[youtube XM7uIDIu_QU&feature=player_embedded]
The Japanese language program at MIIS is being promoted heavily this month as many current Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program participants weigh their options for life after Japan. The JET program is a Japanese government initiative that began in the mid 1980s to bring university graduates, mostly native speakers of English, to Japan to promote English education and internationalization. Most of the JET program participants teach English in the country’s elementary, junior or senior high schools for at least a year and up to five years. Participants with a good degree of Japanese proficiency can also work in municipal or city offices as Coordinators for International Relations.
“Over the years, the Monterey Institute has welcomed many former JETs to all of our professional degree programs. The largest number of JET alumni on the MIIS campus tend to study in the International Policy Program (IPS), however there are also JETs in the Translation & Interpretation, MBA and TESOL programs,” explained Prof. Naoko Matsuo, coordinator of the Japanese program at MIIS. Many JETs have found the curriculum and worldly student body at MIIS to be a perfect fit with their own international experiences and future global career plans. Each Spring, Leah Gowron, a former IPS career advisor and current MIIS Director of Alumni Relations, travels to Tokyo to attend the Conference for Returning JETs. This year, in addition to hosting an alumni event in Tokyo, Leah will again be participating in the annual conference for those JETs planning to return to their home countries. JETs can meet with Leah, both at the MIIS information table or at the international career planning panel discussions, March 9th – 11th. (FYI – Leah, herself is a former JET!)
The Recruiting Department has also been busy promoting the Japanese program at MIIS through several online initiatives. This month, the department’s social media coordinator, Rob Horgan, met with three current students studying Japanese at MIIS to record their impressions of the program and to talk about the level of Japanese proficiency necessary to enter MIIS. The video interview, which was conducted in both Japanese and English, can be seen on the MIIS YouTube channel and the MIIS community on the Japanese social networking site MIXI. Japanese study at MIIS has also been mentioned on several Facebook communities, including the Japan Center for Michigan Universities group and the Middlebury Summer Language Schools page.
🙂 cool!