Aspiring Licensed Teachers Discussion

*** All questions were submitted anonymously via the feedback forms. The answers were provided by Matt Vespestad, 5th Year JHS/SHS ALT, Master’s of Secondary Education, Licensed Teacher for the State of Virginia, USA. ***

I was curious if there were any book recommendations (or other resources) that particularly influenced your method or politics of teaching or education in general.

I can’t think of any specific books or resources that have stood out, but the thing that has greatly influenced my development as a teacher has been from attentive observation and the application of differentiation techniques. Not that there aren’t great books and resources out there that go into detail on the pedagogy of it all, but the most influential moments have been from in the classroom.

The way I learn through observation is by trying to look at a class/lesson from all sorts of different angles and perspectives. I observe teachers to understand what they teach, how they teach, and even little things like their body language and physical presence in the room. Same goes for the students in looking to see how they are learning. And don’t forget to observe the class as a whole. I’ve gained quite a bit of insight from observing other lessons taught entirely in Japanese. Even if you only understand bits and pieces (or nothing at all…), it allows you to focus on HOW the class is being taught, rather than the WHAT. You can get a lot of insight from seeing the body language, tone of voice, direct/indirect teaching balance, etc.

As for “Differentiation”, there is SO MUCH that I could cover and touch on (even did a whole presentation on it). The general idea of this teaching philosophy is about tailoring your teaching and instruction to fit the individual needs of your students. Differentiation techniques and strategies are applied to all different aspects of teaching (instruction, note taking, student behavior, etc.), so if you are looking to improve a particular teacher skill, I recommend adding “differentiation” to whatever you are researching. Not only do you learn how to be a better teacher, but you learn more about your students and how to best reach their educational goals.

Overall, my advice on developing your own methods and politics is to look at teaching and education from a variety of perspectives. How do things look as a teacher vs. a student? How are individual students learning vs how is the class as a whole learning?

I was curious about the different ways former JETs have continued teaching work in Japan. What sort of opportunities are out there and how do you go about pursuing them? Any information or contacts who could answer these questions would be greatly appreciated!

There are a lot of different routes an ALT can take to continue pursuing education in Japan and it is all dependent on the type of teaching you want to do. There are Eikaiwas, private schools, becoming a direct hire ALT at a school/BOE, teaching at the university level, or even obtaining a license to teach in Japan and go beyond being just an ALT. (The Tokyo JET page has some more detailed information on this process if interested.)

Just like ALTs wishing to pursue other types of jobs in Japan, there is going to be some job hunting legwork to be done, even more so if trying to stay in Nagasaki or move to a specific area of Japan. The After JET Conferences and other job posting websites are great places to get started looking for potential areas or schools that you are interested in. If wishing to stay in Nagasaki, you can also try asking your schools/BOE directly if there are any chances of being a direct hire ALT or if they know of any other school openings.

For those wishing to get in contact with some previous Nagasaki JETs who have continued teaching in Japan, please send me an email (vespesmd@gmail.com) and I will try my best to put you into contact with someone who can help answer your questions and give some more detail on the job hunting process.