An Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) is a foreign national serving as an assistant teacher (paraprofessional educator) in a Japanese classroom, particularly for English. The term was created by the Japanese Ministry of Education at the time of the creation of the JET Programme as a translation of the term 外国語指導助手 (gaikokugo shidō joshu) or literally "foreign language instruction assistant". The terms AET (Assistant English Teacher), ELT (English Language Teacher) and NESA (Native English Speaking Assistant) are also in use. The term is used by the Ministry of Education, local Boards of Education (BOEs) and schools in Japan primarily to refer to English language speakers who assist with teaching of English in elementary, junior high and senior high schools. However, some ALTs help teach lang