A Note on Abbreviations

Because of the wide scope of English teaching in Japan, a number of different terms have arisen to describe many of the same things.　In the interest of maintaining clarity, we've decided to stick to one set of abbreviations throughout this publication.　At this point I'd like to list the abbreviations we'll be using, as well as their commonly used counterparts.

AET: "Assistant English Teacher"

Also commonly referred to as ALT: "Assistant Language Teacher".　

　　　　 Both terms, AET and ALT, appear throughout this publication and are interchangeable

JTE: "Japanese Teacher of English"

Also sometimes known as JET: "Japanese English Teacher".

　　　　　There is sometimes a bit of confusion with the term "JET" because the

　　　　　majority of AET’s in Japan are participants of the government-sponsored

　　　　　"Japan Exchange Teaching Program" (JET Program).　Therefore, to avoid

　　　　　confusion we use JTE.

JET Program(me):　"Japan Exchange Teaching Program(me)"

This is the government-sponsored organization which recruits and places non-Japanese native speakers of foreign languages to work in Japan as:

　　　　　Assistant Language Teachers (ALT's),

　　　　　Coordinators of International Relations (CIR's), and

　　　　　Sports Exchange Advisors (SEA's).　

For more information on the JET programme.

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