Editing Assistant Language Teacher (section)

===Job duties===
An ALT's primary duty is to assist Japanese teachers of English to deliver lessons in the classroom, and may be involved in lesson planning and other language teaching tasks. Regarding Elementary school, the term ALT is often misleading, in many instances the ALT leads the class themselves, and may solely be responsible for total lesson planning (for the academic year and delivering the lessons). This is mostly the case with Elementary schools outside of the Kanto region. During such lessons, Japanese teachers often act as a support teacher or translator. In those instances the term "Assistant" Language Teacher becomes unsuitable, as the ALT is not "assisting" but actually "leading and facilitating" the entire English class. However, in Junior Highschool and Highschool, the degree to which the Japanese teacher of English actually uses the ALT is usually decided at the discretion of the Japanese teacher. Some allow ALTs to plan and lead language activities in class, sometimes for the entire class period, while others make minimal use of their ALT, such as limiting them to reading new vocabulary words for the students to repeat and having the ALT walk between the rows of students while the students do writing assignments. An ALT also contributes information to teaching advisors on phraseology and pronunciation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Positions|url=https://jetprogramusa.org/positions/|website=JET Program USA|accessdate=17 September 2017}}</ref>

ALTs usually take part in three to five classes per day. The classes are usually 45 – 50 minutes in length. An ALT participates in about 17 to 20 classes per week. Sometimes ALTs are asked to help teach special education classes, which may include students who have barriers to learning. They may also be asked to take part in after/before school club activities (''bukatsudō''), such as sports, calligraphy, music or ikebana, to learn more about the culture alongside their students and to foster international exchange. However, some ALTs choose not to participate, or go from group to group just to visit. The English level of the students varies from school to school, and at some schools the students and teachers are unable to communicate in English in any meaningful way. Higher level high schools sometimes have an English club, which the ALT would attend and assist in the students' planning and preparations for debate contests, speech competitions and English camps.

ALTs may also be asked to perform tasks normally done by Japanese students and teachers, such as cleaning the school, cleaning drainage gutters, and removing snow from parking areas. ALTs at some schools, mostly junior high schools, are expected to eat lunch with the students. These ALTs might not be allowed to leave the school for lunch or to run personal errands during their break. ALTs may be instructed to use non-standard English in front of students.  They are sometimes asked to perform clerical tasks, such as correcting student writing assignments, by the Japanese teachers. The overall duties of an ALT can vary hugely depending on the whims of teachers, schools, BOEs and cities. Responsibilities can be extremely minimal or more or less to the extent of a full time independent teacher. Therefore, contractual expectations and boundaries are not always matched by the reality of what's asked of an ALT at their schools.