mr.sumo.snr
Gavin Gives Italian Ducks
- 19 Jul 2004
- 319
- 25
JET, unlike NOVA, makes no claims that they are out to recruit professional instructors. That's one of the main reasons why the JET application form is rather long and asks for far more detail - such as your college grades (for any non-UKlander this is not the sort of information that a university graduate necessarily knows - just their final classification). In the dim and distant past when I did actually fill out a JET application I had to call up my old professor to find out my grades - he basically told me to make them up!
What this all means is that should you make it through the application form filtering to the actual interview stage, you're more than likely to get the job. Speaking as a former human resources professional the more I could whittle down applicants to a manageable number the better - I never invited someone to interview just to pad out numbers. If they were interviewed then it meant they could do the job - on paper.
JET are not looking for Nihon-baka individuals (crazy about Japan) but at the same time they want people who can demonstrate a willingness to be flexible to the unique situations that Japan presents. Japanese language ability probably helps land quite a few people jobs - especially in the more rural locations.
A good, clear speaking voice essential - I haven't met too many JETs with VERY strong accents. If you need to fake it then just watch hours and hours of Star Trek TNG paying particular attention to Riker (if you're North American) and Picard (if you're British/Australian) - notice that no one swears on Star Trek, even if the famous split infinitive persists!
Even though the war in Irag would appear to have nothing much to do with Japanese high school students - that's not how the writers of their English textbooks seem to feel. Global warming, landmines, famines, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, the plight of minority groups such as Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans and the Welsh(!) have all been topics I've seen used in the Japanese Ministry of Education approved textbooks - frankly I sometimes struggle to accurately identify what point of English a particular chapter or unit IS trying to explain/practice. But anyway - don't say that such matters have nothing to do with the English language classroom. They probably don't - but that's NOT the official line.
I've got a PDF format book about life as an AET 窶 free copy write - it's up on my ftp. If people PM me I'll let them download it - about 300megs.
What this all means is that should you make it through the application form filtering to the actual interview stage, you're more than likely to get the job. Speaking as a former human resources professional the more I could whittle down applicants to a manageable number the better - I never invited someone to interview just to pad out numbers. If they were interviewed then it meant they could do the job - on paper.
JET are not looking for Nihon-baka individuals (crazy about Japan) but at the same time they want people who can demonstrate a willingness to be flexible to the unique situations that Japan presents. Japanese language ability probably helps land quite a few people jobs - especially in the more rural locations.
A good, clear speaking voice essential - I haven't met too many JETs with VERY strong accents. If you need to fake it then just watch hours and hours of Star Trek TNG paying particular attention to Riker (if you're North American) and Picard (if you're British/Australian) - notice that no one swears on Star Trek, even if the famous split infinitive persists!
Even though the war in Irag would appear to have nothing much to do with Japanese high school students - that's not how the writers of their English textbooks seem to feel. Global warming, landmines, famines, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, the plight of minority groups such as Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans and the Welsh(!) have all been topics I've seen used in the Japanese Ministry of Education approved textbooks - frankly I sometimes struggle to accurately identify what point of English a particular chapter or unit IS trying to explain/practice. But anyway - don't say that such matters have nothing to do with the English language classroom. They probably don't - but that's NOT the official line.
I've got a PDF format book about life as an AET 窶 free copy write - it's up on my ftp. If people PM me I'll let them download it - about 300megs.
