The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program - is it worth it ?

Teaching English on the JET program is probably the best way to live in Japan and experience Japanese life. The Japanese government started the Japan Exchange and Teaching program in 1987 so that Japan could become "internationalised". Each year Japan recruits young graduates from a multitude of countries to come and teach and work in Japan for up to three years. "JETs" usually have some knowledge of teaching ESL/EFL or can speak Japanese but this is not always the case. The JET program is constantly evolving and expanding but I think the name of the program doesn't accurately reflect the program because if you talk to a JET participant they would most likely say that their job involves very little teaching and when they do teach it is sometimes with an out of touch Japanese English teacher that under utilises them. 

I believe that a lot of JET Assistant Language Teachers feel that the majority of their work involves just being at school and giving the students and teachers a chance to interact with a non-Japanese person, who has different ideas and ways of doing things. For this internationalisation the Japanese government spends about half a billion dollars ($US) every year. Is this worth it for the Japanese government to spend this preposterous amount of money? Is internationalisation this important?  I guess it isn't for the English language learning that the Japanese students do because, firstly, most JET teachers have little or no professional teaching qualifications or experience, secondly, the contracts offered are only for a maximum of three years and finally, the average student has the same chance of speaking English in everyday life as being hit by the space shuttle. If learning English was the top priority I'm assuming the best thing would be to hire teachers with experience and try to keep them for longer. All I can think of is that the Japanese government thinks that through cultural understanding Japan will be more competitive in the international marketplace in the future. 

But in the end I shouldn't complain because the Japanese government is paying me quite well (I am exempt from paying tax here) and the lifestyle is great. I enjoy teaching at my schools and helping my students. I was lucky enough to go to several conferences to teach other ALTs and I love living in Nagasaki, in my opinion, the most interesting city in Japan. In theory the JET program is a good idea so that Japanese people can broaden their narrow-mindedness but there are still a lot of things that could be improved. For instance, an ALT would be more effective in teaching cultural awareness and English if Japanese students started learning from an ALT in primary school, although this is starting to happen in some areas. The main obstacle for the Japanese that is inhibiting them to be successful at communicating in English is their own language. Japanese tend to write English words in their own katakana alphabet but katakana cannot be used to pronounce English words. This creates a situation where Japanese students are learning English but pronouncing  them using "katakana English". They think they can speak English but when they try to talk to an actual English speaker they cannot be understood. This is the result of a teaching system set by the people in charge at the head of the education department and is not something that native English speaking teachers can change.

Japan's English communication ability is slowly improving but it still officially lags behind other Asian countries like Thailand and even North Korea, not to mention not even being able to compare Japan with European countries. English teachers on the JET program have a lot of good ideas to increase the efficiency of English education in Japan and I believe we have a duty to try to introduce new ideas to the Japanese people and teach to the best of our ability. 

Of course there is more to the JET programme than just teaching. I love living in a country where things are different (and sometimes unexplainable). I like my everyday life in Japan.

Finally, here are some articles that are about English in Japan and some of the challenges working on the JET Programme.