Culture & Education
2016/9/14
The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme
Irish JET Reports
“Ganbare!” - Philippa Brennan (ALT, Shizuoka Prefecture, 2015-2016)
I found out last May that I would be coming to Shizuoka Prefecture, which I knew was most famous for being home to green tea fields and Mount Fuji. What I didn’t know was that a clear view of Fuji happens about as often as 25 degree weather in Ireland (but when it happens it’s glorious!).
My home city, Hamamatsu, is in Western Shizuoka and about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto. It has a population of about 800,000 people, a large amount of which are non-Japanese, especially South American and Brazilian. This means I have the unique experience of learning a few Portuguese phrases on top of my Japanese!
In Japan, many things such as regional foods and mascots are taken very seriously, and there can be fierce competition between prefectures. In Hamamatsu our food specialty is unagi (Japanese eel) which as well as grilling and serving on rice, we also grind down into a sweet biscuit called unagi pie that tastes surprisingly good. We are very proud to be home to Japan’s official number one cutest mascot, Ieyasu-kun, based on the famous shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa who lived in a castle in the city.
I teach at the one of the highest level academic high schools in Shizuoka prefecture. These are 1,200 Leaving Cert equivalent students under huge pressure to pass exams and go to university so they can become surgeons, lawyers, teachers, etc. In our English classes we don’t play games, we have debates about nuclear power, write and perform short plays, or hold mock trials that take weeks of preparation.
Despite the serious nature of the school, the students are very kind, and they really show their creative personalities at the Sports and School festivals, which is great fun to watch. They have a high level of English, so I try find time to teach them more casual English and slang words like “craic”, “selfie” or “bae”.
For the most part of JET you’re not sightseeing, you’re washing clothes, grocery shopping, figuring out train schedules and trying to find the perfect clipart for your worksheet. There are times when it’s boring or lonely or frustrating, but there are other times on JET when your co-worker brings you homemade bread and says in tentative English that he wants to learn more about Ireland, your students shout “Dia Dhuit” at you on the street, or you’re surrounded by a group of elderly women at a local festival and they’re all trying to feed you snacks.
And there are a few other times on JET when you can find yourself doing purikura in Tokyo, hiking in China, partying in Thailand or sunbathing in the Philippines (you’d be surprised what you can fit into one year!).
My most memorable experience on JET is probably showing my second grade students (5th year equivalent) the Eurovision episode of Father Ted to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. With a quick explanation at the start they could follow the storyline, and quite a few of them thought it was very funny. One student even asked afterwards if there was anywhere he could watch it online! I find the students are so saturated with American and British media, it’s great to show them some home grown talent and promote Irish music, TV and movies.
My proudest accomplishment was taking part in The Shizuoka Chronicle, an English language newspaper produced by JETs and distributed to all high school English departments across the prefecture, as well as incoming ALTs. Being part of a team of various backgrounds and therefore English spellings and usage was sometimes a little challenging, but the end product looked great, especially when my article was chosen to be the front page story!
The JET experience is so wildly different. You could teach at an agricultural high school and watch your students grow crops outside the window, or you could teach children who barely come up to your knee. You could live in a one room apartment or in a two story house all to yourself. But the one thing to know is that there is absolutely no “good” or “better” JET placement, it totally depends on the person. JET is a wonderful opportunity, but it’s up to you what you make of it. The difference between a good time and a great time on JET can be your attitude.
During my short time in Japan I have climbed Mt Fuji, battled giant spiders and poisonous centipedes and survived 35 degree weather. I have travelled to beautiful, unheard of parts of Japan and to surrounding Asian countries. I have joined traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, taken selfies at cat cafes and had conversations in Japanese with neighbours on the street. Through teaching, I have helped students achieve their goals and shape their futures. I have made friends not just from Japan but from places as far as Trinidad and South Africa. I have possibly done and accomplished more in this one year than I have my whole life.
One of my favourite Japanese words is “Ganbare”, which loosely means to “try your best” or “go for it!”.
If you are accepted on JET, whether you choose to stay one or five years (or never leave!), I want you to go for it.
I found out last May that I would be coming to Shizuoka Prefecture, which I knew was most famous for being home to green tea fields and Mount Fuji. What I didn’t know was that a clear view of Fuji happens about as often as 25 degree weather in Ireland (but when it happens it’s glorious!).
My home city, Hamamatsu, is in Western Shizuoka and about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto. It has a population of about 800,000 people, a large amount of which are non-Japanese, especially South American and Brazilian. This means I have the unique experience of learning a few Portuguese phrases on top of my Japanese!
In Japan, many things such as regional foods and mascots are taken very seriously, and there can be fierce competition between prefectures. In Hamamatsu our food specialty is unagi (Japanese eel) which as well as grilling and serving on rice, we also grind down into a sweet biscuit called unagi pie that tastes surprisingly good. We are very proud to be home to Japan’s official number one cutest mascot, Ieyasu-kun, based on the famous shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa who lived in a castle in the city.
I teach at the one of the highest level academic high schools in Shizuoka prefecture. These are 1,200 Leaving Cert equivalent students under huge pressure to pass exams and go to university so they can become surgeons, lawyers, teachers, etc. In our English classes we don’t play games, we have debates about nuclear power, write and perform short plays, or hold mock trials that take weeks of preparation.
Despite the serious nature of the school, the students are very kind, and they really show their creative personalities at the Sports and School festivals, which is great fun to watch. They have a high level of English, so I try find time to teach them more casual English and slang words like “craic”, “selfie” or “bae”.
For the most part of JET you’re not sightseeing, you’re washing clothes, grocery shopping, figuring out train schedules and trying to find the perfect clipart for your worksheet. There are times when it’s boring or lonely or frustrating, but there are other times on JET when your co-worker brings you homemade bread and says in tentative English that he wants to learn more about Ireland, your students shout “Dia Dhuit” at you on the street, or you’re surrounded by a group of elderly women at a local festival and they’re all trying to feed you snacks.
And there are a few other times on JET when you can find yourself doing purikura in Tokyo, hiking in China, partying in Thailand or sunbathing in the Philippines (you’d be surprised what you can fit into one year!).
My most memorable experience on JET is probably showing my second grade students (5th year equivalent) the Eurovision episode of Father Ted to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. With a quick explanation at the start they could follow the storyline, and quite a few of them thought it was very funny. One student even asked afterwards if there was anywhere he could watch it online! I find the students are so saturated with American and British media, it’s great to show them some home grown talent and promote Irish music, TV and movies.
My proudest accomplishment was taking part in The Shizuoka Chronicle, an English language newspaper produced by JETs and distributed to all high school English departments across the prefecture, as well as incoming ALTs. Being part of a team of various backgrounds and therefore English spellings and usage was sometimes a little challenging, but the end product looked great, especially when my article was chosen to be the front page story!
The JET experience is so wildly different. You could teach at an agricultural high school and watch your students grow crops outside the window, or you could teach children who barely come up to your knee. You could live in a one room apartment or in a two story house all to yourself. But the one thing to know is that there is absolutely no “good” or “better” JET placement, it totally depends on the person. JET is a wonderful opportunity, but it’s up to you what you make of it. The difference between a good time and a great time on JET can be your attitude.
During my short time in Japan I have climbed Mt Fuji, battled giant spiders and poisonous centipedes and survived 35 degree weather. I have travelled to beautiful, unheard of parts of Japan and to surrounding Asian countries. I have joined traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, taken selfies at cat cafes and had conversations in Japanese with neighbours on the street. Through teaching, I have helped students achieve their goals and shape their futures. I have made friends not just from Japan but from places as far as Trinidad and South Africa. I have possibly done and accomplished more in this one year than I have my whole life.
One of my favourite Japanese words is “Ganbare”, which loosely means to “try your best” or “go for it!”.
If you are accepted on JET, whether you choose to stay one or five years (or never leave!), I want you to go for it.