Looking for information

7 comments

1. I just went to Japan after finishing my English BA. But I wish I studied the basics of the language first.
   If she’s doing an English BA, try to have her make her language choice Japanese (2 semesters of a language are a requirement ).
   And just be well versed in basic English grammar and maybe do some tutoring.

2. Your college major won’t matter 🙂 I landed two positions in Japan and I have a degree in Media Arts/Journalism minor. And I had very minimal teaching experience (a bit of tutoring journalism and writing online). They’ll basically hire you with any major as long as you have the degree

3. She should absolutely not be planning her future education so that she can teach English abroad. For the most part it’s not a career. You essentially max out your salary within 2-3 years. There is no trajectory because you can’t climb any ladder within the school or company. As long as she has a degree in any field and has 12 years of schooling in one of the designated English speaking countries (Canada, US, UK, etc) she is eligible to teach in Japan. This is something that should be done for a couple years and then she should move on.

4. Not necessarily TEFL related, but I wish I had taken more DE classes when I was in high school. Graduating with an AA cuts a whole two years off your bachelors degree. I would strongly encourage her to do this, if she can.

5. r/movingtojapan is a place where you’ll probably get more useful information.

   If your daughter is interested in a career teaching English literature in Japan, she should plan on getting an advanced degree in whatever country you are in before moving to Japan. There are essentially no jobs in teaching literature for people without advanced degrees and knowledge of spoken and written Japanese who are living outside Japan. Alternatively, she can plan on getting whatever teaching license is relevant in your home country and spending a few years teaching literature in your country before trying to move to Japan.

   If she’s interested in teaching the English language to people who did not grow up teaching it (that is, teaching English as a foreign language), the recommendations also hold, especially that regarding learning Japanese. Most of the jobs publicized outside Japan and open to people with only undergraduate degrees and no experience or knowledge of Japanese are those alluded to by u/3railbank or u/Dangerous-Leek258, which are in commercial language schools and, indeed, offer little opportunity for advancement and exceedingly low salaries. If your daughter can use Japanese or has experience teaching, she’ll be more likely to be able to land a job with a reasonable salary or a chance for a career: there are such jobs, but they’re usually not advertised outside of Japan or in English, and competition for them is strong.

   If your daughter is mainly interested in seeing or “experiencing” Japan, it’d be better for her to come as a visitor or, if your country allows such, on a working holiday visit.

6. For many English teaching jobs, just a bachelor’s degree will be enough.

   If she wants to make a career of teaching abroad, she’ll need a master’s degree in TESOL, TEFL, applied linguistics, or something similar. Or, a teaching credential.

7. To work as a real teacher she needs a masters degree, a teaching license from your nation and experience. Anything that isn’t an international school or university isn’t teaching. Those jobs with companies like Aeon, Berlitz, Nova, Gaba, interac, joy talk, etc… are not teaching Those jobs are looking to exploit English speakers for a profit and discard them after a year or two. It’s fine for a gap year but it provides no valuable experience and there is no way to turn it into a career.