Short term teaching english or special needs

Hi,

I'd like to know if there are assignments to teach english that last shorter than 6 months? I'd like to teach in Japan but I can't commit a year or six months.

Can someone confirm?

I am a special needs assistant. I work with students with autism. I spoke with a former nurse from chiba who said children with special needs are sheltered from society. I noticed when I was there, I only saw one older child with special needs in the JR station. Is this true they are all sent to orphanages because of the shame associated with a developmental exceptionality?

I wonder if there are any short term assignments to work with children with autism in Japan.

I do not know which country you are from, but practically speaking, your potential employers in Japan will need to sponsor you for the work visa so that you can work for them in Japan - and that whole work being only less than six months would be a somewhat wanting, considering that they need to take the trouble to sponsor you the visa, help with housing, etc.

Also if you have skills/experience in that specialized field, more of a long-term commitment is likely to be required - you cannot simply get students used to you, and then leave :(

If you are from a country where Working Holiday Visa is available with Japan, and fullfil other requirements, you could try coming on that program (at least then the employer does not have to sponsor you for a visa). However, I would say finding that specific employment opportunity might be difficult. (And once again, if there is indeed someone looking for that kind of specialized teacher, they would not to want to lose you just after a few months.)

Is this true they are all sent to orphanages because of the shame associated with a developmental exceptionality?

I have never heard of anything like this.

I'd like to know if there are assignments to teach english that last shorter than 6 months?

Generally no, as the minimum is typically one year for visa sponsorship. If you don't need visa sponsorship (like you come over on a working holiday visa) then it may be possible to find shorter term jobs.

I spoke with a former nurse from chiba who said children with special needs are sheltered from society.

Yes and no. Most public schools are not particularly well equipped to handle special needs kids and they may not get the attention they need in that setting, but there are special schools and programs set up to accommodate them in most areas.

I noticed when I was there, I only saw one older child with special needs in the JR station.

For what it's worth, I run into special needs children with probably more frequency than I did back in the US.

Is this true they are all sent to orphanages because of the shame associated with a developmental exceptionality?

No, not true at all.

Do people have to pay extra for special programs for people with special needs?

I don't know what the standard of living is but are these programs affordable?

Wish I could work there for a few months teaching people how to work with special needs since this doesn't seem to be a big area.

Depends on the program. In most regular schools, there are special education teachers that will work with the kids whether they are in the regular classes or in their own classes. Some kids will get a special helper all to themselves depending on their needs; others may go to most regular classes, but have one or two with a smaller group.

There are also schools specifically for special needs kids in some areas. These are, as far as I know, similar to regular schools cost-wise.

Many of the special needs kids also go to an after-school program if there isn't one already at the school. Some of them are NPOs and are supported by the city and tax-payers, while for others you must pay.

In all cases, special education teachers go through training like anywhere else. I'm not sure why you think your training is somehow better than theirs; I'm pretty sure you'd be useless unless you spoke Japanese. At the most, you'd make some bonds with some of the kids, but if you're wanting short term I can't think of anywhere that would be willing to go through the trouble of setting you up with a visa, apartment, bank account, etc. etc. only for you to leave within a few months. It'd be a waste of time when they could find someone willing to be more permanent.

What do I bring that the current workers there don't have? Well, lots of experience from a professional and personal experience. I guess you could say I provide a fresh perspective from North America.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that the Japanese have an inclusive environment (the yellow divider that was on the sidewalks).

As I mentioned before, based on teh limited info I've had from people that lived in Japan, people with autism are very much secluded from mainstream society. This may be inaccurate. I know in North America you see them in the community but there is little inclusion to have them be a part of the community.

I've experience implementing and creating communicative systems for people with autism. I hoped that somehow my services may be useful in Japan.

Truth be told, I fell in love with the country when I was there. My only regret was I didn't speak the language and my limited japanese was very poor. I can only imagine the experience I would have had if I was more fluent (I had some personal issues I had to deal with and couldn't find time to learn more before my trip).

I also fell in love with someone when I was there (no he is not from Japan) but that is another story.

As someone that has never ventured out of my city, I was overwhelmed at the beauty of the country, from the shops, to the cleanliness, to the sheer beauty with the illuminations.

I'd like to plan my next trip there but I haven't figured out when. The summer would be ideal (July, August) but it gets very hot and humid I'm told. I don't like the humidity or heat very much. It's also twice as much for the flight than what I paid this time.

When I went alot of the storefronts and there were big illumination displays. Is there anything similar to this (themes) any other time of the year?

I'd encourage you to do some further reading around the kind of position you are looking for, I'm sure most countries could use more passionate and dedicated teachers for all kids, and especially those with experience of teaching kids with special educational requirements. That being said, I have to say my feeling kind of echoes what those already replying have speculated. If you don't speak Japanese it's going to be difficult if not impossible to find a position for 3 months doing the kind of work you seek. As harsh as it sounds, it is probably just not worth it for any company or government office you might end up working for unless you are some kind of leading expert in your field, like maybe having published works or studies or something like that, and even then the language barrier would be significant. For a job that involves so much potential for misunderstanding even when being discussed between two people with mastery of a language, I fear the barrier to any meaningful and lasting good work that you could do would be very high especially on such a short time frame.

Japan is a very beautiful country (in terms of the landscape) and I think one of the great attractions is it's diversity of environment. Of course, this is true for most large countries, but the appeal of Japan to some people is the compact nature of it, the fact that a comparatively small country has mountain ranges, sub tropical islands, huge metropolitan sprawls, acres of flat rural rice field covered country, tiny fishing towns, neon lit modern business districts, rugged coastline, ancient hot springs and old temples, deeply forested valleys, huge volcanoes....well you get the idea, it has everything really, and all in a relatively small space. I think the best thing for you would be to simply come as a tourist if that is possible. You might be surprised how much of the country you can cover in a 2 or 3 week trip if that is financially feasible for you.

As for summer, it can vary greatly depending on where in Japan you are but in general yes it can be stiflingly hot and extremely humid, to the point of being unpleasant if you are not prepared or experienced with being in those conditions. Where in North America do you live, if you don't mind me asking? In general most travellers seem to find hanami season (around April and May) and the season of autumn foliage (October and November) to be the most pleasant to times to visit Japan in regards to the weather, but I guess it really depends on the conditions that you are used to back home.

What do I bring that the current workers there don't have? Well, lots of experience from a professional and personal experience. I guess you could say I provide a fresh perspective from North America.

The arrogance in that statement is off-putting. Come to Japan because you liked the country; work with special needs because that is your training or your dream. Don't come with this attitude that your experience is somehow better than others. Not only am I positive that there are plenty of special needs workers and teachers with just as much or more experience than you doing just fine here, your "fresh perspective from North America" basically translates to "I think my ways are better than yours and so I'm going to do my best to prove that to everyone whether they want it or not."

Do us all a favor and leave that attitude at the door. Learn why things are done the way they are and take it as an experience to see how things are done differently without feeling like you're doing things better, or trying to change things to how YOU think they should be. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement with how special needs are handled here in Japan; of course there is! But things are not often any better in North America, and often there are reasons things are done a certain way that a bumbling, non-Japanese speaker isn't going to understand in the 1-2 months she wants to work.

And by the way, through my albeit short stints of working with special needs kids in public junior high schools, a lot of the limitations on what special needs teachers were able to accomplish with regard to the kids was set by the parents, and while THERE'S a group that could definitely benefit from some education, somehow I don't think you're going to make much progress on that front when even the teachers themselves can't budge them!

What I meant in my statement as a fresh perspective from North America was not intended to be off putting or imply that I know more than what people in Japan are doing. Based on what I have learned from people living in Japan (not on this trip) is that the work mentality is very strict in all walks of life. People work long days and there isn't much time to unwind.

My statement was based on that premise (a nurse said she was tired of working 12+ hour days and left to come to North America to do something very different).

I don't disagree that people are a product of their environment. I didn't say I was going to be a miracle worker in Japan nor did I ever imply that "if the teachers can't get them to budge"

What I don't understand is how it seems (again based on what I know from people I know that have gone teaching in Japan) is that anyone with a degree can teach english in Japan. It doesn't matter if your degree is in military history or fine arts, you can easily find a teaching job in Japan. Training with some companies is about a week and you are thrust into the schools. I'm not saying this is for all of them but of the ones that I have known. This is concerning on many levels, I mean what if you get someone who isn't skilled at working with kids or has no experience? Some of them are also teaching kids with special needs and these people have no formal experience whatsoever. Sure there are helpers but you'd think there'd be training provided.

So my point is, yeah I like the country, yeah I'd like to bring whatever expertise I can if it can be of help. I figured this was a place to make an inquiry, didn't know it would be taken out of context like this. Forget I asked in the first place.

PhilipJFry

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your response and didn't take what I said earlier out of context.

You summed it up well, it has everything in a small compacted environment. I think that's why I was taken by how beautiful the countryside was when I was on the JR or the architecture of alot of the homes.

Realistically speaking I didn't think there were short term assignments working with this particular population or in general. You are right, unless you are someone in high demand or a specialist, there is no reason a company would take the time to sponsor you for a short time.

Thanks for the advice about the weather, even though July would be a great time to go the humidity would be a big turn off. I went in November/December and it was nice how pleasant the weather was. The nights were cold though but most mornings I would go out without a jacket.

If I was going to work in Japan I would take the time to learn the language. I wouldn't go over there without any functioning knowledge of how to communicate with people there.

I was surprised at the lack of english in major cities. The conceirge at most hotels were ok but not fluent. In the stores it was challenging as well. I'd learn the language on my next trip back here so I can at least get a better grip of what's being communicated.

I think the kind of job you are describing is as an ALT or AET. These positions are assistant teaching positions only concerning English. Essentially, for those kind of jobs most of the duties are simple things like reading from a book to model examples, answering grammatical questions the Japanese teacher might have (many of them have a relatively low level of English or low confidence in their ability), modelling the pronunciation of words via flashcards at the teacher's behest etc. If you have an extremely liberally minded teacher you may be asked to lead the class in some kind of games or activities for a portion of the lesson to encourage their speaking skill, or having short conversations with them to build their confidence.

Those positions don't really come with any responsibility or influence when it comes to class behaviour or discipline, management of student needs, or any kind of connection with the students with regards to general education outside of these areas. Obviously some teachers take the initiative and find new roles for themselves, but strictly speaking most AET or ALT positions are at their root really little more than an interactive pronunciation and grammar robot (I hope that doesn't offend anyone who happens to be working as one!).

I agree with you that requirements for these positions are pretty low, and some people I have encountered working as ALTs don't like or even care about children, education or Japan in general beyond coming here as a holiday or an experience. However they are basically used as an upgrade to a CD player, rather than being an actual teacher in the way you might envisage that word and all it's responsibilities. This is a gross generalisation of course, and there are many fine people and a variety of teaching positions available in the country, but that's your stereotypical 'any degree will do' role I think. They aren't a form tutor or responsible for the holistic educational needs of the student, there are already teachers employed for that purpose, and so the entry requirements are lower.

Anyway please don't be discouraged! People have varied viewpoints on many aspects of life and communication over the internet is notorious for spiralling out of control very quickly through misunderstandings and misinterpretations, as far as I have seen there will always be someone to answer your enquiry in these forums!

ALTs MUST have a licensed teacher teaching with them at all times, so while it is true they are thrown into the class often with little training, there is a certified teacher with them at all times to prevent incidents. This is doubly true for special needs classes; often when I taught these classes, there were more teachers in the classroom than students!

Personally, I don't work well with special needs kids, I don't like those classes, and I never felt I taught adequately when I had them. But the English classes for the special needs students were based on the "English is fun!" premise instead of the "You need this for High School so study hard for this test" premise. That was only reflected in English classes; for others, the students were taught the same, albeit slower.

And some ALTs will never teach a special needs class at all, for various reasons. The only reason I taught so many (4 at one school) was a previous ALT also had special needs training, and had asked specifically to teach as many as she could. When she moved to a new school, I was left with those classes.

Anyway, the point is, that while ALTs are indeed not well trained, there isn't a need for them to be. Would it be better if they had better training, or even a required degree in ESL? Absolutely, but then, they probably wouldn't have enough teachers to put in every ES, JHS, and most HS in the country, or they'd have to pay a lot more to attract people with that specific degree. So I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Just as an FYI, the yellow lines are not "dividers" of any kind. They are there for the visually impaired to be able to navigate the sidewalks. At intersections and crossings, the lines turn to dots to alert them of impending changes in direction/obstacles.