JET? As in an airplane? No, not that. JET is the shorthand for the "Japan Exchange and Teaching" Programme, a British based company that helps to place native English speakers in classrooms all over Japan. These speakers help the children to learn pronunciation, explore culture from English-speaking regions, and get over some initial jitters and fears of interacting with foreigners. If memory serves, then in Barns-sensei's case, she had never studied or even been to Japan before applying to JET, but when she returned to the USA, she took a masters program at university to learn more about the language and teach it to American students. This is fairly typical. Companies like JET look for applicants with a clean record and a college degree. That's it! You don't need Japanese knowledge, you don't need teaching experience, you just need to want to come and try it out! Obviously, this doesn't always work out; people get in over their head, they experience severe homesickness or culture shock, but most of the Assistant Language Teachers (ALT's) who come to Japan do their best and stick it out.
For the longest time (say, until junior year of college), I thought that JET was the only way to go. There are private organizations which are set up more like a tutor school called "Eikaiwa", and there are also international schools that accept Japanese students, but teach everyone everything in English. While it is the largest of its kind, it is not the only company that places foreigners in Japanese classrooms. The one that I happen to belong to is the second largest company called "interac". How did I find this company? My friend Gina, actually.
Here is how the story unfolded:
Unless you want to go with a specific company from the start, most people that I've talked to start with JET. Not necessarily for the prestige, but for the odds: JET is the largest so they have the most spots to fill. But their selection process is really strange. In the past, they hired some of my university's best students and some of the....eh, not-so-best. In the past, they have totally ignored some of my school's star students without even giving them an interview. I don't know how the JET system works or if there even is a system, but that is where you start. Gina and I were eventually cut from the hiring process at JET, and while I started to look into the AtoZ Corp. (I thought it was funny due to my name), she started asking around as to what other people had found. The list that she eventually created was playfully called the Shark's List. Interac was number 2 or 3 on that list, but I decided to give them a try and here I am! I'll be doing the same thing as a JET, but just in schools that have an interac affiliation.
Sharks and JETs? In reference to West Side Story? Exactly! We thought that it was rather fitting, don't you? Now, are the JETs and Sharks at war? No, but our companies are sort of fighting for contracts with the local Japanese schools, and depending on who wins, that becomes their turf. Last year, my company won the Shima contract, so now they need people there (cue me, stage left). *snap, snap*
Are there pros and cons to working at both? Of course. Are there some people who do well in one and not the other? Sure, sure. Will I ever try to be a JET again? Who knows. For now I'm pretty happy sticking it out and seeing where these next few years will take me.
**Author"s Note: Unlike the characters in West Side Story, the members of any aforementioned or alluded companies are in no way bitter or resentful of the others. I would just like to stress that the teaching companies in Japan ARE NOT hostile to each other in anyway NOR do the teachers of any company hold any animosity towards teachers from other companies. I would, however, be more than open to group dance-offs with members of other companies, and think that it might actually be a good ice breaker of sorts.
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