The JET programme

Hello friends,

I hope you're all doing well? I know I'm a little stressed at the moment. I work in a pretty fractious career (I'm a teaching assistant), and there's a possibility that I'm going to lose my job in July. It's not that they don't want me, or that I'm bad at my job, there's just no money in UK education at the moment, and my line of work is the first to go. For the last 3 years, I've been on a rolling contract: I've been a 1:1 with a targeted child each year, and everytime they leave the school, their funding is cut, and I'm concerned for about a month as to whether or not I have a job.

I desperately want to work with children, because I feel it's my life's calling. I love seeing them learn something, and I have a lot of passion for it.

So, I'm considering changing my options in a more drastic measure.

For a little history, I've wanted to do JET since I was 18. I like the idea of Japan a lot, and JET seems like the kind of program designed explicitly for someone like me.

However, I've barely left my home town as an adult! I know this probably sounds weird, but I got into a rut here, and I just haven't explored like I should have done! I'm planning on having my passport sorted by the summer holidays (6 week holiday) and I wanna try a few different places in that time, to open me up a little.

I guess what I wanna know is, in the small chance I get accepted in...18 months (I know this is early but I'm excited), these few things:

-Has anyone here been on JET, or worked as an ALT? If you have, or know someone that has, what should I expect?

-What's it like moving to a country where you don't speak the language?

-How hard is it getting around in a country you don't know

I guess answers aren't limited to JET, or Japan, but more of a "Moving overseas" feel to them. Cheers!

@sombre:These are not first hand experiences but I know three people who went on JET or JET like programs to teach in Asia - two in Japan and one in Taiwan.

Of the three of them, two went to Japan as part of a college teaching program and both got to teach in a high school in Tokyo and loved it. After finishing college they both qualified for JET and went back to Japan. One had a good time and now he lives in Japan with a wife and child. He got assigned to live and teach in a city, he thought basic engineering. The other went back to Japan but she ended up feeling stuck when she landed in a small town in the back end of nowhere that was basically an hour and a half from any major settlement, making it impossible to enjoy any sort of nightlife because there was no way for her to get back home with ease.

The third went to Taiwan, and lived in a city with her partner. She ended up teaching very young children at a private school and while she liked it at first she ended up hating it. The school was run extremely cheap, so half way through the year they lost a teacher and she ended up with pre-schoolers in her class of 5-6 year olds. This just caused distraction and her boss gave out to her over the students performing poorly but wouldn't do anything about the distraction.

The two who went to Japan had the same idea as everyone I've ever talked to about JET. They like the idea of living in Japan, but when you ask what that means they mean a city. Well Japan isn't just a big city, and once you get outside of the city you find that not a lot of people speak English and there's not much of a social life beyond any other country town you'd get in England or Ireland or Germany or anywhere else in Europe.

The two girls both live back in Ireland now, and while they enjoyed their time living abroad for the most part, they where happy to return. From talking to all three of them, it sounds like if you land in a city, getting around and speaking to people won't be a problem, but if you venture outside of it it can start to be an issue.

Disclaimer: I have no first-hand experience. I am speaking entirely based on years of reports from friends and dozens of internet strangers.

"-What's it like moving to a country where you don't speak the language?"

Difficult, especially when it's a country like Japan where barely anyone speaks English and the writings are incredibly difficult to decipher. You might have a hard time communicating with your landlord, your neighbours, your coworkers, and overall finding anyone to spend time with besides other foreigners. And depending on where you end up, you might just end up completely alone. You can feel very isolated and that may lead to great unhappiness. You could straight up have difficulty even buying groceries.

"-How hard is it getting around in a country you don't know"

Depends where you end up and how good you are at orienteering. It could be really easy in a small town and impossibly difficult in a large city.

"What should I expect?"

Low wages, cultural barriers, and an overall hard time. If you don't speak the language, definitely expect isolation from coworkers.

I don't want to scare you away from this idea. But I beg that you think this through thoroughly, do a LOT of research and don't make a big decision like this on a whim. I see posts on Reddit almost daily from JETs who are disappointed, burned out, and incredibly unhappy, begging for an easy way back home, because they liked Japan and decided the JET programme was a fantastic idea to go to Japan and experience everything firsthand. More often than not, it's obvious that they would've been better off just visiting for a week or so as a tourist.

More than anything, you should definitely just visit first. Travel, be a tourist, enjoy the quirks and wonders of Japan's city life, beautiful landscapes and humble rural areas. If after that you still wish to join the JET programme, do your research, make all the necessary preparations and think things through.

Good luck!