Jet Programme 2024

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I am in my 3rd year of working in the countryside of Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in public elementary and junior high schools. An ALT's official job description is to be the assistant to a Japanese Teacher of Language (JTL). In my experience, especially in elementary schools, the ALT is not seen as an assistant but as "the English teacher" since the regular homeroom teacher has no training or experience with ESL. In most cases, the ALT has a degree in a field unrelated to teaching and has no qualifications. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Carl S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At the moment, English in elementary schools in Japan is a class...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Perhaps one of the most commonly used justifications for widespread English language education is "English is the global lingua franca." This statement seems to encapsulate the general sentiment towards the importance of English. With the recent advancements in technology, geographical and temporal barriers have greatly lessened and international relations are no longer restricted to certain fields such as politics and media. The average citizen can now commence personal and economic relationships with the world via the internet. And this, of course, highlights the need for a common language that will facilitate effective intercultural communication. In highly urbanized and globalized cities like Tokyo, this is apparent in the motley of languages...  [Read more]