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U.S. RELO visit to Izumi High School

May 17th, 2012
Today I took a trip to the southside of Osaka prefecture to Izumi High School, where Toru Nakahara is Prinicipal. There, we met up again with Public Affairs office staff member Eri Nakanishi, and RELO George Scholz, based at the American Embassy in Seoul.

It has been around four months since our last meeting, and we all had lots to catch up on. Personally, I’ve been doing a lot of planning as well as trying to develop a solid plan for English education for first-time learners, so I had a lot of questions about Korea’s implementation of elementary school English.

After a couple of hours, we had learned a lot! Mr. Scholz gave us an in-depth review of what’s happening in Korea, where they are doing some truly great things. They’ve created their own tests and are doing consistent research and evaluation and adjustments to their programs across the country. They implemented English education in 1997, which puts them more than 15 years ahead of Japan at the moment. While it is obvious that we are well behind, I still feel that we can easily (and quickly) catch up and start giving our kids the education that so many want.

Mr. Nakahara was able to learn a variety of background information on Korea’s “NEAT” English tests for high school, as well as how TOEIC and TEFL tests are being used and what students need to prepare themselves for college and studying abroad.Overall, it was another fantastic meeting, and I’m looking forward to the next time that we can work together! Thank you as always, U.S. State Department officials.

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Spring 2012 AJET Opinion Exchange: AJET goes mobile!

May 15th, 2012

Last week, the 2011-2012 AJET Council wrapped up its year of service to the JET Programme with the Spring Opinion Exchange. Members from MEXT, CLAIR, MOFA, and MIC were present as AJET presented its bi-annual research and some of its final projects of the year.

First, myself and AJET webmaster Kevin Mitchell led a presentation on the General Activities Report. This report was a lot of fun to present, because it gave us a chance to unveil, and demonstrate the mobile app we’ve been working on!

For those of you not familiar with the AJET app, Kevin Mitchell has been developing it for over six months, and its release coincided nicely with the Opinion Exchange. Using my iPad in the CLAIR conference room, I showed the ministry representatives all the features he’s been hard at work on. Some of these features include lesson plans on-the-go, mobile access to our magazine, and Japanese language reference for real-life situations. For example, what to say at the doctor’s office, or what to say when you call an emergency number in Japan for help.

One of the reasons AJET set out to make an app was because often JETs (and other ex-pats in Japan) find themselves in situations where they need easy access to very specific information that is unique to the experience of living abroad. Kevin even created a Japanese year converter, a weight and measurement converter, and translations of product labels on foods and household items like remote controls and washing machines! It was a lot of work developing the app over these past few months, but I truly believe our product can make a difference in countless people’s lives!

Finally, this Opinion Exchange was unique because it was the first one in which we were allowed a new format for discussion our research and ideas. Rather than sticking to a tight schedule of report presentation and pre-approved questions, we had time for open, unscripted discussion. It was during this that I presented a proposal for a JET awards system, co-sponsored by AJET, JETAA, and the ministries. The ministries also had time to ask AJET for updates on work that they were particularly interested in, including the AJET relief fund.

As this was the last chance for me to meet with the ministries as the Chairman of AJET, it was both exciting and sad. I feel like we brought a lot of new services to JETs this year. Looking forward, I hope next year’s council is even more successful in bringing services to JETs, and increasing the visibility of this great Programme!

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Orphanage Kids Trip to Classical Music Show at Osaka International House

May 3rd, 2012
Performance at Osaka International House[/caption]This weekend, was an exciting one! We have been working with the Osaka International House, which is a public-service corporation founded by Osaka City in 1887, and authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993, as well as the Cabinet in 2012. Recently we’ve worked with them on several projects. They have the same goals of internationalization, and they provide lots of great services to foreigners in Osaka. This weekend, they set us up with some amazing performers who put on a show about classical music just for kids.

For the past year and a half, myself and other JETs/JET alumni have been volunteering every other weekend at an orphanage in Osaka. It’s really been one of the most fulfilling, and fun, things I’ve done in Japan. We play, sing, make crafts, and teach English to 3-6-year-olds.

Thanks to help from the Osaka International House, Mariko Mukai, Carl Farlow, Miki Minami, Maruyama Tetsuji, Aakruti Vakharia, and myself were able to take the kids to this great show!

Performance at Osaka International House

Performance at Osaka International House

We picked the kids up an hour and a half before the show’s start for the long walk there, which included lots of carrying them around on our shoulders. After getting there, we had some spare time until the show, so we drew on scrap paper with them and chatted while we waited.

Of course, I couldn’t resist using the time to let one of the kids try some Alphabet and Phonics games out on my iPhone! It’s really amazing to watch a young learner with technology. Things that take adults time to figure out, they learn in a fraction of the time! Before I knew it he was typing, writing, and drawing away on my iPhone, and learning the alphabet.

The show was a blast. There was a piano player, and the MC was an opera singer dressed colorfully with feathers all over him. We also saw a guitar player and violinist, and a man playing a saw. (An actual saw, that you could cut a tree down with, using a bow similar to a bow from a violin). These guys were truly talented, and I can’t thank them enough for the show they put on, and for an unforgettable day with the kids!

For more pictures of the event, click here.

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Final thoughts as AJET Chairman

May 1st, 2012
Chair SpeechIt’s hard to imagine it’s been a year since I became AJET Chair. The mix of emotions that comes with finishing my term are hard to describe. I’m so proud of my team and what we accomplished, but I wish we had a bit more time, so that we could to do more. It’s exciting that there’s new challenges to come in my own life, but sad that I have to end this chapter with AJET.

This year has brought things with it that I could never have imagined. Good and bad. I look back on the year and I’m so happy to have witnessed the unprecedented support we got from 1st year JETs signing up for the AJET e:Connect, but at the same time, who would have thought that we’d have typhoons destroying areas of Japan right after the Tohoku disasters and we would need support to JETs and to rebuild a second time in so many months?

During my time as chair, I wanted to engage all JETs, current and past, as well as the ministries and communities around us. I wanted to inspire everyone to greater success and triumphs that we could all enjoy.

I challenged you all, in my election campaign, to make this the year that “We can do more, we can help more, we can be more!”

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JETs and Diplomats Dinner in Umeda, Osaka.

April 21st, 2012
In addition to engaging government officials in discussions related to English education, a lot of the work we do in Osaka is aimed at providing JETs with opportunities to meet and exchange ideas. This week, our friends at the US Consulate Osaka/Kobe, graciously invited all the JETs in the Kansai area to an exclusive dinner with members of the State Department and diplomats throughout Japan.

Among the members of the panel were JET alumni from each decade of the Programme’s existence. Richard Mei, Ben Brown, and Danette Sullivan represented the 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s, respectively, while myself and AJET’s Director of PR Cailin Arena spoke on behalf of current JETs.

All of them were there to speak about their experiences working for the US State Department, and also to give advice to those considering applying. Considering the state department and JET have very similar values in terms of internationalization and promoting foreign interests abroad, we were extremely pleased with the chance to collaborate on an event! Questions from the audience ranged from specific advice about life working for the State Department, to questions about how to study for the Foreign Service Exam.

This dinner, that was arranged in conjunction between AJET and the US Consulate, is part of a new events series myself and others are working on. This night was just one of the many opportunities in store for JETs and JET alumni in the Kansai area. Other highlights from this Spring include the Stonewall AJET dinner at the US Consulate General’s home in Kobe, and the Yamamoto Theater Osaka JET collaboration performances.

To stay up to date about upcoming events, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and like my page on Facbeook!

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