c-english.com Blog

End of an Era

Not sure if I can say that about myself, but I will be finishing up here at the kencho on the 31st of March. It’s been a very interesting four years.

I have been privileged enough to work with some great people, both here at the kencho and in the wider ALT and teacher communities.

Benefiting more than I have contributed, this has been a profound learning experience. I will miss many aspects of the job after I leave in ten days time.

However, I am very excited about going back to the classroom full time. I will have 35 contact (teaching) hours a week next year, which is if anything a little too much, but it should be a way to lose some of the unwanted weight I have put on in this sedentary environment.

I will be continuing to administer the JET Lounge, and can be reached through the comments here or by email.

Best of luck with your teaching, and thanks for all the support and encouragement.

October Meetings over/COLD

So, the October Meetings last week went really well, thanks mainly to Aki’s efforts putting them together, but also thanks to the presenters, who did a great job with their workshops. Personally I thought the atmosphere was really positive -thanks for making our jobs easier!

It got really cold over the weekend. Time to dig out those stoves and tape up the windows.

First Classes

For everyone starting out at a new school, you may want to check out this article by Andrew Clarke about self-introduction lessons:

http://www.c-english.com/files/selfintroductions_ac.doc

Good luck with your classes!

Survey results

I sent out a survey to ask for feedback and advice concerning the idea handbooks. I would like to thank the 29 people who took the time to reply to the survey. Some results:

-97% of respondents have a copy of one or more handbooks. This is great, but this should really be 100%. Please remember not to take or throw away your Idea Handbooks when you leave your school. New ones with new content are produced every year, so you should leave old copies for your successor.

-86% of respondents have used the handbooks to plan lessons. Your contributions *will* help future ALTs and JTEs.

-93% of respondents found the handbooks useful.

-78% of respondents thought that the handbooks should be provided in written form.

Many people seem unaware that all the submissions for the last couple of years can be accessed (and searched for) at:

http://teachingactivities.pbwiki.com

This year we will continue to provide a printed copy for each ALT, as well as uploading all content to the website. Thanks for your help with this ongoing project, and any comments or feedback are welcome.

Feedback

Lots of good feedback coming in about the Ideas Handbooks. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in the survey, and everyone else keep it coming!

In a couple of weeks I will post the results here, along with comments.

Ideas Handbooks survey

This year, before making the Ideas Handbooks, I thought it might be a good idea to get some feedback on them and see what people think. Please click on the link below and fill in the short survey. It won’t take more than a minute or two:

survey

Yes, this is my new toy, but I promise I won’t be doing any more of these for a while!

SHS Working Hours Survey

We are currently conducting our annual investigation of SHS ALTs’ working hours. If you are a prefectural SHS ALT, please follow the link below and fill in the survey. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.

Survey.