University of Wisconsin-Superior International Student Advisor Kim Habig recommends the position highly. She taught in Japan several years ago and visited Ami in 2008.
"From my own experience, I actually went there as an English teacher in a small town school system, and it was just such an eye opening experience especially for someone who hasn't traveled overseas very much. Having the chance to live in a community and be a part of the community, and you know, interact with the kids in the schools and the teachers and the families just really makes you aware that there's a whole different way of living and thinking," Habig said.
That's one of the reasons Habig is on the Superior Sister Cities Commission.
While the job requires a bachelor's degree from an American university, little more is necessary to apply for an assistant language teacher position at Heart English School. ALT Trainer and Recruiter Kent Phillips says the Ami Board of Education wants a Superior resident or student to begin work at the school in late March or early April.
"It is, more or less, a combination of being an assistant teacher in English classes as well as being an internationalization element for the students; doing things such as helping to organize certain events that might contain the flavor of the Wisconsin area, to be able to represent that part of the United States," he said.
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Phillips says being a language teacher is a wonderful experience.
"It would immediately be something were you would feel the impact of being very, very important to a lot of people. Instantly, you would be one of the most interesting and important people to hundreds of kids in the town. And then, of course, those kids might tell their families and then you have thousands of people who instantly know who you are and they really respect you as someone who is helping the community and it's a very, very powerful feeling," he said
The position is a year-long contract but Phillips says accommodations can be made for a shorter term. Anyone interested in the position can contact Kent Phillips directly at teach@heart-school.jp .
