This month former Hyogo Times editor, Australian born, Matthew Stott took the time to answer a few questions about his life since leaving Hyogo. Matt was based in Tarumi 2007 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 2010 when he worked at Akashi and Takatsuka Senio High Schools.<\/p>\n
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1)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What did you do immediately after leaving JET?<\/b><\/p>\n
My partner was beginning her PhD, and we had just bought a house in Perth, so we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any time to go travelling as some do when their time on JET comes to an end. Within a week of returning to Australia, I started my current job as an ESL teacher.<\/p>\n
2)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What are the main differences between teaching English in Japan and back in Australia?<\/b><\/p>\n
The most obvious difference is the student profile: I teach young adults\u00e2\u20ac\u201dprofessionals and university students\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom all corners of the globe, including a large cohort of Japanese. My current students tend to be more proficient at English, on the whole, than were my students in Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot to mention a lot more confident at speaking. They also have specific motivations for developing their English skills\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgenerally career- and visa-related\u00e2\u20ac\u201dso while games and creative activities certainly have their place, you have to work hard at selling their benefits. I fondly remember decorating the walls of my Japanese high school classrooms with my students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 haikus and cinquains\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI also used to show them off at bunkasai<\/i>–but I think it would be difficult to get away with that in my current position. Perhaps I should give it a try!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/b>How did you approach the job search process? Did you wait until you went back home to start?<\/b><\/p>\n I started applying for jobs soon after the Conference for Returning JETs in May 2010\u00e2\u20ac\u201dchiefly teaching positions, though I also applied for communications and editing jobs, hoping perhaps to parlay my stint at the helm of the Hyogo Times<\/i>. I had a phone interview with my current employer and on the day before I was due to fly back to Perth he emailed me asking if I was interested in the position. And so here I am.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/b>Whilst on JET you completed a CELTA course, how did you find balancing those studies with your job, and would you recommend it to those considering teaching English in the future?<\/b><\/p>\n I took the CELTA part-time on Saturdays and Sundays over five months. It was a tougher course than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expected, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I had much difficulty fitting in weekly readings and assignments around my ALT duties. I found I had a lot more downtime on JET than in any other position I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d held before or since, so I was able to get a lot of coursework done at school.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d recommend CELTA to aspiring ESL teachers for two reasons. First, CELTA gives you most of the hard skills you need to survive in an English language teaching environment: how to plan lessons, how to teach grammar and vocabulary effectively, how to concept-check and instruction-check, and so on. Second, for many ESL teaching positions around the world, having a CELTA is mandatory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/pa210009-175x128.jpg\")
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<\/a>5)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/b>How has the experience of living in Japan helped you?<\/b><\/p>\n