Lots of the schools like JT, Heart, Interac, TA, Argos and EI at the bottom of the pile and then the Altia at the top of the pile, as leading school world known, but they don’t give letters worth anything, so looking for a school that would give a recommendation letter of glowing praise after someone worked there for five years or so as a special dedicated teacher?
Need a place where the letter would mean something, so would be respected by leading teachers in Japan in the future.
Asking for a friend from Phillipines who wants to be a teacher here.
8 comments
“Leading teachers in Japan” won’t respect any letter you have unless it’s from Todai or something of similar caliber.
From ALT/Eikaiwa?
None. The problem isn’t the specific organisation involved, more the fact that, seeing as neither ALT nor Eikaiwa require any actual educational qualifications to get into, letters of recommendation from organisations in those industries just aren’t worth squat.
JT, Heart, Interac, etc aren’t schools. They are placement and dispatch agencies. They place you at a school: do good work at that school and ask a teacher at the school to write you a recommendation letter after you have been there awhile. (Like 3 years or more.)
I am afraid I agree with u/cynicalmaru and the others: as someone who has done recruiting in higher education as well as *eikaiwa*, I will write that I have never seen such a letter and that one would not make a strong impression.
Sadly none. It would be like trying toget a job as a chef with a letter from Mcdonalds.
The idea of a recommendation letter is going the way of the dodo. Not just in teaching in Japan, but in all kinds of industries. As one major non-Japanese, non-ELT company put it to me, they do not write letters of recommendation as there are no advantages of them doing so and instead it opens them to liability if you do not perform as well as the letter of recommendation.
Further, as somebody who has done recruiting, I would not even bother doing more than skim-reading such a letter.
I agree with the comments above, recommendation letter wouldn’t mean anything. If he/she wants to be a specialized teacher what would matter is only if he she qualifies for the job and checks all the boxes the recruiter/school was asking for. The reference letters are asked during application but it doesn’t mean much to the process it’s mainly for background check and verifying your credentials are what you say it is.
These are all dispatch companies for ALT positions, not schools. Altia is just another ALT dispatch company. What are JT, TA, Argos, and EI?
Is your friend a qualified teacher with a state license?
Or unqualified? Try the JET Programme which has over 100 participants from Philippines. https://www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/00_000147.html
I took a one-year break from full-time ESL teaching in my home country to do JET for a year. The board of education chief drafted a recommendation letter in Japanese, I wrote the English translation. It wasn’t a demonstration of teaching experience in my home country but a good character reference and proof of my year abroad (ESL schools in my country prefer candidates with international experience). I already had a TESOL qualification and ESL teaching jobs before I did JET.
Licensed teaching? I have held tokubetsu menkyo in three prefectures which allows you to teach independently.