Conversational Japanese is increasingly valuable for our ALTs, not only for facilitating communication with teachers and other Japanese staff members but also because some Boards of Education (BOEs) prefer their ALTs to have strong Japanese abilities to better integrate into the community. For ALTIA CENTRAL, conversational Japanese skills are also a strong differentiation point between us and our competitors, so it continues to be a skill we highly value.
We recognize that your Japanese language skills can significantly impact your ability to adapt to your new role and surroundings. Although many ALT positions do not require advanced Japanese proficiency, being able to perform a standard Jikoshokai - 自己紹介 (じこしょうかい) - or self-introduction, is essential.
As part of our interview and approval processes, we aim to both understand your level of Japanese and assist in your preparation as much as possible. This is why we conduct a Japanese check as part of your 2nd interview and are now providing additional resources to help you succeed.
In order to better prepare for the Japanese Interview itself, it is important to understand how the Japanese Interview will be scored.
The score-able part of the Japanese interview is broken into two main sections:
The "jikoshokai" or self-introduction phase
and the follow-up questions and basic conversation
For the "jikoshokai", your score is affected by a number of factors such as:
Did you come into this well prepared?
Do you have your self intro memorized?
What was the level or quality, was it above or below average?
How many different points did you include in your "jikoshokai"? (4 or 5 are average, such as hometown, hobbies, interests, family, etc)
Each follow up question you are able to get through is worth 3 possible points
Can you understand the question?
Can you respond to the question?
Were you able to smoothly and appropriately answer the question?
The more questions you are able to answer, the higher the possible score you can achieve.
Our Japanese Interview was designed based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) system, which is an International standard for assessing language ability.
Since the "jikoshokai"is something that can be prepared and memorized in advance, that covers the very basic A1 level.
All follow-up questions are designed to increase in difficulty from there to A2 to B1 and so on.
Some of the later questions may be simplistic in nature, but if your level does not match what we are looking for from the expected CEFR Level, then points may not be awarded in that case.
Those with no Japanese ability will be given a guide to help them create a basic "jikoshokai" structure and are expected to memorize it.
Here are some helpful Japanese vocabulary and phrases for doing a Japanese self-introduction, or Jikoshokai (自己紹介 - じこしょうかい):
こんにちは
konnichiwa
Hello
おはようございます
ohayougozaimasu
Good morning
こんばんは
konnbannwa
Good evening
わたしのなまえは [your name] です
watashi no namae wa [your name] desu
My name is [your name]
[Country] からきました
[Country] kara kimashita
I am from [country]
[City] にすんでいます
[City] ni sundeimasu
I live in [city]
[Job/Role] をしています
[Job/Role] wo shiteimasu
I am a [Job/Role]
わたしは [your age] 歳です
わたしは [your age] さいです
Watashi wa [your age] sai desu
I am [your age] years old
私の趣味は [your hobby] です
わたしのしゅみは [your hobby] です
Watashi no shumi wa [your hobby] desu
My hobby is [your hobby]
音楽を聞くこと (おんがくをきくこと) - ongaku wo kiku koto - Listening to music
読書 (どくしょ) - dokusho - Reading
旅行 (りょこう) - ryokou - Traveling
スポーツをすること (スポーツをすること) - supootsu wo suru koto - Playing sports
私の好きな食べ物は [your favorite food] です
わたしのすきなたべものは [your favorite food] です)
Watashi no suki na tabemono wa [your favorite food] desu
My favorite food is [Food]
先生 (せんせい) - sensei - Teacher
エンジニア (エンジニア) - enjinia - Engineer
学生 (がくせい) - gasuksei - Student
[university name] に通っています
[university name] にかよっています
[university name] ni kayotteimasu
I go to [university name]
[your major] を専攻しています
[your major] をせんこうしています
[your major] wo senkou shiteimasu
I am majoring in [your major]
どうぞよろしくお願いします
どうぞよろしくおねがいします
douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu
Nice to meet you (loosely translated)
ありがとうございます
arigatougozaimasu
Thank you
今日はありがとうございました。
きょうはありがとうございました
kyou wa arigatougozaimasu
Thank you for today
One of our goals with your Japanese check is to help you better prepare for the Japanese language you may encounter in schools as an ALT. So we also want to offer you a chance to improve your Japanese interview score by studying, practising, and retaking the Japanese check, which in turn should make you a more attractive candidate for any potential positions.
To book your redo - and it's typically just 1 redo that we allow - just send an email to Richard at recruit@altiacentral.com with several dates and times you are available to speak with our Japanese colleague. Please note that these interview slots are limited, so providing multiple options will help us accommodate your schedule.
Gambatte ne!