I Think I'm Lost - JET / Japan / Teaching discussion

[Paul]

Hi all,

Site: http://www.ithinkimlost.com (JET/Japan discussion)

I Think I'm Lost (ITIL) started off as a yahoo group called 2004JET which quickly became very popular and required it's own website. ITIL was born and we currently get around 30,000 views a day.

ITIL is a JET forum and community for aspiring, current, and former JETs alike. Everything related to Japan, the JET programme, teaching, and learning Japanese is discussed, along with anything else you can think of.

Applying for JET? Get useful information you require here.
Currently a JET? Get advice and teaching materials here, along with travel advice.

We have been around for a few years and so have a wealth of information that is always expanded and updated.

So, even though these are the official JET forums, they are quite new. I'm very sure they will fill up with very useful information over time. But, feel free to check out ITIL as well.

Site admins: good job on the new forum and I look forward to it's quick expansion

Cheers,
Paul
(4th Year JET - Osaka-fu)

[da_moff]

There are a number of other forums apart from ITIL:

The official JET Programme forum: JET Programme :: Index

Let's start right here. The old forum was a bit clunky but this new one is much cleaner and friendlier

Big Daikon: BigDaikon

You have to be fairly thick skinned here. Not as civilised as ITIL and draws a lot of cynics. Also takes awhile to get registered

Virtual JET Workshop:The JET-Programme Forum - A Virtual JET Workshop - Index

This one is new and broad-based. A good concept but doesn't seem to have taken off yet.

Gaijin Pot: Japan Forums

Some people post here though it is not JET focused.

All of the above have different characters so just surf around and choose the one(s) that suit you best.

[patrick]

In my opinion, many people surf ITIL with real questions but many of the responses they receive aren't not beneficial and often times just sacastic posts. If you are coming over on JET, I think your best option is to stick closest to the metaphorical 'JET belt' and stick close to this forum. If the answers aren't here, chances are people surfing thru here know the answer or where to find it.

If you should venture out looking for other similar teacher forums, you're next 2 best places are:

1. MES-English forum
2. eslHQ forum

However, personally, I can't second the other forums mentioned in the previous post.

Big Daikon has an extensive archive of teaching information but the teaching section of the forum has been dead for over a year. Now, everybody just surfs the 'general' forum and trolls the hell out of it.

There was a reason Virtual JET Workshop was deleted from this forum last time it was posted. It doesn't have any members, useful posts and half of the links on that particular forum links back to this forum.

Gaijin Pot has been around for awhile but like Big Daikon, it is very hard to find useful things on that forum and it has little to no use for the JET ALT.

My suggestion would be to keep this forum as your basis of support. Then, when you have questions about other resources and more specific teacher-content forums, ask you questions here. I'm sure somebody can point you in the right direction.

[chibakenben]

It's not JET-, ALT-, or even Japan-centric, but Dave's ESL Cafe (yeah yeah, casual name, but good product) is pretty good for forums and resources regarding teaching English as a foreign or second language, and, in my experience, largely free of trolls despite its worldwide user-base. It's one of the oldest and most well-established ESL sites on the web and has recently undergone a revamp making access to the years and years of posts much more user-friendly.

http://www.eslcafe.com/

[patrick]

I would have to agree with CKB about Dave'sESL forum. It is pretty 'troll-free' and has a ton of wickedly smart people on it. I found a speech psychologist on that forum who helped me out with a 'R' vs. 'L' pronunciation problem most Japanese students have when studying English pronunciations.

[NatalieHiroshimaPA]

A new forum: www.japanistan.com is in place. Its currently a place to just hang out, but bring your questions and someone is bound to answer them

[Shiro Kuma]

I tend to be a bit of a lurker on forums and rarely post much. I tend to be more facebook and My Space kinda guy (as per my sig).

I just wanna say this forum was really useful for me as I was preparing to come to Japan. It really is the best for newbies and those hoping to come. Most of the others listed above have a bit of information but are otherwise inundated with crap. It seems a lot of JET's, once they arrive, are just interested in venting and talking rubbish. There can be some funny stuff on Big Daikon (amongst all the rubbish). ITIL seems a little more civilized. Sorry, I can't see the point of Japanistan Natalie - it doesn't seem to do anything that the others don't. But hey, if there's any happening community that people enjoy, more power to ya!

[christianPC]

Sweet! Glad to hear that from you Shirokuma! Hope all is well!

[NatalieHiroshimaPA]

Sorry, I can't see the point of Japanistan Natalie - it doesn't seem to do anything that the others don't. But hey, if there's any happening community that people enjoy, more power to ya!

ITIL is very newbie based and Big Daikon is very jaded. So Japanistan is inbetween I like to give people options

[koritsimou]

Oh, wow. There's a lot of good stuff in here. Today was my first day really looking into JET beyond the "I need a bachelor's degree" part, and I have nothing constructive to add, except for thanks everyone, for finding these things to post!

[Trivial]

I'm the new Administrator of http://www.ithinkimlost.com, and I just wanted to let you guys know that we have a new moderator in the Applying for JET Forum that is very dedicated to keeping the new applicants happy and keeping the trolls out. So you don't have to worry about ANY kind of abuse

We've got a ton of good information in there this year, and several hundred applicants have made their way over to get new information. So I suppose we're new and improved. Check it out!

I Think I'm Lost

[sketchin_out]

In my opinion, many people surf ITIL with real questions but many of the responses they receive aren't not beneficial and often times just sacastic posts. If you are coming over on JET, I think your best option is to stick closest to the metaphorical 'JET belt' and stick close to this forum. If the answers aren't here, chances are people surfing thru here know the answer or where to find it.

If you should venture out looking for other similar teacher forums, you're next 2 best places are:

1. MES-English forum
2. eslHQ forum

However, personally, I can't second the other forums mentioned in the previous post.

Big Daikon has an extensive archive of teaching information but the teaching section of the forum has been dead for over a year. Now, everybody just surfs the 'general' forum and trolls the hell out of it.

There was a reason Virtual JET Workshop was deleted from this forum last time it was posted. It doesn't have any members, useful posts and half of the links on that particular forum links back to this forum.

Gaijin Pot has been around for awhile but like Big Daikon, it is very hard to find useful things on that forum and it has little to no use for the JET ALT.

My suggestion would be to keep this forum as your basis of support. Then, when you have questions about other resources and more specific teacher-content forums, ask you questions here. I'm sure somebody can point you in the right direction.

I've seen ITIL and think it's a terrible place to go for serious answers. I agree that the people there are sarcastic. I also think they are mostly frequented by Japan snobs, and I find most of the forum topics to be distasteful and pointless at the best of times (full of nerautic worriers).

When I applied to JET, I came across that site, and after reading some of the questions and responses, I just decided to look elsewhere.

I think serious questions on this forum, curiosity questions about JET and life that are not so important before arriving and figuring it out for yourself = ITIL.

[patrick]

ENGLIPEDIA'S FORUM

Not to push Englipedia too much, but it has a relatively new forum where we discuss work/non-work related issues that are specific to Japan and the ALT life.

The community is rather small but the main posters there have experience in Japan, ranging from 6-20 years in-country. There are forums ranging from teaching, work-related, worksheet-making to even a forum specific for discussions on MEXT-approved English textbooks. There is even a school newsletter forum being started.

However, I think one of the cooler things about Englipedia's forum is the copyright-free image gallery that people can access when they are making worksheets and looking for topic-specific clipart.

[NatalieHiroshimaPA]

I have just tried repeatedly to sign up for Englipedia but it keeps giving an error in the registering process

[patrick]

I have just tried repeatedly to sign up for Englipedia but it keeps giving an error in the registering process

Hey Natalie,

I'm on this. I'll let you know when it's fixed.