I’m currently a teacher at an academy in Korea. I really enjoy my job a lot. I’m thinking about applying for JET next year, but I’m curious about some of the differences.
1. Kids- one of the best parts of my job is getting to know and joking around with the kids. I have in between 3 and 12 kids per class and most of them are good enough at English to have a conversation.
2. Work hours- I start work at 3 pm and go until about 9:30. I teach 24 classes a week and when I’m not teaching, if I don’t have to work on tests, I pretty much do what I want. There’s an office that I and another foreigner share.
3. Boss- Korean academy owners have a reputation for being tough, but mine is pretty chill and doesn’t really micromanage me. The Korean teachers ignore me, but my boss is kind and friendly.
So, I’ve been living in Korea for a couple years and like it, but I’m interested in trying Japan as well. I’ve heard that JET is the best entry for TEFL teachers, assuming you can’t teach at an international school or university.
I’m curious how your experience compares to mine. Can you get to know the kids? Are you able to joke around and have fun in class? How is it waking up early and finishing early? What’s the commute like? How much do you teach and what do you do when you aren’t teaching? And how’s the relationship with your boss (the principal?) and other teachers or staff at school?
Thank you for any insight.
6 comments
JET is one big ESID(Every Situation Is Different) no two placement will be the same.
>Kids-
Your class size will be anywhere between 1-40 kids. Most kids can barely make a sentence. Depending on your placements you may have 10 or more schools that you rotate through.
>Work hours-
your work hours are usually around the 0815 to 1615 range.
>I teach 24 classes a week
You’re unlikely to do any actual “teaching”. ALTs are assistant to Japanese teacher.
>Boss-
This also vary depending on placement. Some schools or supervisor are chill and relaxed. Others may hate your guts as your preds were terrible or they just don’t like foreigners.
>JET is the best entry for TEFL teachers
Again JET ALTs are not “teachers” and the chances of you becoming actual teacher after JET is less than 1%.
As someone else said, ESID is basically the unofficial motto of the JET Programme. Reading other people’s experiences and chatting with other ALTs, everyone seems to be doing something different.
I work at the senior high school level. Some of my students can actually hold a basic conversation in English while others can barely string together a basic sentence. Some of my students are eager to learn while I have others who immediately put their heads on their desk to take a nap at the beginning of class. It really, really varies.
Some JETs are assigned only one school but quite a few have more than one. I know one ALT who has 10 schools. And again, your commute will vary. I know some ALTs who can walk to their schools in 10-20 minutes. My base school is about a 10 minute drive away and my visit school is around an hour drive with the usual morning traffic.
Supervisors and Boards of Education also vary wildly. Some are super chill while others are stricter. Some people get more vacation (nenkyuu) days than others. Sick policies will vary. Just depends on your contract.
As for the job itself, again, it varies wildly. Some ALTs do a ton of deskwarming while I know others who are in the classroom all day, every day. Some ALTs are always assistants (T2) while others lead classes (T1).
I’m T1 in all my classes but I also have quite a bit of downtime to prepare lessons and materials. I’m never expected to explain anything like grammar or vocabulary; I can’t speak Japanese so I wouldn’t be able to explain it well. My JTEs primarily use me for lessons/activities that encourage students to speak since, well, I’m a native English speaker. I’m also sometimes asked to correct students’ short essays.
As for other ALTs being around you, again, it varies. I know some schools have multiple ALTs and some cities have several. I’m the only one at my school and city currently, though we’re getting a 2nd one soon (not at my school).
I think working hours are probably the only relatively consistent thing for all JETs. We mostly work 8 hours a day. Start times are usually somewhere between 8:00-8:30 a.m. Extra curriculars might be a thing, though. I got asked to help at my school’s English Club, for example. That is, of course, on my own time, but it’s only once a week. I know other ALTs who joined other clubs and attend after school activities multiple times a week.
Do I like my job? Sure. It’s chill and there are fun aspects to it. I really enjoy when I can teach students something new, even with my very limited Japanese abilities. It’s not stressful at all compared to my last job and my mental health has been a lot better. Again, though, it’ll probably depend on your background/past experiences and your JET placement and how they compare. My last job was kind of a dumpster fire (yay, health care during a pandemic!) so almost anything would have been an improvement.
Obligatory ESID, but that said:
I teach elementary school. Kids definitely do not know enough English to converse with. My fellow teachers do not know enough English to converse with alone work with. I know just enough Japanese to get by.
That said, I enjoy the job and living in Japan but I worked at an international school in Taiwan before this and was an actual teacher there. This job is barely a job in my opinion. More boring than anything.
If you want to actually teach, might not be for you. I’m looking to get back to IS work soon.
“Kids- one of the best parts of my job is getting to know and joking around with the kids. I have in between 3 and 12 kids per class and most of them are good enough at English to have a conversation.”
Unless your idea of a conversation ends around “how are you?”, you’re not going to find the same level here. Student numbers in classes will also likely be wildly increased.
“Work hours- I start work at 3 pm and go until about 9:30. I teach 24 classes a week and when I’m not teaching, if I don’t have to work on tests, I pretty much do what I want. There’s an office that I and another foreigner share.”
You’ll get to work at 8:30 and go home at 5, give or take, depending on your location. You will not teach 24 classes a week unless JET has gone into some slave-type BS. More like 16-20 on the high end of things. You won’t have to work on tests. When there are other things going on, you can pretty much do what you want.
“Boss- Korean academy owners have a reputation for being tough, but mine is pretty chill and doesn’t really micromanage me. The Korean teachers ignore me, but my boss is kind and friendly.”
ESID – Each Situation Is Different – it’s basically dependent on how reliable and not a dick the last ALT was.
I can corroborate what others have said about the kids not knowing a whole lot of English. I taught Elementary and Junior High and only a handful could hold a basic conversation (anyone below 6th grade–virtually nothing). I think there are still ways to have fun with them and joke with them, though. The kids were definitely my favorite part of the program (disclaimer, I knew enough Japanese to also have conversations with them in Japanese).
You’re technically just an “assistant” on the JET Program, so you’re kinda at the mercy of the “main” teachers for how class is run and how much you can joke around and have fun. Some teachers might want you to plan or run the class, while others might just have you be a human tape-recorder. Some teachers want to be very strict, while others are all about the fun. Very ESID. This was something I didn’t enjoy about the program, and if I were to teach abroad again, I would look for a place that would guarantee me more autonomy. So if you’re passionate about the teaching aspect, maybe don’t set your expectations very high.
That said, JET is a great entry point to TEFL in Japan. It’s not the only way though! If you research, you’ll find lots of companies that can get you over there. You can also work in an eikaiwa, which is probably closer to what you’re doing in Korea (I could be wrong, but I think eikaiwa are similar to hagwons). JET, however, does not operate in eikaiwas. And, do note, that JET definitely pays the most and helps you/holds your hand the most in the onboarding process compared to other recruitment companies.
I taught in Korea before doing JET, literally almost the exact same job in Korea you mentioned. I’m placed at a JHS and it’s completely different. I would say that the level of english is worse in the students but better overall in general (in my city), students are super cool but its not easy to have casual conversations – in english. Maybe one or two who speak really well will try to make conversation with me but it helps if you know Japanese.
It wasn’t that difficult to get used to the time difference and waking up early, just had to adjust my sleep schedule. In terms of classes, I had way more freedom in Korea I basically could do whatever as long as I followed the books, but in Japan my JTE’s plan everything and I basically just help out in class. Sometimes I get time to do an activity or game but – its very low key. Its definitely different depending on your school, some of my JET friends have to teach completely on their own so ESID. I’ve lucked out with supportive supervisors and really nice teachers and staff, in general I think that is the case with JET.
Commute again ESID, depends where you’re placed. I drive and my school is 5 minutes away or 20 min walk, could be anything tbh I’ve also heard of 2hr commutes.
Desk warming… its terrible and its boring, I maybe had one or two free periods in Korea but now I could have one class and nothing else for the rest of the day or 5 lessons all in one day. A lot of schools consider you a “guest” so outside of some marking and maybe an english board you wont have much in terms of duties at school. Overall I usually have 15-20 classes a week sometimes less.
Overall JET is great but I would suggest really thinking hard if Japan is right for you, it can be really boring at times (especially if you’re stuck in a tiny town somewhere) but its still great being here. If all else fails you can always go back to teaching Korea, TEFL jobs in Japan aren’t as easy to get IMO.
Ps. I also love having more than the 3-5 days of leave that hagwons give LOL. That alone might be worth doing JET.