Job Discussion Forums

[G Cthulhu]

[Amarok]

Every JET I've personally met in Japan has been an abominable excuse for a human being with no knowledge of Japanese/Japanese culture and a self-entitled, snobby, frat boy attitude. Not really impressed, and couldn't care less if JET goes down the drain.

[TokyoLiz]

I'm a former JET Program ALT. The year I came over, more than a decade ago, I along with my supervisor at an English language day school were placed in different towns. She and I were both experienced teachers of immigrants and visiting foreign students, and had trained as teachers in a respected TESOL program in our hometown.

Both of us left after the first year. I don't know exactly why she didn't continue. However, I can tell you that, while I found the experience of living in a rural Japanese town fascinating, and I gained language skills and had a lot of support from the family downstairs, the board of education and local groups, I was terribly underused and not stimulated by the experience of the Japanese junior high schools. The BoE rotated me between four junior high schools a for week at a time. It was hard to make relationships with the teachers because i could not participate in the whole school year at one site. Of the four schools I worked at, only one English department saw me as a resource and mentored me in teaching English to junior high school in the Japanese context.

The most valuable interaction with the kids was between lessons when I received a blizzard of notes and cards and letters written by the more motivated kids. They really wanted to communicate with me.

My former coworker and I were in our late 20s at the time, so we were considerably older than the students, and sometimes older than the JTEs, a situation different from the one reported by the students in the article.

JET could do a lot better with a mix of participants, I believe. If the only contact that junior high kids get with foreigners is through school, then simply bringing Japanese language majors from around the world for short stints as cultural ambassadors would be cheaper, more interesting, and bring young foreigners who have a specific interest in Japan.

If language learning were really valued, then the Ministry of Education would recruit the returning Japanese college graduates from abroad to serve as assistants in the schools.

If it were about improving English language pedagogy, then the Ministry would recruit language teachers (not recent college graduates) to serve as ALTs. And send Japanese teachers to Europe or Asia where school systems turn out graduates that use English effectively (like Finland, Sweden, Holland, Singapore, Korea).

But these kinds of measures aren't being used. The Ministry is locked into this ridiculous, expensive, irrational JET Program hangover from the bubble days.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Pls. don't suggest sending JTE's abroad to see how things are done effectively. Most of their egos are shaky enuf as it is...

NCTBA

[Glenski]

[Glenski]

[razorhideki]

Amarok: OK, we get it, i.e., you were rejected by JET and you're bitter. Boo hoo. Get over it.

EVERY JET you've met(two?three?)has been a sad sack of skin?! Must be a different JET Programme than the one I was on. Sure, the fact that JETs are treated like humans instead of cattle, as are most non-JET EFLers, is bound to cause resentment. And, yes, more than a few of the JETs I knew could fairly have been called snotnoses. Nonetheless, I met many JETs in my three yrs. on board, both snotty & non-snotty, that possessed impressive Japanese lang. skills and/or knowledge of Japanese culture, history, society, etc. Quite the contrast from the eikaiwa crew I worked with. Some were great people, some were jokes, but regardless, precious few had any "Japanese background" info./preparation.

TokyoLiz: I was under the impression JET has largely done away with the "one shot" JETs and now tend to have ALTs in base schools only, which I think is a good thing.

And Korea as a model for churning out more grads competent in English?! My dear, you've got to be kidding....

[kotoko]

I'm not so good at putting my own things between quotes, so please excuse me Glenski.


In reply to me being "rare", I am the only ALT I know with ESL teaching qualifications, but I know many with teaching licenses from back home. As for Japanese language ability, in my small-ish city, there are a few dispatch ALTs who don't speak much Japanese, but I am far from having the best Japanese within the JETs here.

I do ask to do more than games. I've given up now though, I'm afraid. They'll let me teach classes by myself when the JTE is away (which I think is illegal). I put all my efforts into the baton twirling team now, which I teach whilst the clueless baton tanto sits marking her class's homework.

How to get JTEs to stick to what they are told? No idea. I'm just a gaijin fresh out of college last year. I think most of the problem is the exams, and how they teach to the exams. Get rid of multiple choice exams in English testing and the teaching style will change, I think.

[kotoko]

As for the "I don't like JETs" stuff, I must admit, I don't like many other JETs... people who have been here longer tend to be frat boys. The others are spotty otakus who are socially retarded or overly genki people who are great around Japanese kids but not around sane humans. JETs here tend to be very snobby towards anyone who isn't a JET, especially dispatch ALTs.

But don't paint us all with the same brush, some of us are ok

[flyer]

[Bread]

[Glenski]

[kotoko]

[G Cthulhu]

[G Cthulhu]