I met with Jess Meakin and Madeson Trifunovich, two people who are currently doing the JET program as assistant language teachers at the Tokyo Jogakkan, a position for which I am interested in and have applied to for next year. We met over dinner and discussed our situations and aspirations.
Personal Motivations
Jess is from Wales, and Madeson is from Australia. Both expressed a long-time interest in Japan and specifically wanting to move here, and explained that the JET program was their gateway to live here. Both have now been ALTs as a part of the JET program for going on four years.
Life as a JET
Their daily schedules are (“theoreticaly”) 8:15am to 4:15pm five days a week with a one hour break every day, though they mentioned that most JETs have four-day weeks and that they get more holidays to compensate. They work with 7th to 12th graders (the age JETs work with depends on placement) and their duties involve helping students achieve immersion/language exposure, as well as some grading (though the main teachers get the final say on grades). They said that public school JETs sometimes teach their own courses, though that is illegal and not what JETs are meant to do. Madeson said that being a JET isn’t really good preparation to go on to be a teacher because the duties are different, but that some JETs do get good experience if they’re asked by their schools to do things outside of their job description.
Jess and Madeson have different hobbies, but both have lives outside of work. Jess travels Japan and does activities on weekends, and watches anime; Madeson likes pop culture and going to clubs in addition to international travel.
Warnings and Advice
The adage that Jess and Madeson repeated often was that every situation is different. Almost everything about the JET experience depends on the school you’re placed in. Regardless, their number one piece of advice was to advocate for yourself. JETS only get 10 vacation days per year, but they said that thanks to their self-advocacy, they’d gotten exam times off since there was no work for them to do during those times. They said that many schools don’t really know what to do with JETs, and so you have to kind of lead the way for yourself. Don’t be scared of confrontation! Additionally, they said that despite the Japanese pressure to conform, JETs are there for cultural exchange, and you shouldn’t change yourself to meet Japanese standards. On the first day, you should show up not looking your number one best, but looking the way you want to look for the rest of the year, because you set a standard for yourself– and, Jess and Madeson pointed out, you also are setting the standard for the JETs that come after you. If you live up to an impossible standard, the next JET will be met with overly high expectations.
Despite the JET program’s asking that you don’t quit or drop out once you’ve been assigned your position, Jess and Madeson both know lots of people who have quit, and they encourage it when necessary– for example, if you’re not being treated the way a JET should be or if you are miserable or simply if you want to do anything else.
We also discussed finances, and both Jess and Madeson said that the JET salary, while not much in USD, is more than enough to live in Japan. Jess said that she’s a spender, but Madeson said that she’s saved up several thousands of dollars.
Conclusion
Jess and Madeson had both positive and negative things to say about life as a JET, and had plenty of advice for me or for anyone looking to do the JET program, the most important of which was to advocate for yourself.