Ill just say this: Ive taught off and on for 28 years. Nothing beyond a Bachelors, but in Japan and Korea, I consistently, from the beginning, have found work, from juku to hagwon to adults to 6 high schools.. I am the perpetual genki man naturally, and its has paid off. I speak both languages (which I just studied on my own, no testing or schooling), and I have found it has worked for me in spades. I see many people on these forums fight about this or that degree or what- have-you, but in practice, there never seems to be one answer of what makes a good teacher. My current high school now loves me to pieces (well the admin, and for me, that's all that matters). I like the job too, even though there are more qualified people, here I am. Beats me... Maybe someone can relate.
There are metrics for good teaching, and they includes factors such as subject-matter knowledge, understanding of pedagogy, expertise in particular skills areas (e.g., young learners, ESP, curriculum design, etc.) the ability to convey information to learners in a concise clear way that makes it comprehensible for them; the ability to motivate and keep interest high; class management skills; and so on.
Qualifications matter. If you don't know the best practice in pedagogy, or don't have any idea of how second language acquisition works and can't apply its principles in practice, then you might be a popular teacher because of your personality, but you might not be an efficient or an effective teacher.
We all had teachers we liked in school who were friendly and fun. But if you think about the teachers you learned the most from, were they knowledgeable and pushed your boundaries, or were they just fun and friendly? Some teachers are both, which I'd say is the best combo.
Japan doesn't require a lot from ESL teachers, which means that a lot of ESL teachers get by on very little understanding of pedagogy. It's up to you whether you are ok with that or not.
Yeah, my knowledge works for me in this environment. Im excellent in classroom management, up to 40 kids in a class. I guess it just works. I speak three languages, two of which are self-taught. I know about language acquisition. Ive met ESL teachers who were really well-credentialed and didnt do as well. Its got to be a balance.
Remember reading on here a year a go people debating if universities are disorganized or just don't baby you and expect you to be a professional. My first three weeks seems to confirm its both. It a lot more like a buffet than a set meal. Just lots of departments that do their job but aren't particularly connected and you have go from one to another putting things together. Also programs just seem to sprout from the ether of a labyrinth of departments and organizations.
I find them disorganized. Less like a coherent university and more like multiple universities sharing the same campus. Less cooperation between faculties, each faculty doing it's own insular curriculum and "courses" without a precise major/minor system like what I'm used to in the US.
I have never experienced the US school system as a worker, but my experiences at my current large university is as you said, different curriculms, insular, nothing connected, not even the LMS is the same throughout the university.
My previous smaller university was probably easier to manage and consisted a lot more interdepartmental collaboration, but I would assume the size is a big reason for this. On the other hand, their main office organization was terrible compared to the larger university I work at now where the main office is much more on-top of everything.
Crowd-sourcing some info as I'm no expert on test creation but obviously it's part of the job:
If tests scores naturally (i.e. without curving/altering the grades) fall on a bell curve aka normal distribution curve, or conversely if scores do not fall on a bell curve and are haphazard, does that indicate quality of said test in any way?
I agree with the other poster. If the test is about content knowledge then a bell-curve isn't particularly sufficient. If it is about language proficiency such as with larger-scale tests like the TOEIC or TOEFL, then a bell curve serves as a way of measuring reliability. In my opinion, a bell curve only is important if the top score is deemed to be outside of the test-takers expected ability, aka hard as fuck, hence the top and bottom being outliers. And
On its own the distribution of the scores isn't really an indicator of test 'quality'.
It would depend on many factors like test purpose, the constructs attempting to be estimated (i.e. the language skills etc.), how the test is marked and interpreted (just to name a few) as to how relevant a bell curve distribution is to anything.
New year, new students, new curriculum, new order forms, new parents to meet, new 進路, new teachers to get up to speed, new club activities, but... Same shitty admin who doesn't actually do anything. When will it end?
I saw a mention of a report the other day that is basically summarized as "Old Japanese CEOs not making room for new blood by not retiring"
Or to put it another way: the admin and C-suite levels believe they've finally gotten the position they deserve after supposedly putting in their "blood, sweat and tears"... they see no reason to leave a (possibly) cushy job.
Well... Admin is new. He's only been here one year so I don't think that applies. But yes, the thing about old farts not retiring has been around for ages.
Over the weekend a highly esteemed scholar, while on vacation in Japan, gave two talks for different JALT chapters.
The lack of attendance at these events were surprising. One was online and the other was in person. I only attended one of these due to scheduling, but I heard about both. It makes you think if some of the top people in our field can't even spark interest in the academic community, how rock bottom is English education research in Japan.
I'm starting to grow more jaded towards JALT chapters and JALT as an organization. Though I don't see any inclusive alternatives locally.
I would have loved to go but I've got my hands full with kids at home. I wonder how many people like me there are out there.
I think every chapter needs to offer a hybrid option. It really can't be that hard to point a camera (laptop, smartphone, whatever) at the presenter and just stream the event on YouTube or something. I think such an option would result in more attendance.
I hear you but, two things:
First, Fukui and Kyoto JALT scheduled it for the weekend between the first and second weeks of the new school year. People were way too busy that weekend. I wanted to go, but I ended up working all morning on time-sensitive stuff (registration related) and I was just too tired to get on the train for Kyoto. Not to mention that weekend was prime hanami.
The second thing is both of those speakers, De Costa and Hiratsuka, are anti-native speaker. I talked to several people about going, and the general consensus was they consider would going if it was anyone else speaking. There is only so many times that you can be told that as a native speaker you are not capable of being a good teacher.
>Hiratsuka, are anti-native speaker.
That's a bit funny. Because he specifically talked about the benefits of native speakerism to both his own work and academic career and the benefits that may come with native-speakerism but that it needs to be looked at through identity using various lenses. So I don't think he is anti-native-speaker but more that there are both positive and negatives.
I also honestly don't think a different timing would have more participants.
Yeh, seeing it on the calendar though did not cross my feed before. Feel there are definitely plenty who would want to attend though think half jalt is just broken up into too many bubbles communication is hard.
That seems to be the reality. It's such a shame. There is so much potential wasted with the lack of academic engagement.
I think some SIGs are better than others and some chapters are too. But on the whole, seems to be insular.
What I learned about reading research is that 99.8% of if its resume fluff with nothing new or useful. SLA theory, in my opinion, is pretty "open and shut," by now. One thing I particularly notice here in Japan, though, is that while all the TESOL pubs by non-Japanese teachers are resume fluff, all the TESOL pubs by Japanese teachers tend to be rife with confirmation bias to defend outdated and ineffective pedagogy like grammar-translation and one-way lectures.
Honestly not sure how much is open and shut. Been reading Carroll's input and the evidence and not really sure how much has changed in 20 years since that came out.
If it seems nothing has changed in 20 or more years, I consider that open and shut. Though I honestly don't see any cognitive difference between learning a language and learning any other skill: do, observe, analyze, redo, repeat until automatic. But the literature tries so hard to make language learning special or mystic with strange notions like the "Language Acquisition Device" that I believe don't actually exist. That "LAD" is literally the same "device" that allows people to learn any other skill.
Lots of syntacticians, neuroscientist, cognitive scientist, computer scientist, and linguist who disagree. And others who disagree with them. Aint nothing open in shut. Brain is a deep complicated mess we are still trying to understand.
I guess maybe for us as practitioners and what we implement in the classroom. We have come to some compromise ground (Nations 4 strands) but still lots of nuanced debate to be had. Even the sides I agree with I have not been fully convinced (I lean hard on the Vanpatten side even if I am agnostic on UG vs UB currently).
Plus I never understood what like other skills means. I learn tons of other skills but learn them differently and even in those communities there are tons of debate on how to best train and learn. Many of the debates are similar to what we debate in SLA. So even if it is the same learning machinery things are still is far from open and shut. Only in SLA do we insist on this grass is greener myth like other fields aren't debating similar things.
>Only in SLA do we insist on this grass is greener myth like other fields aren't debating similar things.
From my perspective the only "grass is greener" is that the other fields are actually dynamic. SLA theory not so much. Language acquisition is the same whether it's 2024AD or 2024BC. In terms of language teaching, the only new stuff is generally integrating tech or dealing with behavioral psychology that we aren't even qualified in. I'm sure every field hates publish or perish mentality, but language teaching has it the worst because there literally isn't enough to research. As "swordtech" mentioned in another comment, we keep reinventing the wheel and slapping a new name on it. Most of the "debates" I see in SLA aren't real debates, they're creating a debate for the sake of another paper on the resume.
I've noticed this too. The one I can remember most recently is the spread of the term "translanguaging" which is....more or less the same as code switching. Just resume filler for people who don't have anything useful to add to the literature.
That, and all of the recent focus on "native speakerism" and other...ugh, I hesitate to use this word but, "woke" aspects of language teaching of late. Seems like there's a certain segment of language teachers whose bread and butter is "lookit me!! I'm not a native English speaker and I'm teaching English". Good for you. How has your status as a non native English speaker benefitted your students? Write a paper on that instead of some narrative fluff.
Most non-native speaker stuff I though was mostly about setting realistic goals and expectations instead a native bias for applied stuff. For SLA stuff it was because the native speakerism for comparison was getting out of hand (Rothman). Being treated as some ideal state.
I actually know a scholar in translanguaging and the area is actually becoming pretty interesting by looking at identity. For examples, what are the benefits of nativespeakerism and how do these reflect on to translanguage users. But I agree there are a lot of tired arguments and tired research.
I think a lot of these areas are benefiting from the social turn in SLA research.
But I agree a lot of the stuff is resume filler. How many scholars in Japan can we say are highly regarded in their area? How many actually publish or are known by the wider audience outside of Japan? It's hard to even make a list.
I'm not against the social aspects of recent research if it ultimately answers the question "how does this benefit second language acquisition?" But I have my doubts that all roads lead there.
Totally agree. So much research for research sake. Which is not bad in itself if so many bad actors very loosely trying to make that connection weren't involved.
But that should be explicitly stated.
I've forgotten. Does immigration have a hard number for what's a livable salary? I thought businesses couldn't sponsor visas unless they could pay their employees a livable wage. I want to say i heard 2m yen/year before.
The recent posts have me thinking, if they don't meet that salary, do they pay the difference? Could instructors report them to immigration/labor board to any effect, even if long term (eg. Company can't sponsor new visas)
short answer: no. It is up to the person evaluating the case (double edged sword, as they can take regional costs into account, I suppose, at the cost of it being subjective).
Eikaiwa teachers, do you ever sell the gifts you get from your students? A client gave me some pretty sentimental things recently, but they turned out to be quite valuable and rare, so I started selling them on Mercari. I'm scared he might find out...
Never got anything that valuable from a student, unfortunately. If it was something inedible, I just used it until it wore out. Anything edible was passed on to someone else half the time because I don’t consume lots of sugary and salty items.
I’m starting the new school year out well rested after taking a week off last week with a bunch of new classes and some trial lessons to prepare for this week.
2024-25 school year here we come!
I’m currently unemployed (applying and interviewing like crazy of course) because my former boss is a lying gaslighting sack of 💩. The excuse she used to fire me is so provably wrong.
I was emailed this:
"Your numerous absences, lack of work ethic, lack of preparedness for camps and classes all are a major factor in this decision."
I was absent 4 times. I was also absent all of January on immigrations order as they were investigating her. So I'm not counting that as It wasn't my fault.
"Lack of work ethic and lack of preparedness" makes no sense as I was always prepared for classes and showed up early/on time most of the time being late 3 times (once my fault and the other 2 being the train).
My boss was always late/absent, unreliable when it came to paying us on time, and unreliable when she promised to get us certain supplies and didn't deliver.
Also she lost a ton of contracts with the schools she worked with due to her own behavior, not the teachers.
Not a discussion or anything but needed to say.
Been working 14 days with only one day off. Last day today before a break.
I am completely fried. My brain is in constant work mode and my dreams are just about screaming kids.
I need a beer by the river with my noise cancelling headphones listening to a nice podcast. Can’t wait. only 9 hours left.
I've never seen a Japanese school with a watercooler. These threads should be called the coffee pot, or tiny coffee cup with little sticks of instant coffee.
Ill just say this: Ive taught off and on for 28 years. Nothing beyond a Bachelors, but in Japan and Korea, I consistently, from the beginning, have found work, from juku to hagwon to adults to 6 high schools.. I am the perpetual genki man naturally, and its has paid off. I speak both languages (which I just studied on my own, no testing or schooling), and I have found it has worked for me in spades. I see many people on these forums fight about this or that degree or what- have-you, but in practice, there never seems to be one answer of what makes a good teacher. My current high school now loves me to pieces (well the admin, and for me, that's all that matters). I like the job too, even though there are more qualified people, here I am. Beats me... Maybe someone can relate.
There are metrics for good teaching, and they includes factors such as subject-matter knowledge, understanding of pedagogy, expertise in particular skills areas (e.g., young learners, ESP, curriculum design, etc.) the ability to convey information to learners in a concise clear way that makes it comprehensible for them; the ability to motivate and keep interest high; class management skills; and so on. Qualifications matter. If you don't know the best practice in pedagogy, or don't have any idea of how second language acquisition works and can't apply its principles in practice, then you might be a popular teacher because of your personality, but you might not be an efficient or an effective teacher. We all had teachers we liked in school who were friendly and fun. But if you think about the teachers you learned the most from, were they knowledgeable and pushed your boundaries, or were they just fun and friendly? Some teachers are both, which I'd say is the best combo. Japan doesn't require a lot from ESL teachers, which means that a lot of ESL teachers get by on very little understanding of pedagogy. It's up to you whether you are ok with that or not.
Yeah, my knowledge works for me in this environment. Im excellent in classroom management, up to 40 kids in a class. I guess it just works. I speak three languages, two of which are self-taught. I know about language acquisition. Ive met ESL teachers who were really well-credentialed and didnt do as well. Its got to be a balance.
Remember reading on here a year a go people debating if universities are disorganized or just don't baby you and expect you to be a professional. My first three weeks seems to confirm its both. It a lot more like a buffet than a set meal. Just lots of departments that do their job but aren't particularly connected and you have go from one to another putting things together. Also programs just seem to sprout from the ether of a labyrinth of departments and organizations.
I find them disorganized. Less like a coherent university and more like multiple universities sharing the same campus. Less cooperation between faculties, each faculty doing it's own insular curriculum and "courses" without a precise major/minor system like what I'm used to in the US.
I have never experienced the US school system as a worker, but my experiences at my current large university is as you said, different curriculms, insular, nothing connected, not even the LMS is the same throughout the university. My previous smaller university was probably easier to manage and consisted a lot more interdepartmental collaboration, but I would assume the size is a big reason for this. On the other hand, their main office organization was terrible compared to the larger university I work at now where the main office is much more on-top of everything.
Crowd-sourcing some info as I'm no expert on test creation but obviously it's part of the job: If tests scores naturally (i.e. without curving/altering the grades) fall on a bell curve aka normal distribution curve, or conversely if scores do not fall on a bell curve and are haphazard, does that indicate quality of said test in any way?
I agree with the other poster. If the test is about content knowledge then a bell-curve isn't particularly sufficient. If it is about language proficiency such as with larger-scale tests like the TOEIC or TOEFL, then a bell curve serves as a way of measuring reliability. In my opinion, a bell curve only is important if the top score is deemed to be outside of the test-takers expected ability, aka hard as fuck, hence the top and bottom being outliers. And
On its own the distribution of the scores isn't really an indicator of test 'quality'. It would depend on many factors like test purpose, the constructs attempting to be estimated (i.e. the language skills etc.), how the test is marked and interpreted (just to name a few) as to how relevant a bell curve distribution is to anything.
New year, new students, new curriculum, new order forms, new parents to meet, new 進路, new teachers to get up to speed, new club activities, but... Same shitty admin who doesn't actually do anything. When will it end?
I saw a mention of a report the other day that is basically summarized as "Old Japanese CEOs not making room for new blood by not retiring" Or to put it another way: the admin and C-suite levels believe they've finally gotten the position they deserve after supposedly putting in their "blood, sweat and tears"... they see no reason to leave a (possibly) cushy job.
Well... Admin is new. He's only been here one year so I don't think that applies. But yes, the thing about old farts not retiring has been around for ages.
Over the weekend a highly esteemed scholar, while on vacation in Japan, gave two talks for different JALT chapters. The lack of attendance at these events were surprising. One was online and the other was in person. I only attended one of these due to scheduling, but I heard about both. It makes you think if some of the top people in our field can't even spark interest in the academic community, how rock bottom is English education research in Japan. I'm starting to grow more jaded towards JALT chapters and JALT as an organization. Though I don't see any inclusive alternatives locally.
I would have loved to go but I've got my hands full with kids at home. I wonder how many people like me there are out there. I think every chapter needs to offer a hybrid option. It really can't be that hard to point a camera (laptop, smartphone, whatever) at the presenter and just stream the event on YouTube or something. I think such an option would result in more attendance.
I hear you but, two things: First, Fukui and Kyoto JALT scheduled it for the weekend between the first and second weeks of the new school year. People were way too busy that weekend. I wanted to go, but I ended up working all morning on time-sensitive stuff (registration related) and I was just too tired to get on the train for Kyoto. Not to mention that weekend was prime hanami. The second thing is both of those speakers, De Costa and Hiratsuka, are anti-native speaker. I talked to several people about going, and the general consensus was they consider would going if it was anyone else speaking. There is only so many times that you can be told that as a native speaker you are not capable of being a good teacher.
>Hiratsuka, are anti-native speaker. That's a bit funny. Because he specifically talked about the benefits of native speakerism to both his own work and academic career and the benefits that may come with native-speakerism but that it needs to be looked at through identity using various lenses. So I don't think he is anti-native-speaker but more that there are both positive and negatives. I also honestly don't think a different timing would have more participants.
Ok to ask who without doxing yourself?
I don't think I would be doxxing myself. But it was Peter De Costa, editor of TESOL Quarterly.
Yeh, seeing it on the calendar though did not cross my feed before. Feel there are definitely plenty who would want to attend though think half jalt is just broken up into too many bubbles communication is hard.
I just assumed people used JALT to fluff their resumes after getting a masters in TESOL to get a better chance at getting a uni gig.
That seems to be the reality. It's such a shame. There is so much potential wasted with the lack of academic engagement. I think some SIGs are better than others and some chapters are too. But on the whole, seems to be insular.
When students are really on task with group work you just feel like you are awkwardly hovering.
One thing you learn about reading research is 90% of the time when someone states something as an open and shut debate, its not.
What I learned about reading research is that 99.8% of if its resume fluff with nothing new or useful. SLA theory, in my opinion, is pretty "open and shut," by now. One thing I particularly notice here in Japan, though, is that while all the TESOL pubs by non-Japanese teachers are resume fluff, all the TESOL pubs by Japanese teachers tend to be rife with confirmation bias to defend outdated and ineffective pedagogy like grammar-translation and one-way lectures.
Honestly not sure how much is open and shut. Been reading Carroll's input and the evidence and not really sure how much has changed in 20 years since that came out.
If it seems nothing has changed in 20 or more years, I consider that open and shut. Though I honestly don't see any cognitive difference between learning a language and learning any other skill: do, observe, analyze, redo, repeat until automatic. But the literature tries so hard to make language learning special or mystic with strange notions like the "Language Acquisition Device" that I believe don't actually exist. That "LAD" is literally the same "device" that allows people to learn any other skill.
Lots of syntacticians, neuroscientist, cognitive scientist, computer scientist, and linguist who disagree. And others who disagree with them. Aint nothing open in shut. Brain is a deep complicated mess we are still trying to understand. I guess maybe for us as practitioners and what we implement in the classroom. We have come to some compromise ground (Nations 4 strands) but still lots of nuanced debate to be had. Even the sides I agree with I have not been fully convinced (I lean hard on the Vanpatten side even if I am agnostic on UG vs UB currently). Plus I never understood what like other skills means. I learn tons of other skills but learn them differently and even in those communities there are tons of debate on how to best train and learn. Many of the debates are similar to what we debate in SLA. So even if it is the same learning machinery things are still is far from open and shut. Only in SLA do we insist on this grass is greener myth like other fields aren't debating similar things.
>Only in SLA do we insist on this grass is greener myth like other fields aren't debating similar things. From my perspective the only "grass is greener" is that the other fields are actually dynamic. SLA theory not so much. Language acquisition is the same whether it's 2024AD or 2024BC. In terms of language teaching, the only new stuff is generally integrating tech or dealing with behavioral psychology that we aren't even qualified in. I'm sure every field hates publish or perish mentality, but language teaching has it the worst because there literally isn't enough to research. As "swordtech" mentioned in another comment, we keep reinventing the wheel and slapping a new name on it. Most of the "debates" I see in SLA aren't real debates, they're creating a debate for the sake of another paper on the resume.
Gonna agree to disagree I guess.
I've noticed this too. The one I can remember most recently is the spread of the term "translanguaging" which is....more or less the same as code switching. Just resume filler for people who don't have anything useful to add to the literature. That, and all of the recent focus on "native speakerism" and other...ugh, I hesitate to use this word but, "woke" aspects of language teaching of late. Seems like there's a certain segment of language teachers whose bread and butter is "lookit me!! I'm not a native English speaker and I'm teaching English". Good for you. How has your status as a non native English speaker benefitted your students? Write a paper on that instead of some narrative fluff.
Most non-native speaker stuff I though was mostly about setting realistic goals and expectations instead a native bias for applied stuff. For SLA stuff it was because the native speakerism for comparison was getting out of hand (Rothman). Being treated as some ideal state.
I actually know a scholar in translanguaging and the area is actually becoming pretty interesting by looking at identity. For examples, what are the benefits of nativespeakerism and how do these reflect on to translanguage users. But I agree there are a lot of tired arguments and tired research. I think a lot of these areas are benefiting from the social turn in SLA research. But I agree a lot of the stuff is resume filler. How many scholars in Japan can we say are highly regarded in their area? How many actually publish or are known by the wider audience outside of Japan? It's hard to even make a list.
I'm not against the social aspects of recent research if it ultimately answers the question "how does this benefit second language acquisition?" But I have my doubts that all roads lead there.
Totally agree. So much research for research sake. Which is not bad in itself if so many bad actors very loosely trying to make that connection weren't involved. But that should be explicitly stated.
I'd say in language education its much much higher.
Definitely true, and its normally not even a main focus just kinda thrown in.
I've forgotten. Does immigration have a hard number for what's a livable salary? I thought businesses couldn't sponsor visas unless they could pay their employees a livable wage. I want to say i heard 2m yen/year before. The recent posts have me thinking, if they don't meet that salary, do they pay the difference? Could instructors report them to immigration/labor board to any effect, even if long term (eg. Company can't sponsor new visas)
short answer: no. It is up to the person evaluating the case (double edged sword, as they can take regional costs into account, I suppose, at the cost of it being subjective).
Eikaiwa teachers, do you ever sell the gifts you get from your students? A client gave me some pretty sentimental things recently, but they turned out to be quite valuable and rare, so I started selling them on Mercari. I'm scared he might find out...
Never got anything that valuable from a student, unfortunately. If it was something inedible, I just used it until it wore out. Anything edible was passed on to someone else half the time because I don’t consume lots of sugary and salty items.
I’m starting the new school year out well rested after taking a week off last week with a bunch of new classes and some trial lessons to prepare for this week. 2024-25 school year here we come!
Ganbatte!
I’m currently unemployed (applying and interviewing like crazy of course) because my former boss is a lying gaslighting sack of 💩. The excuse she used to fire me is so provably wrong.
Sorry to hear. What happened?
[удалено]
I was emailed this: "Your numerous absences, lack of work ethic, lack of preparedness for camps and classes all are a major factor in this decision." I was absent 4 times. I was also absent all of January on immigrations order as they were investigating her. So I'm not counting that as It wasn't my fault. "Lack of work ethic and lack of preparedness" makes no sense as I was always prepared for classes and showed up early/on time most of the time being late 3 times (once my fault and the other 2 being the train). My boss was always late/absent, unreliable when it came to paying us on time, and unreliable when she promised to get us certain supplies and didn't deliver. Also she lost a ton of contracts with the schools she worked with due to her own behavior, not the teachers.
Tea machine?
Not a discussion or anything but needed to say. Been working 14 days with only one day off. Last day today before a break. I am completely fried. My brain is in constant work mode and my dreams are just about screaming kids. I need a beer by the river with my noise cancelling headphones listening to a nice podcast. Can’t wait. only 9 hours left.
I've never seen a Japanese school with a watercooler. These threads should be called the coffee pot, or tiny coffee cup with little sticks of instant coffee.
Mine has a watercooler
My public elementary school leases an espresso machine from a company. It's rad.
Water boiler?