What Did I Learn? I learned how to set up a lesson plan, and how to further teach to the individual student's needs. I also learned how to work with a diverse and very different opinionated group of people to achieve a common goal. I would say this program

was definitely worthwhile, but not something that every person would enjoy. What Do You Do In This Program? In this program you become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language (otherwise known as TEFL), while staying in Tokyo for 2 months. You spend a month shadowing Japanese English teachers at a wide variety of schools (elementary to high school level), and hosting conversational English periods at local universities. The last 2 weeks of the program are dedicated to hosting the Tokyo English Camp or TEC, and having students from a university in Kyoto come up to Tokyo. This was by far the highlight of the program for me. The field work was a lot of fun, and being able to hang out with my 2 students and create a video for the final project was super rewarding. What Was Difficult About This Experience? Tokyo is a very expensive city to live in. The program doesn't cover food costs outside of program sponsored events, so you end up spending a lot on meals. The best way to decrease the cost is to make your own meals so you aren't spending the entire time eating at restaurants. Also transportation is charged per total distance, so if you're going from one end of Tokyo to another it can get really costly. So definitely plan to spend a bare minimum of $300 per month on transportation via the trains. Best Experiences While Abroad? I was lucky to have had numerous conversations with Japanese locals who wanted to know what I was doing in Japan and how my courses were going (when I mentioned I was studying Japanese on my own). Also I spent a lot of time with my students during the English camp at the end of the program. I also went and looked up numerous summer festivals and ended up going to most of them. I even got to go to Kyoto for a weekend on my own which was excellent (but not included in the program so I paid out of pocket for that). Advice for Potential Travelers? Push your comfort zone, and seek to fully immerse yourself as much as you can in the local culture. Japan is a diverse country with many interesting regional differences, so if you can afford it travel outside the Tokyo region. Definitely study a little Japanese before going, so you can at least thank people and order meals. But if you get the chance to hang out with some locals take that opportunity because Japanese people won't often interact with foreigners if they don't already know them. My best experiences were when I got to experience the local culture and festivals (definitely go to a summer matsuri if you get the chance).