Post by stillstudying on Dec 5, 2015 1:36:42 GMT
I was able to travel to Japan for the summer and paid $150 in all to do this, yup airplane food and everything! And I wanted to know if anyone else had any other programs that they wanted people to know about. Or even opportunities outside of Japan, I just love to travel.
I did a program called Guy Healy, although it's called USA Summer Camp now (don't need to be American though so it's a bit deceptive). In short you spend the summer doing camps of 3-days in length with Japanese school kids (I was with middle and high school students, but there are elementary camps as well) focused on having them use practical English, in everyday situations. So this isn’t teaching, it’s engaging with them and allowing them to practice and correcting them. There are structured activities, such as making a play with them and having them write a short speech about themselves and then memorize it, but otherwise you spend time eating, playing games, and hanging out with them.
You also get days off. There are teams in Tokyo and Fukuoka. For me I was in the Tokyo team, with the actual camps being in small towns across the Kanto and Chubu areas, however for every off day they would bring us to a hostel right in Tokyo. I'm assuming the Fukuoka team goes back to Fukuoka for off days, but I'm not positive. You're also given a stipend for food on off days. If you want to travel on your days off or shop you have to fund that yourself, but you're given plenty of freedom to do so. There’s also “prep days,” where you’re at the camp facility (each camp was at a new place) and you do set up, but most of the day you can just explore the area or relax.
You can also choose to stay with a Japanese host family for a bit as well.
The accommodations range from high end hotels, actual camps, ryokans, nature facilities etc. So you get to experience both luxury and more homey places.
I also got really close to my fellow camp counselors, I liked all of them and I ended up making some lifelong friends (there’s people who start dating/hook up).
The amount of time that you spend in Japan varies partially based on your needs. If you get into the program they’ll ask if you need to be back by a certain day. The past few years it has started on July 1st, and gone from 5 ½ to 8 weeks. Besides needs it's also randomized.
One thing to note though is that during camp days you are not allowed to speak Japanese at all or tell the kids that you know any Japanese. If they ask you have to lie, and if you know what they’re saying in Japanese you need to pretend that you don’t so that they’ll use English. On any days when you're not with kids though you can practice your Japanese as much as you want! Plus my listening got pretty good from eavesdropping on the kids.
Qualifications aren’t too bad either, you need to be at least 18 and in a country with a visa waiver program with Japan. Certain things help though like experience with children, wanting to go into education/English related jobs, etc. And this is a competitive program so put an effort into the application!
Here's the instructions on how to apply: www.guyhealyjapan.com/#!applications/c15xr You can also find more details about the program on their website. In short there’s a list of questions to fill out via e-mail, it’s not too much though. You’d also need two references to be e-mailed to them as well. For Summer 2016 it’s due on January 20th, so mark your calendars! Otherwise you can start on an application for next year.
If you have any questions feel free to send them my way! I’d be more than happy to tell more about my experience or give any advice about applying. ^^
Also I'm not sponsored at all by them, I just want people to know about the program and hope that people will share info on other programs in exchange haha. I'd love to travel more, or even do an internship.
So yeah, what programs have you guys done, or would like others to know about?
I did a program called Guy Healy, although it's called USA Summer Camp now (don't need to be American though so it's a bit deceptive). In short you spend the summer doing camps of 3-days in length with Japanese school kids (I was with middle and high school students, but there are elementary camps as well) focused on having them use practical English, in everyday situations. So this isn’t teaching, it’s engaging with them and allowing them to practice and correcting them. There are structured activities, such as making a play with them and having them write a short speech about themselves and then memorize it, but otherwise you spend time eating, playing games, and hanging out with them.
You also get days off. There are teams in Tokyo and Fukuoka. For me I was in the Tokyo team, with the actual camps being in small towns across the Kanto and Chubu areas, however for every off day they would bring us to a hostel right in Tokyo. I'm assuming the Fukuoka team goes back to Fukuoka for off days, but I'm not positive. You're also given a stipend for food on off days. If you want to travel on your days off or shop you have to fund that yourself, but you're given plenty of freedom to do so. There’s also “prep days,” where you’re at the camp facility (each camp was at a new place) and you do set up, but most of the day you can just explore the area or relax.
You can also choose to stay with a Japanese host family for a bit as well.
The accommodations range from high end hotels, actual camps, ryokans, nature facilities etc. So you get to experience both luxury and more homey places.
I also got really close to my fellow camp counselors, I liked all of them and I ended up making some lifelong friends (there’s people who start dating/hook up).
The amount of time that you spend in Japan varies partially based on your needs. If you get into the program they’ll ask if you need to be back by a certain day. The past few years it has started on July 1st, and gone from 5 ½ to 8 weeks. Besides needs it's also randomized.
One thing to note though is that during camp days you are not allowed to speak Japanese at all or tell the kids that you know any Japanese. If they ask you have to lie, and if you know what they’re saying in Japanese you need to pretend that you don’t so that they’ll use English. On any days when you're not with kids though you can practice your Japanese as much as you want! Plus my listening got pretty good from eavesdropping on the kids.
Qualifications aren’t too bad either, you need to be at least 18 and in a country with a visa waiver program with Japan. Certain things help though like experience with children, wanting to go into education/English related jobs, etc. And this is a competitive program so put an effort into the application!
Here's the instructions on how to apply: www.guyhealyjapan.com/#!applications/c15xr You can also find more details about the program on their website. In short there’s a list of questions to fill out via e-mail, it’s not too much though. You’d also need two references to be e-mailed to them as well. For Summer 2016 it’s due on January 20th, so mark your calendars! Otherwise you can start on an application for next year.
If you have any questions feel free to send them my way! I’d be more than happy to tell more about my experience or give any advice about applying. ^^
Also I'm not sponsored at all by them, I just want people to know about the program and hope that people will share info on other programs in exchange haha. I'd love to travel more, or even do an internship.
So yeah, what programs have you guys done, or would like others to know about?
