Five '08 graduates begin teaching jobs in Japan

RELEASED: July 31, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College has made a name for itself as a national leader in study-abroad programming, graduating hundreds of global citizens every year. The College enriches that tradition as five 2008 graduates begin their careers as educators in Japan. Eric Wilson, Whitney Weigel, Gerard Spalding, Talia Harris and Zach Talbot have each earned membership to the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET). The program is aimed at promoting grass-roots international exchange between Japan and other nations by orchestrating the placement of JET participants with different contracting organizations in Japan.

"Thousands of participants recruited from dozens of countries are brought to Japan to work in various capacities," Talbot says, "although most of them are involved in language instruction of some kind."
           
While the program also offers positions in international relations and sports training, the five Centre graduates will serve as assistant language teachers who provide supplemental instruction in Japanese schools.

"Teaching assistants help teach language classes with a Japanese English (or French or Chinese, etc) teacher," explains Harris, who turned down a Fulbright scholarship for the opportunity to teach in both middle schools and in elementary schools in Uto, Japan.

"I applied to JET because I was looking for an international experience," Harris continues. "Japanese was one of the languages that I studied in order to fulfill my self-designed modern languages major, and I wanted a chance to improve my Japanese."

But the program offers more to participants than a teaching job. Wilson explains, "For me, JET is really a chance to travel, expand my comfort zone, gain a better understanding of Japanese culture, get a little closer to becoming multicultural, and give back to a group of people who were such gracious hosts to me during my Centre-in-Japan experience."

Centre-in-Japan is an exchange program in which each year Centre students travel to Yamaguchi Prefectural University to hone their Japanese language skills and immerse themselves in the culture while living with a Japanese family.

Talbot says, "Centre-in-Japan was invaluable; there's no other adequate word. The home stay experience gives veterans of that program an edge in applying for JET that most other applicants won't have. Yamaguchi's rural setting, interaction with Japanese youth, and the level of cultural immersion via living with a family can lead to a mindset and body of experience that is, in my opinion, tailor-made for participation in the JET Programme."

At Centre, more than four of five students participate in study abroad. This is Kentucky's highest percentage of international study and one of the highest percentages among all U.S. colleges and universities.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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