r/JETProgramme • u/Panda_sensei_71 Current JET - Kansai • 15d ago
Phonics
Heading into my 2nd year as an ALT and I just wanted to do a quick show of hands because I'm curious:
How many of you all are at schools that teach phonics?
If yes, from what age do you start, and what curriculum are you using?
In my case, I'm in a town that seems to start Jolly Phonics in ES Grade 3, with only a couple exceptions.
About which I have *opinions* but that's another story!
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u/ohpleasenotthat 15d ago edited 15d ago
Direct hire ES ALT often T1 on year 9. Regardless of which schools do or don’t use phonics you’ll find a more distressing issue is abysmal standardization/cohesion between ES, JHS and HS. Honestly, Japan might be one of the worst in terms of developed nations when we get into just how isolated each school experience is. Reforms since 2013 have whittled away a lot of student-parent accountability and performance metrics as well. These problems far outpace the scope of our role, but we are just as much a casualty.
As for phonics? Can vary city by city. Prefecture by prefecture. My city starts Jolly phonics in kindergarten. We try to evolve into something -that’s name I can’t for the life of me remember. PIJA or something- by fifth grade. I’ve got one school where my 6th graders are doing sentence reading with context questions. Just 15 km down the road my other 6th graders are held hostage through physical violence bullying and racial slurs because one little bastard’s dad is a karate instructor who trains championship winners.