Disclaimer: Despite the fact that everyone hates the "Every Situation is Different," it is in fact true. I will answer your questions and describe for you my personal situation in my placement, but it WILL be slightly different depending no your placement.
- How's Your experience in the JET Program so far?This is such a general question, so I'll try and take broad strokes. I'm enjoying it here in Aomori! It definitely an interesting change of pace to be in a setting other than that of the big cities such as Osaka and Tokyo, but Aomori still has all the amenities to live comfortably. We have a train station (15 minute walk), bus stop (right outside my apartment), grocery store (3 minute walk), thrift store (10 minute walk), and a place to buy furniture (20 minute walk). Everything is within about a mile of my apartment. The station has an import store so I can get some western foodstuff, as well as a Starbucks, Donut Shop, Bakery, etc. My life is comfortable.
My neighbors (both ALT and Japanese) are quite nice as well. Sometimes, day-to-day things like communicating and getting groceries become troublesome since I cannot speak or read Japanese very well, but the good does outweigh the bad.
The enthusiasum of my Elementary School students as well as my Junior High School Students makes it worth it, and there's a large amount of teachers who are very kind as well and try to talk to me in English. On the other hand, I have a school where the teachers just mind their own business for one reason or another, and so on the days where I'm at that school, I feel quite isolated
Rent is subsidized so I pay only 28,300 JPY a month for a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apatment (appx. $283 USD) so I have more money to spend on other things. The only stressful thing about the job is the language barrier, so it becomes difficult sometimes to convey ideas to your JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) that you will be working with. - What does the work entail (ALT)?
My workday is from 8:30AM - 4:15AM
In regards to a normal work week, I am first e-mailed the lesson plans of the classes that I'l be assisting that week. At the base school, they tell me what my schedule is on the first visit of the week - not ahead of time via e-mail, but my other schools do. Furthermore my base school doesn't give me the specific lesson, just the class and section that I'm assisting, so I need to ask them ahead of class as to what we're doing -- but in class, I follow their lead. No preparation is really needed.
At all my Visit Schools, we typically go by the book. I get the lesson plan ahead of time, but 95% of the Elementary School lesson plans are in Japanese, so I use an online resource to print out English translations of the textbook lesson plans that we use. If it's not from the textbook, I print out the lesson plan, and use Google Translate to figure out the jist of what we're doing. Sometimes you'll be doing some new games that you don't really know, and in that case you can ask other ALTs via LINE. Otherwise, the Homeroom Teacher (HRT) will do his/her best to explain it to you. If that doesn't work, you'll just do trial by error and hope for the best.
Keep in mind, you will be probably assigned on average 2-3 classes each day. You won't be in the classroom period after period. You might have down time where you're simply at your desk working on something or just killing time. It's not strenuous at all.
In that regard, the teacher and students begin class with a short phrase in Japanese followed by a bow. Then you come in! You'll probably first greet the class with a greeting (i.e. "Good Morning, everyone!" or "Hello!") followed by some simple questions (i.e. "How are you, today?" "What day is it today?" "What is today's date?" "How's the weather, today?") that you will ask the class as a whole and/or ask specific kids. After that, you can look at the teacher to signal that you're ready to move on and he/she takes it from there.
In Junior High School classes, I help with the pronunciation of textbook dialogues, help pass out worksheets, and walk around the class making sure everyone's doing fine on it. I help students if they need it, but sometimes I have to hover over them to see if they need help. They are super shy with their English, and sometimes embaressed, so be sensitive to that.
In Elementary School classes, I pronounce vocab around two times and have students repeat, and make sure students can participate in activities. There are some corny chants that the textbook has (which are surprisingly catchy) and I sing-a-long to those too and act a bit goofy to loosen up the kids. - Do inaka (countryside) placements get bigger apartments and more vacation time?
Can't say for sure, but it holds true for me! I get 20 days of paid vacation, and I have a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment for appx. $275/mo, but I can't speak in absolutes. People in general will get at least 10 days of paid vacation minimum, so 20 is on the higher end. Folks in Tokyo will probably get studio apartments for around $700-$800.
(P.S. inaka is a very general term - Aomori City is considered inaka despite having a population of ~300,000 people. Some people will actually get placements in villages with populations as low as 500-2,000 people so who knows. However, I want to add that I'd really doubt that they'd place someone with little to no Japanese ability in a place that rural.) - When / how do you use your vacation days? My supervisor at the BoE prefers that we use our vacation days on days when we are at the BoE (You work at the BoE office when school isn't in session, but is still a workday) to lessen the burden on the school. Realistically, you an use it on any day. Just make sure you notify your supervisor well in advance via e-mail or other means and it should be OK.
- Is being a teacher hard?
First, you're technically an Assistant Language Teacher so you won't be the head of class (in most cases). In my case, I follow the lead of the JTE, so no, the "teaching" part of the job isn't hard at all. The only part that is stressful to me is the communication factor between myself and my teacher. If you can't speak Japanese well, and they can't speak very much English, you might fall into this situation. - How comprehensive is the Japanese Language Course that you get from CLAIR?
For those who don't know, you can sign up for a free online Japanese course that is setup by an entity of the Japanese Government called CLAIR. There have been mixed reviews about it, and I have only just started it so I can't really give my 2 cents on the matter. However, many people have enjoyed the Genki textbooks so I suggest searching that up and giving that a try if you want to study Japanese beforehand. - How should I act during work parties, or enkais? There are different expectations on how you should dress depending on the occassion. For undoukai, there was no dress code. Teachers came in Jeans, T-shirts, and the sort. I dressed in Shorts and a Polo. On other occassions there are, so be aware and ask if you don't know. Secondly, make an effort to go around with the pitcher of beer and fill empty / low cups back up. It's a Japanese custom for the younger, less senior members of a company to fill up drinks for the more senior members, so DO THIS. They'll be impressed with you and it's a good way to get into conversations and get to know your coworkers better. Also, I recently discovered that if you're at an enkai at a buffet, you should also get plates of food for the tables to share. You'll see other teachers doing this if the buffet is self-service. so BE SURE to go the extra mile to serve food / drinks to your seniors in order to make a good impression. MOST IMPORTANTLY - The enkais tend to always start with a glass of beer and a kanpai or "cheers" so don't drink anything before the group cheers and don't be surprised if you get a beer brought to you. If you don't drink, ask for Oolong Tea or something.
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