Living In Japan

[xALmoN]

How do I get to live in the great Nihon!?

I am asian.

I speak fairly alright English.

I know close to no Japanese, what kind of training do I have to go through to be an English teacher there? I'm a chemical engineer by training though. Diploma holder, and pursuing my degree at RMIT now.

[elrodeo666]

You need a degree nowdays to teach in Japan and get a visa.

If your 30 and under from Jan 1st 2010 if you are an Australian National you can get a working holiday visa for 1 year and can extend that for 6 more months.

Or you can do the visa run game...3months in, quick trip somewhere and back again but be warned its always a gamble coming back in and if you get black listed you wont get in again for quite awhile and if you do immigration and customs will put you through the ringer. Trust me, I did it for almost 5 years.

Best bet, finish your degree then go have a suss and see how you like it. Once you have your paper, getting an english teaching job is easy as.

[xALmoN]

Sounds pretty good, i'll check it out in 3years then.

[*LOACH*]

You might not have a lot of luck not being a native speaker if you want to teach English. Jobs are really hard to come by at the moment, I was looking for somewhere different to work at the start of the school year (when most jobs are advertised/filled) and only got one job offer even though I applied for many, have a years experience in Eikaiwa, speak a bit of Japanese, have a long visa and am a native speaker. Another guy I know applied for a job and there were 4000 applicants, admittedly it was for a great job but still it gives you an idea of the competition there is nowadays with the economy being so bad in Japan.

[xALmoN]

Well, a lot of things can change in three years, and in that time i reckon i should be able to get my spoken japanese up to a decent standard.

[Beer Baron]

yes but not being a native english speaker is the problem. it's not your japanese they are interested in. they will always choose a native english speaker over you which unfortunately something you can't ever change.

[MRSAMO]

You could always study English for the next 3 years LOL

Seriously, get a CELTA or ESL cert to reinforce your teaching abilities, this should improve your communication skills.

You can be a native speaker and still suck at teaching.

[*LOACH*]

You could always study English for the next 3 years LOL

Seriously, get a CELTA or ESL cert to reinforce your teaching abilities, this should improve your communication skills.

You can be a native speaker and still suck at teaching.

I dont think it really works that way. With the massive turnover of teachers and the amount of resumes companies get when they advertise for jobs I am pretty sure they cull all non native speakers straight away. It doesnt matter how good your English speaking or teaching ability is if you arent a native speaker it will be much more difficult to find a job, you wont be able to get an interview to demonstrate that ability. Have a look at the positions advertised for English teachers - I cant remember one ever saying anything other than must be a native speaker. That doesnt mean it is impossible to work in Japan just work on your strengths, if you are a native speaker of another language you may have more luck finding work as a teacher of that language. Although no other language is as popular as English as a second language there is still a market for other teachers especially Chinese and Korean. Also there are plenty of schools that teach more than one language so if you were promoting yourself as a native Chinese speaker but had good English speaking skills as well it would be much easier to find a job. From what I have heard CELTA and ESL courses arent always a good thing to have as some of the bigger eikaiwa companies want you to teach by their method. In addition to get a highly regarded CELTA or ESL qualification costs thousands of dollars and is quite intensive (you can do the online courses etc which are cheap and quick but they may not be of any value at all). Anyway that is my 2 cents and may not be worth even that

[MRSAMO]

Well I've been involved in the education industry in Asia for many years, you don't have to be a native speaker to get a teaching gig in Japan.

You just have to :

- be good looking

- sound good

- submit to the culture because your native BS won't work there

- have some kind of intelligence

I've seen Russians, Swedes, Norgs, Germans, Swiss, Spanish, Fillipino, Koreans and other Asian people teaching English, that is if you can call it that.

Seriously, some if not most of these ESL jobs in Japan is not really teaching at all, just "passing on information" and playing "tape recorder on repeat".

If you want to know what real teaching is, start with teaching in Australia or in an English native speaking country.

OP has 2 choices, learn English and study teaching over the next 3 years to get a decent teaching job or learn Japanese over the next 3 years and pursue a different field like import/export.

PS. I would not advice to do 3 month visa runs, avoid this completely.

[wannaslide]

would it be hard for a aussie labourer to find a job in the building industries over there ? somewhere near the drift scene lol i wouldnt mind living there for a yr

[*LOACH*]

Well I've been involved in the education industry in Asia for many years, you don't have to be a native speaker to get a teaching gig in Japan.

You just have to :

- be good looking

- sound good

- submit to the culture because your native BS won't work there

- have some kind of intelligence

How did I get a job here? I dont fit any of those prerequisites?? Mr Keets will back me up - I am ugly, have an Aussie accent and am dumb as a....well I am not really smart enough to think of a humorous and appropriate metaphor so lets just assume I inserted one

[adam87]

would it be hard for a aussie labourer to find a job in the building industries over there ? somewhere near the drift scene lol i wouldnt mind living there for a yr

pretty well impossible. and the pay would be about $2000 a month, maybe 5 or 6 days a week, if you ever got a job.

[MRSAMO]

would it be hard for a aussie labourer to find a job in the building industries over there ? somewhere near the drift scene lol i wouldnt mind living there for a yr

Actually I have met a couple, they are only sub contractors though and not on a full time basis which means that they are more or less on a limited visa. Language is an initial problem but they somehow get something to work.

[MRSAMO]

How did I get a job here? I dont fit any of those prerequisites?? Mr Keets will back me up - I am ugly, have an Aussie accent and am dumb as a....well I am not really smart enough to think of a humorous and appropriate metaphor so lets just assume I inserted one

So I take it that you're a NON-native speaker then.

[xALmoN]

Hm. Sounds tough as.

I wouldn't consider myself good looking, and well, i guess teaching isn't really my thing either. I'll stick with my industry, and probably well, see if i'll ever get the chance to work in Japan. Otherwise, i'll just stick with going there as a tourist.

[MRSAMO]

Hm. Sounds tough as.

I wouldn't consider myself good looking, and well, i guess teaching isn't really my thing either. I'll stick with my industry, and probably well, see if i'll ever get the chance to work in Japan. Otherwise, i'll just stick with going there as a tourist.

Yeah it does sound tough and is not directed at you, anybody is capable of teaching, if they have any experience and has good teaching fundamentals. Trust me on this, I've worked with many of the mentioned non-native instructors/teachers and that seems to be the requirements.

On the other hand, I have met a number of Irish English teachers that had to go back because no one could understand their English behind the thick Irish accents.

[elrodeo666]

Seriously..

If you can throw peanuts at monkeys you can teach english, its not rocket science, you just speak english, anyone telling you different is full of crap.

The Uni degree is just for a visa, something the Jap government came up with years ago to try get quality control of teachers.

Most long term teachers are here are alcoholics due the complete boredom of the job.

Perks are the possible candy on the side. Downers.. the pay is crap.

[MRSAMO]

Seriously..

If you can throw peanuts at monkeys you can teach english

= Been too long in Sapporo.

[elrodeo666]

= Been too long in Sapporo.

Nope been too long in Japan.

Only taught english one time I've been here, sorry its a brain dead job, its not rocket science.

I have friends who have been doing it for 20 plus years here. Had their labotomy at the 10 year mark and are complete alcoholics.

If you score a job teaching in a Uni or if your lucky teaching in a high profile Japanese business then you might be making good money.

The days of making great money here teaching are long,long gone.

Again if you want to teach conversation english and you can say "hello my name is..." you can get a job, you'll just need your Uni degree but theres ways around that too.

[MRSAMO]

Nope been too long in Japan.

You mentioned monkeys, I thought of Sapporo