who has years of experience under their belt. The other one planned, prepared and will now teach the lesson.

Once the class starts, I’m almost on my own. Every Japanese teacher has been told over and over about the concept of Team Teaching. But not one of them has ever actually been trained to do it. The assumption made by the Board of Education is that they will simply pick it up. From where? Well...

From the JET Programme participant. In many of my classes, I am regularly prompting my colleague. Involving them in the lesson with a series of “Would you like to”s and “How about”s. Teaching, by example, how to work as a team to provide students with a better, more engaging experience. I’m teaching teachers... teaching. So, more than language instruction, on many occasions I find myself in a training role.

One more skill that falls to the ALT to teach is, well... actually using language. And I’m not just talking about English here. I mean general communication skills. Critical thinking, forming opinions, self expression, persuasive argument, public speaking... none of this is taught during Japanese classes.

A friend of mine decided to plan an English debate with the students in his (academically focused) high school, only to find himself knee-deep in a series of lessons explaining how to debate, starting with fundamentals such as supported arguments vs baseless arguments and how to distinguish the two. These principles would be far better explained using the students’ native language, but it simply wasn’t being done by any of their other teachers. This is only one example. Many schools see English as the only opportunity for students to develop these hugely important skills.

But that still doesn’t quite sum it up. If we look at the name of the programme again, it’s not for nothing that Exchange is part of it. And it’s a big part of what I do. A lot of the time, schools want the ALT to teach their classes about western holidays, western customs, western culture. They want the students to be more open minded about foreigners and the countries they come from. As English speakers, it’s easy to forget how daunting international travel might seem to people who know that wherever they go, it’s unlikely that anyone they meet will be able to understand them. For us, a little English is taken for granted. So ALTs are here to make the world seem a much more inviting place. This cultural exchange, or internationalisation as it’s often dubbed, is the core of why I’m here. It was spoken of so much before I’d arrived that I felt I understood it. I’ve attended so many lectures on the subject, talked to so many shy/terrified students, met so many stares in the street, that I considered myself to fully appreciate it’s importance.

Today, I played an English game show with my high school students. Fifteen and sixteen year olds. They were really getting into it, and I was very happy with how things were going. Under the category “Foreign Culture”, this question came up:

What is the most spoken first language in the world?

The other teacher and I demonstrated the meaning of “first language” and the students all understood what was being asked. Admittedly, it was designed as something of a trick question.

“English!”, comes the anticipated shout from one of the students.

“Nope! It’s not English!”

Then, “Japanese”, another student states, entirely confident in his answer.

“Really? The most spoken language in the world?”, I ask.

And they’re stumped. A little time goes by and someone from the back offers up “Dutch?”. They confer, they shake their heads, they try “English!” one more time before finally, somebody raises their hand and says the correct answer.

“Yes, that’s right, Chinese!”, and the class explodes into a series of exclamations of outright disbelief.

This played out in every, single, class. Over one billion people speak Mandarin, in a country which is Japan’s close neighbour, a country which is near constantly in the news due to it’s booming economy and rapidly growing army, a country which Japan has previously invaded. Multiple times. And all that’s before the country became a hot button topic this year over the disputed ownership of islands between the two nations. Every group of students that were asked this question genuinely considered Japanese to be a contender for the worlds number one first language. And it took them some time to even hazard the guess that it might in fact be the language of the most populous nation on Earth.

This. This is why I’m here.