HUNTINGTON BEACH : Sister City Assn. Taking Applications

The Sister City Assn. is accepting applications for two teaching assistants and eight students to visit Anjo, Japan, or Waitekere, New Zealand, as part of its 9-year-old exchange program.

The paid English-teaching assistants would live and work in Anjo for one year, with an option to continue for a second year. Applicants must be prepared to leave in early April, when the Japanese school year begins.

The assistants, who need not hold a teaching credential or speak Japanese, would work with Anjo junior high school English teachers. Applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree in any subject and live in Huntington Beach.

Initial interviews will be conducted by the Huntington Beach Sister City Committee, videotaped and sent to a panel in Anjo that will choose the teaching assistants. Anjo officials will set the salary, which is typically between $30,000 and $40,000 per year--a low-to-moderate annual income by Japanese standards, said Naida Osline, the city’s spokeswoman for the association.

The exchange students, who are chosen by the local Sister City Committee, will travel to one of the cities for two-week visits, living with a family in the host city. Four of the students will travel to Anjo in late July, and the other four will visit Waitekere in late August.

Applicants must be between the ages of 14 and 19 and live or attend school in Huntington Beach. About half of the trips’ costs are paid by the Sister City Assn., which collects donations to fund its share of the program.

Students from the sister cities will stay with Huntington Beach families in late June and early July.

The filing deadline for student exchange applicants is Feb. 1, and teaching assistant candidates may apply through Feb. 15.