By Yoshika Wason
As a JET ALT, it can be a struggle to come up with new ideas for creative, fun, and educational lessons. But never fear! You can jumpstart your lesson planning process by tapping into pre-existing resources. You can prevent yourself from reinventing the lesson-planning wheel by using the recommended resources found below.
Planet Eigo
“Down to earth team-teaching” is the apt tagline for Planet Eigo, a book AJET last published in 2010. This book offers a variety of lesson plans in both English and Japanese for students of all grade levels. Planet Eigo also discusses learning theory, team-teaching, and teaching elementary school.
Read a free PDF of Planet Eigo and find other teaching resources from AJET here.
Bring Your Best Lesson
“BYBL” is an annual project put together by Aomori AJET. Every ALT from the prefecture submits their best lesson, and the PAs compile them for the Aomori Skills Development Conference.
Find the 2018 edition of BYBL as well as past anthologies on the Aomori JET page here.
Today’s Lesson
It’s time for a little self-promotion! Every month this column features lesson plans or teaching tidbits alongside other articles in Good Morning Aomori. I also recommend diving into the archives of Today’s Lesson for lesson-planning inspiration. My favorite lesson from the archives has students create Halloween monster poetry.
Scroll through past posts from Today’s Lesson here.
Tofugu
Tofugu is the blog companion to Wanikani, a kanji-learning site, and Textfugu, an online Japanese textbook. Most articles on Tofugu are about Japanese language-learning and Japanese culture, but they also have a 25-article series that covers all aspects of the JET Programme. Within this JET Programme guide, there is an article that has a comprehensive list of teaching resources written by a JET alum.
Read “The Best Teaching Resources for Superstar JET Program ALTs” and find more JET tips from Tofugu here
British Council
Think back to your first days as a new ALT at Tokyo Orientation. Amidst the haze of jet lag, do you remember attending teacher-training sessions hosted by the British Council? If you don’t remember, don’t worry — the British Council has plenty of resources available online.
Read the British Council’s ALT handbook and find additional teaching resources are here.
Honorable Mentions
Unfortunately, there are only so many resources that can fit into one post. There are plenty of other resources that we can’t fit into this post. Here are some honorable mentions:
- JET volunteers have compiled lesson plans onto Englopedia and the newly running ALTopedia.
- There are a plethora of ESL/EFL focused websites including Dave’s ESL Cafe and LanternFish.
- Websites like Teachers Pay Teachers and Education.com are popular with classroom teachers in the U.S.
Do you have a favorite teaching resource? Let us know where you get your lesson-planning inspiration.
Good Morning Aomori 
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