I use this app called Twitter. Well, it’s called X, but it’s still called Twitter by many.

I’ve quit it many times, once when my life was kind of a mess I quit it for a whole 6 months or so, deleted my account, and got my life in order. It felt great. I felt like a million bucks after that.

Other times I quit it for other similar apps, because the current head of Twitter is a bit of a shithead.

Anyways, the point is that I am on Twitter now, for better or worse. It kills the time in a way that is easy on the brain. Reading a book or studying something would be more intense for the brain, and sometimes you just want to not think and be stimulated. Maybe that’s bad, but oh well.

My little nook on Twitter is called “Gaijin Twitter”, and it is for foreigners (usually Western) and foreigner-adjacent folks to talk about their lives in Japan. As Japan has gotten more and more popular, the amount of people in this sphere has gotten larger, and I believe some people are connected through a love of Japan, or through having lived there for a bit in their youth or whatever. It becomes a part of their identity perhaps. It’s something to put in the old Twitter bio.

There has currently been incredibly not stimulating discourse about ALTs. ALTs are “Assistant Language Teachers”. Their actual role can vary by where they are, but they are typically native English speakers (or judged as native level), and in schools to help students with their English. They can be like a “human tape recorder” just used for a real life native accent, or they can be making their own lessons and have a lot of responsibilities. It really depends on a lot.

I don’t think all foreign teachers who work in schools in this sort of capacity are ALTs. I think some are just English teachers. However, when someone says they work at a Junior High School teaching English, the assumption that will be made is that they are an ALT, and it would be tough for that person to always have to explain that ACTUALLY they are not. Some may do that, some may not. I don’t know.

Depends on the role, but typically ALTs don’t get paid too much, especially if it is through a dispatch company. Direct hires exist as well, which would be paid better. Sometimes as much or more than the actual school fee for ALTs at a dispatch company (salary plus fee to dispatch company).

I’m not even sure what the not stimulating discourse is really about. Being an ALT is a job with no future is something some people are saying. It’s kind of true. There are exceptions. It’s hard to get raises in the ALT world that are significant, and there’s little motivation to do so in many cases. This leads to the somewhat stimulating discourse about if this is the case, should said ALTs look for another job, or should the structures at be ensure that ALTs make more. Whether you should escape a bad situation, or try to improve the situation for everyone is a neat debate topic.

Anyways, anecdotally, I knew many people who felt stuck in English teaching. Once they reached a certain age, it was hard to get out of that world. These people felt trapped, didn’t get joy out of their job (or a large pay cheque). This is why when I was loving my job as an ALT at age 26 or so, I already tried to get out of it, because I was worried I wouldn’t like it anymore. I also wasn’t a good teacher, and so it wasn’t really fair to be there. I was a high school teacher, and I loved the joys of real conversations and topics with students, but I had no experience or desire to improve how to convey important English learning points to best help the students. I was lazy. As you can tell, despite being a native speaker, my English may not be the best.

The people I know that transitioned out of being an ALT within the English teaching world typically opened their own school, or got an online Masters in TESOL so they could teach at university. (Many of this people are far more “successful” than I am.)

However, some people have a great time as an ALT where they feel they can make a difference to the students they work with, and I can testify that that bond is a great fulfilling feeling. I have a fancy job now, and nothing in it compares to that feeling, so fair enough I say. We’ve sadly mainly lost touch now, but I am always so proud to have usually gotten messages from graduated classes for the yearly meetup for drinks. My former students are in their thirties now with families, and if they ever consider me to come along, I feel incredibly blessed. (We’re really just Instagram friends these days.) Maybe the people doing the ALT job don’t make the most money, but they make enough to uphold the lifestyle they love, and they’re happy, and that’s awesome. Job security is likely a potential issue, but hopefully it’s not.

I have rambled a bit, so I will try to get back to that lovely discourse online. ALTs is a shit job some say. Why are people shitting on people doing a shit job? What is this back and forth even about? To me it always come down to the lovely question “why do people like to be mean to others online?” That probably makes me seem old, because I don’t think either side of this debate is against “call out culture”. Screenshot tweets, quote tweets, angrily or eloquently let the world know why X person is a fucking idiot. Get worked up. Does the topic even matter? It’s now ALTs, but there will be another topic where everyone can get excited about and pass the time with for another weekend. Find the person you hate, find out shitty information about them, and EXPOSE them.

I mean, it’s rainy season now I think, so we can’t exactly ride our bikes along the river, but it always seems empty to me.

The side shitting on ALTs is of course worse though. Assuming this is the side with a bigger pay cheque, I would recommend driving your Audi to the countryside to mountain bike on your expensive bike, then have some expensive nihonshu at a fancy onsen. Stare into nature, tired from your mountain biking, buzzed from the nihonshu, think about all the loved ones you have, the people who have helped you, and the people you have helped, and be mystified by the stupifying beauty of it all. But instead you pick fights with people who are enjoying their little part of the world? Seems silly.

Anyways, I have said nothing of value really. Just sitting on a high horse where I like to hear myself speak sometimes. I’m trying to blog more often. Gotta blog about somethin’.