Higher Education. Make the most of the JET Programme experience: Getting into graduate school and beyond!

Transcription

1 Higher Education Make the most of the JET Programme experience: Getting into graduate school and beyond!

2 When You Finish JET: Crossroads Path A You enjoyed teaching and want to do it as a career Path B You discovered teaching is not your passion Invest in an MA TESOL/TESL/TFL or other education-focused programs. Create a plan to finesse your overseas experience into a domestic position, or pursue additional specialization training.

3 Taking the Graduate School Route Think first: Do you need to go, versus want to go? What are your expectations? Can you make the time commitment? Application deadlines and where you are today when to apply? Pick the school that offers you the best faculty, services, research, funding. The reputation of the school becomes your reputation in some fields. Will your education/university be acknowledged if it is from another country? Why are you paying for graduate school? Let someone else pay your way whenever possible. Your salary is not guaranteed to increase because you have an advanced degree/degrees.

4 Show Me the Money: Funding Graduate Study In the US, more than $4B of scholarship funding is not awarded every year. Research is key: how do you fit the funding requirements? Can you find funding from your government if going to a different country? What special programs exist to get you where you want to go? Timing is everything! Many are eligible for funding for special programs like Fulbright, etc., but do not seek the funding at the right time in the scholarship cycle! In N. America: paying for your Ph.D. = it s not the right program. The reputation game gets you more funding.once you get one fellowship/scholarship, you re more likely to receive additional funding in the future.

5 Make Your Application Stand Out Link what you do with what the program does. Do not use the personal statement to reiterate what is already in the application forms or on your resume/c.v. Answer the question Why is this [degree] the next logical step for me professionally? What do you bring to the program/university? Tell the reader why this is the right time, and their school is the right place, and once done with the program you re off to make a difference in your field. SELL YOU!

6 Letters of Recommendation: How to Make or Break Your Application Letters must be directly related to your current objective of getting into program X. How do you handle letters in Japanese? Name recognition is nice, quality of content is better! Give the writer text, or highlight what they should write. It takes time to write a quality letter.

7 Transferable Skill Sets: The Key to Marketing Your JET Experience Classroom instruction Program development & management Leadership/public speaking/presentations Counseling/advising/training Language Speak the language of your audience, know the key phrases in a specific field and define what you did during JET in the appropriate terms. i.e.: Developing materials = research, understanding needs of target audience, adaptability & creativity Working with faculty = team project planning (Reference hand-out)

8 Say What You Do: Resume Examples from JET Alumni Developed educational materials and team-taught in eight rural Japanese schools. This alumna created materials for a specific target audience, recognized their individualized needs (and probably had to do some sort of analysis of those needs, and likely within a limited budget environment), and has two years of proven teamwork and project management experience!

9 Say What You Do: Resume Examples from JET Alumni Helped coordinate cultural exchange events for a wide range of community groups. Q: How many events? What does coordinate mean plan, develop, manage logistics, communicate with different audiences to get the event done or ready? There is room for expansion to say far more to the reader.

10 Say What You Do: Resume Examples from JET Alumni Created XX district s first model curriculum for elementary English education. This is impressive, but expand on this broad example to give credit for all that you had to do. There is a lot involved in created a model curriculum - meetings to ensure that concerns and goals are met, strategic planning, long term marketing, needs assessment, evaluation, etc For use in how many schools? One? Fifty? What are the results today because YOU had this role XX years ago?

11 Say What You Do: Resume Examples from JET Alumni Lesson planning and presentation Demonstrator for teacher in-service training workshops Guest speaker at cultural conference & development seminars Translator, editor Q: How many conferences and on what key issues (i.e.: demonstrating issue area expertise) and the preparation involved in being a speaker/educator of other educators. Translator of what and editor of what? How many articles/journals/resources? Language A to B AND B to A? This person has a wealth of experience, but all in chronological format, so the overall impact of educational management and instruction, business development and logistics management, etc. are getting lost. Functional skill sets would sell more to a variety of audiences.

12 Say What You Do: Resume Examples from JET Alumni Interactively team taught with JTE in developing and implementing interactive oral communication activities for high school students learning English as their second language. How can you teach and not be interactive? Use of interactive twice in one description? Types of activities? If you re already indicating that you are an Assistant Language Teacher, then you save space/insert more critical information by not indicating English as their second language. Every word has to count!

13 Staying in Education: Higher Education Expands Beyond the Classroom Education Administration University Instruction Exchange Program Management Nonprofit Organizations Publishing Government Policy -International -Federal/National -State/Provincial -City/County

14 Education Administration International Student Advisor Career Director Visa Officer Enrollment/Admission/Recruitment Manager Director of Student Affairs (Language) Program Director Curriculum Designer/Writer/Developer Study Abroad Advisor Senior Administrator Faculty Dean/Provost/President/Chancellor

15 University Instruction TESOL/TEFL TFL Curriculum Design Int l Affairs/Relations/Policy Marketing /Public Relations History/Culture/Sociology Cross-Cultural Affairs/Training Human Resource Management Language Instructor

16 Nonprofit Organizations Scholarship/fellowship management: -IIE/ ACTR/ IREX/ SOROS/ AED/ CDS Community service programs: -AMDA/ JUCEE International development programs: -OXFAM/ CARE/ Global Fund for Women Cultural development organizations: -language/ dance/ taiko/ shodo/ ikebana/ bonsai Foundations: -Sasakawa Peace Foundation/ Asia-Pacific Foundation/ Japan Foundation

17 Publishing Textbook Writer/Researcher Magazine Editor Writer Editor Translator

18 Government Policy Development Development/Design/Management International Governmental Organizations: -UNESCO/ UNICEF/ Asia Development Bank Federal/National Government: -Ministry of Education State/Provincial/Prefectural Government: -Department of Education City/County Government: -Board of Education/ Education Council

19 What s Next? You chose the right school, and received the right degree. You know how to market what you have accomplished during JET. Your resume/c.v., letters of recommendation, etc., promote what you have to offer Monterey Institute of International Studies

20 So You Want to Work for? United Nations Foreign Service CIA Peace Corps Amnesty International RAND Corporation European Commission ASEAN IBM/Microsoft Chase Manhattan Hewlett Packard World Wildlife Fund Save the Children Int l Red Cross Fuji-Xerox Sony Honda

21 Hear from JET Alumni in Graduate School To listen to stories from Monterey Institute JET alumni, pursuing degrees in TESOL, international policy, international business and translation/interpretation, check out: Monterey Institute of International Studies

22 Contact Information Leah J. Gowron (AET 90-91, Saitama) Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Fund (former Dir. of Career Services) 460 Pierce St. Monterey, California, USA

23 Questions?