I contacted my student today, who was assigned to me by Hawaii Literacy. We agreed to meet at McDonalds on Thursday night to get to know each other. We'll see how it goes. The student is an older guy so I'm not sure how he'll react to a younger person tutoring him. I'm not sure this is a right fit, but I'll go in with an open mind and see what happens.
While I'm not at liberty to discuss him at length, I have to admit that I don't really know much about him at this point. I was told that he is an ordained minister and is interested in learning to read the Bible. I'm not sure how he can be a minister and not know how to read. I'll have to ask him about it. He has had some drug issues in the past so I hope they are resolved. I was also told that he has other health problems.
I'm a little intimidated about meeting him, but I guess it should be okay. I don't really feel confident about being a tutor after only four days of training. It all seems so unprofessional. How can you let an untrained person take control of someone else's education? I know we're just helping them to read, but it still seems pretty weird that we're not trained.
October 13, 2009
October 8, 2009
JET Orientation
For weeks now I've been mumbling about this JET Programme thing and haven't really explained it much. Since I just went to this Q&A session tonight, I figured I might as well get into it now.
JET is basically a government-sponsored program that recruits English-speaking people to teach English in Japan. They connect applicants with schools, boards of education or prefectures that are looking to hire an assistant language teacher to help their English language teachers in the classroom. The contract is usually a year and you're able to renew up to about five years.
The application process is pretty extensive and used as a way to weed people out. After tonight's orientation, this fact has been confirmed. The essay portion is also an important part used to get through the masses. At the Q&A session, we had a brief intro to the program and watched a video with testimony as to how great the program and experience is.
We were also able to ask three former JETs about their experiences in Japan. Two were stationed in Okinawa and the other one was in Sendai. They didn't really enlighten me much as I've already done some initial research online. They were mostly positive about everything and encouraged us to apply. I guess you wouldn't really want anyone but cheerleaders talking to potential applicants though, right?
Some interesting facts I learned tonight: There were 81 complete applications from Hawaii to be an assistant langauge teacher (ALT). This position makes up over 90 percent of all applicants. There is another position called coordinator for international relations (CIR), but you really need to know your Japanese as you'll be working within the government. Of the 81 people, 48 were interviewed and 22 were selected to go to Japan. That's pretty stiff odds. About 60 percent of the total applicants got to the interview section and about 27 percent actually went.
At this point I'm neither encouraged nor discouraged to apply. I think I'll go ahead with it and see what happens. I really need to work on my essay since I haven't even started yet. I also need to update my resume so I can send it over to the people I have asked to write my letters of reference. You need two of those. I also need to research Japan a bit more and get a better feel of locations and where I'd like to be placed. The location request may or may not be given to you.
JET is basically a government-sponsored program that recruits English-speaking people to teach English in Japan. They connect applicants with schools, boards of education or prefectures that are looking to hire an assistant language teacher to help their English language teachers in the classroom. The contract is usually a year and you're able to renew up to about five years.
The application process is pretty extensive and used as a way to weed people out. After tonight's orientation, this fact has been confirmed. The essay portion is also an important part used to get through the masses. At the Q&A session, we had a brief intro to the program and watched a video with testimony as to how great the program and experience is.
We were also able to ask three former JETs about their experiences in Japan. Two were stationed in Okinawa and the other one was in Sendai. They didn't really enlighten me much as I've already done some initial research online. They were mostly positive about everything and encouraged us to apply. I guess you wouldn't really want anyone but cheerleaders talking to potential applicants though, right?
Some interesting facts I learned tonight: There were 81 complete applications from Hawaii to be an assistant langauge teacher (ALT). This position makes up over 90 percent of all applicants. There is another position called coordinator for international relations (CIR), but you really need to know your Japanese as you'll be working within the government. Of the 81 people, 48 were interviewed and 22 were selected to go to Japan. That's pretty stiff odds. About 60 percent of the total applicants got to the interview section and about 27 percent actually went.
At this point I'm neither encouraged nor discouraged to apply. I think I'll go ahead with it and see what happens. I really need to work on my essay since I haven't even started yet. I also need to update my resume so I can send it over to the people I have asked to write my letters of reference. You need two of those. I also need to research Japan a bit more and get a better feel of locations and where I'd like to be placed. The location request may or may not be given to you.
October 2, 2009
The New Girl
We've finally hired a third person for our department at work. Yesterday was her first official day, but today was her first official day with us. She's a recent college grad who went to school on the mainland and has returned home. She went to a small East coast school and majored in poli sci. Interesting.
My first impression of her is that she's quite outspoken and enthusiastic about the job, which is good. Hopefully she'll bring a bit of much needed balance to our department. Her youthful zeal will hopefully allay the growing tension between us and our boss. She seems to be very bright, but I'm not sure how much longevity she'll have in this position. She has also applied at various other jobs, which in my opinion are a lot more free and fun than ours. She's applied for and declined a teaching position in Taiwan. She's also getting ready to take some kind of foreign service test. Both of those are definitely more fun than our job. We'll see how it goes.
My first impression of her is that she's quite outspoken and enthusiastic about the job, which is good. Hopefully she'll bring a bit of much needed balance to our department. Her youthful zeal will hopefully allay the growing tension between us and our boss. She seems to be very bright, but I'm not sure how much longevity she'll have in this position. She has also applied at various other jobs, which in my opinion are a lot more free and fun than ours. She's applied for and declined a teaching position in Taiwan. She's also getting ready to take some kind of foreign service test. Both of those are definitely more fun than our job. We'll see how it goes.
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