National AJET has gathered some topical advice from Prefectural AJET leaders to give you a little perspective on issues that many AJET Chapters face. We currently cover:
- What to do if there is currently no AJET Chapter in your Prefecture
- How to help new JETs adjust to their new life on JET
- How to get involved in charitable activities
Is there a topic that’s not included but that you have questions about? Do you have advice to offer other Prefectural AJET Chapters? Contact pr@ajet.net.
What to do if there is currently no AJET Chapter in your Prefecture
Tips for Starting a New AJET Chapter from Saitama
- Get everyone’s email and start a mailing list.
- Start a Facebook page as well. The more people that like it, the more your events get spread to people’s inboxes.
- Get help. Start a prefectural council. Easy divisions of labor from the start can be: Event planning and Communications.
- Work with your block rep. Ask them for ideas.
- When you plan events, share them with your block. You never know who will show up.
- Bryan Darr
Saitama AJET
Tips for Starting a New AJET Chapter from Chiba
- Get in touch with people that can form a core team, try to consider geographic distribution, ease of transportation, and different skill sets/language abilities
- Timing is key! Try starting around a major event like your prefectural orientation, where you can give a short presentation on what you would like to do, events ideas you’d like to plan, and how new JETs can get involved. If you can, get new JETs on your core team!
- Create an events calendar for the year and schedule activities in advance. This will help you delegate tasks, advertise, organize, and avoid surprises (like finding out that your beach party is in the middle of tsuyu, or the rainy season).
- Set up an email address or point of contact for your chapter. This way, even if the people running the chapter leave JET, somebody can inherit the account and useful information.
- Try to have a clear understanding of what your chapter intends to do — volunteer work, social events, community networking, etc., as well as the people you’d like to get involved — JETs only, private ALTs, Japanese community members, and so on.
- Erica Nakanishi-Stanis
Chair, Chiba AJET
Tips for Writing an AJET Contract/Handbook from Fukuoka
- Creating a handbook was necessary in Fukuoka because AJET reps weren’t clear on roles/responsibilities (what they were supposed to do) and chapter information wasn’t passed down through the years.
- Recommendation: create a handbook so that new AJET reps are be able to know what to do beforehand instead of learning as they go (which can be difficult!)
- Consider information you wish you had as a new AJET rep.
- A handbook serves as a reference/guideline throughout the year. Reps use it as a resource for creating a timeline, knowing who to contact when, etc
- A written resource is a way to record past mistakes, learn from them, and improve.
- Before writing, consult your PAs, check out other AJET chapters’ websites, ask JETs from other kens about their AJET chapter and what they do.
- Don’t try to model your handbook/contract exactly after another prefecture’s. Think about what works in your prefecture and what doesn’t. Then try to shape everything into something that fits your prefecture.
- Check out any papers you can find from your AJET chapter in the past.
- To help make a handbook/contract official, tell people what you’re working on, ask for edits and advice about what to include (maybe you missed something).
- Also, try to use a professional-looking logo (Fukuoka AJET just used the Fukuoka JET logo that resembles a torii gate).
- People will be impressed if you go through the effort of writing something substantial to benefit your local AJET chapter so making it ‘official’ won’t be a huge challenge.
- What to include: a welcome message for new reps, AJET explanation, National AJET explanation, what your AJET chapter will do/does over the year, possibly a brief summary of your prefectural chapter, position descriptions, AJET rep application (if you have one), event planning guide.
- Make sure the handbook is updated at least annually to avoid information being lost and having to start over.
Download the Fukuoka AJET Handbook to see a sample.
-Amelia Hagen
Fukuoka AJET Prefectural Representative
How to help new JETs adjust to their new life on JET
- The Kumamoto AJET Sempai/Kohai Program
- The Masuda Homestay Program
The Kumamoto AJET Sempai/Kohai Program
Four years ago the Kumamoto AJET team decided we needed a stronger support program for our new JETs. The welcome events were fun, and well attended, but that didn’t show a new JET how to use their washing machine or where to buy new lightbulbs, etc.
The first year we asked for volunteers who would be a sempai to the incoming JETs and we sent a note in their welcome packet explaining the program. About 20 Sempai signed up and just 14 incomers, or Kohai. Our informative little flyer had gotten lost in the mix.
Over the last few years there have been quite a few improvements and here is how it works today:
1) In June a request is sent to current JETs who will be available during the arrival periods. We include a list of commonly asked questions and requests from new JETs to help prepare our Sempai.
2) Sempai are primarily assigned geographically, to provide the most specific advice, but special sempai are also available for JETs of Asian Decent, JETs of African Decent, LGBTQ JETs, Vegetarian and Vegan JETs, and JETs with Spouses/Family.
3) Every new JET is assigned a Sempai, they receive a phone number and email address at Tokyo Orientation and they can choose to contact the sempai if/when they want some help, advice, or a friend to hang out with.
4) Kumamoto AJET keeps a list of all the assigned Sempai and in September/October we check in to make sure everything is going well with both Sempai and Kohai, so everyone feels they are a part of our JET Community.
- Suzy Lee Ogata
Kumamoto AJET
The Masuda Homestay Program
[Coming Soon]
How to get involved in charitable activities
- Starting Smile Kids Japan Visits
- Creating an AJET Scholarship
Starting Smile Kids Japan Visits
See the Smile Kids Japan website for a complete guide to finding/contacting an orphanage, preparing for your first visit, activity suggestions and more.
Creating an AJET Scholarship
- Starting a scholarship for students in your prefecture who wish to study abroad is a really time-consuming activity. Creating a position on the council that is responsible for keeping the scholarship on track helped keep us organized.
- Start planning early. Unless you already have tons of AJET cash lying around, you’ll need time to raise money plus time to get application materials ready and spread the word. I would recommend giving yourself 1-1.5 years from the idea to giving away your first scholarship.
- Figure out logistics. Who is eligible to apply? How much money can you realistically raise and give away in one year? What criteria will applicants be judged on? Figure out the details and create info packs and applications in English and Japanese. You can see the Nara AJET Scholarship materials as a sample.
- Get support from a Japanese administrator. Even if you can’t get the BoE to officially endorse your scholarship, you can probably find someone supportive who can give you advice. In Nara, we were lucky that the Japanese PA for SHS ALTs at the Institute for Educational Research was really helpful. She gave us time to talk at Mid-Year Seminar, always talks about the scholarship during her annual meeting with SHS ALT supervisors, brainstorms with us to come up with options for promoting the scholarship, etc. Keep asking around until you find someone willing to get involved at some level.
- Give schools as long as possible between distributing the scholarship and the application deadline. I recommend doing your first push for the scholarship at the beginning of the school year in April and then again in August/September when new JETs arrive with the application due in January. Everyone is busy, so you need plenty of time to get the okay to distribute the materials and for teachers to write recommendations.
- Advertise any way possible — ask JETs to tell their students, give out information at speech contests or anywhere students likely to study abroad will be, get it in the ALT newsletter if you have one and ask any JETs who contribute to a school/community newsletter to mention it, etc. etc.
- Fund-raising for the scholarship is a big commitment every year. We decided that we didn’t want to rely on direct donations from JETs, so we focus on fundraising through events. By working really hard to keep our costs as low as possible, we were able to meet our fundraising goals and keep dues and the entry price of our events about the same as before the scholarship. We did add some extra fundraising, such as coin drives at MYS, raffles, etc that we didn’t do before.
- Make sure your scholarship winners report back to you! We ask that any students who win the scholarship send us a postcard while they’re abroad and write a short essay in English about what they learned by studying abroad and a picture that we can share with all Nara JETs. Seeing the results of our fundraising keeps everyone motivated and its always fun to see what they thought about their experience abroad!
- Kat Kovacs
Nara AJET