On August 16, 2016 I gave a workshop for the 2016 class of incoming JETs at the Urawa Community Center in Saitama City. This was the 6th year that I have given this workshop.

4 Themes and Goals

The central goal of the workshop was to help new JETs start their time in Japan with an understanding of the requirements for success on the JET program. Here, “success” is defined in two terms. In the first sense JETs were told that success would mean that they are able to make positive contributions to schools that they worked in. The second meaning of the word was that JETs would leave the program on terms that they were happy with, for example moving on to a career of their choosing.

To meet this overarching goal the following themes and related goals were offered:

One of the points stressed here was that new JETs were not intended to absorb or remember all of the information given over the 90 minute session. Instead the objective for each theme was for JETs to have an understanding of the tasks ahead of them, and the work that will be involved in being successful.

Contents and Comments

Through a short 30 minute Japanese lesson, JETs were exposed to a number of ideas regarding teaching. 

• We teach individuals in a class, not classes and these classes will not be homogenous.
• Teaching as a JET means fostering students’ thinking ability and positive attitudes towards study, as well as teaching language.
• It’s important to have a goal beyond, “learn English”.

The remainder of the workshop was divided into two other sections. In the first a general outline of the structure of education in Japan was given.

Finally issues and concerns of the new JETs were addressed. Some of the concerns raised were:

• Conflict in teaching styles and educational outlook
• The extreme nature of Japanese work culture
• The difference between official policy (such as educational reform policy) and actual workplace reality (such as ignoring policy)