Jayzaline L.
Internship: Kyushu Gaio College: Teaching
Nationality: Australian

In this testimonial Jayzaline talks to us about her internship at Kyushu Gaio College where she teaches English to both children and adults. Jayzaline is about a month into her internship and obviously at ease about where she is right now. She talks with a kind, but confident voice about her experiences at Kyushu Gaio College and Asahi Nihongo.

Why did you choose Asahi Nihongo?
I looked up internships in Japan online and liked how Asahi Nihongo had so many options. I also liked how Ashi Nihongo provides you with all the essential information that you need before coming over here so you actually feel like you can access a lot of information and get help, or access to help.

Why did you pick this internship?
At first I wasn’t sure whether to do a working holiday or an internship. I did know I wanted to get some work experience in teaching and improve my Japanese at the same time. Asahi Nihongo offered this internship option and especially at Kyushu Gaio College they have both children as well as adult classes. I’m actually able to get the opportunity to teach both children and adults so I get to experience a different range of teaching methods and see which one I’m most suited towards.

Where there any (cultural) problems you had to overcome in your internship?
For me personally I didn’t have any major problems. I had to get used to having a full time job in general, since before this program I only had part time jobs. Nowadays I’m pretty used to it. My colleagues are very nice and in terms of culture I felt there weren’t any big differences. Just small things like the way we greet people here. I think the biggest hurdle for me was actually to try to teach the children because a lot of them have very little knowledge in English and trying to explain things to them with my intermediate level of Japanese is difficult.

What do you like the most about your internship?
The same thing as my biggest problem actually. It’s been definitely quite rewarding seeing if the things you taught has reached the children and if they’ve understood what you’re trying to teach.

And how do you like Fukuoka?
So far so good! I’m feeling quite comfortable. I like the cuisine here and the different tourist attractions, such as visiting shrines. I got to experience a lot of different things and recon its better than Tokyo in terms of being a little bit more slow paced and relaxed.

Do you have any tips or recommendations for people who might want to do an internship as well?
Maybe try to do a little bit more research about the type of work that you are trying to get into so that you are more prepared for any challenges you might face in advance. This way your stay will be even more enjoyable!

About Asahi Nihongo

http://www.japanese-school-asahi.com/