How did you get into teaching in japan?

16 comments

1. I studied teaching in Australia, taught in Australia for a few years while doing a masters in teaching and then applied for Nova as a bit of a ‘gap year’ as I was sick of teaching and getting bashed up / taunted / insulted by broken Aussie kids in the broken schools where I could get work.

   I spent a few months in Nova (which got me a visa, an apartment and IMO decent training in what eikaiwa customers expect in terms of lesson style).

   While at Nova I got offered a chance to do a PhD while tutoring at a small-town uni. I went there and loved the town but very quickly realised that wasn’t for me so took a gig at a tiny eikaiwa (~30 kids, run out of a small house). I grew it to ~150 kids over ~5 years and loved it.

   Did a Master of TESOL during that time with the idea of either taking over the eikaiwa or starting my own. Instead my marriage broke down, I went back to Australia and I re-trained as a lawyer while working in a junior IT role.

   -15+ years later, things are alright.

2. Saw an advertisement

   Sent in a horribly formatted resume riddled with typos

   Get selected for interviews

   Manage to not constantly curse or rant about my love for oda nobunaga, and I didn’t smell like rotting fish.

   This put me above 9/10 candidates in the room

   Get sent to Tokyo to “teach” first graders with essentially zero training

   Pretty easy gig, get a good reputation at my schools purely on the basis of not being a repulsive smelling super weeb.

   Quit in order to learn the language and get a job that actually provides benefits…and raises.

3. Came over aged 22 from an English-speaking country with a bachelor’s s degree. Worked at Nova (back in the late 90’s). Stayed for a bit, went back home, taught in a proper language school, returned to Japan and re-upped with Nova for a bit as I needed money immediately. Did CELTA, worked for the company that ran it doing corporate clients, did my Master’s in Applied Linguistics via distance (while we had two tiny kids – such a tiring period), then got a good job in a private Japanese girls’ school through a contact.

   In summary, quite a bit of experience from the Eikaiwa hours, relevant qualifications, but the key in getting a good job was one guy suddenly quitting and someone telling me about it.

4. Not an English teacher but a subject teacher so… 🤔

5. I came over with a working holiday visa in 1996 with my Japanese girlfriend. Not really expecting to do any work actually. Went to her hometown in Hokkaido. Within 3 weeks I had the local eikaiwa looking for me wanting me to teach. A teacher had just left and I was in the right place at the right time. It was the only English school in town. I said great yeah. No idea what I was doing and had to wing it until I figured out what to do. Ah… the good old days of eikaiwa teaching… hehehe

6. I think tsukuba International might be looking for part time substitutes or English teachers.

7. On the Tsukuba line theres an English school at おおたかの森 station or whatever. If You need a part time, they will probably give You one. The overturn of teachers at that place is something else

8. I didn’t want to . I came to Japan as my wife had a decent job previously I was in the aviation logistics industry..

   It was the easiest option as no Japanese was required and all I had to do is baby sit for 4 hrs which was a peace of cake compared to the Islander forklift drivers I had to manage.

   Still in the same company 3 years later about to be a trainer lol.

   As long as you don’t want to be a teacher you will survive in the English industry in Japan .

9. Got here on JET. Then worked in an eikaiwa in Tokyo.

   I never want to do it again for as long as I live.

10. Didn’t get hired at HSBC so came here on JET instead for ‘one or two years’.

    That was in 2000, still here.

11. I studied English Philology back in my home country and worked at English Summer camps and a couple of “Eikaiwa” type of places.
    The first job that brought me to Japan was an Eikaiwa in the countryside, but it was a very toxic and unprofessional environment and I started to be very unmotivated with the money-making, performance-based style of teaching so I ended up looking for a new job that fit my personality more.
    I got a lot of interviews at international kindergartens and found one that was a perfect fit for me (I did a half a day trial at the school supervised by the teachers).
    I really love being able to be a homeroom teacher and seeing how the kids progress both academically and socially.
    I really love my current job but absolutely hated my previous job where I just felt like I was turning the kids into “copy-paste robots” with no actual understanding of what they were writing.
    I tried developing their conversational skills and building their confidence in their English skills.
    but due to them not meeting the dumb memorizing testing standards my boss would always say my kids were “underperforming” and that just made me sad because they were starting to be really motivated and confident.
    So if you really have a passion for teaching and teaching in a meaningful way try to avoid Eikaiwa jobs…

12. I actually did two stints teaching English in Japan – first time was straight out of university (two years Ba of Ed and then switched to Business & Arts) in a gap year. I went to Nagoya in 2003 without a job lined up, (no fear hey) with my then girlfriend (now wife) to join me a month later (she got a job with ECC prior) and after 1-2 weeks doing interviews with various eikawas, secured a job with a small company. My interview didn’t go well, as I bombed out in the mock up class with adult staff pretending to be kids. I just couldn’t get pass that they weren’t actually kids and felt very self conscious. I then asked if I could join an upcoming kids class as a support teacher, and that went great – I was myself, interacted with the kids in a fun way, worked well with the main teacher. They offered me the job on the spot. I did this for a year, from 3 hrs to 6 hrs a day, 5 days a week, depending on the schedule. Overall, it was a reasonably good experience and we got to travel around the country in the holidays, which was great.

    My second stint was with ECC from 2007-2010 (nearly 4 years) again with my wife. The interview was very hard and rigorous and over two days, including introduction, grammar test, mock up class and final interview. Again we were in Nagoya, and had our ups and downs, and taught both adults and kids. ECC was one of the better Eikawas, especially after what happened to Nova collapsing and then AEON. The adult classes were generally pretty bland and mind numbing (especially with low level students) so I regularly took my own materials to spice up the lessons (always give the student the option of sticking their ECC issued textbooks, otherwise they will complain to ECC staff, which happened to me). Worked 6 hrs a day but got decent holidays (5 weeks holidays, and 5-10 days personal days/sick days off, compared to my previous job, which offered less holidays and only two personal/sick days for the year). In my free time, I tried calligraphy, studied Japanese up to nearly N2, visited hidden temples, went to green tea ceremonies, 400 year old castles, watched o-bon fireworks, amazing Xmas/ny fireworks and lights. We probably stayed a year (maybe two) too long, and left for home when my wife fell pregnant as we didn’t want to deal with potential pregnancy complications in a non English speaking country and didn’t want to put my kids through the Japanese education system.

    It has been over 10 years since then, and I’m glad I had the experience, though in hindsight, spent too long there at the expense of a “real” career and buying a cheaper house when prices were lower at home.

    I actually wrote a whole bunch of pros and cons but realised that it didn’t directly answer the OP’s question and went off track (if anyone is interested, happy to share).

13. Started on JET and did 5 years of that, then moved over to a technical college for 3 years and got some homeroom teacher experience. Then I was a direct hire for 3 years at a local public high school, and then I got my special license and landed a permanent gig at a nice private school in my area.

    I wouldn’t have done anything differently. The technical college I worked at was a shit job and a big pay decrease from JET, but that homeroom teacher experience I got was invaluable and I’m certain it helped me land the direct hire gig, which eventually helped me get to where I am now.

14. I was waiting for an academy date for border patrol when a friend invited me to teach in Korea. Sadly I got a job and she didn’t. Really loved it so refused the border patrol date when it came around. In Korea I worked at an English village and finally as a traveling teacher on Islands bordering north Korea (One was even shelled by North Korea a few months before I started there). Same friend who asked me to apply for working in Korea told said we should apply to JET together. Same thing happened again, I got in and she didn’t. Worked in the inaka for 4 years, rather rough Yankee school but loved the kids. Then worked as an ALT in a major city for 6 years. Best school there was a Yakan where kids had no uniforms and could choose classes. Really loved the school style and way things were run. Students had a lot of freedom. Classes ranged from 15 year old Yankee kids to 80 years old and I had full reign to make everything tasked based. Probably learned more teaching there then I did from my masters. Seriously if I could teach at that school until retiring I would in a heart beat.

    Finally I took a licensed teaching position at Japanese international high school (international focused not international international). Great principle and staff but I also butted heads given haw liberal I am with education and just busy year finishing dissertation, medical issues, and other things. Ended up having to pass up a second year due to some family stuff back home and now teach at a private company that dispatched me to teach a course at schools. Current course is really well designed, real communicative teaching so I am learning a lot about task design. Something which is rather hard to find in Japan I feel. Family issues back home are ongoing hope I can get permanent residence before things. Sadly changing jobs hurt chances.

15. I came over on a tourist visa in 1992. I got a job at an Eikawa, then managed to build up my own side jobs. I left to do a M.A. TESOL, and get a teaching license. I then worked for 2 years in other countries. When I returned, I worked my way into full-time university teaching. That took another 2 years. I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently, things worked out pretty well.

16. Opened up my own Eikaiwa. This was back in the 90s so no license or certification hassels. Made plenty of money to pay the bills, pay my tuition and save.