Monday, January 22, 2007
i dont wanna sing a normal song
ok so my supervisor nishihashi comes today to observe one of my classes. i totally forgot she was even coming. but i rolled with it. i had to improvise some things. so i played a warm-up game with the kids asking questions from the textbook. i knew my jte was nervous, and had prepped a lot for this class. and he looked so relieved everytime the students managed to answer the questions i asked. i was pretty impressed too. you mean these kids actually understand english!?! theyve been fooling me all this time! but now that i know they understand me, i decided to ask more and more difficult questions and my jte gave me this look like what are you doing?! i'm like hey, i wanna see what these kids can do! i asked a question which one boy got right, but he was just reading it out of the textbook verbatum. so i ask him to translate into japanese what he just read. and he actually got it right! anyways, nishihashi leaves after like 20 minutes. then one of the boys says "relax!" and puts his head down to sleep T___T
Friday, January 19, 2007
So you wanna teach english?
Welcome. Here's a quick, yet informative guide to teaching in Japan.
I'm currently in Japan with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. In my humble opinion it is the best teaching exchange programme out there. I wouldn't be out here otherwise.
Who its geared towards: university grads between the ages of 21-40, although it seems most people are in their early 20's when they arrive.
General info: JET participants are placed in any of Japan’s 47 prefectures and designated cities. Contracts are renewed on a yearly basis for a maximum of three years. The salary is 3.6 million yen per year (after tax), and participants typically get 20 days off per year in addition to national holidays. Visas, flights, living accommodations and health insurance are arranged by Japanese government agencies.
you can request 3 places on your JET application, but there is no guarantee you will get any of them, or even be put in the same vicinity. I put Nagano (middle of Japan) as my first choice so i could snowboard in the winter. I got Kagoshima (bottom) where it snows on average once a year. it has not snowed at all this year. If you are applying with a significant other you can request to be placed in same area, but again no guarantees. i know married couples who got placed in seperate towns an hour apart, and they were lucky!
Where you teach: local government organizations as well as public and private primary, junior high and senior high schools. I only teach at 2 senior high schools, but depending where you are you could teach all levels. Some of my friends have like 20 schools, so they might see a class on average 1/month. Work hours are 8:15-4:15 Mon-Fri. Occasionaly you work weekends, but you get compensation days. And in my contract, im not allowed to teach more than 3 classes a day. a lot of downtime, hence me writing this post for all you lovelies :-)
My position: Assistant Language Teacher (ALT)
This position is by far the most numerous, with over 90% of the Programme's total participants working in this type of position. ALTs are placed mainly in local boards of education or publicly run primary, junior high and senior high schools and are engaged in language instruction under the guidance of Language Teachers Consultants or Japanese teachers of foreign languages. In a very limited number of cases, participants are placed in private primary, junior high and senior high schools through prefectural or designated city offices.
Eligibility:
All applicants must:
• hold a Bachelor's degree in any subject by July of the year of departure;
• be a citizen of the country where the recruitment and selection procedures take place;
• have excellent skills in the designated language (both written and spoken). (For English-speaking countries this is English, and for non-English speaking countries it is the principal language);
• have a keen interest in the country and culture of Japan;
• in principle, be under 40 years of age;
• not have lived in Japan for 3 or more of the last 8 years, nor be a former participant in the programme for the last 10 years.
(for more detailed information on eligibility criteria, please refer to official application documents).
For ALT applicants in English-speaking countries:
• TEFL qualification is helpful, but not required.
your chances: There are about 6000 JETs at any given time in Japan. turnover rate ranges year to year. i dont have stats on hand, but they hire around 500 canadians...maybe.
deadline: end of november each year. click below link for timetable.
http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/ExchangeProgram/jetweb/page15.html
other quick links:
http://jetprogramme.org/
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/jet/index.html
http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/ExchangeProgram/jetweb/index.html
chances to travel: i have 21 paid vacation days a year. in conjunction with national holidays, i can stretch out my holidays fairly long. you make enough money to travel, depending how well you budget and what your priorities are. i know a lot of people on the JET programme come here to pay off their uni debts.
Q&A:
1. What is the interview process like?
The application process is quite long. Several months long. After you apply, and are successful, JET will contact you for an interview. It's a fairly competitive process. JET held in-person interviews over two days in Toronto. There are several interview rooms, each one with 3 interviewers (including one native Japanese person). they go over your application, and ask you trivia about Japan (population, whos the prime minister, etc), and then hold a mock classroom session where they pretend to be Japanese students, and you the teacher.
2. If I apply to your school, would you be able to put in a good word for me?
You cannot apply to specific schools. i would otherwise! :-)
3. Are there positions for other languages other than english?
I know there is a French CIR (Co-ordinator for International Relations - also under the JET umbrella). I actually don't know that much about it. you'll have to contact your local Japanese embassy.
Additional advice: if you've missed the deadline, and don't want to wait. or you didn't get accepted into the JET programme fear not! there are other avenues to teaching in Japan.
other teaching programmes:
GEOS
AEON
NOVA
These are the 3 main private english teaching companies. instead of teaching in schools, you teach students one on one.
pros: varying age range of students from toddlers to the geriatric. most students are female in their 20's-30's (giver). cuz the students pay to be there, they're usually very enthusiastic about learning. and you have full control of the classroom.
cons: perks aren't as good as JET. you dont get paid that much less than JET, but you do have to pay for your own plane ticket to Japan. weird work hours. usually noon to 8-9pm at night. You have to work Saturdays, but get Monday off.
Some people use these companies as a jumping point into other teaching jobs. so there are definitely more options than what ive included here.
that's all i have for now. will include more if i think of it. feel free to ask any questions i havent answered.
I'm currently in Japan with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. In my humble opinion it is the best teaching exchange programme out there. I wouldn't be out here otherwise.
Who its geared towards: university grads between the ages of 21-40, although it seems most people are in their early 20's when they arrive.
General info: JET participants are placed in any of Japan’s 47 prefectures and designated cities. Contracts are renewed on a yearly basis for a maximum of three years. The salary is 3.6 million yen per year (after tax), and participants typically get 20 days off per year in addition to national holidays. Visas, flights, living accommodations and health insurance are arranged by Japanese government agencies.
you can request 3 places on your JET application, but there is no guarantee you will get any of them, or even be put in the same vicinity. I put Nagano (middle of Japan) as my first choice so i could snowboard in the winter. I got Kagoshima (bottom) where it snows on average once a year. it has not snowed at all this year. If you are applying with a significant other you can request to be placed in same area, but again no guarantees. i know married couples who got placed in seperate towns an hour apart, and they were lucky!
Where you teach: local government organizations as well as public and private primary, junior high and senior high schools. I only teach at 2 senior high schools, but depending where you are you could teach all levels. Some of my friends have like 20 schools, so they might see a class on average 1/month. Work hours are 8:15-4:15 Mon-Fri. Occasionaly you work weekends, but you get compensation days. And in my contract, im not allowed to teach more than 3 classes a day. a lot of downtime, hence me writing this post for all you lovelies :-)
My position: Assistant Language Teacher (ALT)
This position is by far the most numerous, with over 90% of the Programme's total participants working in this type of position. ALTs are placed mainly in local boards of education or publicly run primary, junior high and senior high schools and are engaged in language instruction under the guidance of Language Teachers Consultants or Japanese teachers of foreign languages. In a very limited number of cases, participants are placed in private primary, junior high and senior high schools through prefectural or designated city offices.
Eligibility:
All applicants must:
• hold a Bachelor's degree in any subject by July of the year of departure;
• be a citizen of the country where the recruitment and selection procedures take place;
• have excellent skills in the designated language (both written and spoken). (For English-speaking countries this is English, and for non-English speaking countries it is the principal language);
• have a keen interest in the country and culture of Japan;
• in principle, be under 40 years of age;
• not have lived in Japan for 3 or more of the last 8 years, nor be a former participant in the programme for the last 10 years.
(for more detailed information on eligibility criteria, please refer to official application documents).
For ALT applicants in English-speaking countries:
• TEFL qualification is helpful, but not required.
your chances: There are about 6000 JETs at any given time in Japan. turnover rate ranges year to year. i dont have stats on hand, but they hire around 500 canadians...maybe.
deadline: end of november each year. click below link for timetable.
http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/ExchangeProgram/jetweb/page15.html
other quick links:
http://jetprogramme.org/
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/jet/index.html
http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/ExchangeProgram/jetweb/index.html
chances to travel: i have 21 paid vacation days a year. in conjunction with national holidays, i can stretch out my holidays fairly long. you make enough money to travel, depending how well you budget and what your priorities are. i know a lot of people on the JET programme come here to pay off their uni debts.
Q&A:
1. What is the interview process like?
The application process is quite long. Several months long. After you apply, and are successful, JET will contact you for an interview. It's a fairly competitive process. JET held in-person interviews over two days in Toronto. There are several interview rooms, each one with 3 interviewers (including one native Japanese person). they go over your application, and ask you trivia about Japan (population, whos the prime minister, etc), and then hold a mock classroom session where they pretend to be Japanese students, and you the teacher.
2. If I apply to your school, would you be able to put in a good word for me?
You cannot apply to specific schools. i would otherwise! :-)
3. Are there positions for other languages other than english?
I know there is a French CIR (Co-ordinator for International Relations - also under the JET umbrella). I actually don't know that much about it. you'll have to contact your local Japanese embassy.
Additional advice: if you've missed the deadline, and don't want to wait. or you didn't get accepted into the JET programme fear not! there are other avenues to teaching in Japan.
other teaching programmes:
GEOS
AEON
NOVA
These are the 3 main private english teaching companies. instead of teaching in schools, you teach students one on one.
pros: varying age range of students from toddlers to the geriatric. most students are female in their 20's-30's (giver). cuz the students pay to be there, they're usually very enthusiastic about learning. and you have full control of the classroom.
cons: perks aren't as good as JET. you dont get paid that much less than JET, but you do have to pay for your own plane ticket to Japan. weird work hours. usually noon to 8-9pm at night. You have to work Saturdays, but get Monday off.
Some people use these companies as a jumping point into other teaching jobs. so there are definitely more options than what ive included here.
that's all i have for now. will include more if i think of it. feel free to ask any questions i havent answered.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
where does time go?
wooooo...holy slackage batman! what's it been since i've posted? 4 months? bad blogger karen, BAD! gomen nasai. time is just flyyyyying by and so much is always happening. where do i start?
so today is pretty warm. which is nice, cuz i broke my heater yesterday. technically i have 3 heaters. one is attached to my wall which is a fancy AC/heater combo. unfortunately, my kanji-less ass cant figure how to switch it to the heating function. and im too lazy to figure it out. my 2nd heater uses keroscene, which has run out of keroscene. but i'm too lazy to walk down the street to the gas stand to get more. im sensing a trend here. to be fair, a tank of keroscene is not light! and im fragile >___<
uh oh. time for class. gotta teach some kiddies english. continue this later. promise!
so today is pretty warm. which is nice, cuz i broke my heater yesterday. technically i have 3 heaters. one is attached to my wall which is a fancy AC/heater combo. unfortunately, my kanji-less ass cant figure how to switch it to the heating function. and im too lazy to figure it out. my 2nd heater uses keroscene, which has run out of keroscene. but i'm too lazy to walk down the street to the gas stand to get more. im sensing a trend here. to be fair, a tank of keroscene is not light! and im fragile >___<
uh oh. time for class. gotta teach some kiddies english. continue this later. promise!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
