Using Technology To Teach English In Japan by Paul Raine

by Paul Raine

Bio: Paul Raine (MA TEFL/TESL, University of Birmingham 2012) is an award-winning teacher, presenter, author, and developer.

His books include the best-selling 50 Ways to Teach with Technology and the innovative multi-path graded reader Journey to Mars. He has also developed his own website for teachers and learners of EFL (www.apps4efl.com). He has published numerous research articles on the teaching and learning of English as a second language, and is particularly interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). 

He currently teaches at two universities in the Tokyo area.

A nation of innovative technophiles or conservative technophobes?

Japan generally seeks to project a highly technologically advanced image on the international stage: bullet trains, capsule hotels, the giants of the video gaming industry, and electronic consumer goods for every conceivable need.

However, anyone who has visited Japan knows that there are two sides to the country: the innovative high-tech side, and the conservative traditionalist side. The latter seems to be especially prominent in the education sector.

The conservative Japanese education sector

As a case in point, when I was working as a dispatch agency teacher at a technology university in Kanagawa in 2008, the person in charge of infrastructure decided that it was a good idea to install blackboards in a brand new wing of the university. Not smartboards. Not whiteboards. Blackboards. As a reminder, blackboards are 19th century technology.

Another case in point. Anyone who has ever ridden on a train in Japan has almost certainly seen Japanese school children learning English vocabulary from books by holding a transparent piece of red plastic (shitajiki) over the page, which can be used to obscure or reveal text written in red ink, and facilitate rote-learning on-the-go.

The right tool for the right job

Now, you may be wondering exactly what is wrong with these techniques? What’s wrong with “chalk and talk”? What’s wrong with “drill and kill”?

There may well be nothing wrong with such traditional teaching and learning techniques used in moderation and in the appropriate circumstances.

And while I’m not going to go into a comprehensive literature review of the relative merits of the traditional versus the high-tech, the important point to be made here is to choose the right tool for the right job.

There are some things that tech-powered tools do better than traditional ones, and some things that can only be done with technology.

When is technology better?

Digital teaching and learning materials can be copied, edited, deleted, transmitted, backed-up, collaborated on, revised, commented on, duplicated, and converted into different formats much more efficiently and easily than traditional paper media.

Of course, some of these benefits also give rise to potential vulnerabilities and drawbacks, including issues of security, which many Japanese educational institutions are notoriously paranoid about.

But there are also many things that can only be done with the use of technology, most notably anything relating to audio or video.

The benefits of using video to teach English have been well documented, and where would the typical English teacher be without their trusty tape-deck / CD-player / MP3-player / audio streaming website?

Tech is the king of task automation

Then of course there is tracking student progress and grading student work.

“Yes! I get to grade fifty exam papers tonight!” said no English teacher ever.

Technology to the rescue. Multiple choice English tests can be easily administered and automatically graded online with Google Forms, and there are a vast plethora of Learner Management Systems (LMS) offering comprehensive solutions to the create, administer, submit, grade, feedback cycle that teachers love so much.

The chances are that your institution already has an LMS, although whether it actually gets used is a whole other matter.

Enabling the cutting edge

So far we have mainly discussed well-established uses of technology for language teaching and learning, but recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), have made a whole new range of cutting edge affordances possible.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems have paved the way for online Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) solutions, such as EnglishCentral, and Text-To-Speech (TTS) has improved to the point where it is becoming impossible to distinguish computer generated voices from human ones.

Will advances in AI eventually result in ALTs being replaced by blue-eyed blonde-haired English speaking robots? 

Possibly. 

Some schools in Japan are already experimenting with such solutions.

But robots still find it hard to interact with and inspire English learners on a truly human level.

So until the arrival of the singularity, why not adopt more tech-based teaching practices in your classroom? Of course, you will be limited by your institution’s infrastructure and its (often infuriating) technology policies, but there are usually workarounds for such issues.

For more information about how to use technology for teaching English, check out my book. 

You might also want to take a look at my list of over 185 English learning and teaching websites.

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

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Five Free Ed-Tech Resources to Educate, Enhance, and Engage English Efficacy by Huy Tran

by Huy Tran

Educational Technology Columnist

Bio: Huy Tran is a Global Education Designer who trains ALTs, JTEs, and teaches ESL learners how to harness the powerful tools of the 21st Century.

He received his Bachelors of Science in Education from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He was a math, science, and English JHS teacher for LAUSD for seven years.

He then founded a private tutoring company online during the very early days of e-learning while testing out the potential of VOIP software as a teaching tool. 

After seven years, he realized he missed the living classroom and desired to see how an education system outside of the United States functions. Initially, a one year break from Los Angeles city life turned into eight years, a wife, a five year old, and his own private English school in the rural town of Yamaga.

He has been introducing active learning, group project based learning, computer assisted learning, and other innovations into the Japanese education system of teaching English; first as an Assistant Language Teacher with Interac, then a direct hire by the local Board of Education to train and mentor new ALTs.

He now devotes his time as an educational consultant to private schools, BOEs, and teachers on 21st Century, globalized, active learning strategies through workshops and presentations. He is an active member of JALT (the Japanese Association of Language Teachers) and conduct workshops, presentations and demos on the benefits of Skype in the Classroom, computer assisted learning, and autonomous learning. 

He has presented at conferences in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. As a Microsoft Innovative Educator, he has mentored, trained, collaborated and connected with over 30 teachers in over 14 countries in the past five years. He firmly believes that the next 20 years will see an educational transition in methodologies, and that 20th Century institutional learning will be completely transformed.

ICT (Information and communication technology) is fundamentally used in today's classrooms around the world. Although Japan is perceived as a hi-tech country, in reality it is sorely lagging behind other Asian countries such as Korea and Vietnam. Computer coding is primed for mandatory implementation in Japanese primary schools by the Ministry of Education in 2020. It’s an excellent goal but it comes at least a decade behind schools in Silicon Valley.

Early student exposure to computers and smartphones as learning tools and not just entertainment devices in the early stages of their education will motivate them to seek more knowledge over the Internet and build critical thinking skills through interactive digital resources.

ICT may also be the magic toolbox in regards to students’ learning and strengthening their engagement with collaborative learning. Here are five tried and tested digital resources that have significantly helped my students at The Language Kitchen, an English Immersive Organized Learning Environment.

ABCya - Yasss Queen!

ABCya specializes in computer games and learning apps for kids but the learning skills that are practiced are just as fun and useful for adults. Don't let the cute graphic design fool you. Packed in are tons of English, logic, critical thinking, and activities to boost the creative skills that students of all levels will enjoy.

Basic computer literacy is a key skill that I noticed many of my newly enrolled English students were sorely lacking. Mouse navigation, comprehending the graphical user interface, and keyboarding skills are easily practiced with the use of hundreds of learning games aimed at the Pre-K to 5th grade level.

Organizing students into pairs or small groups allows them to problem solve together on how to play the games and learn. Students who have challenges in social communication, perhaps on the autistic spectrum, can greatly benefit from computer based learning platforms. Some may even argue that their brains are more naturally wired to transition their autistic brain into a blossoming career in computers.

Starfall – Shoot for the Stars

Phonics, reading, and pronunciation are the key skills that Starfall provides in a fun way no matter the age or skill level of your students. A complete guide for parents and teachers is available with tips and tricks on how to effectively use the digital resource to support students' learning.

Predominantly for use on computers, the company also has some of its learning activities for mobile apps as well. Key skills such as phonetic and phonemic awareness, reading aloud, and computer skills are aimed at primary school level students but English students of any age will benefit from the easy to use point and click format.

The animated interface is well designed and sound quality is high. The use of young voices is a nice subtle touch for your own young learners as a model to practice their pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm.

Students in groups of three or four can work together by playing the educational games while also freeing the teacher to give more one on one attention to lower skilled students who require more social interaction to effectively learn.

Skype in the Classroom – Ten Years in and Skype is Now a Verb

If you have not implemented Skype as part of your curriculum then your students are missing out on one of the biggest opportunities toward authentic language learning in the 21st Century.

Skype in the Classroom is now ten years old and I have been successfully using it connect my students with classrooms around the world. My students have been actively using Skype to meet and build friendships with students from over 17 different countries and over 100 different classrooms over the past ten years. Joining Skype in the Classroom is free for educators and has online courses, projects, lessons, and, most importantly, connections to fellow educators who want to build strong interpersonal relationships between globally minded classrooms.

Teachers can also connect with guest speakers such as scientists on the bottom of the ocean, explorers summiting Everest, and even people like the astronaut, Randolph Bresnik, web chatting from the International Space Station. An almost endless amount of like minded teachers from around the globe are ready to make your students' English communication skills real and meaningful.

Kahoot! - An Awesome Hoot and Ninja Learning to Boot

Kahoot is a game based learning platform that takes your old fashioned flipping flashcard recall skills to a fun and engaging game show format. Teachers custom make their own game shows to assess students' skills and understanding.

If you are pressed for time, simply utilize any one of the thousands of other learning game shows that have been created, uploaded and shared by collaborative teachers around the globe.

The platform has the ability to embed videos from YouTube so that teachers may incorporate listening comprehension skills.

The game based and trivia learning platform is able to be used on smartphones, computers, and tablets at the same time. Students' scores and results are automatically recorded in detail on an Excel sheet and can be downloaded for the teacher to review the students' competency.

A few caveats are that your classroom does require internet access, a main screen for the teacher and student players to collectively see the question screen. My students, from as young five to fifty years old, have had great fun while being focused and engaged playing Kahoot. We have often played the game for the entire class time.

I sneakily review concepts, check their listening and reading comprehension and assess their learning at the same time. We have even played across time zones and continents with the use of Skype's “Share the Screen” function with students in Japan competing with classrooms in Vietnam, Korea, and Germany. It certainly delivers on its promise to “Make Learning Awesome!”

Schoology – Pronounced as Skoo-luh-gee

Schoology is the self-dubbed “world's leading learning management system (LMS)” that connects educators around the world to support student achievement and cultivate teacher collaboration.

I have only used it for about a year with a Japanese high school class in Fukuoka connecting with an American high school class in Texas and garnered positive responses from both classrooms as an authentic communication tool for the students’ second language development.

Its potential as a second language learning tool is limited only by the students and teachers own creativity. The platform utilizes a familiar graphical user interface of social media sites such as Facebook in a closed circuit system. The teachers are able to monitor, control, and delete all interactions between students and users outside of the classrooms are unable to join.

Students and teachers are able to upload photos, videos, links, reading materials, and even worksheets for everyone within the closed classroom account. Students can post reactions and comments to each other in the social media styles of Instagram, LINE, and WeChat.

The platform also has an app available for mobile devices which makes it natural for students to share their thoughts and interests. Teachers can create a specific topic of discussion, assign reading and even give YouTube lectures while monitoring students' engagement on those projects.

Schoology also comes pre-integrated with over 200 tools and other educational apps such Dropbox, Google Drive, Kahn Academy, Voicethread and Quizlet to a name a few.

An Old Dog Must Learn New Tricks

Some parents and even a few teachers will seem reticent at first to implement ICT literacy as part of the language acquisition curriculum. Most likely, this is due to their own lack of exposure to e-learning and m-learning from their own educational experience.

Yet, it cannot be denied that ICT has become an integral part of everyday life in the 21st century. This information trend and the essential skills necessary will only continue to evolve and become an increasingly integral learning and communication tool.

The use of ICT in education not only adds value in teaching, and enhances the effectiveness of second language learning, but adds an extra qualitative value to learning that was never available before in human history. Your classroom is now in the digital age of information, instantaneous cross cultural interaction, and knowing answers to questions is only one smartphone assistant query away. There is no looking back.

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

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Can ES Teachers In Japan REALLY Teach English ALONE? by David L. Hayter

by David L. Hayter

Bio: David L. Hayter works as a Lead Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Japan. Although he primarily teaches junior high school, he has taught all the grades from kindergarten through ninth grade.

Aside from teaching classes in junior high school, his other duties include training and managing new ALTs, designing and delivering teacher training workshops, and performing other duties for his local Board of Education.

When he’s not teaching, he actively volunteers in his community, enjoys playing video games, loves to cook, trains hard, practices martial arts, podcasts, helps run the ALT Training Online blog and writes for his blog, Yokkaichi Connections.

So it's time to ask the question: Can elementary school teachers in Japan REALLY teach English Alone? The quick answer is, “YES, THEY CAN!” With a little extra help that is.

The MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) in Japan has set the lofty, and some would dare say unrealistic, goal of having ES (elementary school) students study English from the 3rd grade in 2020. While this should definitely mean that future generations will have a better command of English, there is still a lot of work to be done to get the ES teachers ready for the task.

From my experience, different ES teachers have different levels of enthusiasm when it comes to teaching English.

They also have varying skill levels. Some love the subject and jump at the chance to have conversations with ALTs and other English speakers. Other teachers who are less enthusiastic about English may do the minimum amount of instruction required to satisfy the requirements of the curriculum.

Keeping this in mind, this post covers some things Japanese teachers can do to become better teachers of English elementary schools. A lot of the info applies to ALTs as well. Many of the following practices are being promoted by a local BoE (Board of Education) in my area and the good people who work there.

Practice using picture books

ES students, especially the younger crowd, love picture books. However, there is a lot more to using a picture book effectively than just reading the words on the page.

When reading a picture book, make sure all the students can see the book

(I’m a genius, I know).

If you can add in different voices for characters and sound effects, the students really get a kick out of it.

The students will be zoned in on you and your reactions to the story. If you have fun with it, they’ll have fun with it. Don’t be afraid to act really surprised, happy, sad, or scared. It really helps reinforce the meaning of the story!

Lastly, you can also use the book for comprehension questions. You can ask questions like:

• What’s this?
• How many ~ do you see?
• Do you like ~?
• What color is this?

There are a lot of creative ways to get the most out of your picture books. Give it a shot!

Use more digital resources

The world is becoming more digital day by day. The same is true for Japan (although at a much, much slower pace). Despite the slow adoption of new technology in Japan, Japanese children are growing up on tablets and smart-phones.

Using digital resources in the classroom do a lot more to retain the students' attention.

For example, I’ve done a Halloween presentation more than a few times over the years. I first had a presentation with a lot of pictures on the slides. It was interesting for the students, but there were still some who seemed a little checked out.

Later, I added in more animations and transitions. After a while, I put in more GIFs and links to YouTube videos. The content was the same, but it was more engaging for the students.

Even if the students don’t like English, they’ll at least dig the crazy stuff that pops up on the screen.

The new textbooks for ES, We Can and Let’s Try, have some digital materials that can be used with the book. If teachers can combine the digital materials for the book with their own, it’ll make the class more interesting and relevant for their digital-native students.

Make communicative, context based lessons

One idea I’ve picked up over the last year is CBL (Context Based Learning). It may sound like a fancy word off the bat, but it’s pretty simple when you think about it.

When teaching an English class, the students will get more out of the lesson if there is a “context,” or real-world situation, behind the lesson (what a concept!).

The days of drilling grammar and vocabulary in order to translate it and get the right answers for a test do little to produce students who can use English in real-world situations.

Games can be fun but if students don’t get some context with them, it’s kind of like just having fun for nothing.

Many teachers may be intimidated by CBL, but if they can see that it’s not too difficult and can be a lot of fun, I think more teachers will come around to it.

Here are some ways you can give lessons context:

Asking “Wh-” questions

• Write a letter to a student in another country asking about their life
• Interview a famous person
• Find a criminal by interviewing witnesses
• Ask about someone’s hometown

There are a lot of different ways to give lessons context. In the end, simple lessons that get the students up, moving around, and talking with each other tend to go over well.

Become a conversation partner for the students

As teachers in ES begin to teach more on their own (without ALTs), they will naturally have to speak more English in the class (genius - again, I know). That means that the ES teachers will be speaking a lot more with their students.

One of the best ways to do this is to have short, simple, and unscripted conversations with students. 

The goal isn’t to reproduce a passage from a book. Rather, the goal is to build skills and confidence in the students (and sometimes teachers).

The MEXT calls this “small talk,” I call it “just speaking English.”

Here’s an example:

Teacher: Yesterday, we learned about food. Now I have a question. What food do you like? Any volunteers? Yes!

Student 1: I like pizza.

Teacher: Oh, you like pizza? Me too! How about you? Do you like pizza?

Student 2: No. I like sushi.

Teacher: I see. You like sushi. I like sushi, but I don’t like wasabi. How about you? Do you like wasabi?

(And so on, and so forth - I think you get the idea)

From this example, we can see that the conversations aren’t too in depth and the content pretty easy to handle.

These phrases and expressions are the very basic building blocks of language.

There are some things to note from the above example:

1. The conversation is between the teacher and the students
• As the students become better, they should be able to do this with each other.
2. The questions are very simple.
3. There is no right answer (the students get to give their opinion).
4. The teacher repeats the student’s answer.
• This checks for understanding while stating the answer again for other students to hear.
5. “How about you?” is a magic question.
• It makes it more into a back and forth conversation.
• It’s not the usual type of interrogation.
6. The students practice social skills and thinking on their feet
• Some students struggle with this in Japanese, let alone English

Time will tell

The practices listed above are some of the new ideas that are being promoted by BoEs around Japan. We’ll have to see if these ideas end up being effective as time goes on.

I’m fairly hopeful that if teachers begin to incorporate these ideas into their classes, then the English speaking ability of Japanese students should increase over time (fingers crossed).

Although the ALT will remain a valuable resource for teachers and students, incorporating these ideas will move Japan away from an educational system where the ALT primarily has been seen as the model of an English speaker to one where the ES teacher also becomes a model of an English speaker with the ALT (team-teaching, anyone?).

So the answer to my first question again is "YES, THEY CAN!" But, the rest is up to them. Let’s do what we can to make it happen!

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

If you have something 'ALT' to write about that hasn't been covered in these blogs, email me at alttoblog@gmail.com so we can work together and spread your story.

Don't have any ideas? We have a list of topics to write about that need a writer. Email in your interest to write and we can set you up. 

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ICT and the Cutting Edge in Japanese Public School English

by Jessie James Lucky

This is the third part of a three part series.
Be sure to check out part one - What is Kenshu? Teacher Training in Japan and part two - Kenshu for Me: My First Few Years in Japan

Bio: Jessie is an ALT from Portland, Oregon, USA. He got a certificate in TESL from Portland State University and worked as an adult educator as well as technical trainer for a national bank in the US before coming to Japan.

Jessie has lived in Japan for over 14 years and currently spends most of his time working at two schools in the Kumamoto area. He has a wealth of teaching experience. Outside of school, he teaches students of all ages and levels. More recently, he’s been teaching business English for working professionals, students facing entrance exams or TOIEC tests, students preparing for work and study abroad, as well as community English classes for senior citizens and young kids.

Outside of the classroom, Jessie has a lot of hobbies. These include Capoeira, canyoning, waterfall climbing, instrument making, and heavy metal to name a few. 

In my last ‘kenshu’ we were exploring the use of ICT (information and communication technology) and did an English Lesson using it. As I discussed in my earlier posts, no other ALTs were invited to or participated in this training or the meetings that were related to it. Although all the Japanese teachers of every subject, including English, did.

I was the only foreigner invited, and probably only because I was in the actual lesson. As I said in my previous post, I was barely listed on the lesson plan and as you might expect awkwardly included in the post-lesson meeting Q&A. I did not participate in many of the pre-lesson meetings, although I was invited by my teacher to most of them. In some cases, we agreed it was better I wasn’t there for different reasons.

The town that I work for has elected to take an early lead in ICT implementation in Japanese public schools G1-9 (elementary and junior high school). We have tablets in every classroom, digital textbooks, touch screen projectors and network access in every classroom. We have added this technology just over the last few years. Our job was to include this technology in our lesson and it went fantastic in my opinion.

We have tablets in every classroom, digital textbooks, touch screen projectors and network access in every classroom.

It is my belief after participating in this kenshu that ICT will spread to G1-9 public schools all across Japan over the next 5 to 10 years. One of the biggest issues is not, in fact, acquiring the hardware or software. One of the biggest obstacles is training the teachers in its use and keeping them motivated to use it.

ICT is kinda like the ALT acronym, except that it doesn’t get bored if you forget it’s there, it just collects dust. ICT will be a great tool for ALTs too...but we are unlikely to be trained in it along with our Japanese counterparts. We are unlikely to be invited to their kenshu for ICT. If you are an ALT do yourself a favor and try to get invited.

One of the biggest issues is not, in fact, acquiring the hardware or software. One of the biggest obstacles is training the teachers in its use and keeping them motivated to use it.

Even if you are computer literate you will face some difficulties using ICT in your lessons if your Japanese counterpart is not competent or willing. In this case, your understanding of Japanese culture and ability to help your fellow teachers understand and utilize ICT will be of utmost importance.

Our schools use ICT support specialists. We found in our research that such specialists are of critical importance. It’s not enough to give the schools hardware and software, they need to know how to use them. It’s not enough to just train them, they need ongoing help and support.

We found in our research that such specialists are of critical importance. It’s not enough to give the schools hardware and software, they need to know how to use them.

The on-site staff that comes to the school at least once a week really ensures that teachers can and will continue to use the technology. These people probably won’t speak English, so if you want to use ICT it will be helpful to speak as much Japanese as possible so that you can communicate with these individuals to navigate the specific hardware and software available to you. At the very least a good relationship with your JTE who can work with the ICT specialists on your behalf and bridge the communication gap for you will be necessary. (Easier said than done, I know.)

Some things you can do with ICT if/when you get it in your school

This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a quick list of things I have done and am doing personally using the ICT that is available to me.

#1 Copy yourself

You no longer need to go to class just to pronounce things for people. You can record it and they can watch that.

Today’s tablets and cell phones almost universally come with mics and cameras. You can record anything, anywhere, any time.

File sizes, formats etc. are an issue. As time progresses these issues will be more easily overcome. ICT support specialists can also help.

#2 Record your students

Never have time to talk to each student individually or listen to all their presentations? This is where ICT can help.

The Japanese school day can be hectic and difficult to schedule one-on-one encounters with students and teachers. I’m having some students at schools I’m not at that day record their tests and speeches and I evaluate them later in my off-time.

It’s like written homework that they do on their time and you mark on yours, except its done with an audio-visual piece and focusing on listening/speaking skills.

#3 Have your students record and watch themselves

Many kids are much more interested in making a recording than standing in front of people. Kids that will shut down in front of the class will smile, laugh and put all their effort into a video, especially if their friend is holding the tablet for them while giving them cues.

I honestly found it amazing to watch. They really like recording themselves. They can also re-watch their own videos, watch their friends’ videos etc.

Like anything else, not all kids are the same. Some will be shy and not want to do it. Over time, they will get used to it. Novelty and dislike will both wear off and it will become a routine, but useful, tool for spoken language practice.

#4 Use Powerpoint and other multi-media presentation software

You can get all dirty writing with markers and chalk. You’ll also bore the kids with a very two-dimensional visual experience (unless you can draw well with chalk, but it’s time consuming). You can use ICT to create and present colorful, engaging audio-visual slides, songs, videos etc. to go with whatever you are teaching.

ICT presentations take time to make, but once you’ve made them, they are faster and easier to use than chalk or just standing and using your voice box alone. In the long run, they are easier and require less of your effort and time to create a higher quality lesson.

#5 Present student work

As the hardware becomes available students can use their own tablets and/or you can use a projector to show the students their peers’ work. You can also use this to show your own work when going over the answers to tests and quizzes or to give examples of more creative writing tasks.

You just need a projector or screen large enough for everyone to see and the tech to take a picture of the students’ writing/tablets for them to write directly into. If you have a tablet and the kids don’t, you could use your tablet to take and send the picture to the device which is feeding into the projector.

#6 Drilling software

There is a wide plethora of free and at-cost software for drilling English. My school purchased some and the kids use it. There are also free sites online. You can find links to some of them here on this website in the following link ---

#7 Digital textbooks

You can use materials to present to the class which correlate directly with their textbooks if the school acquires the digital rights. It is also possible, if the students have tablets, for them to look at the textbooks for themselves and go through some of the activities including audio-elements that are not possible with the paper text.

#8 Quiz games

You can create a quiz game using tablets where the students write their answers and they are projected on the board in a game-show format. You can even do wagers etc. Jeopardy style. The kids love it, its fun, and you can focus on written English, grammar, culture, listening etc. as you see fit. It’s adjustable for all levels.

This is the third part of a three part series.
Be sure to check out part one - What is Kenshu? Teacher Training in Japan and part two - Kenshu for Me: My First Few Years in Japan

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

If you have something 'ALT' to write about that hasn't been covered in these blogs, email me at alttoblog@gmail.com so we can work together and spread your story.

Don't have any ideas? We have a list of topics to write about that need a writer. Email in your interest to write and we can set you up. 

For upcoming blogs see the blogs tab here:  http://www.alttrainingonline.com/blog.html