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Coping with a Sudden and Unexpected School Transfer

Transferring to a new school can be a traumatic experience for everyone involved, here's how to deal with it.

By 4 min read

As most of you will be aware, I have been teaching in Japan for a number of years now. The often transient nature of the people who get into English teaching in Japan has served to permeate an industry that seems to be constantly in a state of flux. One year contracts, shifting assignments, short term thinking from middle and senior management are all “occupational hazards” as it were.

Yet somehow, in the last 2 years, I had managed to find a certain level of stability. Since taking up this new ALT role, I was able to work in the same block of schools for two consecutive years, something that had never happened to me in Japan before. I built strong bonds, with my fellow teachers and my students, and I watched with pride as my previously nervous and reluctant elementary school 6th graders blossomed into confident young junior high school first graders. I was content, I was happy and I felt loved and appreciated by my schools and my colleagues.

Then came the moment every teacher in my position dreads, the sudden arbitrary transfer. Within the matter of just a few days, I found myself saying hurried goodbyes to my coworkers before being whisked across to the other side of the city to take up a new assignment at a totally new set of schools. The boss did his best to make it sound like a promotion of sorts. Indeed the new schools presented an altogether different set of challenges to what I had encountered in my previous schools. Yet, for want of a better phrase, it felt like a punch to the gut. For all my hard work, for all the foundations I had laid to help my students achieve their potential, in the end, I was no more secure in my work than any other teacher in the city.

It’s important to point out that this problem is hardly unique to ALTs, indeed a close friend of mine who works as a Japanese teacher of English was similarly uprooted from the school she had served diligently for many years. Nonetheless, it is easy to feel like you have somehow failed, despite the fact that these transfers are often made to appear arbitrary, with no explanation given and seemingly little if any rational thought given to how they are decided.

However, literally 3 or 4 days after being informed of where I was being sent next, I suddenly found myself in a new school, surrounded by complete strangers. All the goodwill and friendship I had built up over the past 2 years would need to be built again. It was overwhelming, it was depressing. How is one expected to cope with such a burden?

Well one thing was for sure, decrying the system and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to achieve anything.

At times like this there’s only one thing a teacher can do, I did what I do best. I taught classes. My new students don’t seem as warm or as interested in my lessons as my previous students were, but then again such feelings are natural at this stage. If you find yourself in this situation, as indeed the vast majority of re-contracting ALTs across Japan will at this time of year, you need to keep a sense of perspective. Remember that this new environment isn’t just an issue for you. Your colleagues also have to adjust to working with a completely new ALT, one whose teaching style may be radically different from what they are used to. The kids will be in a similar situation. Maybe they loved the previous ALT, maybe they hated them. Whatever the prevailing feeling may be, it will no doubt colour their attitude towards you, especially in the early stages.

The only way to counter this is to make the class your own. As soon as time allows sit down with your Japanese English teacher colleagues. Let them know the type of input you would like to have in the lesson, find out what they expect of you. Also, find out as much as you can about the classes you are going to teach. Are there any problem students? Do the classes focus on communication with you leading the lesson, or is the emphasis more on writing and grammar, with you simply playing the supporting act?

I’m not going to lie, the adjustment period can be stressful, traumatic and sometimes genuinely frustrating. Maybe your previous colleagues liked to use iPads in the classroom, but now you find yourself teaching with people who can’t send an email. This is an extreme example, but it really isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.

As my dad always used to tell me, such things are all “character building”.

Transfers can be a traumatic experience for everyone involved. Your old colleagues will also have to face a struggle as they try to replace the mark you left on the classroom. But like all things in Japan, with patience, in time, a natural equilibrium will re-assert itself. Take it easy, don’t get too stressed, and in time, all will be well.

Good luck to everyone for the new school year!

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