Teaching in Japan with JET
March 6th, 2009
Have you ever thought about teaching English in Japan? The JET Programme is a great way to spend a year or more in Japan doing just that! Hang out with us while Kevin tells us about his year teaching English to high school students in Japan.
Hi there guys, your videos are interesting. I would like to know more about kevin teaching in japan with JET. I wanna know if theres any different between High School in Japan vs. High School in the U.S. and more picture from your trip. Also if possible some video that was taken during your time there. Japan is just interesting to me.
I also want to more about teaching in Japan. How hard is it to get into the program? what is the process/requirements to get in? Does GPA matter?
@nxiong
Thanks for your comment and suggestion, nxiong! I’ll be sure to discuss more about my experiences on JET in upcoming episodes!
@Adianez Savilo
Hi Adianez. To answer your question about the JET program, there are a few requirements. The two I remember off the top of my head are that you have to be a college graduate and under 35. They may have changed these slightly, so you might want to check out their website for the details (http://www.jetprogramme.org).
The application process comes in 2 main phases. The first step is to fill out and send in an application form (sometime in the fall). Here in the US, it gets sent to Washington D.C. where they pre-screen all the US applications. For this step, things like GPA do matter (or at least that’s what I’m told). The form itself is fairly standard but it does includes an essay portion.
Once you pass the pre-screening phase, you will be notified by the Consulate or Embassy closest to where you live and called in for an in-person interview. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about these interviews but mine, personally, felt pretty normal. Usually there is a panel of people (3 in my case) who interview you. They ask you about things on your application form and try to get a feel for how well you will adjust to life in Japan.
You will almost definitely be asked to perform an impromptu “lesson” in front of the panel as well. I was given 1 minute to prepare a short lesson on my favorite American holiday. I was supposed to assume that the panel had only 1 year of formal English training. For me, that was the hardest part of the interview–in fact, because of the time limitation, I found it much harder than actually teaching Japanese students in real life!
After the interview, you just wait to hear back from the Consulate and that’s about it!
The process probably differs if you’re outside the US, but that was my experience applying to the program.
I’ll try to incorporate some of these things in a video too!
Hope this helps & thanks for commenting!
I am having trouble with your mini course. It won’t sign me up.
Thanks guys
@Peter
Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for letting us know about the problem!
I just fixed the bug so you should now be able to sign-up! Let me know if you run into any other trouble!
i need to sign up for that mini course
@Jamaipanese
please do!! and let us know if there’s anything we can improve
Very interest video, not that hard to remember them all. Does the gay sign thing refere to the person beside you (like you don’t want to look at them and are uncomfortable) ? That seems kinda homophobic.
Random question: I noticed Takarazuka was extremely close to where you lived, did you ever have a chance to go to the theater there? I didn’t really see many guys in attendance when I went there, but I do know quite a few who would want to go simply for the experience.