Teaching in an Academic High School

Matthew Basey

Teaching in an academic school has been one of the most rewarding parts of the JET Programme for me. I started working at a higher-level school in my second year as an ALT and this school has now become my base school. “Higher level” generally means that both the students and teachers will be more academic, so working in one of these schools can be a great experience. Although this essay is written for ALTs working in high-level academic senior high schools, I hope that ALTs working in junior high schools and medium/lower level senior high schools will find some of the ideas and thoughts useful too.

There are no general rules about high-level high schools and the level of a school can be quite hard to classify. In general, the students will have higher academic ability – but not all. The students may have more interest in English, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a higher interest in speaking English. Some schools may have a special English course where the students have a high interest and ability in English, some schools may be high-level in particular subjects, and in some high level schools the level of English might not seem that much different from other schools. Sometimes it can be the opposite because the school is more geared towards teaching the students grammar to pass university entrance exams, or the students can be more shy or reluctant to speak English. If the school is your visit school (one or two days a week) you may just teach OCI (oral communication/speaking classes) – with or without a textbook, but most probably you will be given one and expected to use it. Your school may have a set pattern of what it wants you to do – this will have its good and bad points! If the school is your base school (more than three days a week) you may teach other classes, for example second- or third-year classes (either OCI or grammar, reading, writing-based). Some ALTs teach a class of English using computers (Computer Aided Language Learning), and some ALTs help to teach French classes.

The students in high-level schools can sometimes be more shy or serious, so that is something you have to work hard at in order to break down. The school may be more exam orientated at the expense of speaking classes, and although it is a high level school, not all students will be interested in English. Many will be more shy and less confident of speaking out in front of their peers. One of the biggest “problems” is shyness, which can sometimes come across as a lack of interest. You may find students look at the floor, the desk – anything to avoid “embarrassing” themselves! You may think a student has no interest in you or in English because of this. There are several ways to solve this problem (I’ll go into more detail later), generally it’s best just to relax, smile and be yourself, and eventually students will come around. In addition, English is just one of the subjects the students study –they have other subjects, club activities and pressures to think about. Students in high-level schools will have a lot of pressure, so be careful of over-working or over-stressing them. This can be an acute problem in a high level school -pay close attention to the students.

Here are some extracts from an email survey I sent to ALTs working in high-level high schools (including mine written last) –some are slightly edited.

What do you think about the students and teachers? If you have another school how are the students or teachers there similar or different?

1. "The students are generally amazing in class. They always want to learn and are always interested. The JTEs rarely participate in the class, apart from the dialogues and if there is some difficult English to translate. This is alright, most of the time, the boys understand what I say, and as the activities are always the same, they have the hang of the lesson structures. They are very different to my base school. The girls there don't pay attention, and spend most of their time talking, though they are much friendlier than the boys outside of class. The teachers are also a lot stricter, but I guess that is because they need to be.”
2. “Students/teachers are friendly, but busy. Some like English; some can't be bothered--true for both teachers and students. But, all the students at both schools are good students and are always studying.”
3. “The teachers are all very nice and try to motivate the class. For the most part though, the JTEs prefer to have me lead and run the class. They don't feel confident in their English or they feel that the students would benefit more if they always listen to the native speaker. The students pay attention for the most part and participate actively in the lessons.”
4. “Students are very mixed - some very keen, some couldn’t give a monkeys, some are just shy. A few have reasonable English and most are nice and friendly, inside and outside the classroom. The teachers I have now are ok but badly organized and/or have too much to do. Most of the English teachers in the school can speak English but not all. At the blind school they are all totally cool and even though they work me hard too they always look after me and go out of their way to help. Many of the staff will try to speak English with me an always invite me to parties.”
5. “Well, compared to my night school, my students are very smart and want to learn. They try hard and study hard. Some students are more motivated than others to speak, but all around I feel the day school students want to learn English and try hard to do it.”
6. “Students are generally well-behaved, though they tend to think the OC1 class is just a bit of fun and they don't do homework. Generally, only the clowns speak out in class. The students play a lot of sports and are so busy that they are often exhausted. The teachers are generally friendly and easy to work with. Of course, changing teachers every year is difficult, but they trust me to make lessons and play a major role in class. At my visit school the girls are of a lower level but generally more talkative and seem to enjoy the classes more. The teachers at the girls’ school are also much more relaxed because the school is less academically focused.”
7. “The students are really good. They are very interested in English and try really hard in class. They also study very hard in other subjects and work really hard on extra-curricular activities and sports. They are active in class, but sometimes they are more reluctant to volunteer than in my visit school (Which is of intermediate level). It is hard to make generalizations, but although the students of the higher-level school have a higher ability in English, it isn’t always the case in speaking ability or confidence! The teachers are very good, more willing to communicate with me, help me with things and get involved in planning and teaching the lessons.”

What extra activities and things do you get involved in?

1. “I visit the English club whenever they ask. I also visit the sports clubs on rare occasions--more so in the beginning when I was first trying to meet students.”
2. “I don't really get involved in other activities. I have been to a few English Club parties, but as far as I know, they don't meet regularly. I helped one group with the skit contest, but not extensively.”
3. “I did the Skit Koshien last year on arrival, and had to prep a girl for speech contest in November.”
4. “I am involved in English Club, but every time I plan on going the club gets cancelled for some reason. Right know I am hard at working helping to prepare for the Skit Koshien. I had 4 teams of 3 that wanted to do it, so I had to hold a Skit Koshien audition.”
5. “School clubs, such as soccer and table tennis. I also help students preparing for Eiken tests. I have taken part in Izumi high school English camp, interviewed teachers for the selection process of English teachers in Miyagi Prefecture and presented at the mid-year conference.”
6. “I go to the Foreign Culture/English club every week and chat, help them prepare for the skit koshien and for the school festival. I keep a notice-board and recently starting adding things for eiken. I do a radio broadcast every week. I’d like to go to more clubs after school but I sometimes feel hesitant to go because I feel like I am in the way!”

What do you do to try to overcome the shyness that sometimes comes from students in higher level schools - do you have any strategies?

1. “I do that chat card thing a lot, so they have to come and talk to me, and that's ok, and if I stay during the 10 minutes between classes, then boys who wouldn't normally do it come, as their friends have. But if I just stay for those 10 minutes without a proper reason, then they don't talk to me. But during class they have lots and lots of confidence speaking English, and encourage each other to do it, so that's definitely not a problem. They're definitely more interested in learning English and about England from me inside class than outside.”
2. “I just always wear a smile and try to make the first effort to say hello. That way, students don't feel shy to talk to me, and even if they are shy, I make the first move and then they open up a bit more. Well,at least this is the theory anyway.”
3. “Speaking bad Japanese to them sometimes, smiling a lot, joking, breaking students into small groups and talking to them individually.”
4. “I use group work a lot. At the end of the activity, I sometimes have some of the students present in front of the class, but only after they have practiced a few times already in the group activity.”
5. “I try to make the lessons fun. I get them to answer with gestures rather than words (e.g. thumbs up). As it never occurred to me that this was 'high level shyness', I have probably been really harsh on them as it used to drive me batty when they would totally ignore me.”
6. “Getting them to read out answers and only asking for answers from those who I could see already had the correct answer written down, or working in groups with a spokesperson.”
7. “The girls really like it when I wink at them or make funny faces. The boys want to arm wrestle me! Instead of always showing them what they are doing wrong (which is what the JTE's and other Japanese teachers do) I show them what they did right which leads into ways to make there English better and so forth.”
8. “I put students into smaller groups of about six students. I pick students at random to answer questions. I get to know the students outside of the class so they feel more confident in class. I usually have lunch in the canteen and chat with students.”
9. “I try to make jokes and smile a lot, sometimes use bad Japanese, talk to them in groups or individually. Going to club activities and talking out of class will help, especially in the lunch room, after school, in clubs, at the school festival, sports day. Being active, taking an interest and making the first move is important. I make profile cards and seating plans to try and learn names. I do a DJ broadcast with lots of music to stimulate interest and encourage the students to correspond with me by email. Use of audio-visual equipment will be good to break the ice – for example: watching videos/film, such as Mr. Bean, The Simpsons, listening to music. I taught them the Budweiser “What’s up” greeting, so all students have something they can say to me. I think things just take time, but by teaching a challenging, interesting class and getting to know the students will help. For example, if you find out who the active students are, you can use them to energize the rest of the class.”

Finally, do you have any other comments, points of view, advice, problems to do with the high level school - anything at all!

1. “I have found that if I am by myself in the classroom, then the students enjoy that a lot. As they are all together, they don't mind talking to me as much, and if possible, are even more receptive to the English. I guess it's because they know they have to try much harder, because the JTE isn't there to help them if they get stuck.”
2. “High level schools are good because the students are respectful, kind, and friendly, and they can have at least a basic conversation in English with the ALT. However, since the kids are busier, get less sleep, and are just more academic types, I think their outward, in-school personalities lack some of the spunk, pizazz, and genkiness" of students in lower level schools. I'd like to see more cutting up, more trouble, kids dressed weird with strange clothes--in general, more diversity.”
3. “Since I don't deal with any of the textbooks, I feel that my class is just a time filler and not really that important. They are rather focused on the college entrance exams, so I don't feel that my classes are regarded with great importance. Also, I sometimes have a lot of free time, so that can get old pretty fast. Other than that, I have found my situation to be good. The students are motivated and energetic.”
4. “The main problem I have is that most of the activity ideas I get from the Board of Education or my peers are not challenging enough for my students. JTE's want it to be educational too, so I can't do fun games or activities unless it is preparing them for their term exams, or college entrance. Because of this, I sometimes end up just being a voice recorder in class.”
5. “I think that students at academically focused schools work too much and have too many pressures from school clubs. When students have so little sleep they can't focus in class, or when students have so many classes they don't even realize what class they are currently in. I think it's bad.”
6. “The students and teachers are very good and I really enjoy working in the high level school. One of the biggest problems is that although the level of English is higher, the students don’t always believe in it and “higher-level” might not always translate into ability or interest in speaking English. But working in the high level school has been really enjoyable, sometimes in my other school I felt like whatever I did never really made much progress, but this hasn’t been the case in the high level school.”