Interac internship

[jkid]

I'm coming to the end of my degree and as such I'm looking more seriously now at the various options available to me.

One such option is working as an intern with the English teaching company Interac for about three months during the last stage of my degree, whilst gaining the final credits I need to graduate.

This seems like a good opportunity to "test the water" with regards to teaching English, given that the intership is for only a 3 month fixed term.

However, it seems like a lot of what has been written about Interac is negative. This makes me a little hesitant.

Any thoughts from someone who has undertaken the intership or who has worked with Interac in the past?

Thanks.

[untmdsprt]

I worked with Interac last year in 4 high schools. For the most part I enjoyed working with some of the teachers while others were so bad, that I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Interac's biggest problem is they don't provide feedback often enough so you can gauge how you're doing, and what you need to improve. Also the teachers themselves offer nothing as to how you're doing. Another problem is they don't specify your job description, and usually make up things on the fly. Your main job is to assist the JTE (Japanese teacher of English), and do what they want you to do. You're also required to speak English to the students, although at a unnaturally slow speed, since they never will have a chance to speak with a native English speaker. The better teachers that I worked with understood the need for me to speak at a natural speed at least once during class but only after the students have understood everything.

The bad teachers would always put me down if I didn't know a word. It was usually a British term, and since I'm American, there's no way I would know about this British term.

Since you'll be doing a 3 month intern, I really wouldn't worry about all the negative feedback from other's experiences. You have to judge for yourself. Good luck to you in getting a good school and people to work with.

[jkid]

Thanks for the response.

You say that the primary job is assisting the JTE so it seems then that I myself wouldn't be actually teaching a class, this is the impression that I got and truth be told I thought it was a little strange given that Interac and most other like companies don't require you to have formal teaching qualifications.

Is it more often the case then, that you'll go around the classroom reviewing students' work and reading textbook passages aloud etc ?

[untmdsprt]

Thanks for the response.

You say that the primary job is assisting the JTE so it seems then that I myself wouldn't be actually teaching a class, this is the impression that I got and truth be told I thought it was a little strange given that Interac and most other like companies don't require you to have formal teaching qualifications.

Is it more often the case then, that you'll go around the classroom reviewing students' work and reading textbook passages aloud etc ?

Yes, and yet I did what they'd told me, and they said I sucked as a teacher. Go figure.

[shake]

I did an internship for Interac this summer. What you do as an ALT depends mostly on the school or BoE (board of education).

In elementary school grades 1-4, the ALT usually does most of the work, with the homeroom teacher just there to clarify things in Japanese and handle the crowd control or disciplinary issues. Grades 5 and 6 are primarily handled by the ALT, but the lesson outlines (uniform across Japan) are set up as team teaching lessons. The problem is, often homeroom teachers don't want to speak English in the classroom.

I don't have personal experience with junior high schools, but from what I've heard from other ALTs and interns, the JTE often does most of the teaching (in Japanese), and then asks the ALT to pronounce vocabulary for the students. Of course, not every junior high school class will be like that, but that again depends on the BoE.

The real issue here is that the Japanese government does want native English speakers in elementary and junior high school English classes, just not as replacements for the Japanese teachers. So, whether you do Interac, another private company, or JET, you'll have similar classroom experiences.

I will say, though, that Interac takes good care of its interns. I had a great time.

[untmdsprt]

I don't have personal experience with junior high schools, but from what I've heard from other ALTs and interns, the JTE often does most of the teaching (in Japanese), and then asks the ALT to pronounce vocabulary for the students. Of course, not every junior high school class will be like that, but that again depends on the BoE.

That's pretty much how it is. Funny thing is, I'm doing the same exact thing as I did last year, and yet I'm getting good reviews. I guess it was the people I worked for, and how much they hated getting stuck with a newbie.

[Taurus]

I'm an ALT on the JET programme, at a Senior High School. I would say that almost all of the problems mentioned in untmdsprt's first post are potentially common to all ALTs - not just Interac ALTs. By which I mean that you could just as likely experience these problems if you weren't with Interac (and you could just as likely not experience them too, also regardless of whether you are with Interac or not).

I would also add that what you are expected to do as an ALT really depends on the particular school, and not so much whether you were hired by Interac or not: I know ALTs who have very similar experiences to untmdsprt insofar as they are simply expected to assist with lessons conducted by their JTEs. In my situation, however, I am expected to plan and conduct about 20 lessons a week, pretty much on my own, and in the classroom, my JTEs seem to reserve themselves to translating any difficult instructions.

[Javizy]

Do you guys know anybody who does have some sort of teaching certification and experience? I'm currently doing CELTA in London, and plan to do another teaching certification afterwards, and hopefully get some experience teaching for 12-18 months. After that, I really like the idea of going abroad, and Japan seems like the natural choice since I'll probably be able to pass JLPT1 by then (hopefully).

Rather than being shipped around and tied down to one of these companies you hear so many horror stories about, I was hoping to give myself an edge so I could apply like a normal citizen wherever I choose to end up (probably Tokyo or Osaka, I guess). I think my chances would be really good just about anywhere else, but the system in Japan seems really questionable, so it makes me wonder...

[Taurus]

Rather than being shipped around and tied down to one of these companies you hear so many horror stories about, I was hoping to give myself an edge so I could apply like a normal citizen wherever I choose to end up (probably Tokyo or Osaka, I guess). I think my chances would be really good just about anywhere else, but the system in Japan seems really questionable, so it makes me wonder...

Do you mean you'd like to apply for an actual fully-qualified teaching job as opposed to an assistant language position? If you do, I believe that you'd have to go through the Japanese system to obtain your qualifications - foreign qualifications (such as the English PGCE) won't be recognised. I think. Unfortunately it's difficult to find out because if you google it you just get back a load of results about teaching English (so forgive me if you subsequently find out that I'm talking rubbish - but hey, this is the internet, right?). If that's the case, I can maybe try to ask one of my Japanese colleagues if you like?

Because if you mean that you'd like to apply for an English-teaching job over here, I think that the CELTA is enough to give you an edge. As far as I can tell (again, caveat about talking rubbish...), if you apply directly with an institution such as a school, many of them don't seem to require any qualifications, and I'm not sure how many of them would even understand your qualifications. It seems to be the third-parties such as Interac (who hire ALTs on behalf of schools and boards of education) who require/understand these qualifications.

For that reason:

I'm currently doing CELTA in London, and plan to do another teaching certification afterwards, and hopefully get some experience teaching for 12-18 months. After that, I really like the idea of going abroad, and Japan seems like the natural choice since I'll probably be able to pass JLPT1 by then (hopefully).

Would it not be worth considering coming to Japan when you have your CELTA, acquiring some experience over here and then doing another certification if you still feel you need it? After all, Japan seems like the best place to learn Japanese, if you're hoping to pass the JLPT 1...

[untmdsprt]

I've seen some better paying teaching jobs requiring a CELTA certification on gaijinpot.com. These are no way being just an ALT but a full teacher teaching to businessmen.

Good luck finding a better job than an ALT position.

[Javizy]

Thanks for the replies guys. Teaching adults appeals to me a lot more, and if the job actually required CELTA, I imagine you'd get to use more modern language teaching methods, which tend to be more fun both for the teacher and the student. At least, that's what it's like on the course and the classes at my college. I'd be willing to settle for just about anything at first, though, as long as I could live where I wanted...

Would it not be worth considering coming to Japan when you have your CELTA, acquiring some experience over here and then doing another certification if you still feel you need it? After all, Japan seems like the best place to learn Japanese, if you're hoping to pass the JLPT 1...

I did think about that, but I'd like to save a decent amount of money, and having some prior experience would probably look good on a CV. Not only that, but it would give me more confidence to actually do the job, since you only get 6 hours practice on the course (with your tutor and other trainees looking on and writing notes about you ).

By the way, if CELTA would benefit either of you, I really recommend doing it if you can. It's quite a fun course and you can learn a lot, especially if you've had no professional teacher training, and the teaching practice would be a breeze for you guys.

[john10074]

Do you mean you'd like to apply for an actual fully-qualified teaching job as opposed to an assistant language position? If you do, I believe that you'd have to go through the Japanese system to obtain your qualifications - foreign qualifications (such as the English PGCE) won't be recognised. I think. Unfortunately it's difficult to find out because if you google it you just get back a load of results about teaching English (so forgive me if you subsequently find out that I'm talking rubbish - but hey, this is the internet, right?). If that's the case, I can maybe try to ask one of my Japanese colleagues if you like? Because if you mean that you'd like to apply for an English-teaching job over here, I think that the CELTA is enough to give you an edge. As far as I can tell (again, caveat about talking rubbish...), if you apply directly with an institution such as a school, many of them don't seem to require any qualifications, and I'm not sure how many of them would even understand your qualifications. It seems to be the third-parties such as Interac (who hire ALTs on behalf of schools and boards of education) who require/understand these qualifications.

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