-The JET Program was founded some 15 years ago, and in that time it has grown from an initial number of around 800 participants to over 6,000 in the past few years. I do believe that every single prefecture in Japan now participates in the program, and I hear that there is a goal to place at least one JET into every single city and municipality in the country.
-JETs in Miyagi are either employed by the prefecture (like me) and work in High Schools, or they are employed by local cities' or municipalities' Boards of Education and (most often) work in Junior High Schools or Elementary Schools. I don't have specific numbers (yet), but I am sure that there are several dozen of each type of JET residing in Miyagi. There are also a few dozen JETs who are employed by the city of Sendai, which as a "designated city", has its own budget and government system to employ JETs.
-Each year in July, new JETs arrive in Japan. We begin our work in what is essentailly the middle of the Japanese school year - right after the students come back from summer holiday in late August. Throughout the year, we hold several local and prefecture-wide meetings, where we discuss elements of English teaching in Japan, living in Miyagi, and so on. |
