I have been an English teacher for four-and-a-half years since my graduation from the National University of Singapore and find that this job complements my desire to nurture enquiring young minds. Having taught at Yishun Junior College and Singapore Polytechnic—the Singapore equivalent of senior high school and college respectively, my next career aspiration is to teach English to foreign language learners. This is why I am applying for the position of an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) under the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

I believe that my involvement in JET will accelerate both my personal and professional growth. I have always been keenly interested in Japan and have amassed a rather solid knowledge of her culture due to my regular consumption of Japanese manga, drama and anime. Additionally, I have been studying Japanese for a year and will be taking the JLPT N5 examination this December. I am fascinated with how the Japanese forge ahead with scientific advancement while remaining steeped in their tradition. Hence, through JET, I hope to build meaningful friendships with my local partners and understand the Japanese psyche better.

Professional-wise, although English is not Singaporeans’ mother tongue, it is increasingly our native language. Hence, having groomed Singaporean youngsters’ skills in oral presentation and report writing, I wish to challenge myself and see if I am resourceful and flexible enough to adapt my teaching pedagogies to suit the learning needs of foreign language learners. I am also excited at the prospect of meeting Japanese English teachers; it will be an enriching experience to witness first-hand how they teach English and collaborate together to engage the students effectively. After JET, I hope to work toward either a Masters in Cross-cultural Communications or a TESOL Diploma and believe that this experience will come in handy.

To succeed in the role of an ALT, I proactively undertake projects that enable me to teach English to foreign language learners. Even in my second year of teaching, I was selected to represent Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) programme in 2007. Then, I taught English to aspiring and current English teachers at the National University of Laos for three weeks. This pushed me to think on my feet as I was only given the textbooks upon my arrival and had to formulate and execute my lesson plans quickly. Harnessing from this experience, I led twenty students to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam this April to enhance the oral communication skills of 140 children from 14 primary schools. Taking on a facilitative role, I guided them to come up with their own ideas and plan their lessons systematically.

All this has given me invaluable experience in cooperating with educators of other nationalities and planning customised lessons for my foreign students. This served me in good stead when I taught an Intensive English course to twenty Japanese students studying in various Institute of National Colleges of Technology (INCT) from 16 to 27 August 2010. I found out that they were good at word recognition and composition but lacked the confidence to speak up. So, I relied on presentations and structured interviews with Singaporean students to encourage them to communicate their thoughts orally. Eventually, most of them overcame their shyness and presented their ideas assertively to a few of their colleagues on the last day of their course.

All in all, I hope that my passion for Japanese language and culture, experience in teaching both young Singaporeans and people of diverse nationalities and eagerness to learn and grow as an ALT will be commensurate with the requirements the admissions committee are looking for in qualified ALT candidates.