Attended a free ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) Seminar that taught the basics of teaching ESL in Japan

27 July 2016

Last July 23 and 24, my High School friend Erlinda (who represents companies looking for prospective Filipino employees/workers) held a two-day seminar/orientation for people who want to work in Japan.  She presented opportunities on the first day and offered a tutorial for ALTs on the 2nd day. She actually regularly does this now since the demand is becoming great but this is the first time I've been fortunate to attend.  It gave us a chance to catch up too, during the break and afterwards :)



As far as I understand it, Erlinda and her partner companies offer their interested applicants two options if they want to work in Japan as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher).  First, they offer direct hiring for ALT positions.  The teachers are assigned to Elementary or High School educational institutions and usually have a 1-year work contract.  For this current period, a company has opportunities for direct hiring for in-house ALTs and they're going to be given a 3-year contract.  The other option is to apply as a student or as an intern with the promise of a permanent employment upon further evaluation.  This second option has less rigid requirements, particularly for the level of proficiency in the Japanese language, compared to the first option.  There are also other employment opportunities for other professions.

It's interesting that Erlinda found herself on this path, helping her fellow Filipinos succeed in Japan and I'm proud of her for all her hard work.  I was curious about all these opportunities and if only I am eligible then I'd probably aim for it too. :)

I was also able to share this opportunity with a friend from College this time, Miles, who attended both days of the seminar.  We got to catch up with each other as well after about 20 years of friendship :)  After the seminar, we spent a lot of time chatting and it was great!

I met up with Erlinda again on one of her free days.  We went out together with some of her friends from work.  We dined at Napoli Pizzeria in Tomas Morato.  We had deep fried crabsticks, seafood salad, Napoli Classic pizza, Lasagna and a Carbonara pasta.  There were 7 of us who shared this feast and we couldn't even finish everything!  They were huge servings and can easily fill your stomach.  They were good too!
 

After this hearty meal, we all trooped to Punchline (a comedy bar) along Quezon Avenue for some laughs and drinks.  The girls wanted to drink wine at Napoli's but it turned out they were just bottles for display.  We really thought they served wine LOL

We arrived around 9PM, so we were one of the early patrons :)  We just settled in, drank our drinks and waited for the show to pick up.  They were all pretty funny but I would advise not to bring children with you because the jokes can get pretty raunchy ;)

At one point, they called on our table to see if anybody wanted to sing on stage.  Erlinda "volunteered" hahaha  She ended up dragging our butts on stage too as we all sang to the Voltes V theme song! hahaha That was hilarious! :)  I've never done anything like that ever!! :P Wish we had a video of it but we're not allowed to record hehe

There were a number of comedians on stage at a given time with different sketches.  They were honestly all so funny!

Not only funny but so talented in singing as well!!

Funny enough,  Erlinda and Ayee have some mutual friends in Japan! What a small world!! :)

We didn't want to leave yet but Erlinda had an early flight to Cebu the next day for a new set of orientations and seminars :)

It was great seeing you again my friend! :)