Some JET lingo

In the coming year, I'm going to be throwing all sorts of strange abbreviations, acronyms, and foreign words at you. In preparation, I'm offering a crash course - at no cost to you! - in JET jargon. So when I start talking about how a certain JTE wants me to be more genki despite what my pred told me about that CO, you'll know what to say. ("ESID", obviously.)

• JET: Japan Exchange and Teaching. I posted this definition earlier today, and you forgot already? Anyway, it's always pronounced like the word "jet".
• ALT: Assistant Language Teacher. Most JET Program peeps fall under this job title. For some ALTs, you're like a bass player to the lead guitar, and you get to rock out with your Japanese co-workers and make sweet harmony. For others, you're just a human tape recorder, saying the word "refrigerator" in perfect English six thousand times a day.
  
• JTE: Japanese Teacher of English. An unfortunate choice of letters, since it's too close to "JET". These are the Japanese teachers that an ALT works under.
• ESID: Every Situation Is Different. The answer to any question you could ever ask about JET. Soon-to-be JETs like myself often feel nervous about our future, and we like to ask veterans about their experiences. The nice ones give us advice, but always add ESID as a disclaimer. The mean ones just say "ESID" and nothing else, because they would rather talk to an empty handle of vodka than a JET noob.
• genki: A Japanese word meaning "healthy" or "full of energy". Apparently it can be very important while on the job to act as chipper as humanly possible even if you actually feel like killing someone.
• pred: Predecessor, the ALT that taught at your location before you. They are full of useful information, and I know a lot of JETs buy the stuff they need in Japan from their preds, who are getting rid of it.
• BOE: Board of Education. A JET's home base when not actually teaching classes. I think it mainly refers to the physical building, not so much the organization.
  
• CO: Contracting Organization. The JET Program itself doesn't make the contract with the ALT. Rather, it's up to the educational institution (school district? BOE?) to contact the ALT and set things up.

So I'm still somewhat unclear about how the organizations relate to one another. I think JET is simply the organization that deals with applicants, decides who gets in, and works with individual COs for placing people. However, once you're in Japan, you deal with your CO, and not JET. Also, there are various Japanese government bodies (such as CLAIR, MEXT, etc.) but I'm not savvy on how they all fit into the JET world.

If you're meeting a JET person for the first time, you'll now be able to dazzle them with your knowledge of some of the code words we say to each other. If you say "ESID" to a JET, you'll be guaranteed to get a laugh.

... Just kidding! ESID. There are no guarantees.

What is JET?

It seems that if you live in Los Angeles, chances are good that you know someone first- or second-hand who has been a part of the JET Program. It's like what the Communist Party used to be back in the 1950s. Let's see... it pulls in young people, fresh out of college... it's got strong ties with a certain Eastern country... I even think there's some red in the JET logo somewhere. Like, on the back side, where you can't normally see it.

Fortunately for our capitalist wallets and noble pig-like sensibilities, JET is not communism. It's a program created by the Japanese government to bring native English speakers to their country, for language and cultural exchange. I've pretty much told you what JET itself stands for: "Japan Exchange and Teaching".

There are several different positions within JET, but by far the most common is the ALT - Assistant Language Teacher. When people talk about being in JET, 90% of the time this is what they mean. Being an ALT means that you are essentially a teaching assistant, in some capacity. The actual responsibilities vary from person to person. JET doesn't require any prior teaching experience, but they do require a bachelor's degree of some kind.

ALTs teach at elementary, junior high, and high schools, all across Japan. Yes, even those tiny little islands 200 miles from the mainland. You don't get to choose your placement, but you can specify up to 3 preferred areas.

JET isn't volunteer work. It does pay fairly well, actually, for an entry-level teaching position. The contract is for one year, and it can be renewed up to 5 years total. It begins in late July with an orientation in Tokyo. After that, you're shipped off to wherever you'll be teaching, given additional training, and you begin work sometime in late August. An interesting fact about the school system in Japan: the school year starts in April, so an ALT's year is out of sync with the rest of the school.

I've given you the basic info, the questions that most people ask me when I tell them that I will be doing JET. For a more detailed look, here's a couple links:

• Official JET Program website
• A blog post that my former boss sent me

They do a much more thorough job at explaining JET than I have.

Inspiration and Motivation

Welcome to my Japan blog!

This isn't my first blog, but it's my first attempt at a focused, specialized one. It's also a public blog, read by current/future employers, parents, and maybe even a couple special agents dispatched by the FBI. As such, there's stuff I'm going to omit here. However, you'll be able to read up on all the juicy bits at my other blog, which has restricted access, and is protected by a giant cat.


And there you have it: the inspiration for this site's name.

As for the motivation: I'm hoping that once I arrive in Japan, I'll be doing all kinds of exciting and adventurous things that I won't be able to contain myself. I'll simply have to share. Unless, of course, I'm too busy doing all kinds of exciting and adventurous things.