2 days left before I head off to San Luis Obispo!
6 days left before I head back to New York!
11 days left before I head off to Japan!
Here's a brief description of the program and where I'll be:
JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) PROGRAM:
I will be an "AET" or "ALT" (Assistant English/Language Teacher) at a few high schools in the rural Miyazu area, located about 2 hours north of Kyoto, on the Sea of Japan. The program runs for one year, with an option to renew up to three years. Most likely, I will only do the one year and return to New York after that. There are about 4000 people who do this program each year from all around the world. Most are in my category and are spread out all over Japan in schools from elementary to high school. For those who have more advanced Japanese skills, they are placed in governmental positions, international relations, prefectural advisors, etc.
Information on the JET Program(me):
http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/index.html
http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JETProgram/homepage.html
MY PLACEMENT, EXPECTATIONS, AND GOALS:
I fly out of New York City on Saturday morning, July 29 to Tokyo, with a stopover in Minneapolis. We will have a couple days in Tokyo for orientation and then we head off to our assigned districts on August 2nd.
My primary school will be Miyazu High School, which is a few minutes walk from the apartment. I will be assisting/teaching there 3 days a week. There's another high school about 15 minutes train ride away that I'll teach at probably once or twice a week, and a pretty rural high school I will be going to about once every couple weeks that's about an hour bus ride away. So I'm basically like a district school teacher.
My students are between 16-18 years old and I will be helping them with their pronunciation, grammar, and writing. In addition, it will be a bit of a cultural exchange, although as many of you know, my knowledge of American pop culture is pretty limited. I'll have to brush up on my celebrity knowledge and skim US Weekly or something on the plane!! Hopefully I will be able to incorporate some of my creative/art skills and architecture knowledge into the classroom and get the students interested in eating/travelling internationally and excited about learning and speaking English! However, I was forewarned that the students may be disappointed upon meeting me for the first time because I am Asian, and they expect English teachers to "look" American or European, as in tall, blonde, and blue eyed. I will have to do my best to convince them that my English is "SO GOOD" because I AM American, not just an Asian person who speaks English well!
Of course, I am going to try my best to learn to read, write, and speak Japanese. I think that the students will feel more comfortable speaking English when they hear how bad my Japanese pronunciation is! I was just told that I will have to give a speech to the students and faculty at two of the high schools at the end of August- in both English and Japanese. Yikes.
I will be getting a set salary, like I would in the US (considerably less- but it's all about the EXPERIENCE, not the money!!) I have to pay my rent every month to the landlady, pay bills, buy groceries, cook my own meals, and open up a bank account like everyone else. I have photos of my new apartment but I will post those when I figure out how. The apartment comes with two bicycles so I'll have to get back up and get on that if I want to ride the 20 minutes to the beach and around town!! Since I will be living in such a small town, I hope to get involved with community activities and meet a lot of people in the area. I can't wait to sample all the local specialties (especially the seafood) and go to the grocery store to see all the exotic foods and packaging.
LOCATION:
From my research, I am pretty close to the coast, and the area I will be living is considered one of the top three "most scenic" areas of Japan. Not bad!!
Information and links on my location:
http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q=miyazu%20japan
http://web-japan.org/atlas/nature/nat10.html
http://www2.gol.com/users/miyazu/index.html