JET Programme Help
 

Listen I know this probably sounds so old and worn out. But can I have some help with the JET Programme Qualifications?

I'm going to start on my Asscociates in Elemetery Education soon, getting the basic courses out of the way. Then I plan on moving on to getting my Bachelors in Buissness (different subject, I know but I have a good reason to do this). And after that getting my Masters in Education spcializing as an English as a second language. I'm also going to invest in Rosetta Stone to learn Japanese, and I plan on taking Japanese classes it as one of my electives in Collage.

The big questions I have are, Is this a good way at trying to meet the qualifications to join the JET Programme. And what exactly is the JET Programme looking for in participants?

If you did all that, you'd be way overqualified for JET.

JET will take almost anyone that has a bachelor's degree (of any kind), little or even no working knowledge of Japanese, and a good attitude. The CIR position (of which I've recently just been accepted to) requires a pretty good amount of Japanese knowledge to apply for, but the ALT position (English teaching) is fairly easy to get into. Certainly no TESOL or Master's Degrees required for JET.

If you have any other questions about applying, just let me know... I've been through the whole process over the last 9 months or so.

I've gotten the impression from reading up on JET over the past few months that besides the basic bachelor degree it mainly comes down to personality. Which makes sense I guess - even if you have a ton of teaching experience and Japanese language skills, if you're going to run home at the first difficulty then you're a waste of their money. Based on the perks of being a JET it looks like they invest a fair amount of money in every person they ship over, so it's understandable that they'd try to go for someone who will be a worthy investment and stick around for the whole year, if not more.

When I first started looking at applying (for next year) I was thinking of doing extra things to get more teaching/international experience... but now I think I have the basics down and will focus my energies on appearing flexible and open to change during the application process :cool:

Sounds like good plan, but I hope you aren't doing all those things just to get into JET. I would get your bachelor's, do JET and then decide if you like teaching enough to go into education,

Well I wanted to be a Teacher before I even knew about the program. And the reason I decided on a buissness bachelors is becouse eventually I want to start my own Martial Arts School. I want to teach english becouse I'm great at it. So in my mind I win either way, If the Martial Arts thing falls short then I'll be able to go father and survive with english teaching. There isn't a point where I plan on not being in school for something.

I don't know about the JET programme, but there is another alternative for your Masters (an option my uncle keeps trying to push me towards).

My uncle has been an English teacher in Yokohama for 15 years, at the university level currently.

If you really want to pursue ESL in Japan, you could get one with just your Bachelor's degree. Try to find something within the Kansai area, and apply to get into the Temple University branch in Osaka for your Masters in TESL. It's a bit expensive (around 2,000,000 yen last count) over 2 years, so you most likely wouldn't have much of a social life between work and school. But it would make paying for it slightly easier since you'd be making money at the same time as studying.

That's pretty cool, Asakura. I'm interested in teaching as well, which is why I'm interested in the JET Program, just to see how the actual education process works firsthand over there. If It turns out I like it and learned a bit more about ESL teaching from Japan's perspective, then I'd consider getting a job as an ESL teacher there.

I, like ChisaChi, am going to apply this fall for it. I hope to do well. It'll be nice if we both got in.

With what you're pursuing, you do seem over-qualified for the position, but maybe the suggestion Nathan mentioned would suit your needs better.