Pembroke College Cambridge

Konan and Seikei Internships

Applications for the Konan and Seikei internships are now open.

Our guest assistant teaching internships in Japan offer you the chance to experience Japanese culture and share yours with Japanese students. 

With travel and accommodation costs covered*, as well as a travel award for independent travel in Japan after the internship, this is a wonderful opportunity if you’re interested in and have experience working with children and/or students and have an interest in Japan.

We have two internships available on each programme and if you want to get an interns insight, read their blog post

Konan Internship

In this two-week internship you’ll work as a volunteer guest assistant teacher at Konan Elementary School, near Kobe, in the Kansai area of Japan.

Working with native-Japanese and non-Japanese English teachers you’ll share your culture with Japanese primary school children, speaking about your home country and hometown; teaching children’s break-time games from those countries and singing songs.

The teachers will be on hand to help you prepare before and after arrival in Japan. They’ll also guide you and be your Japanese language translators! 

Experience Japanese Culture  

The students at Konan will have prepared presentations to teach you about Japanese culture. You’ll also have multiple cultural experiences and tours guided by Konan staff.

There’s even the opportunity to have a weekend home-stay with a student’s family! Please check out their flyer for more information.

The inclusive 2024 internship dates for the Konan Internship are Monday 24th June 2024 - Friday 5th July 2024. 

Seikei Internship

In this internship you'll work across several levels of education and with students of all ages at Seikei Gakuen in Tokyo prefecture. 

You'll work at Seikei Elementary School, Seikei Junior/Senior High School and at Seikei University. Under close supervision by faculty and staff, you'll be involved in team teaching English classes. 

At the University you'll be invited to take part in a variety of classes from basic English to graduation thesis seminars. You'll also help with orientation sessions for the Pembroke College High School and University Summer programmes. 

Throughout your stay you'll be supported by staff at the Seikei Institute for International Studies (SIIS) and by staff and faculty at each constituent institution while based there. 

You'll stay at the International House on the Seikei University campus and will be supported by university students who have taken part in previous summer programmes at Pembroke. 

The inclusive 2024 internship dates for the Seikei Internship are expected to be Monday 24th June 2023 - Friday 12th July 2023 (this will be confirmed shortly). 

Travel Award

You'll have the opportunity to use a travel award* to travel independently in Japan after either internship. The normal conditions of College travel scholarships apply to this award.

*Amount to be confirmed; in previous years this has been around £500.

Other costs

All accommodation costs relating to the internships are covered. You will receive a flight stipend from your internship provider to put towards your return flight to the Kansai area (Konan Internship) or Tokyo (Seikei Internship)*. 

*Amount to be confirmed; in previous years this has been around £700-£800 depending on the internship. 

Who can apply?

We welcome applications from Pembroke undergraduates in their first, second or penultimate year of study.

Unfortunately the timing of the internships make them unsuitable if you’re planning to graduate in 2024. Semester, Erasmus, Visiting or Exchange students are not eligible to apply for this internship. 

How to Apply

  • Send us a CV (2 page maximum) and short statement (no more than one side of A4).
  • Your short statement should explain which of the internships you are applying for, what you could contribute to the internship and how you plan to use the travel award.
  • When you’re ready to apply, send your applications to Stephanie Whittle in the International Programmes Office at stephanie.whittle@pem.cam.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Konan/Seikei Internship Application’ (delete as applicable).

Our key selection criteria are an interest in and experience working with elementary level children (Konan Internship) or students from elementary to university level (Seikei Internship) as well as an interest in Japanese Culture.

You may apply for both internships, but please make this clear as well as why you would be suitable in your short statement. You cannot be accepted to both internships. 

Please note that all successful candidates will be required to have DBS check which must come back clear.

The closing date for applications is Friday 8th March. Interviews will take place the week beginning 11th March.

Questions?

If you have any questions, get in touch with Stephanie Whittle at stephanie.whittle@pem.cam.ac.uk. She’ll be happy to help!