■Summary
Description:
The Board of Education dispatched ALTs for an exchange with a group of volunteer English guides. The group toured the town with the ALTs to verify the content of the tour and English expressions used, then they showed the ALTs how to cook some Japanese dishes.
Duration |
Half a day |
|---|---|
Location |
Spots of interest in town and community centre (cooking) |
Target |
Volunteer guides |
Participants |
Less than 10 people |
Organiser |
Board of Education |
Budget |
0 yen |
Objectives:
While deepening the friendships between JET participants and the local community, this project contributed to the promotion of volunteer activities.
■Implementation
The volunteer group requested the assistance of the ALTs.
The same volunteer group organises an exchange event each year for new ALTs. From their perspective, the aim is to build a relationship with new ALTs unfamiliar with the area and create a base for future cooperation and activities. Each year, two or three ALTs are invited to participate in this event. After the event, the volunteer group maintains contact with the ALTs through email, inviting them, for example, to their monthly meetings.
Cooking Class:
The volunteer guides and ALTs cooked and ate Japanese dishes, like sushi, oyaki (a kind of cookie) and other local specialties together.
Guided Tour:
Guides took the ALTs to local points of interest and gave explanations on history and culture. While presenting the area to new ALTs, guides also check their English.
The event was held on a weekday when ALTs had time, for example during examination periods. Many ALTs travel during holidays a lot of ALTs travel, and if the event took place during the weekend ALTs would require compensatory days off.
■Budget
None (dispatch based on a request).
■Submitted by
Ueda Town (Nagano Prefecture)
Board of Education Children Education Division
Tel: 0268-22-4100
Volunteer English Guide Ueda EGG
Tel: 0268-38-8157
■Comments/Advice from the Supervisor
(From the supervisor)
This event is very helpful for newly-arrived ALTs unfamiliar with Japan because it is held in English. ALT participants enjoy it a lot.
It is difficult for the ALTs to participate in the monthly meetings because they are busy with school duties and often travel abroad on holidays, but when possible the Board of Education hopes to contribute to local internationalisation through the volunteer group.
(From the volunteer group)
Our volunteer activities take place mainly on weekends and evenings, but it is difficult to request ALTs due to their employment conditions. Should they be allowed to take compensatory days off, it would interfere with school duties.
We wanted to plan more events during long school holidays, but could not because most ALTs travel abroad or home.
International exchange being an aspect of the JET Programme, it would be great to balance ALTs' duties with other activities.
■A Word From CLAIR
This project is a good example of local authorities tackling the issue of "collaboration with NPOs" and "promotion of NPO activities". There is potential to broaden the range of activities with JETparticipants in cooperation with the division in charge of citizen activities.
