Pictured: A Typical Solemn Moment at Ainoshima Junior High School
Since it played such an important role in shaping my new comic Tonoharu, I thought I’d devote a journal entry to the JET Program.
The JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching) Program was founded twenty years ago by the Japanese Government to:
promote grass roots internationalization at the local level by inviting young overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language education in local governments, boards of education and elementary, junior and senior high schools throughout Japan… [and] to foster ties between Japanese citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the person-to-person level.
Source: JET Program Official Website
Japan is, of course, an island nation, and is ethnically homogenous, with 99% of the population being Japanese. Outside of large cities, Japanese kids don’t have much (if any) contact with foreigners, so it’s easy to understand how English education would seem totally irrelevant to their lives. It’s the job of the JET program participant to serve as a living example that English has actual utility outside of the classroom, thereby (hopefully) inspiring students to devote a little more energy to working on their English skills.
Continue reading The JET Program→