Difference between revisions of "Help:Do's and Don'ts"

Latest revision as of 15:12, 8 June 2010

Do's

• DO keep your audience in mind at all times.

  Who reads the Guidebook? - This is an excellent question and one which you should base your additions on. There are two primary answers.

  For the Mie city/town articles and the Life in Mie articles:

  1. JETs and ex-pats living in other areas of Mie who are looking to visit a specific city, town, or location on their own without having to rely on local JETs, supervisors, or other sources of information.
  2. Incoming JETs who have been accepted into the Program, placed in Mie, and are enthusiastically reading about their new home.

  For the teaching articles:

  • Any English teacher in Japan

• DO add maps.

  Directions, addresses, and phone numbers are ideal as well. Google maps are the best choice because they give English annotations over place names.

• DO add pictures to your articles

  Pictures make the article come to life - use them. Be careful not to overuse them, too many pictures will detract from the stronger effect that a few good pictures will have. Carefully select good pictures and use them in the appropriate spot in the article.

Dont's

• DON'T refer to JETs or JTLs by name

  Tips to ask ~~ about this and ~~ about that belong in a letter to your successor, not the guidebook. Remember, the text in the guidebook will not just be read by your successor, it will be read by years of JETs to come - much of the core text currently in the guidebook was written 4-5 years ago! On top of the fact that these people could very well have left the JET Program / school / area by the time this information is read, it's not a good idea to assume that whoever is reading the guidebook knows the JET/JTL you're referring to. Many people from other towns looking to come to your town read the guidebook and may not know a JET in your town and are almost guaranteed to not know you're teachers.

• DON'T assume everyone knows where you live

  When giving directions, do not use your own apartment as a landmark. Even if all the JETs in town live in the same area, at least use a major road or some other landmark that can be found on a map to base your directions on.