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Well I got a nice surprise today when I started a new class at the seimongako. There were several students in the class who I taught when they were fresh out of high school at the start of last year. Anyway they couldn't/wouldn't speak English well and were a pain in the arse back then. They have mysteriously grown up and can now happily chat away in English-given the right direction.

Anyway I think this change can partly be attributed to becoming more mature and partly due to the fact that they have been taught communicative English by different teachers once a week for almost 2 years. Surely the same results are achievable at High schools if the education ministry could pull it's head out of it's arse and manage it's resources properly i.e having JETs teach instead of being AETs. This is not a criticism of JETs but rather the way they appear to be utilised. In the future I believe more Urban schools with a pro-active agenda will move away from the dictates of the ministry which achieve so little. Some of my collegues also teach at high schools using the same methods and manage their own classes. Cheaper for the schools/taxpayer and the students don't have a passive learning experience. End result is that they can understand and communicate actively in English-surely that has to be the ultimate objective.

So,yes I do think that Japanese are open to outside ideas-today was a classic example of that in practice.

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Look around you, if one can't see the huge influence foreign ideas have had on cultural development here, then i'd suggest one was basing one's opinion of foreign culture on their own narrow background.

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Well, what did I start then?

I should respond to all this, shouldn't I.

Here goes:

 

"Case by case .... globalisation .... internationalisation ..... exchange ..... case by case ..... enkai ..... fun ..... not really a teacher .... frustration .... case by case"

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  • 4 weeks later...

The JET program is not an overall bad and its ridiculus to present it as such. It is not the most rewarding of jobs and does underwork people while overpaying. These are well known facts. It is also well known that JET's take a lot of heat for being the type of person that they may or may not be. They get good graduates from highly touted schools (I know this is a sore spot) to do easy work. They are not stupid for accepting this, nor can they be expected to be the most culturally enriched foreigners of the community in Japan. Ocean11 is often hostile, but he is not the only one. Would you want an underqualified overpaid Frat-boy invading your turf? I am a former JET, former AFS high school exchange student, former and soon Hakuba regular, and third year member of this forum :p

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  • 1 month later...

Hurrah! for the JET Program.

It:

 

- brought me to Japan;

- gave me some cash for the first time ever;

- introduced me to my stunning wo-man;

- oh yes, helped with internationalisation in my village ;\)

 

Hurrah!

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  • 1 month later...

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