Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program
3) Statement of Purpose
- Motivation for Participation: The essay should state your reasons for wishing to participate in the JET Program, why you want to go to Japan , and why you are interested in the ALT or CIR position .
- Relevant Experience: Please make a case for your selection by describing your past/present experiences, professional skills, relevant interests and personal qualities, and how you feel these will be useful to you as an ALT or CIR.
For ALTs: If you have teaching experience, what teaching methods have you found particularly successful? What have you found most rewarding?
- Goals: Also address what you hope to gain, both personally and professionally, and what effect you hope to have on the Japanese community and internationally as a result of your participation in the JET Program.
I can't trace the roots of my boundless enthusiasm for Japan and the Japanese to a particular moment in time, but I can say that it's been an integral part of me for a long while. My mother took a couple introductory Japanese language classes while in college, and while she remembers terribly little, she firmly maintains that my keen interest in the excitingly exotic archipelago and its people is largely inherited.
It has been a life-long dream of mine to visit Japan and explore its fascinatingly rich culture. I recently spoke with my guidance counselor who informed me that I can graduate a year early if I switch my major from neurobiology to psychobiology; The thought of graduating in May of 2006 came as an extremely pleasant surprise for me; I was hoping that I could spend the extra year fulfilling my cherished desire through participating in the JET Program before beginning medical school.
I want to go to Japan because I enjoy a myriad of its features ranging from the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Japan, an event that empowered people from all nations to share their views on how we are to harmoniously work together in a global society, to the Zen philosophy embraced by Miyamoto Musashi in A Book of Five Rings to the classic works of the "sensei of cinema," Akira Kurosawa. I want to see extraordinary and brilliant landscape paintings of Katsushika Hokusai in person. I want to hear the upbeat and catchy hits of Utada Hikaru on the radio. Japanese cuisine is simply to die for, the language is the most mellifluous I have ever heard, and every Japanese person I have encountered here in Miami has been nothing but warm and friendly.
I have heard so many good things about the JET Program. My ardent desire for learning Japanese and teaching English, fervid yearning to visit Japan, interest for meeting new people and experiencing new things is why I wish to participate. I feel am an especially patient and easy-going person with a skilled command of the English language, both written and spoken. I believe I would serve as an excellent Assistant Language Teacher if given the opportunity.
My unique position at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world's largest comprehensive spinal cord injury research center, has afforded me the opportunity to come to know a few researchers from Japan. One has a six-year-old son named Kohki, an incredibly cute kid and one mean Pokémon player, whom I’ve grown to be especially fond of. When he came over from Tokyo at five he knew only a handful of English words. While he can now speak English almost as fluently as any other boy his age, when he was first starting to learn the language I really enjoyed the challenge of communicating with him. Successfully overcoming the language barrier with Kohki was difficult with my limited comprehension of the Japanese language, but it was an unbelievably rewarding experience.
If selected to participate in the JET Program, I promise to perform my duties to the best of my abilities. I’ll be as helpful as I am able both in and out of the classroom, compare the research and clinical institutions of Japan to America, explore the possibility of pursuing a medical or research career in Japan, and behave as a diplomat that America can be proud of. It is my goal to develop a greater proficiency of the Japanese language, deepen my understanding of the Japanese culture, and make a lot of friends in the process.
- Motivation for Participation: The essay should state your reasons for wishing to participate in the JET Program, why you want to go to Japan , and why you are interested in the ALT or CIR position .
- Relevant Experience: Please make a case for your selection by describing your past/present experiences, professional skills, relevant interests and personal qualities, and how you feel these will be useful to you as an ALT or CIR.
For ALTs: If you have teaching experience, what teaching methods have you found particularly successful? What have you found most rewarding?
- Goals: Also address what you hope to gain, both personally and professionally, and what effect you hope to have on the Japanese community and internationally as a result of your participation in the JET Program.
I can't trace the roots of my boundless enthusiasm for Japan and the Japanese to a particular moment in time, but I can say that it's been an integral part of me for a long while. My mother took a couple introductory Japanese language classes while in college, and while she remembers terribly little, she firmly maintains that my keen interest in the excitingly exotic archipelago and its people is largely inherited.
It has been a life-long dream of mine to visit Japan and explore its fascinatingly rich culture. I recently spoke with my guidance counselor who informed me that I can graduate a year early if I switch my major from neurobiology to psychobiology; The thought of graduating in May of 2006 came as an extremely pleasant surprise for me; I was hoping that I could spend the extra year fulfilling my cherished desire through participating in the JET Program before beginning medical school.
I want to go to Japan because I enjoy a myriad of its features ranging from the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Japan, an event that empowered people from all nations to share their views on how we are to harmoniously work together in a global society, to the Zen philosophy embraced by Miyamoto Musashi in A Book of Five Rings to the classic works of the "sensei of cinema," Akira Kurosawa. I want to see extraordinary and brilliant landscape paintings of Katsushika Hokusai in person. I want to hear the upbeat and catchy hits of Utada Hikaru on the radio. Japanese cuisine is simply to die for, the language is the most mellifluous I have ever heard, and every Japanese person I have encountered here in Miami has been nothing but warm and friendly.
I have heard so many good things about the JET Program. My ardent desire for learning Japanese and teaching English, fervid yearning to visit Japan, interest for meeting new people and experiencing new things is why I wish to participate. I feel am an especially patient and easy-going person with a skilled command of the English language, both written and spoken. I believe I would serve as an excellent Assistant Language Teacher if given the opportunity.
My unique position at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world's largest comprehensive spinal cord injury research center, has afforded me the opportunity to come to know a few researchers from Japan. One has a six-year-old son named Kohki, an incredibly cute kid and one mean Pokémon player, whom I’ve grown to be especially fond of. When he came over from Tokyo at five he knew only a handful of English words. While he can now speak English almost as fluently as any other boy his age, when he was first starting to learn the language I really enjoyed the challenge of communicating with him. Successfully overcoming the language barrier with Kohki was difficult with my limited comprehension of the Japanese language, but it was an unbelievably rewarding experience.
If selected to participate in the JET Program, I promise to perform my duties to the best of my abilities. I’ll be as helpful as I am able both in and out of the classroom, compare the research and clinical institutions of Japan to America, explore the possibility of pursuing a medical or research career in Japan, and behave as a diplomat that America can be proud of. It is my goal to develop a greater proficiency of the Japanese language, deepen my understanding of the Japanese culture, and make a lot of friends in the process.