Being from America, I am used to the school year starting in the fall and ending at the start of summer. Students get the free time to go to camp, travel on vacations, and do all sorts of fun summer activities. Teachers get to do relatively the same, but with many having to work a summer job to help supplement their teacher income and/or plan for a brand new school year. While some may enjoy the summer holiday more than others, most can agree it is a nice chunk of time to get a bit of relaxation and preparation time.
Japanese school years are different. When a new ALT on the JET Program arrives in Japan, they are already in the middle of a school year that started all the way back in April. A whole school term will have gone by with well-established classroom routines and student-teacher relationships. It can be a bit daunting coming into a school and replacing a teacher that the students and other teachers have been working with already for several months or even years.
Thankfully, most JET ALTs are not thrown immediately into English lessons on the first day. While having classes in summer is a regular thing for Japanese schools, they do also have a summer holiday.
I arrived at my new school around the end of the 1st school term. This meant that official class schedules had ended and the school had moved into its summer holiday. It was nice to know that I had a few more weeks to get settled here in Nagasaki before I had to worry about creating and teaching some new lessons.
However, being on summer holiday in Japan does not mean I get to just stay home and wait for classes to start. Even though I had no classes scheduled, I was still expected to come to school, sit at my desk, and be as productive as possible.
While it is technically a holiday period, the school does not shut its doors and teachers and students are forced to stay home. There are many different things that still go on to keep both students and teachers busy. For example…
Most Schools
- Teachers continue to have lesson planning to get a head start on the next term.
- Students come in to continue their club activities.
- Students come in for assistance and help on their studies.
- End of term project presentations.
Highly Academic Schools
- Being a “Super Global High School”, some of my students travel abroad for some of their classes and school programs. (At my school, the high schoolers have big research projects that they work on spanning 2 school years and they use the trips as part of their research).
- The upper grades (at least at my very academic school) have a “Study Camp” where they go to a local hotel for a couple days and study all day (Which my kids gave the nickname “Hades Camp”)
- Students come in for optional and some mandatory supplementary summer lessons (surprisingly, quite a few choose to come).
- Some schools have study camps for specific subjects where they can have more rigorous practice in Math, Science, or English.*
*For example, in the summer of 2017, I took part in an English camp for students in Nagayo (an area just north of Nagasaki City) where we practiced English by playing various games participating in other fun and unique activities.
Many schools will not have much of a summer holiday. In fact, at my school there are only 3 days where they officially close the schools doors and tell everyone to stay home and relax.
This can seem like it isn’t much time off at all, but this is the most popular and accepted time for teachers to take time off from work to travel or relax. Most schools will give teachers and staff special summer leave days that they can use in hopes that they will actually use them. Japan has a very intensive work culture and sometimes administration will have to force some teachers and staff to NOT work and take the time off.
As an ALT there is not much to do on these summer days aside from starting to put together a rough plan for upcoming lessons and helping out the occasional student with an English question. Aside from helping out with camps or other programs, there is lots of downtime and it can be hard to fill all the time and not be bored.
While things can feel a bit slow and lonely this can be a great opportunity for new ALTs to get to know some of the teachers, go to some of the schools different clubs and practices, explore your school, and even catch up on some personal projects like studying Japanese or writing up some blog posts (that have not been forgotten! Just put on the back burner for a bit).
Many returning ALTs also use this larger chunk of time off to travel! Many travel home to visit family and friends or travel and explore new parts of Japan or other countries. I have not done much summer travel, but Kyushu and especially Nagasaki have some wonderful beaches and summer destinations.
Catching some summer rays is nice, but some choose instead to stay home and relax for a bit. Free time is free time and there is no one correct way to spend it. If you want to stay in your apartment with the aircon blasting and play video games or binge some Netflix, then that is totally your choice. (I may have done a bit of this myself).
My only advice is, don’t feel like you will be missing out on things if you choose to stay home for a few days. It’s important to remember you are coming to Japan to work, not be on some long vacation as a tourist. A year in Japan is quite a long time and there will be plenty of opportunities that will come your way to travel and experience the culture of Japan.
However, I do recommend that new arrivals try and spend some time exploring and getting to know the town or city they will be living in for the next year. Don’t just go running of to some summer destination. It has already been a year for me and there are still plenty of things I haven’t fully discovered in Nagasaki. Hell, I just discovered a lovely little Toruko Rice restaurant that is just a short two minute walk from my apartment and I have apparently been walking by it every day that I’ve gone to school!
Overall, I think this is a perfect time for a new JET arrival to become a part of their new Japanese school and community! While it might feel a bit strange coming in halfway through a school year, odds are your school or workplace is used to having their new JET ALTs or CIRs coming in at this time. They will know how to make you fit right in! Just enjoy yourself before you plunge into what will be an exciting and busy year living and working in Japan!
P.S. Please enjoy some bonus pictures of some of the cute cats and kittens that live on the mountain my school is on!
Mister V Overseas 