gunmajet.net

Good Morning.

My name is Andrew Heffernan. I will be your AJET block representative for this year. (for those of you who don't know what that is I have put a brief description at the bottom of this email). For some of you this will be my first and last message to you on JET. I wish you the best of luck for the future, whether at home or here In Japan. For everyone else I look forward to working with you this year. Any comments or queries are welcome! Please read the following carefully.

A message from CLAIR.

http://ajet.net/modules/wfdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=11&lid=277
This template is included in the 2009 General Information Handbook for JET participants to use when passing on information to their successor.Feel free to download it and pass it on to other JETs in your area. It is just a template so feel free to make changes and improvements, if you see fit.The template is in MS Word format so you can type directly into the form.

A message from AJET Peer Support Group

Dear JETs,

AJET Peer Support Group (PSG) is a confidential and anonymous, listening and referral service that has been providing support to the JET community for over ten years. PSG volunteers are available to listen and help every day of the year, overnight from 8pm until 7am the following morning. In order to improve PSG we have recently changed our telephone provider. Our new number is 050-5534-5566. This new number will connect callers to a volunteer immediately.

Please remember that although PSG is affiliated with National AJET, we at PSG are under no obligation to report to anyone so we can guarantee complete confidentiality. Call us any time between 8pm and 7am everyday. If you're dealing with an issue, be it related to work, life or health; for example whether you need a doctor at 3am, have had a bad day at work and need to de-stress, or if you simply want to speak English with someone, please know that we are here for you. We are waiting for your call.

We have also just started a wiki at www.ajet.net/psg please feel free to use the resources we have made available. We would also really appreciate any contributions you would like to make. We are trying to build prefecture specific pages. So if you have any resources or comments that you think JETs in your prefecture, or visiting your prefecture, might need, such as hospital details, emergency contact information and so on, please email them to me at psg@ajet.net

So that's AJET Peer Support Group - 8pm to 7am - 050-5534-5566 - everyday of the year.

Thank you and all the best,

Emily Collins

2009-2010 AJET National Council
AJET Peer Support Group National Coordinator
AJET Prefectural Advisor Liaison

Email: psg@ajet.net , paliaison@ajet.net
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AJET Peer Support Group - 8PM to 7AM - 050-5534-5566

A message from me.

Hello JETs,

I am your new National AJET Block 3 representative (Andrew Heffernan). I look forward to working with you all this year. I hail from Melbourne Australia and I am currently living in the quaint village of Niisato (Kiryu) in Gunma Ken.

For those of you who don't know what AJET actually does I will give a brief rundown. If you have any questions, suggestions or opinions I would love to hear from you now or anytime throughout the year. Firstly I represent the JET’s of the following prefectures (Nagano, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Saitama) to the national council of AJET. This aspect of my role includes communicating with your AJET Prefectural Presidents and helping organise any social events as requested.

The second aspect of my role is to be an expert on everything JET. As AJET historian my major role on the council will be preparing for and partaking in the bi-annual Opinion Exchanges with CLAIR. For those of you who don't know about these meetings, here is a quick outline.

Members of the National AJET council will convene in Tokyo for our biannual Opinion Exchange Meeting with CLAIR and the three ministries: the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC); and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). These meetings are AJET's prime opportunity to bring forth issues facing you as a JET in Japan. Previous topics have included Town Merger Report, Model Supervisor Report, Contracting Organization Evaluation Report, Elementary School Visits, Community Involvement and so on. These meetings have been held for ten years now and having recently been apart of one, I can say they are probably the most impressive thing I have experienced on the JET program. So if you have any issues you think need to be looked at, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am hoping to do a report on the decreasing number of JET's and the terms and conditions of JET Contracts, any worthwhile suggestion I receive will be presented to the council.

Enjoy your last week of classes!

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Regards,

Andrew Heffernan
National AJET Council, 2009-2010
Block 3 Representative - block3@ajet.net