About High Schools
High Schools: The Gist
The purpose of this page is to give you an some idea of what to expect in the high schools (I worked at).
In Junior High School, students consult with their homeroom teachers who guide them towards “suitable” high school choices. They take a high school entrance exam as part of the application process, and if their score is aligned with a high school’s standards, they may choose to attend there the following school year. In Mie Prefecture, high school entrance exams are designed by the prefecture’s Board of Education; all students who intend to go to high school take the same test.
Types of High SchoolsThere are many different types of high schools. Some of these are: Special Education, General, Agricultural, Technical, Commercial, Private, Academic, Night, Correspondence.
For some, the primary purpose is to prepare students to enter the work force or specialized fields after graduation, and others prepare students to take university entrance exams. Each school will have special programs and emphasize some subjects over others. Because of this, the curriculum and variety of English classes can vary by school. High schools such as commercial-oriented ones tend to have more variety in their English program options. Depending on your school and students, English abilities will vary greatly. In Mie, schools with higher academic status are usually closer to the city area. More infamous schools tend to be tucked in the countryside. Then you have parts of Mie that are far away from everything, and I don’t know much about them. Japanese Teacher of English (JTE)JTEs are plenty available at General, Commercial, and Academic schools. At the Technical schools, there are far fewer teachers and fewer English lessons, but that doesn’t mean they will utilize the ALT any less. In fact, my Technical schools kept me busy and I met with the same classes weekly.
I taught in General, Academic, and Technical high schools. At the General high school, my cooperating teachers wanted the lessons to be relatively easy and fun. At the Technical schools, the expectation was the same, but a little more challenging. You can probably guess that at the Academic high school, the English expectations were a little tougher. High School JTEs studied English in university so many of them will impress you with their English ability. And some won’t. That is “OK” because the ALT’s role is to help them practice and improve their spoken English. The JTE’s classroom management style and student personalities will greatly affect how students behave and interact in class. Some teachers are a force their students reckon, yet some will be simply be ignored. There are a lot of different classroom management styles, and it is an area that teachers (in any country) could struggle with. |
Classroom Size
Classroom sizes are usually 1 teacher to 40 students. Keep this in mind if you think about classroom management. The ratio is better in schools where students significantly struggle with English and Math. For these schools, more English and Math teachers are assigned and 40 student classes are divided into half so students can receive more attention from the teacher.
There are usually 5-6 periods of classes a day. Students within the same homeroom remain in their classrooms and different teachers visit to teach the various subjects. Technology, P.E., Home Economics, etc. require students to learn in different rooms. Sometimes classes are split by ability level for differentiated instruction. In general, the teaching style is mostly teacher centered and didactic. Japanese high school teachers typically have 3 classes a day or an average of 15 classes a week not including many extra responsibilities they have outside of teaching regular classes. I had 15 classes weekly my first year and 11 classes weekly my second. Although my second year’s work load was less, it was balanced with sponsoring an English Club and teaching extra irregular lessons for night and weekend classes. Please visit my Lesson Planning Guide and Ideas & Downloads page for more information about the role of the ALT in classes, planning, and free lesson ideas to download. |