JET ALT Questions from Glassdoor  

Compiled by u/velvetfield 
 
1. What would you do if the JTE made a mistake during lecture/class? 
2. If a student asked about slavery, how would you respond? 
3. How would you teach a lesson on American culture? 
4. Pretend that you are in front of 2nd graders with the intent of learning something 
about your home country. 
5. How would you bond with your students and the people around you? 
6. Why JET? 
7. Why do you want to teach English in Japan? 
8. Do you have any experience teaching? 
9. What interests you about Japanese culture? 
10. Why did you study Japanese? 
11. Please imagine that we are students who don’t understand today’s lesson. Explain to us 
“This is a pen”. 
12. What would you do if someone at a restaurant insulted Americans or got into an angry 
debate about culture? 
13. Which three things would you bring to represent America? 
14. Why did you select the locations you did to work? 
15. How will you be a bridge between your home country and your new town? 
16. You could be teaching young children, how would you bypass the language barrier and 
make the lesson fun and educational?   
17. In your view, what is an American? 
18. Why the JET program in particular?  
19. You may find yourself in a far-off, rural area, and you may find yourself feeling isolated. 
How do you do with being alone?   
20. Tell us about a problem that you've overcome in teaching.  
21. Would you be okay with a rural placement?  
22. How do you anticipate dealing with a community of mostly older people?   
23. How will you integrate yourself into the community in Japan?   
24. Say you are out with your co-workers. One of them gets very drunk and says to you, 
"[Name], I hate Americans and American soldiers. American soldiers are rapists and 
killers." How do you respond?  
25. Give us an outline to a lesson plan on America. 
26. Describe a time you resolved a conflict between two people. 
27. Japan is a very conservative country in places. If you were told to wear a skirt or serve 
tea every day would you do it? 
28. What are your strongest and weakest personality traits? 
29. If a student asks, “what is American”, how would you respond? 
30. Why do you want to do JET, which is very different? 
31. How would you teach 1st graders about the American flag? 
32. How do you see yourself benefitting the program and yourself if you were hired for the 
ALT position? 
33. What skills and value would you bring to the JET program? 
34. What does grassroots mean to you? 
35. What did you do to prepare for this interview?  
36. Why JET specifically? 
37. What piece of pop culture from your country would you like to teach to your kids? 
38. What motivates you to become a teacher? 
39. How is JET a stepping stone for you? 
40. How I would take steps to resolve the issue about Japanese schoolchildren reading less 
and less books nowadays.  
41. What are your top three favorite authors? 
42. Who are your top three favorite musicians? 
43. What would you do in a class of rowdy students? 
44. How would you react to the workplace culture of socializing by going out and drinking? 
45. How would you handle a student who was not speaking in class? 
46. How will you share Japanese culture with your home country when you return?   
47. This position often includes a lot of downtime between classes and during holidays. Are 
you okay with that, and how will you stay busy? 
48. What would you do if you were placed on a remote island of 300 residents and didn't 
speak any Japanese? 
49. What do you do if you arrive to class but the teacher (JTE) is not there?   
50. How do you think your experience as a professional in Japan will differ from your 
experience as a student during study abroad? 
51. Who was someone that inspired/influenced you in your education? 
52. Describe where you live to students with limited English proficiency, and use direction 
terms as the core of your lesson. 
53. How will you get students interested in learning English? 
54. How have your past experiences prepared you for this position?   
55. How would you deal with difficult children? 
56. What would you bring to Japan that would represent your country and your culture in a 
way that is unique? 
57. How would you fight homesickness? 
58. What will you do if you’re just being used as a tape recorder? 
59. How would you explain the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to an eight 
year old student? 
60. Please put together a short 5 minute lesson plan using the materials in this room for a 
class of 20, 8-10 year olds wanting to learn English on the topic of your favorite snack. 
61. How would you handle a situation where the Japanese Teacher of English made a 
mistake in class? 
62. Imagine you have to introduce a famous American historical figure to a group of 
Japanese students. Now talk about that figure as if we were your students.   
63. How would you prepare a lesson for students with little to no English-language ability? 
64. We are 4th graders. Teach us a lesson about one of your hobbies. 
65. Do you keep up with current events? 
66. How will you handle culture shock? 
67. Please demonstrate to us how you'd give a self introduction to Japanese students. 
68. How will your educational background help you in Japan? 
69. How would you deal with the homogeneity in Japan? 
70. Describe one way you would show your culture to your classes. 
71. How would you respond to students asking to touch your hair? 
72. What is an example lesson you might to teach to share American culture? 
73. Why are you interested to move halfway around the world? 
74. What is your biggest weakness? 
75. How well do you handle children? 
76. You have to design a lesson where you teach three aspects of American culture - what 
three aspects do you choose and how do you represent each of them with an object. 
77. How would you spend your free time? 
78. Can you give us a sample lesson plan? 
79. What do you think the relation between Japan and the U.S. is?  
80. What would you do if you were asked to live in a cold region of Japan? 
81. What do you think is the difference between Japanese and American students? 
82. What was a significant setback you have experienced?  
83. What will you do if your co-workers don’t like you? 
84. How will you handle stress in Japan? 
85. How would you plan a class to introduce kids to the ABCs? 
86. If you couldn't work with your preferred age group, would you be okay with that?  
87. If you could bring just one thing to share with your students about your town or 
culture, what would you bring and why? 
88. Why are you interested in living in Japan? 
89. What would you do if a Japanese person was rude to you? 
90. What would you do if your teacher did not want to utilize you and you just sat in the 
back of the classroom all the time? 
91. Would I be willing to work with elementary school students--and, if so, would I be 
willing to sing, dance, etc. to warm them up to the English language?  
92. Please give us an example lesson. The topic is sports. We're all elementary students. 
93. Did you have any issues in Japan? 
94. What do you think you can contribute to students in Japan? 
95. What are your strengths as a teacher? 
96. Do you think you're wasting your skills on the JET Programme? 
97. How specifically will you represent America? 
98. What is New York’s sister city in Japan? 
99. What is an example lesson idea for an elementary school level English class? 
100. Who are some Japanese people you find inspiring? 
101. Tell us about a news story you've heard about Japan lately? 
102. What would you do if you were lost in a rural area at night and spoke no Japanese? 
103. How do you describe Halloween to a Japanese middle-school student?   
104. How would you communicate with an old Japanese person who does not have a 
 positive view of foreigners? 
105. Which book, sport and celebrity would you show your kids and why? 
106. Please use gestures to teach a class of elementary school students 3 American 
sports. Please do not use any words. 
107. How would you teach colors to children who can’t read or write? 
108. What will you answer if a student or teacher tells you that Japan is destined to rule 
over Asia?