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| somewhere in Okayama |
If you're thinking of working as an ALT, think whether the following pros outweigh the cons.
The Good
1. The nature of work is easy.
Being an ALT is the easiest job I ever had. I just prepare fun activities and do them in class. Then there times when all I have to do is read whatever's in the textbook. I'm not saying that being an ALT is a no-brainer. You still need to work, think and be creative. But compare with other jobs, being an ALT has less tasks and less responsibilities. Just plan lesson lessons, teach and speak in English. Repeat until the school year finish.
2. You'll have lots of time off and vacation
I have around 60 days of time off in a year- 2 weeks of spring break, 2 weeks of winter break and almost 4 weeks of summer break. That's really plenty of time to travel and do nothing. But that's not all. At work everyday, I still have plenty of free time. This blog started because of free time. Then the longer I work as an ALT, the less time I need to prepare. The less time I need to prepare, the more time I have. On average, I only use 4-5 hours in school for actual ALT work. With the remaining time, I blog, I hang out with students and I just read random stuff on the internet. Some ALT's use this free time to study Japanese. I was like that until I gave up on Japanese.
3. You have chances of saving.
If you live a moderate lifestyle, I believe you can save some money as an ALT. I have a friend from the US who paid off her student loans in just 2 years as an ALT. Another friend was able to save for an MA degree in the US. Other Filipino ALT's were able to buy a car and a modest house back home. Being an ALT is not exactly a high-paying job but it's a job that can pay your bills with some extra for savings.
4. You don't need to work overtime.
Unlike with other jobs you can get in Japan, being an ALT does not require overtime. When the clock strikes 4, I can go home. Some schools even ask their ALT's to go home earlier than 4. As soon as their classes are finish, then they're home bound.
5. The working hours are more regular than in eikaiwa.
Unlike teachers in language schools, ALT's don't need to work at night or early morning. The working hours of an ALT is usually from 8 to 4. ALT's also have more vacations and holidays compared to teachers in language schools.
The Not-So-Good
1. You'll have lots of free time.
I also mentioned this free time thing on the good. But this lots of free time has also a bad thing. There are days when I don't have work but I need to go to work. Also, even if I have nothing to do, I cannot go out the school. I feel that some free time are better spent doing other things than just being in the school.
2. You'll have perpetual feeling of isolation.
As an ALT, I am the only English-speaking person in the school. The rest of the people are Japanese. The Japanese are not rude people but they're not exactly friendly and welcoming. They'll treat you well enough and would even help you. But it's hard to be "friends-at-work" with them. There are also many times when I have no idea what's going on in the school due to language barrier. At first, I want to swear off my job because of isolation. But I eventually got used to it.
3. It's a dead-end job.
For me, this is the worst thing about an ALT- I'm an ALT and that's it. There's little chance of going up the ladder. And even if you go up the ladder, you'll still be doing the same thing but on a larger scale. Most ALT's I know stay in the job for 3-5 years then they either go back to their home countries or find other jobs. Even with salary, it stays around the same amount even if you're working for a number of years.
4. It requires a lot of flexibility.
Just to give you an idea how flexible an ALT should be: I teach 21 classes every week (about 4-5 classes a day). I have to work with 5 different teachers who want different things in the class. Then there are teachers who would just suddenly ask you to do things in the classroom on the spot. I'm quite lucky I work in one big school. Other ALT's have to work in 3-4 schools with more than 5 teachers. That takes lots of flexibility and adaptability.
5. There's no security of tenure.
An ALT's contract is only a yearly basis. There's a possibility of losing your job after the school year. If not lose your job, you can be transferred to another school or another city or even another area of Japan. An ALT's job is only good for a year, technically.
Being an ALT is not that bad but it's not entirely an ideal job. It's a nice job to experience but I wouldn't recommend people to do it for a long time. But that's just me. Maybe some people are really happy to be an ALT they could be an ALT forever. I can't. I'm thankful to have this job for the last 3 years but I can't imagine doing this for another year. But then again, that's just me.
