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Don72
Joined: 02 Feb 2016
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:12 am Post subject: |
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Well, Lamarr, since you feebly tried to defend your use of ''the'' before a specific (proper noun) month, let me set up this scenario. A customer walks into a bookstore and is interested in buying a book dealing with a short history of the 20th Century. He sees two books side by side dealing with this topic. One has this sentence: "Pearl Harbour was bombed in the December of 1941." The other: " Pearl Harbour was bombed in December of 1941.'' Which book would a rational consumer buy?
Now, back to the topic. I think it's instructive to note the OP started off with mentioning the JET Programme. Full disclosure, folks: I haven't been a JET member for 16 1/2 years. I've heard plenty since then about how JET's gravy train has been scaled back and more and more participants have had to accept ''rural'' (by varying definitions) placements. That said, despite the naysayers (often rejected JET applicants), JET is still the best way to go for the vast majority of EFLers in E. Asia. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| Don72 wrote: |
| Well, Lamarr, since you feebly tried to defend your use of ''the'' before a specific (proper noun) month |
I didn't actually. That's that sorted. |
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dog8food
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 60
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:05 am Post subject: |
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Looks like its best to pursue other options.
Thanks guys. |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:30 am Post subject: |
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Get a MA, publish a bit and look for university work.
Or, get certified to teach K-12, and look for international schools. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:07 am Post subject: |
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| mitsui wrote: |
Get a MA, publish a bit and look for university work.
Or, get certified to teach K-12, and look for international schools. |
get certified to teach K-12, get three years of experience teaching your level in that province / state, and look for international schools. |
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dog8food
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 60
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| mitsui wrote: |
Get a MA, publish a bit and look for university work.
Or, get certified to teach K-12, and look for international schools. |
get certified to teach K-12, get three years of experience teaching your level in that province / state, and look for international schools. |
Yeah, I'm not really interested in career teaching, I just remember that the JET program was once considered a good way to save up a bit. I thought it would be fun to do it temporarily, but I realize things have tightened up throughout the years. I can easily make more $ via other means, so maybe saving up for Japanese vacations is a better idea. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:06 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I'm not really interested in career teaching, I just remember that the JET program was once considered a good way to save up a bit. |
If that's all you see the JET Program for, then it's just as well you turned them down. You undervalue the program.
Participation in the program isn't just for career teachers, either, although it's great for prospective teachers, or teachers who want to enrich their experience. It's also great for people who want to challenge themselves (and their family, if they have one) by living in another country, learning a new language, and discovering other possibilities for their lives.
For those who are considering JET and are reading this -
I've met JETs who found their life partners here. Two that I know are now academics in universities here. Another is a musicologist who took her career to a third country after studying Japanese classical music.
It's possible that your JET experience serves you as a working scholarship, for a year or for five. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 11:22 am Post subject: |
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JET isn't an end in itself, more a way of getting experience towards something else in the long-term. I've got a few friends who did it. One is now a head of department at a school back home, another runs his own business in Japan. I know another guy working at uni, and another who became a translator.
You don't necessarily need JET to do those things, but it's a better set-up programme with better pay and more stability to it. It'll look better on your CV, and you'll probably have a better time, than working at some shyster eikaiwa or ALT dispatch company.
Someone mentioned the isolation factor, but you can suffer that in other jobs in Japan as well. That's not a JET-specific problem. I've seen people who came over to Japan working in eikaiwa jobs for years who ended up disconnected from their environment and got very bitter and angry, went weird, or ended up alcoholics. It's not unusual for that to happen to ex-pats. |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:31 am Post subject: |
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Some people do well in JET.
Of people some I know or knew who were in JET-
One teaches at a university in Shiga (Saitama '91)
Two are ELFs in China and Estonia (English Language Fellows are paid by the US government) (Shizuoka and Fukui)
One is a professor of linguistics in California
It is a good introduction to EFL in Japan, though there are things one may not like. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| ...though there are things one may not like. |
That which does not kill you makes you stranger.  |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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| mitsui wrote: |
| It is a good introduction to EFL in Japan, though there are things one may not like. |
The complaints I hear about it are more related to being in Japan, things which anyone could suffer in any job in Japan, than complaints about the JET programme itself. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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I was never in JET. I did meet some JETs when I was an ALT. They lived much farther out than I did. Basically the JETs started where the dispatch companies stopped.
My Host Mom's first host son ended up being a JET on Tsushima, a small island. He liked it, as he Kayaked. If you have a hobby or soemthing you can peruse, a rural area isn't bad. It can be bad, but some of that is up the the individual.
I guess my concern would be the Sept start. That makes your end of JET time around Aug/Sept which could make things hard if you want to stay in Japan after JET. As it puts you out at a weird time for hiring |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr wrote: |
| mitsui wrote: |
| It is a good introduction to EFL in Japan, though there are things one may not like. |
The complaints I hear about it are more related to being in Japan, things which anyone could suffer in any job in Japan, than complaints about the JET programme itself. |
1. Being in a very remote area of Japan (and 'internationalism' often means very different things in rural areas than it does in a medium to big city- and JETs have to deal with that) is not the same as feeling isolated while living in a big city where there actually are gaijin bars etc.
2. JET is great. But it really is a human resources mechanism to get people to mostly rural placements. There are no complaints about the JET programme itself because once you're on it, you work for a board of education (either prefectural or town/ city). So some of the complaints you may read about a BOE are actually from JETs, they just don't say it. By being on the programme, participants are protected by the requirement of a certain salary level, ability to meet other foreigners at least a few times a year by having conferences etc. The goal is for participants to enjoy their time in Japan to create positive PR for the country, while improving the language ability of Japanese Teachers of English (who may have to use English to communicate with the ALT) and introducing foreign culture (including the participant him / herself) to students. In some cases, participants aren't used to the level of isolation that they may feel (there is a massive difference between travelling to Europe on Daddy's Dollars, going to tourist places etc, and what many people deal with on JET). And some of that is the participant's fault- they may not do much to get out there are join a club or anything. And some of that may be the school's fault- they may just look at the JET as a temp employee who will be gone in a year and treat them accordingly (which means it's really the contracting organization's fault because they should be doing more to get schools to help the JET adjust; and also the JET participant's fault for not showing the school that they want to do a good job and that they want to be actively involved). |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| 1. Being in a very remote area of Japan (and 'internationalism' often means very different things in rural areas than it does in a medium to big city- and JETs have to deal with that) is not the same as feeling isolated while living in a big city where there actually are gaijin bars etc. |
I can see there's a difference in lifestyle and things to do outside of work between the city and the country, though different people react to it in different ways. I can imagine a certain type of character that would love the "isolation" out in the rural areas, being away from other foreigners and surrounded only by natives. I see other types of people though who crack up living in the big cities, which can be stressful and lonesome places if you're not accustomed to it, or don't know anyone else living there when you arrive.
There is often quite a strong gaijin community based around bars, sports team networks, martial arts, music nights and so on, though even that might not compensate for things if you're not into those sorts of activities, or are shy and socially withdrawn. And it can take time to get into those networks and get established. |
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Rooster.
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 247
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| Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:08 am Post subject: |
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| mitsui wrote: |
Some people do well in JET.
Of people some I know or knew who were in JET-
One teaches at a university in Shiga (Saitama '91)
Two are ELFs in China and Estonia (English Language Fellows are paid by the US government) (Shizuoka and Fukui)
One is a professor of linguistics in California
It is a good introduction to EFL in Japan, though there are things one may not like. |
I had never heard of the English Language Fellows program before. It sounds interesting. |
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