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Amazing Former JET Interview on Youtube! (Part 3)

Amazing Former JET Interview on Youtube! (Part 2)

Amazing Former JET Interview on Youtube! (Part 1)

Wow! Laura and I just found this amazing interview about the JET Programme on Youtube! Be sure to check out parts 2 and 3 too!

Occupations, names, birthplaces

Man, I totally LOVE learning Japanese!

Six pounds and fifty pence...

...is what it cost to send my JET Application. Phew! Finally! I included a postcard of Manchester Town Hall with my application. Now, so say the forums, is when the waiting game begins.

Application Pack... done?

So far i've got...

1 completed and signed JET Programme Application Form	4 copies
1 completed and signed Self Assessment Medical Form	4 copies
1 signed and dated Authorisation and Release Form	4 copies
Statement of Physician Form (if applicable)	N/A
1 Personal Statement (double spaced)	4 copies
2 authenticated, original academic transcripts (stamped and signed)	4 copies of both
2 Proofs of Degree	4 copies
1 Proof of Nationality	4 copies
2 sealed references	1 copy of each
2 proof of study letters from college	4 copies of each

... but I can't be sure. Is that defnitely everything? It is, I know, but I really don't want to make any mistakes. I'll just check it all one more time...

We've bought a printer, just for our JET applications!

Yes, that's right, just to print off our applications. It isn't worth the stress of doing them at the library or at work, we've decided. I wonder if we can ship it to Japan to use once we get accepted.

JET Personal Statement - an extract

I think that my JET Application is going okay. Here's a blast of a chunk of my personal statement so far:

The JET Programme excites me because it offers an unsurpassed opportunity to experience life in Japan whilst working in a demanding and productive position as an ALT. I am fascinated by Japan, its culture, its history and its people. This interest began at University, where I took a module in Post-war Japanese Cinema within my Postgraduate Diploma in International Cinema. I became thoroughly captivated as I found out more about the country during my studies. A placement on the JET Programme would allow me to develop a profound understanding of Japan that a tourist would struggle to attain. My time working on a summer camp in America showed me that the best way to understand an unfamiliar culture is to live as part of it. The JET Programme offers me the chance to discover Japan first-hand.

- what do you think? Any good?

Months and Dates

Wow! These are tough. I thought that the numbers were hard, but the dates and months are full of irregularities. Repeating them at the start of the lesson will help, I'm sure.

Seb's blog - golf update!

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd definitely recommend checking out my friend Seb's blog. His latest entry is about golfing with his colleagues, and it's great stuff. Snip...

I don’t know how prestigious this course was but it was one of the plushest I’ve ever been to. You arrive and pull up in front of the club house. A valet takes your car and an army of middle aged women in day-glow attire take your clubs and disappear while you go and sign in. It’s at this point I’m informed I’m playing in a match day, so no pressure there! We sign in, I’m taken to the rentals dept for shoe fitting, quick toilet stop (where the ineffable charm of the club is somewhat diluted but the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine music playing in the toilets) and then out the back where a day-glow girl is waiting with our clubs on an electric cart and off we go.

Unsnip! Great stuff Seb! You can find more at http://englishgaijin.wordpress.com/

65 Years On – Remembering the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb blasts

We went to the opening of the exhibition about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the People's History Museum. We heard about the day of the Nagasaki bomb from two survivors, both of whom had been children at the time. We saw terrible photographs that were particularly moving, including one of shards of melted glass in a poor man's back. The Lord Mayor of Manchester spoke, and we heard from Mr Tomihisa Taue, the Mayor of Nagasaki. It was a very moving exhibition.

JET Application Form - a first look, first thoughts

It's a long form, but not that long. Most of the questions are straightforward, and most of the answers should be too. The most challenging, I think, is the question about the relationship of the JET Programme to the participant's current career direction or intended future plans. Time to pull on the thinking cap! Maybe I'll not have much not much time to blog* about the application process, so I'll apologise in advance if the posting rate seems slower than normal. I'm applying for JET, so give me a break, okay!?! Hehehehe!

*or I'll just end up backdating a lot of posts, as per usual.

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I’m in the South of France, on holiday, when Laura texts to say that the JET application form is now online! Finally! Unfortunately, as I’m away from my computer and my notes, I’m not in a position to do any work on it. It looks like November’s going to be a busy month!

No news is... er... well, just no news, I guess...

Finally, the JET UK website has changed. It now says:

We are currently waiting for the final go-ahead to release the 2011 UK JET Programme application form and ask for your patience during this time. A link to the online application form will be posted on this page as soon as we are able to do so. The deadline for applications will remain as 6pm GMT on Friday 26th November 2010. In the meantime, we suggest that you prepare all other documents required in your application.

Sound familiar? Yup, that's right, it's more or less a re-tweet of the Twitter update from Friday 15th. Still no real news. get on with preparing those documents, I guess.

Dude, Where’s My Application Form?

Another day, another Twitter update. This one is from 15th October, at 6.37pm

We are now waiting for the final go-ahead before releasing the application form. We ask for your patience during this time.

It sounds like the form is almost almost almost ready to be released. Come on!

Just another Manic Thursday

“I’m not sure I’m looking forward to Sean’s teaching style,” said Laura. “He’s kind of manic, and I think that’ll annoy me.”

And it was true. Whirlwind! Speedy speedy speedy! We dashed through lots of information about approaches to English Language Teaching, which was rather confusing for me – we were using linguistic jargon that, whilst probably commonplace in the field, left me feeling like I was outside of the party looking in, rather than a part of it. Is a mechanic expected to know the names of the parts of an engine on his first day? “PPP… blah de blah… lexis… waffle waffle…”

Confusing, but not impossible. We worked in groups. We discussed. We summarised. We shared. We struggled to start with, but we got there. Taxing, but within our capacity. Stretching us. Testing us. Pushing us. A heavy lesson, but a good one too. As I left, my head was spinning, but a smile was on my lips.

Impatience rising

Is it just me, or is something not quite right with the JET Programme application schedule? Yes, that’s right, they *still* haven’t published the form on their website. I wonder why. I had a look at their Twitter Feed. Not particularly informative:

We are now making final amendments to the 2011 JET Programme application form and hope to upload it to our website by the end of this week.

At the same time, kind of reassuring. At least they’re working on it. At least it’s underway. I’m so impatient!

Our third lesson, and katakana were on the menu again. We practiced by trying to work out which pictures of foods went with which strings of kana. The names of most of the foods were relatively anglicised, and so it was quite straightforward to connect the images to the words once the first couple of syllables were in place: “su – pe – ge… was probably going to be spaghetti, for example.

I felt a bit disappointed in myself when I heard how well some of my classmates knew the kana. I’d only learned a handful of lines. “They’ve probably done some before,” said Laura, “don’t beat yourself up about it.”

To finish, we learned about numbers from 1 to 99. Next week, BINGO!

Magali

Paying for the course took nearly an hour. We spent part of the session getting to know each other, and part of it finding out more about the course. Magali has a very easy manner, and will – I think – turn out to be a great teacher. She is calm, measured, well-prepared, and soothing. I like her. Our reading list is long, but not all of it is compulsory. TESOL is a thrilling subject, and one with a lot of academic study around it. All three of us realised that the course is going to be a lot of work. I think we’re ready for that.

We shared the bus home with Magali. She shops at my supermarket, and rides past Kath and Laura’s on the way there. What a small world.