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Don72
Joined: 02 Feb 2016
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr: Not to be uncharitable, but regarding rejection by JET: "the December'' and ''the August''. Not exactly native- speaking excellence, wot? |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:15 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr wrote: |
| kpjf wrote: |
| That sounds extremely unfortunate. You weren't on their reserve list, were you? |
I don't recall anything about a reserve list. I got my application in later in the application period, which I presume put me further down the list when it came to doling out jobs. They ran out by the time they came to me.
I'd definitely recommend doing JET over and above other silly eikaiwa and ALT jobs. It's not just that it's a better scheme with better pay, but you can make useful connections through it, and it tends to open more doors jobs-wise once you finish.
Moral of the story: get your application in as early as possible! |
I'm sorry, but I don't think this is the way JET recruitment works at all.
And as to the connections... most JETs are in rural placements, often with very little contact with ANY other foreigners (in fact, there was a rumour when I was on JET that the higher your qualifications, the greater the chance of you skipping out to go do another job and therefore the more rural the placement- not an issue for people who were on the alternate list and made it in).
Opening jobs when you finish? For some employers, that's true. Some employers try to weed them out before getting to the interview stage. I would say it opens doors if you use your time on JET to get an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics (using at least a bit of the time to research the Japanese education system), and study Japanese. And also if you do presentations for JET conferences- that's something to put on the resume as well. Becoming a member of JALT, publishing and presenting will do more for you to open jobs than JET, and if you are on JET, it can be difficult to really get involved with JALT if you are rurally located.
Not sure I would describe other ALT jobs as 'silly'. When I was on JET, I remember someone saying in a conference that JET was a step above the rest to someone from CLAIR. The response was very clear that JET is an entry-level job, just like any other entry-level job. And outside of JET-- in private highs-- there are people who are officially "ALT"s but who are the main teacher in the room- sometimes the only teacher in the room. But they're still called ALTs. In some private highs, the majority of ALTs have graduate qualifications in TESOL or ApLing, or are certified teachers in their home countries, or possibly have an unrelated graduate degree, but are close to fluent in Japanese (both written and spoken). Some people have a combination of more than one of those things.
JET is great. But half of all JETs leave after the first year. The decision to leave or not is due in early December, if I remember correctly. JETs start teaching in September. The paper they sign actually comes to them in October November-ish, I think- just a couple of months after setting foot in the classroom.
I've worked as a (solo-teacher) 'Native English Teacher' (NET) in Japan. Many of the others didn't come to Japan on JET. They arrived to teach at an eikaiwa, or possibly as an ALT through a dispatch company. It made no difference. Because all of us had worked to improve ourselves since arriving in Japan in various ways. |
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Mingvase
Joined: 19 Jan 2016
Posts: 62
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:33 am Post subject: BTL |
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| I've just interviewed for a school in Japan. The salary is paid on a daily basis and so you don't get paid when it's holiday time. I think that's a cheek to not pay holiday pay. Isn't that against Japanese employment law? How can I pay the rent if they don't pay me during the holidays in August and December? Japan really ought to pay higher salaries to teachers IMO. You get £27k as an entry level teacher in the UK. 250000yen or 3million yen a year is only about £19k. Mind you tax in the UK is 23% versus 5% in Japan so that evens it up a little. |
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Shakey
Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr wrote: |
| I'd definitely recommend doing JET over and above other silly eikaiwa and ALT jobs. It's not just that it's a better scheme with better pay, but you can make useful connections through it, and it tends to open more doors jobs-wise once you finish. |
Years ago, I met a lot of JETs who went to to work for Berlitz. At the time, Berlitz, if it still isn't, was the best of a bad lot, so to speak. Meaning it was considered to be one of the better, if not best, eikaiwa.
I heard a lot of bad stores from JETs about the JET program. I don't have the time or energy to get into them, but they centered around living a rural lifestyle and isolation and the psychological and social problems that result from that.
In short, I have always considered the often posted line, "JET is the best deal in town" a myth. |
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Sudz
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 438
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:55 am Post subject: |
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Location is one of the reasons I would be reluctant to big up the JET program. The 'quaintness' of being in a rural area can go away quickly - I know, for I suffered some of the psychological effects of living in, what I considered to be, a rural area. It's all relative though, as there were people who were even more backwoods than I - who came to my town to 'party' !
It all depends on what you like though. That particular lifestyle works for some. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Don72 wrote: |
| Lamarr: Not to be uncharitable, but regarding rejection by JET: "the December'' and ''the August''. Not exactly native- speaking excellence, wot? |
Neither is using two colons in a sentence, using a capital letter after the colon, and leaving a gap after the hyphen.
Need I say any more...
Last edited by Lamarr on Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Shakey wrote: |
Years ago, I met a lot of JETs who went to to work for Berlitz. At the time, Berlitz, if it still isn't, was the best of a bad lot, so to speak. Meaning it was considered to be one of the better, if not best, eikaiwa.
I heard a lot of bad stores from JETs about the JET program. I don't have the time or energy to get into them, but they centered around living a rural lifestyle and isolation and the psychological and social problems that result from that.
In short, I have always considered the often posted line, "JET is the best deal in town" a myth. |
I think because the other entry-level options are so bad - namely eikaiwa and dispatch ALT - it's not hard for something like JET to be a step or two above that. The pay is better, and the contract is for the full twelve months. They also certainly used to offer housing subsidies/cheap rents.
I had a friend in a rural location, and he went a bit mad for a while with the isolation. The village "shut down" by 6pm each night and there was literally nothing to do there. So he was stuck in his apartment playing computer games. Though he was in contact with the other JETs in nearby towns and villages, so they used to meet up at weekends, which probably saved his sanity.
I know other JETs who were in bigger towns and cities who didn't have those problems. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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JET placed me in a small town in Ehime-Ken. I stayed one year. There were two other Canadian women in my town, and one former JET ALT, an American woman. We kept company.
There were hard moments before I learned to express myself in the language, but by the time I finished my year, I could speak the language enough to get good counsel from neighbours and teachers, and express what I wanted to say.
The community welcomed me, and I did volunteer activities, practiced martial arts, traveled on weekends, wrote for the JET newsletter, and participated in festivals. The high point was dancing with the yukata clad city hall team in the local summer festival.
Sure, it's challenging to live in a rural town and learn the language and culture on the ground, but I don't regret it for a minute.
If life were easy, it would cease to be interesting. |
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Don72
Joined: 02 Feb 2016
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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''The'' Lamarr: Y(note capital letter)es, you do need to say more. There's nothing wrong with using a capitalized word after a colon. There's nothing wrong with using two colons in a sentence. The gap after a hyphen came about as result of the forum format and not my writing.
"The'' Don72 |
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Don72
Joined: 02 Feb 2016
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| As for JET, my experience with the JET Programme, as well as my many years of EFL teaching in E. Asia, have led me to believe that JET is the ''best gig in town'' for 90+% of all EFLers in E. Asia. The JETs I knew who bitched about the program were almost always snotty, self-entitled, spoiled brats. |
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kpjf
Joined: 18 Jan 2012
Posts: 385
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:26 pm Post subject: Re: BTL |
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| Mingvase wrote: |
| I've just interviewed for a school in Japan. The salary is paid on a daily basis and so you don't get paid when it's holiday time. I think that's a cheek to not pay holiday pay. Isn't that against Japanese employment law? How can I pay the rent if they don't pay me during the holidays in August and December? |
Well then, don't accept it and move on. Easy!
| Quote: |
| Japan really ought to pay higher salaries to teachers IMO. |
Why? Ever heard of the terms demand and supply?
| Quote: |
| You get £27k as an entry level teacher in the UK. 250000yen or 3million yen a year is only about £19k. Mind you tax in the UK is 23% versus 5% in Japan so that evens it up a little. |
An entry level teacher with PGCE in the UK starts off at 22k before tax, not 27k. The only way the newly qualified teacher would get 27k is if the school is in inner London and obviously rent would be quite prohibitive. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Don72 wrote: |
''The'' Lamarr: Y(note capital letter)es, you do need to say more. There's nothing wrong with using a capitalized word after a colon. There's nothing wrong with using two colons in a sentence. The gap after a hyphen came about as result of the forum format and not my writing.
"The'' Don72 |
Says the man who thinks you can't say "the December". Go and look it up. You use "the" before the month to refer to the month of a particular year other than the present one. Not using the article would mean December this year, which isn't what I was referring to.
Is this the standard of people that are getting accepted on JET these days? Maybe it's not such a good scheme after all. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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Lamarr, what variety of English do you speak? Your usage of the article the is not standard. "That December" or "(in) December that year" are standard.
British university style manuals: If the clause following a colon is a complete sentence, the first letter is capitalized. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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The "topic" of the sentence if you like was the period in which I applied for and was waiting for my placement for the JET program(me) (and then got rejected).
In the December (of that period) I did an interview. In the August (which is obviously the following August), I got rejected.
Maybe it's a British English thing (even a northern English thing, which is where I'm from). Anyway, suffice to say that this guy is being a dickhead. I'm sure that makes perfect sense. |
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Sudz
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 438
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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In terms of straight up work, JET seems like a really good bet. I've worked in in quite a few teaching environments, and actually have enjoyed ALT work quite a bit. Would take it over eikaiwa any day of the week personally.
I myself did not enjoy the rural life, though at the same time I didn't particularly like my eikaiwa job, and was burnt out from my MA. I also didn't have much in the way of excess cash to do much of anything. If I had been in the JET program, had more free time/money, it might have been a different story. |
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