The JET Programme
If you want to avoid the private corporation death trap, another way to teach English in Japan is with the government-run JET Programme. The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme is operated through a number of government agencies, including (deep breath) … the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (or CLAIR).
Because it is government run, it seems that the teachers are better….well, treated, I guess. The pay seems to be higher, but health insurance deductions are taken from the ¥300,000 you can earn per month. A great perk (just pointed out to me, thankyou Jeff!) is that JET pays for your flights and generally provides free or heavily subsidised accomodation.
The major drawback to the JET programme is that they only hire once a year, so if you’re itching to get to Japan ASAP, JET might be a let down.
The actual English teaching happens in primary and high schools as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). You would be an assistant to the English teacher already at the school.
If teaching a bunch of kids isn’t your idea of fun, then you can also be recruited as a CIR (Coordinator for International Relations), where you’ll work in the offices of all the organizations involved in JET.
Again, English is not a requirement to apply, but again, having a bachelor’s degree is.
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July 23rd, 2005 at 12:32 am
I’m a current JET Programme Participant. I’d like to point out some errors in your post.
1. We do not pay for the airplane ticket to Japan. We also do not pay for the ticket from Japan to our home country.
2. Many of us have accomodations that are either free or one where we just pay a fraction of the cost.
July 24th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
Aah, you’re right, I misread the sentence on their website. Thanks for pointing that out, I’ll correct the post now :)
August 24th, 2005 at 3:51 am
At least for Canadians, it’s stated that “The participant’s Contracting Organization will provide air tickets from the airport designated in Canada to New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport)”
Further: “Participants who intend to return home or otherwise break their contract without justifiable grounds must reimburse the Contracting Organization for the cost of the particpant’s ticket to Japan and may be subject to other reasonable actions or redresses.”
Sounds like it’s paid to me.
August 26th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Yep, you’re right. JET does seem to be the employment of choice for most people goin to Japan. I wouldn’t do it personally though because a) they hire only once a year and b) I’d rather not work with kids or in a government office. I do actually want to teach. So, eikaiwa for me :)
Corrections have been made to the post.
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:20 pm
After reading back on this post, I think I should add this link: http://www.yongfook.com. You may already be familiar with the site. Nowadays it is a blog about food and tech but if you read back on all the earlier entries, there are many posts about teaching for JET and living in the inaka, the Japanese countryside.