EDIT: Thank you all for the insight. I got the answer I was looking for even if its the one I was most afraid of. My dreams have been thoroughly crushed and I’ll probably never be a high school teacher in Japan, even if I tried my best. With that I guess I have to look for alternatives, since a decade to even just have a chance at being able to reach my goals is probably just not a real path forward in my life. Maybe if I could get the degree faster or cheaper, but american school is american school.
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Hi, all, after reading the sidebar stuff some and looking for some posts I wasn’t able to find anything that really was what I’m looking for, so here we go. I’m just looking for honest opinions, so don’t be afraid to be harsh or straight if it helps me get a better view of my goals. Right now I just want to make progress towards my dreams, and to do so I will need as much accurate information as I can find.
About me, I am 25 and have a B.S. in mechanical engineering from an ABET college in the USA, and I am very unhappy with my current place in life. Over the last few years I have found in my TA and tutoring positions that one of the things I really love to do is teach people and help them learn.
My ultimate goal is currently to become a teacher at a good public or private high school in Japan for subject(s) under my degree (physics, mathematics, computer science, I guess English if I am qualified). Japan isn’t the only target country on my list, but it’s quite far ahead of the others and I would like to shoot for it if it’s at all possible. To do this, I plan to first take a year to be an ALT (or similar) to get some experience in teaching and living in Japan. While doing this, I want to try and attain the necessary prerequisites to be certified to teach at public schools in Japan. From what I have researched, this means that I need to get a degree from a certified public institution for the area I plan to teach, as well as a teaching certificate for my target grade range.
This brings us to my questions and plans.
Question zero, how much is COVID messing up traveling? If we assume everything else falls into place, would travel restrictions be a significant barrier for my progress? I doubt there’s a concrete answer for this so speculation is also fine.
First, I am planning to get TEFL/TESOL certification within the next several months as I search for an ALT position to get me out of where I am right now. I was also looking at CELTOL/CELTA, but that is expensive and also probably irrelevant to my ultimate goal. Is there a particular go-to provider? The two on my radar were Bridge and ITA. ITA is more expensive, and the guide I read regarding it said it’s also somewhat dishonest with its advertisements, which is a red flag for me. It seems reputable enough, and I’ve also been told there are facebook groups and job placement aid included in the 1500 price tag. I’m imagining the facebook groups are largely dead and have little, if any activity, but could be wrong. The Bridge seems a lot more affordable at 700 (300 now I think for some promotion?) but a low price tag is also a sign to me to be cautious. What I’m looking for is a certification that will put me through the ringer and teach me about teaching and add to my skillset in a very real way. Personal recommendations are also fine, but I’m really just looking for is a course that will actually teach me, and ideally one that provides some practical experience.
Second, actually finding a job as an ALT is haaaard. I’ve been looking a bit, but it’s difficult to decide where to apply when I don’t even know what I’m looking for. The teachinjapan had some useful threads, but there’s other barriers beyond what they said. First, while I took 12 credits of Japanese in college and study a bit on my own over the past few years, I’m far from fluent and kanji scare me. A lot of the ALT applications I see are in Japanese; am I looking at the wrong things, or in the wrong places? Also, I have no clue what the expenses look like in Japan either. Converting the salary to USD gives me a rough idea but I know exactly zero about Japanese taxes, living expenses, etc. So here my main question is just for any advice on good directions to check, or good fundamentals to keep in mind when making a choice. I.e. X certified Eikawa schools, Y amount of hours per week, red flags, etc.
Lastly, regarding my plans afterwards. As I have a bachelors in mechanical engineering, I am at least fairly confident in my knowledge of mathematics and physics. At the very least I am confident I could beat pretty much any high schooler’s test scores given the same set of questions. Given this, my \*hope\* is that my bachelor’s degree is sufficient to provide some progress towards a degree from these ministry approved universities. If I had to guess I would say that my degree is worth…. probably nothing to these and that I would be starting from scratch, which would be extremely unfortunate; despite that I am hoping that this isn’t the case and there’s hope for me to get to my goal before I’m old and gray. I am also not sure if I would even be admitted to such a university even if they did accept the degree as I’m not a native citizen and I have no clue how Japanese college application goes. I’m not sure if my paths widen with the option of private high schools, and I’m willing to hear out other options as well.
Hopefully some of you will be willing to reach out a hand to me. I’m hoping to commit to a TEFL course by the end of the week unless something changes, and I’m really really excited to start moving forward in my life. I can’t gain back the time I wasted the last few years but I can at least take advantage of every day in front of me.
TLDR: 1) Bridge or ITA for TESL certificate? 2) General advice for finding an ALT job that isn’t in the teachinginjapan faqs? 3) Is it possible for me to become a regular high school teacher in Japan, and will my B.S. in ME be worth anything towards attaining the ability to do so?
Thanks, sorry for wall of text.