I clearly remember when my intrigue with Japan and Japanese culture first started. I was in the third grade and our librarian read to us the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I sat there and became more fascinated as she read on about the young girl who folded one origami crane after another in hopes of folding one thousand so that she could wish for good health as lore dictated. It was this book that sparked a desire in me to see and learn more about others in general. One of JET’s primary goals is to promote understanding between different cultures. For me personally, I have always enjoyed learning about how my culture is different from another, along with finding the similarities that could draw us together. I find that learning about other cultures tends to promote a greater acceptance and willingness to cooperate among people. I hope to share my enthusiasm and inspire my young students to want to see and to know more about the world, especially as societies are becoming more globalized.
However, it is not just my desire to share my culture and learn more about the Japanese culture that makes me a good candidate; I feel there are many aspects to my character that make me a qualified candidate. I have a natural curiosity and interest about language acquisition in general. I am a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and have worked with children from ages one to eighteen since earning my Master’s degree. I use various methods to help children with sound acquisition, articulation, vocabulary building, language building, and pre-literacy skills. I am responsible for goal planning, lesson activities, and parent education. During my clinical fellowship year, I worked in a special-needs school with a caseload of 215 children. I collaborated with classroom teachers to create functional goals and to produce appropriate and practical speech and language lessons. It is because of my knowledge of language acquisition and my passion for working with young children that I feel that I would be best suited to work at an elementary school lever during my time with the JET program.
Currently, I provide therapy services in a home-based early intervention program. For the most part, my caseload is made up of child who, for various reasons, are having trouble acquiring the sound system and structure of their native language, English. However, as more families are relocating from other parts of the world, requests to provide services to non-native English speakers have been on the rise. Being an ALT would allow me to observe and be an active participant in how English is taught and acquired as a second language. When I return to the United States, I plan on incorporating my current skills with the new skills I will gain as an ALT to provide more appropriate assistance for the growing population of children that require English as a second language services. I also plan on taking on a role as an active educator within the speech and hearing community and advocate for non-native English speakers.
I am well educated, reliable, and responsible. My work background provides me with a multitude of personal experiences to draw from and share with others. But I feel that my enthusiasm for working with children and my dedication for the promotion of functional communication are what make me an exceptional candidate for the JET Program.
