I’ve seen lots of posts on this subreddit about people with zero teaching experience and an irrelevant degree going to Japan and teaching English or working as an ALT. I actually graduated from teaching, have lots of experience, and I also have certifications for my English level and TEFL credentials. Some people have told me that I would be too much for what the average Eikaiwa is looking for, and that all of these “accepting overseas applications” companies are full of BS, so I really wanna have a second opinion before I apply to one of them like Aeon or Westgate.
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Might be best to just get over here through whatever means then join JALT and other groups to network your way into a position you are qualified for. There are places where your experience and skills would be appreciated but not many of them are hiring from abroad.
Honestly, they’re all basically various levels of bad. If you really wanna come here, then pick one, suck it up and deal with the crap for a year while looking for somewhere better (though in many respects that’s a bit of a needle in a haystack). Once here, you might be able to find work in actual academia, which I’m told is a marginally better experience on average, or otherwise find something better suited to your credentials.
The legitimate teaching positions you’ll find generally come in three flavors: College, international school, and direct hire J/S High school /w a full or special license. Getting an actual career in each requires different things.
College generally requires an MA in Linguistics, Ed, or TESOL, 3+ years experience in college, and 2-3 publications. To make a career of it you’ll likely need to get a PhD or get lucky with networking to get anything full time.
International school is oversaturated with English teachers, so the competition is high. You would need a teaching license and certification for whatever curriculum the school is teaching (IB, etc.) , 2-3 years experience in your country and probably ~2 years experience in international school in another country.
Licensed legit teaching work at private J/S High schools is easier to start working on after getting here, but still a huge jump from ALT/Eikaiwa. You would need to network at a school, work you way into a direct hire position, and either go through a Japanese BA in education to get a Japanese teaching license, or get a school to sponsor you for a special teaching license. Without a license you cannot legally teach or take on most responsibilities teachers have, schools break that law all the time, but for legit pay and advancement along with a contract that actually calls you a teacher, you need a license.
The jump from entry level with no future requiring just a BA in “whatever” to actual teaching is massive in Japan, and there’s nearly no support for it unfortunately.
What sort of certs or quals do you have, exactly? And what’s your teaching background?
As others have said, the gap between legitimate teaching jobs and entry level, no future positions is huge. A legitimate teaching job requires fairly high level qualifications (MA) a teaching licence, experience, and in university positions, publications.
Language schools in Japan generally aren’t a good option for someone with qualifications and experience, as the teaching is paint-by-numbers. You’d be required to follow the same set lesson procedure as everyone else, regardless of your understanding of methods and pedagogy. It would be frustrating as well as terribly tedious. ALTs can be more creative, but the activities they plan are also subject to the approval of the home room teacher. Whether you’re allowed to actually teach, or only allowed to play games, depends entirely on what the teacher wants you to do. And since the teacher is in charge, you don’t really have any say in classroom procedures or methods. This would feel very frustrating and infantilising for someone who is used to having their own class and making all the decisions.
Even though it’s university teaching, Westgate isn’t very different from eikaiwa. Since they very often hire people without qualifications, they have to police lessons to ensure quality doesn’t go utterly down the drain. Working dispatch is always miserable since you’re very often working for bureaucrats who either don’t have quals themselves, or who are intent on towing the corporate line. I wouldn’t do it unless I were starving and had no other options.
Hope this helps you get a better overall picture. Admittedly it isn’t very pretty.
You credential will get you to the top of the pile when looking for a job. To get a private school job, or university gig, you still need experience in Japan, and to network in Japan.
u/kaizoku222 and u/CompleteGuest854 are giving good advice, to which I’ll add that applying to *any* company that accepts applications from overseas is a bad idea unless you already have a plan for getting out of said company (*e.g.,* a route into a legitimate teaching organization).
Do these things:
1. get a teaching license in whatever country you’re teaching in now
2. get an advanced degree, the higher the better
3. learn to read and write Japanese (not least so you can see open positions for actual teaching jobs)
If you’re looking to get into a well-paying position, publish in referred journals or write a textbook picked up by a legitimate publisher.
r/gaijinjobs
Do you have a teaching license and experience working as a licensed teacher? Then you can look at international schools like IB schools.
Do you have an M.A in an appropriate field, and some publications? Then you can look at university teachings.
Do you a B.A in TESOL, or Cambridge TESOL qualifications, or TESOL certificates, or a B.A in education? Congrats, you are top of the pile for stock standard ALT/Eikeiwa jobs. You will be competing with other people with no teaching qualifications and experience in teaching.
None, they’re all a bunch of vultures