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Thread: Who has taught English in Japan?

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    Featured Member Hatshepsut's Avatar
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    Default Who has taught English in Japan?

    One of my best friends is teaching English in Kagoshima via Aeon. He has a degree in linguistics and is fluent in Nihongo, so this was his dream entry job. Unlike JET and the others, he can choose which age groups he wants (high school and up) and he gets his own apartment. He's not like all those other stupid fanboys who talk about Naruto during the interviews and see the job as a matchmaking service, he's very intellectual and blew all his fellow interviewees away by discussing grammar components. He hopes to someday work in the international department of a major company.

    Teaching in Japan is an idea that I've always toyed with in the back of my head. I'm half Japanese, I speak semi-proficient Japanese (I've forgotten a lot, but my memory is easily jogged), and my grasp on the English language and grammar is good. A quarter or 6 months might be a good opportunity to see my heritage, and I know that some companies offer short term contracts. All of them require a bachelor's, which I will get after I get my RN.

    I'm not expecting it to be all fun and games like those stupid otaku who have wet dreams to underage anime girls. In fact, I dread working in a Japanese company due to the fact that they never outgrew feudalism. I worked for one Japanese company, and when I quit, I swore I'd never work for a kaisha again. Aeon is notoriously strict, as my friend has to be in full suit all the time and would get fired if his employers found out that he was out drinking on a weeknight.

    Has anyone taught in Japan, through a company or under the table?

    Another thing I'm looking into is nursing in Japan. Japan only accepts Japanese-educated nurses only, but there are military bases. That would be an even better opportunity.

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    God/dess Embyr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    My cousin did this and ADORED it. She went on to get a professional ESL degree so she could do it more.

    My father, a music professor, has done musician exchanges with one of the universities in Osaka. Also adored it. Then they sacked the program.

    Go for it! What a MARVElous opportunity... as long as you were fully aware of what you'd be getting into on a military base.

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    God/dess shasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    2 of my friends are going in Sept. I think they are teaching elementery. They could not find a company that would take them for less then a year.

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    Veteran Member A.n.a.l.a.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    my mom did that for three years. she's a teacher; went on sabatical several years ago. she in japan for a total of 3 years and taught little kids-6 preschoolers, three grade schools, and one middle school- all like 3-14 years old max. they paid for her apartment and loaned her a bike to get a around the town. and when i visited, they loaned me a bike, too. she stayed in a town not too far from nagoya, japan; about 2.5 hours from tokyo. she had to get a certificate to teach english first, though. not all ESL teaching programs need a bachelors, so look around. said it's not too hard to do, though. plus she had pay from the school system in japan and pay from the school she teaches at here.

    these books might help you:
    Griffith, Susan Teaching English Abroad
    Segal, Nina. International Jobs : Where They Are, How To Get Them

    there's others, too, but the library search session expired lol

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    Featured Member Wwanderer's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    I have not taught English in Japan, not for pay anyway (does teaching Russian dancers via English to speak a little Japanese count?), but have spent quite a bit of time there and have met many gaijin English teachers. My overall impression is that it is very hard to generalize about "the industry"; it includes really crapo, explotive jobs and truly great gigs. It can be done "freelance" to generate under-the-table income, for companies specializing in the service, for schools which offer it as only a part of their curriculum etc. If you meet a bunch of expat westerners in Japan, you can easily hear a lot of "horror stories" but also a lot of tales of success and satisfaction.

    The best gigs of all, in terms of good pay for relatively short working hours, seem to be at small colleges in which students are studying for a degree, not just to learn English. However and of course, these are hard to get and require the most credentials and abilities: a Master's degree is very helpful (but maybe not essential), speaking as much Japanese as possible, willingness and knowledge to teach some "literature" content (not just the language), et.

    Anyway, while my comments above probably aren't going to be too helpful as a practical matter, some of these web sites might (both re finding a job and generally re living in Japan as a foreigner):

    http://www.japan-guide.com/

    http://www.japanhomesearch.com/

    http://www.japanaddicted.com/

    http://www.tokyowithkids.com/

    http://www.metropolis.co.jp/

    http://www.gaijinpot.com/

    http://jobfinder.japantoday.com/biz....ion=home&pid=0

    Most of the above links have material and ads re English teaching (and other) jobs, plus lots of other info.

    -Ww
    "At this moment what more need we seek?
    As the Truth eternally reveals itself,
    This very place is the Lotus Land of Purity,
    This very body is the Body of the Buddha."
    - Zazen Wasan

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    God/dess virgoamm's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    I did! I didn't teach at a language school though like Nova, Aeon or Geos though. I went though this company called Interac that staffs Assistant Lanugage Teachers in schools throughout Japan. You are basically doing a JET job w/o the JET pay. It was a very fun (and humbling) experience.

    Believe me when I say most people who worked for Language schools HATED it because they work you like a mule. When you're in the school system you get better hours and more vacation-that's how I got to go backpacking through Thailand for a month!

    PM me if you have any questions...

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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    I taught English on a remote island five years ago through JET. The job itself was kinda miserable, and I don't have great things to say about JET, though I do know some people loved their experience. However, I would do it all over again just because the experience of living in Japan itself was amazing.

    JET would be much more casual than Aeon, no suits and you can drink whenever you want, seriously, my predecessor used to come to school drunk. It would really depend on where you were placed, it could be great. I loved my little island but because I was the only teacher on it I had to teach in 11 different schools and it really was a trained monkey type of thing.

    I absolutely love Japan, and would definitely recommend going there to teach if you can, not because the job itself is so great, but because you get so much more out of living abroad than just visiting, and it will change you.

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    Featured Member Wwanderer's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    Quote Originally Posted by shakti View Post
    it will change you.
    Imo, that is about as true as the truth can be.

    -Ww
    "At this moment what more need we seek?
    As the Truth eternally reveals itself,
    This very place is the Lotus Land of Purity,
    This very body is the Body of the Buddha."
    - Zazen Wasan

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    Veteran Member JettaNyx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who has taught English in Japan?

    if you do go for it let us know. i was thinking of doing this about two years ago but very scared about actualy finding a job out there. (i know teachers in american can't even find a job half the time, then again i've found we pretend to care about education).

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