Adventures as an ALT or a CIR...
 

Hello everyone. I hope it's okay to create this topic. I was just wondering about those who have gone to Japan through the JET program. As I've mentioned in random posts, I'm planning on applying this year for 2009. I know there are no guarantees on getting in, but, I would like to hear of some stories of former JETs or even current ones and the process taken.

I guess such things, like, what did you include in your SoP, how long did it take for you to adjust (if you'd never been to Japan before), did you end up with a nice placement, did you end up in a bad placement, etc.

i heard from someone who worked for the JET office in Japan that there are many many complaints by the JETS about numerous things including how many schools they have to teach at etc.

the important thing about being a JET is ready to be flexible. you might get lucky and get a great position that is nothing but fun, but then you might get one that is a terribly big challenge.

I have my JET interview in a couple weeks for the 2008 program. I already have lived and studied in Japan before for a year and worked part time being an english teacher there so i'm pretty prepared for what is coming my way but as i said, it is really important to be ready for anything and be flexible.

as for my SoP i simply wrote about how i had experience of japan and i was eager to get back there, increase my knowledge and that i have a future career plan to work in education in Japan, hopefully at university level (yeah i will have to go back to study more at university for that >< ) etc etc..

will let you know how the interview goes if interested. If i don't get in im not too worried, i know i can easily get a full time job in Japan elsewhere as i already had one ready to sponsor me prior to returning home for this break but JET is my preferred option.

I would love to hear how your interview goes. Good luck to you. Even if I don't get in, I would just try again the following year, personally.

I did the JET Program. I was at a difficult school, but learned to like it.

Anrakushi is right, flexibility is the main characteristic you will need. A lot of people don't really know how flexible they are until they are thrown into a Japanse beauracracy.

The interviewers are looking for someone who is energetic, flexible, and wanting to be part of a team. I would say "I look forward to working with the English teachers at my school" over "I have all these great new ideas."

It does seem to be the key and I'm ready to adapt! I'm also anxious to observe the Japanese education system firsthand.

Also, on the flexibility thing, that's one of the things I've noticed from others, especially with the school and placement situation since there's no guarantee, if you're accepted, that you're going to get your first choice, or any choices for the matter.

Places I want to put down (placements) are:

Toubetsu-cho, Ishikari-shicho, Hokkaido
Miyagi-ken (Sendai particularly sounds nice, minus the rainy season stuff)
Akita-ken
Tochigi-ken
Saitama-ken (only because it's my sister city)

I'm leaning most towards putting down Ishikari, Tochigi, and Saitama. I might change my mind, but Ishikari is my first choice.

Oh, I've been asking this for a while. What are the key differences from rural, urban, and suburban settings in Japan? Is it similar to how the US is? You know, rural being pretty much the middle of nowhere, urban being the city, and suburban being...a place where you more than likely need a car...

I already know you have no say what-so-ever with the schools you're placed in. I just hope that if I do manage to get in, that it's a nice school with eager students. ^^;

Hey, I'm thinking of applying for JET for 2009 as well! It sounds quite difficult to get into from what I've been reading though, and seeing as they make you wait so long it makes it a bit difficult to fully explore other options if you don't get in. I'm a bit worried about my complete lack of teaching experience (only help train kids at kung fu, and even then only a bit...), but I'm hoping having a couple of years of Japanese and general enthusiasm and flexibility will make up for it.

If I get in I'm hoping to be in a semi-rural kind of place with a good, close community and public transport to larger cities for an occasional weekend away, but I think I'd be happy anywhere really. Hyogo is an easy option for me since it's WA's sister state or something like that, and Kansai-ben sounds fun to learn.

We have a looooong wait until we can even start applying though, plenty of time to chill :vsign:

As the others said, adaptability and taking things in stride with a sense of humor will be very important.

I was on JET for 2 years, as my sig says. Each situation is different... you'll hear that so often they made an acronym out of it: ESID. While some seemed like a little better deal than others, every placement had its positives and negatives. For instance, my apartment was just a 5 minute walk to either the train station or my base school, which made things very easy. But I got no help on rent, the apartment was tiny, and the train to Osaka rumbled by, shaking the whole building, every 20-30 minutes from 5 AM till midnight. The teachers at my schools were generally very nice and eager to work with me, and the kids really seemed to like me, but the school required me to come to work even during summer vacation unless I used my vacation days (and they wouldn't let me use my vacation days during the school year, just on holidays.)

Overall, I loved my time in Japan, and remember it fondly to this day, 10 years later!

I think you'll have a pretty good chance of getting something at least near those requests. They are not the common requests (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto), so you'll have a better shot at them. I requested the Kansai area (Specifically Nara, Kyoto, and Osaka), and I was put in Wakayama-ken, less than an hour by train to Osaka, a bit more to Nara. Not bad at all.

So you would rather work in Tochigi than Gunma? Yeah, Tochigi has Nikko, but I would much rather live in Gunma than Tochigi. Of course, I would rather live in Niigata than Gunma, but what can you do? Shoganai...

ps~ Eager students, that is like five out of thirty eager to learn English. Maybe fifteen out of thirty are eager to impress upon you how cool they are with four out of those fifteen acting like complete idiots. Then there are about eight out of the thirty that are just completely socially awkward with the other students and even more so with the scary gaijin. Then there are the two out of thirty who seem to think it is totally cool to know zero English, make single digit scores on the tests, and are just happy if you leave them alone in English class. This of course is all at my schools which have some of the best behaved kids in the city.

As for the adventure part of living in Japan, that usually takes place after school, on the weekends, and during nenkyu or school breaks. I wouldn't call working in a Japanese school an adventure after those initial two months. Well elementary school, that could be considered an adventure. They should seriously issue HazMat suits to work in an elementary school.

Sister-city helps!

I know people that "didn't want to live in Tokyo" and put "rural" first. The stories I would hear about the REALLY rural places they will place JETs will surprise you. Town of 300...Bus comes only twice a day... have to take a boat to get anywhere...

So to answer your question...YES. Don't choose "rural" because you don't want to live in downtown Tokyo. Rural Japan is like that American Ozarks.

This is so true! However, you could get lucky and be that JET that lives in a ski resort/mountain town. Losers...

Eep, that's a bit too rural for me. I want to have some decent public transport at least...

I have heard stories of people putting down the Tokyo prefecture(?) as a preference thinking they'd be close to Tokyo, then ending up on tiny islands from which it takes longer to get to Tokyo than most of the rest of Japan, heheh. Although I suppose island life would be fun in it's own way.

I know the JET selection process is reputed to be almost random, but are there many applicants that got through with no teaching experience at all? A lot of people I've seen around seem to have teaching ambitions and qualifications, and plenty seem to have done a lot of tutoring and volunteer teaching. I don't have any of these things, which worries me a bit. Although I do have a year to do something about it, I suppose.

Another question! Do private companies hire ALT's mid-year? I know they try do most of their hiring for the start of the school year in April, but I've heard of JET alternates getting upgraded as late as August. If I didn't think I'd get through and looked around for a private position in June or July, would there be any?

Same here. I'd like a place that has somewhat decent transportation. Rural is definitely out for a choice, though. I guess I'd prefer something semi-rural, as you said, that's close to nearby cities to visit. Like if in Ishikari, I'd be really close to Sapporo.

Oh, and not everyone who joins JET has prior teaching experience. Some just show an interest in it or Japan's education system. I'm interested in the system and really want to witness it firsthand.

I was told from the beginning that the main thing that seems to have a lot of bearing is your two-page SoP. If it's even one word over two pages, it gets tossed away. Seems that getting the application together is the easiest task since that's pretty much a "follow the directions" thing.

If I get past the application process and get an interview, I'll definitely have to practice. I tend to stumble sometimes if I don't have time to fully gather my thoughts.

Oh, I have a question now about the application. You have to get official transcripts from all of the colleges and universities you attended. Usually, when obtaining official transcripts, they come in a sealed envelope. Are we supposed to actually unseal the envelope to put it in with the other papers that have to be included?

I don't think a desire to be a teacher is high on the priority list of qualifications...though I wouldn't say that in the interview.

I put Tokyo, Nagoya, and someplace else, and I got Kansai...at least I was in an urban area...and couldn't have been happier with my location (between Osaka and Kobe).

I don't know anything about mid-year hiring...but since NOVA went out of business, there are a lot of people looking for English-teaching work in Japan right now.

To be honest, the only reason I'd consider putting down Tochigi is because I know of someone who works on the Tochigi BOE there. I haven't heard from him in a while, though, which makes me wonder if the e-mail I sent out before Christmas actually got through. I guess I should stick to romaji as opposed to Kana and Kanji since, for some people, it doesn't show up right. I sense a visit back to the Japanese language help board. lolHere's hoping for the well-behaved kids. ^^

ESID. Eager students? I think there were five kids in my whole school that were interested in learning English. It worked out though, because my interest in teaching people who weren't interested in learing was about as high as their interest was in learning. But we had to spend that time together, so coming up with creative ways to keep them engaged AND get some English in thier heads (and some truth about life in America) was the new goal...and I think it worked out.

The islands off the coast of Tokyo is a true story, they do have 1 or 2 JETS out there, and a few other prefectures have something similar. But with 6000+ JETS, the chances of getting one of those places is pretty remote (pun intended) :)

From my experience, either some background in teaching or desire to teach, or background in Japan/Japanese, is quite helpful on your resume, and if ou have both, it's a big plus. I had no experience with Japanese really, but I had a History/Soc Sci teaching degree and several years experience teaching art. I think those helped get me through to the interview stage, and in my prefecture, I'd say about 30% of the people had teaching experience, 30% Japanese experience, and 40% had neither (maybe a couple people had both).

It was interesting, because for those of us with teaching experience, actually teaching in the classes wasn't too stressful because we were used to teaching a room full of kids. But getting by outside of school with little to no Japanese was the harder part to learn. Conversely, those with Japanese experience found getting around outside of school to be relatively easy, but would sometimes stress over teaching the classes. So we tended to help each other out.

Private companies are always looking for new teachers, if they have openings (and they usually did, but with Nova going under, there are a lot of out of work English teachers over there now, so it's probably a lot tougher private market at the moment.)

I taught at 2 schools... an Academic school most of the time, and a technical school (that was about 80-90% boys) a few days a month. The actual proficiency level in English was higher at the Academic school, but they were very shy and often unwilling to use what they knew. At the technical school, though, they were eager to use what they'd learned, to the point of shouting it out (in class or outside of it!). We often play games, such as Pictionary, and many times they worked out better at the Technical school because the students weren't afraid to speak out.

I too had a goal to teach them about life in the US, with pictures, a menu I brought from my hometown, stories about all the holidays, different foods, etc.

That's a good story. And I totally relate.

One day a week I taught at a night school. In Japan, there is no "skipping grades" or "being held back". If you need to be held back, you get to go to "night school". At the night school the students were aged 15 to late 50s. Some students were handicapped. But, a good percentage were really enthusiastic, and I made one of my best friends in Japan with a student there, who was actually a little older than me, at the time.

Anyway, your story reminded me of one of the most bizarre incidents of my time teaching there. I ran into a student from the night school at a local izakaya. He worked at a host club, and often napped in class (at night school) BEFORE he went to work. That's fine. I taught his class once every two weeks. So he was at this izakaya with his fellow host-mates getting a meal before work, probably, and I walked up to them and said "Hi, +++-kun". (I can't remember his name now, but I did remember it then.)

The young man looked at me and said "How do you know my name?". Mind you, this was in a small industrial city in an urban area between Osaka and Kobe. You could count the number of white people living there on three hands at that time.

So he said "How do you know my name?" and his buddies looked at me and looked at him and said "+++-kun. Who is your friend? Who is this guy?" He responded "I have seen him somewhere, but I am not sure." I was in shock.

I said (in Japanese the whole time, mind you) "Seriously, you don't know who I am?" and try as he might, he couldn't remember.

When I reminded him that I was his English teacher, and that I had seen him (or at least the top of his head) in class less than a week earlier his face red and his buddies chastised him for not even recognizing his own teacher, but for me it was a good lesson in recognizing how insignifigant we can be in our students' lives.

Now after that, his buddies invited me to sit down with them for a beer, and I happily obliged. I actually was able to have a conversation with the guy, (after he got over his embarrassment) that I NEVER would have been able to at school. We learned a lot about each other that night. I wish I could say he never slept through my class again, but at least he said "hi" to me every other week before he took his nap.

Some eager, some not sounds like any highschool, especially for a compulsory subject XD

Good to hear that they do let people with little or no teaching experience through - while I am interested in the process of language learning and how English is taught in Japan, I don't think I'd trade my career for one as a teacher.

Fingers crossed I'll get into JET for next year and won't have to worry about applying for private companies. Anyway, by next August I'd hope the issues caused by NOVA will have settled down a bit.

Good story! My students always seemed to know me, the embarrassing thing was when I didn't recognize them! But I rotated between 22 different JTEs/classes at the 2 schools combined, and I was lucky to see the same class twice in a month. It made it hard to really get to know many of the students, though they'd often say hi to me around town, etc.

But I remember 1 girl at the Technical school... she would often seem bored or fall asleep in class. One day my JTE in the class suggested that we try very easy debates... The student and I would go back and forth, 1 sentence at a time, in order to practice listening and reasoning. I thought it might be too hard for the class, but the JTE said let's try. None of the kids wanted to try it, except that 1 girl. The JTE picked the topic "Which makes a better pet, cats or dogs?" and she went right at it, choosing dogs as I recall. Her English was excellent, and she seemed to understand and respond to each point I made. The whole class was shocked and applauded her. After class, the JTE explained that he'd made the assignment knowing she'd volunteer, and that she was very gifted with languages. She had taken part in the finals of an all-Japan English language debate competition. Unfortunately, she was either not as good in other subjects, or just got nervous on tests, and so she'd failed to qualify to attend the Academic school. She tended to sleep in class not because she wasn't interested, but because the level of English there was so far beneath her she got bored.

How did you guys do at your interviews?

I feared that I didn't get to say everything I really wanted to say, and that I didn't do as well as I could have. You pretty much respond to the rapid-fire questions of 3 interviewers, and then a very quick closing statement... it was over in less than 15 minutes. But I guess I got my feelings across anyway, because I was accepted. But I was really sweating waiting to hear if I'd made it or not.

That's good. I'll keep that in mind for myself too. lol

Oh yeah, how does insurance work? I read someplace that it's good to keep the same insurance you have in your home country and to get it after getting into JET. What if you're in a situation where you don't even have insurance in your home country?

Your info was wrong. They sign you up for a mandatory Japanese insurance program when you get there. I'm not sure if it's identical for all JETS or if ESID, but all JETs are required to have Japanese insurance. The payments for it will be automatically deducted from your bank account or paycheck. I didn't have any insurance before going to Japan, and I didn't keep any US insurance while there... there's no reason to do that. At most you'll be in the US only a few weeks out of the year anyway.

All the Nova teachers have either, a) got jobs by now, b) gone home or c) are probably teaching in Korea. The ones that don't fall into those three categories are probably milking unemployment insurance for all it's worth. I know the Nova in my city is still shut down, but I never knew the teachers aside from seeing them outside or in the shop.

As far as being able to get a job quickly if JET doesn't take you into their loving arms and cuddle you like a little baby, there are always openings for ALT's somewhere in this country. In fact, you can have my job right now. I wouldn't mind at all. The tough part is finding a job where you want to work and for the amount you are willing to work for, but that is probably only those who are working in Japan already. Most people just want to get over here when they first come and don't care where it is.

One more thing, I don't think our two JET alumns mentioned it, but one of the questions you will get goes something like, "If you had 20 retards (students) in front of you right now, demonstrate a quick lesson for us." Am I right alumns? So think about that, and I would wager your best bet would be to include a game and song element to it. And maybe something "cultural" like a Valentines lesson stressing the differences between US V'day and Japan V'day.

Some other junk about getting teaching English jobs overseas, this is just in general but may be of use. Say really retarded things like, "I want to spread international understanding through getting involved in the community and really learning about the Japanese people and culture so I can come home and share with all my friends and family." This little line of super cheesiness should work wonders for you. No, seriously, it should. It's a lot better than saying, "I want to go to Japan to experience firsthand the awesome technology and innovation going on there." Why is the first better than the last? Simple, the JET program doesn't want the equivalent of a big tourist living and working in Japan. They want someone who is going to get involved and all that other super stuff.

Also think about making an answer to what is probably their first question, "Why do you want to go to Japan?" Then post it on here so the rest of us can comment. I am not talking essay length. Just what would you say in three lines or less, GO!

My interview was a long time ago, so I don't remember a question like that...but it doesn't mean they don't ask now, and it isn't worth preparing for.

Since I had studied Japanese, part of interview was in Japanese. Since I put literature down as one of my hobbies I was asked, in Japanese, to compare the plusses and minuses of Japanese literature with the plusses and minuses of American literature. That was more than a little nerve-wracking.

Having lived in Australia all my life, I'm interested in expanding my horizons by spending some time in a country and culture completely different to my own. Japan's rich history, language, religion, traditions and beliefs contrast sharply with Australia's, so I feel that we have a lot to learn from each other.

...although in addition to that I'm bored of Perth and want an adventure with a cushy paycheck and free flights >_>

From what I've read it seems that most questions are to guage your interest in Japan/JET and reasons behind it, your interest and potential in teaching, and how well you do under pressure.

Good to know place hire ALT's all year round - I'm not terribly fussy about where I go (which is why JET will work out nicely if it does work out). Nice to have options though.

EDIT: Quick question - would a JLPT3 increase chances of getting a job as a private ALT (as opposed to a self assessment or Australian course qualifications), or is it too low level to really matter? Just wondering if I should bother aiming for it or wait until I'm up to level 2 to do the proper test.

So that's how it works. Thanks a lot. Now how does Income Tax work? I still don't understand that much.

Simple, you don't pay any income taxes in either Japan or the US. You'll still need to file, and pay for any income earned back in the US before you left for Japan, but as a government employee in Japan, you don't pay taxes in Japan. And if you are out of the US at least 330 days out of the year, you don't pay taxes in the US on money earned overseas. (States may have different laws, though... you may need to pay something to the state, depending upon where you're from).

Don't worry, all of that is gone over if you're accepted as an ALT (along with a ton of other stuff... they really help you out and get you adjusted as a JET, and provide a full support network, unlike private teaching jobs). Also, if you end up working for a private company rather than the Japanese government as a JET, you may need to pay taxes on that in Japan, but I don't know how that works.

What? I don't know where you were or what it was like back in the day, but JET's definitely pay income tax and pension fees. The pension you receive back when you leave Japan. It is around 40k yen out of your pay compared to the income tax I have to pay (10k) which I can receive most of it back. I have to fill out forms just like the JET's, but it is fairly easy. The exemption for US income tax is for people earning up to 60k USD a year. After that, you have to pay. You will still file, whether over or under 60k USD.

Not only will a level 3 cert increase your chances, it should (non-JET) increase your income to the tune of 10,000 yen a month. As a matter of fact, it is written into my contract. To be quite blunt, if you have a level 2 and you're teaching English, you're wasting your time and talent.

Do you know what Interac asks of their potential hires? They have you do the standard interview, followed by a personality test, and then you make a five minute video introducing yourself in Japanese if you can and demo lesson. Five minutes to demo a fifty minute lesson without any idea of what level or grade you should be targeting. Then they take the video and show it to prospective schools. A video and personality test are a little bit overboard in my opinion for an ALT position. Seriously, talk about a complete waste of time when I can get hired for the same pay simply based on a resume and 10 minute phone call.

You do have to pay pension fees, but you can recover them. You can get 80% back on your own, and you are allowed to will the remaining 20% to a Japanese national. Most JETS (including myself) do this with a trusted Japanese friend or colleague, and they in turn pay you that amount.

But JETs (depending upon your country of origin) either pay no income tax, or your salary is automatically increased enough to pay the taxes, such that everyone gets 3.6 million yen per year. I paid no Japanese income tax. And since 3.6 million yen is much lower than $60,000 US, you don't pay federal income tax in the US so long as you are out of the country at least 330 days. But you do still have to file and state that you are exempt, you can't just not submit anything.

The JET Programme - Aspiring JETs - Application FAQ

Nice, sounds like it's certainly worth that 50 bucks then =P I'd read somewhere that the level 4 and 3 were a bit useless and not worth doing, but I guess to become an English teacher it might be enough. I've only been studying a year though, just planning to take level 3 at the end of this year, since my course will be roughly at that level by then. Thanks!

I keep hearing bad stories about Interac =/ Doesn't sound very appealing.

You know, some people actually enjoy teaching English, and find it a rewarding career.

I think I would if I were at a university teaching writing. There are only so many times I can do bingo, karuta and hangman, and I think the limit was reached and breached quite a while ago.

ps~Thank you 2x 0, I didn't know that was the case.

I know it's been a long time, but something just came to mind for me. How do references work here? How do you know who to choose to write you a reference letter? I know I read someplace that it's best to use an academic reference or some kind of a teacher who knows you. What other types of people would work as an acceptable reference? Classmates? Coworkers?

I've heard that if you'll be graduating just before going to JET you need at least one of the references to be from a lecturer. Other than that I guess you just choose people who can attest to your professional attitude/interest in Japan/teaching ability etc. and who have some kind of authority - I vaguely remember reading something about having to have it printed on a letterhead from the business/education institution? I think even if you can use references from classmates or coworkers, their opinion will possibly carry less weight in terms of a professional or academic reference.

I plan to ask my kung fu teacher (for culture, teaching experience, international experience and because I think he'll let me write it for myself anyway >_>) and my Japanese teacher or boss, both of whom are very nice and may be inclined to write something nice about me.