Hello again, everyone. I was putting together a list of specific ALT related questions that occurred during my research, but looks like I won’t be posting these after all. I somehow missed the very obvious obstacle preventing me from obtaining the required instructor visa: I’m not a native speaker. Native **level** maybe, but that’s not good enough. I moved to the U.S. around the middle of 7th grade, so even counting 7th grade (probably doesn’t count), that’s only 10 years of formal education in English. Including my Bachelor’s, assuming that counts at all. I did take IELTS and got Level C1 on it, but I don’t think that helps my situation either. Moving on.
I didn’t want to go the Eikaiwa route for various reasons, primarily:
1. Hours. For example, I saw that AEON’s typical hours are 12pm-9pm. That barely leaves any time for anything else before **or** after work. ECC hours sound a bit better. Those are the two names I came across most often. Are there any others I should consider? Do you get to have any freedom with your hours? Would I have better luck with small eikaiwa schools instead?
2. Teaching. From what I understood, ALT is more of a teacher’s assistant than anything, but eikaiwa teacher has to plan and conduct the lesson all on their own. Is that right? Is sufficient training provided? I’ve never taught a class. How knowledgeable do I need to be about the actual rules of grammar/punctuation? Most of the time I write and speak intuitively. I’m afraid of being unable to answer a student’s question. What if I get fired?!
3. I have a brand new concern: Do I even qualify? ECC’s checklist (before you can proceed with the application) clearly includes this item: “Native speaker of English (grade 1 through completion of high school conducted with English as the main language of instruction)” Does this mean that this particular company wants their applicants to be native speakers by definition, regardless of the visa requirements?
Eikaiwa teachers: Do you have time (or energy) to explore or travel? How about learning Japanese? Job hunting and networking? This may be the only stepping stone available to me and I don’t want to get stuck. Thanks in advance and I’m sorry if these are repeat questions. (I did skim through the “collection of discussion threads” on this topic.)
8 comments
If you’ve got a bachelors degree from an American university, ill think you’ll be fine for ALT work. I doubt they will go to the trouble of researching your background. I‘ve worked with ALT’s from Russia, Hungary, the Phillipines, all non native speakers.
If you want to be good at your job I’d recommend brushing up on things like grammar and phonics. While I mostly use Japanese to play around with and build a relationship with my students, it’s good to be able to understand and explain the grammar you’re teaching in both English and Japanese.
I work at a local Eikaiwa. The hours are basically the same that you stated. It’s nice because it allows me to to go to the gym in the morning which is my preferred time to do it. I do have the time, energy and money to travel. I don’t do it that often as I honestly don’t like staying at places that aren’t my own house, but I do it when I get the mood to
>Hours. For example, I saw that AEON’s typical hours are 12pm-9pm. That barely leaves any time for anything else before or after work.
Lots of people have worked at eikaiwa. You get used it and can adjust. Especially if you are in a big city. There is plenty to do before and after work.
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>Do you get to have any freedom with your hours?
Not really. You teach when students are available. In the afternoon it’s rich housewives. After school it’s kids. In the evening it’s business people. Nobody takes English classes in the morning.
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>Would I have better luck with small eikaiwa schools instead?
Maybe, but again, it’s hard to find students in the morning.
>Teaching. From what I understood, ALT is more of a teacher’s assistant than anything, but eikaiwa teacher has to plan and conduct the lesson all on their own. Is that right?
Sort of. The teacher has some flexibility but they have to follow the lesson and curriculum of the school.
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>Is sufficient training provided?
Well, it depends on what you mean by sufficient. But training is provided.
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>I’ve never taught a class. How knowledgeable do I need to be about the actual rules of grammar/punctuation? Most of the time I write and speak intuitively.
Not very. Most native speakers only have an intuition about what ‘sounds right’ but don’t actually know why.
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>I’m afraid of being unable to answer a student’s question. What if I get fired?!
You won’t get fired for not being able to answer a student’s question. That is pretty normal. In fact many students are told that the native teachers can’t answer questions so technical things about grammar should be directed to a Japanese teacher.
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>Does this mean that this particular company wants their applicants to be native speakers by definition, regardless of the visa requirements?
Yes, that is what it means. However, your situation is a little different. You attended both high school and university in the US, so you are kind of like a native speaker. I think that you’ll find that the ‘company rules’ can be flexible in your situation. You are not the type of person that they are ‘gatekeeping’ against.
If the hours seem strange, that’s because they are. You need to do your errands in the morning before work because most stuff is not going to be open at night.
I’ve met French, German, Russian, and Pakistani ALTs. In fact, most of the non-native speakers I’ve met have found it *easier* to find ALT jobs than jobs at eikaiwa or juku. If you get an interview, and they can hear you speak, you should be fine.
Be aware that AEON’s hours are very normal and expected for eikaiwa. Eikaiwa focus on lessons for either students or working people; in other words they’re going to focus on doing lessons outside of school and typical work (9-5) schedules, and usually include at least one day during the weekend.
Peppy Kids Club. 20 – 25 hrs a week, 21/22 days a month. 240000 yen per month. Usually lessons begin 5pm but are occasionally 345pm and typically end 830pm. Obon, Golden week and Xmas plus 5 private vacation days. So 2/3 weeks+ off a year…
Also, lots of independence. Keep you head down, do your job and they leave you alone.
Not ideal for some but I like it.
I work for Peppy.
1) For hours: Our lessons typically start at 5 (but can start as early as 11:15 on Saturdays) and end at 8:30. There’s some variations and it kind of sucks because we get paid per lesson (as is standard) and some days you only teach one lesson, but there are rare days that you teach 5. Also, we typically work 5 days a week, but some classrooms are open 6 days a week. The schedules are set per school, so you tend to be at the mercy of the Japanese staff and parents. One of my coworkers has 3 classrooms that are Mon-Sat, but I have 3 classrooms that are Mon-Thur, so on Fridays I float to wherever I’m needed.
I used to work at Nova, and it was basically the same, except I got a warning when I started that the other teachers try to steal students from you because you only get paid for lessons and students pay more for 1-1 lessons, so you earn more money. That’s pretty typical, but most eikaiwas lie about it.
2) There’s next to no lesson planning at eikaiwas. You’re given some sort of structure to follow and the materials to use.
3) Currently, about 85% of my coworkers are not native speakers. These days there’s a lot of people from the Philippines working at eikaiwas.
*As for the rest, I do know some people who make time to travel often. I usually can’t manage it because I’m exhausted by the end of the week, but I’ve been to a few events and concerts. There’s always the option of online Japanese lessons, but some cities do free lessons for foreigners if you’re okay with missing out on the sleep. Some places will give you a bonus if you pass the proficiency test. I’m not sure about networking and job hunting because that really depends on the area you end up in. I live in the countryside, so it’s a no for me.
>I somehow missed the very obvious obstacle preventing me from obtaining the required instructor visa: I’m not a native speaker. Native level maybe, but that’s not good enough. I moved to the U.S. around the middle of 7th grade, so even counting 7th grade (probably doesn’t count), that’s only 10 years of formal education in English. Including my Bachelor’s, assuming that counts at all. I did take IELTS and got Level C1 on it, but I don’t think that helps my situation either. Moving on.
I’ve met people in situations like yours who have been granted a visa. There are no guarantees, but immigration has leeway in what they will accept. Immigration inspectors are humans, and stuff like the mood or career experience will affect their decision to let you in or not. The fact that you have BA in English as a medium or instruction will be a big factor on your side.
>I saw that AEON’s typical hours are 12pm-9pm. That barely leaves any time for anything else before or after work. ECC hours sound a bit better. Those are the two names I came across most often. Are there any others I should consider? Do you get to have any freedom with your hours? Would I have better luck with small eikaiwa schools instead?
That’s typical. I used to work those hours and it really isn’t bad. It’s actually got some perks. I used to go to bed at 3 am and get up at 10 am, so I skipped all the traffic. It also made it really easy to do stuff like doctor visits, hair cuts, bank chores etc.
>From what I understood, ALT is more of a teacher’s assistant than anything, but eikaiwa teacher has to plan and conduct the lesson all on their own. Is that right?
Kinda. As an ALT I usually just did the whole lesson and the main teacher was there as a formality.
> Is sufficient training provided?
To be honest, barely. It’s usually from two days to a week. It’s with the goal of making sure that you’re minimally viable. If you’re concerned, look for local ESL/EFL certification classes or see if any ESL/EFL classes will let you watch. Don’t waste your time with online courses.
>I’ve never taught a class. How knowledgeable do I need to be about the actual rules of grammar/punctuation?
You don’t need to be that good, but I strongly recommend books like *Practical English Usage* and *Grammar for English Teachers*, both as primers and reference works.
>Most of the time I write and speak intuitively.
We all do, so that’s no concern.
>I’m afraid of being unable to answer a student’s question. What if I get fired?!
You won’t get fired for that. One of the most important things a teacher needs to know is to have the humility to say “Hmmm… I’m unsure. I’m going to check that and get back to you.”
>Do I even qualify? ECC’s checklist (before you can proceed with the application) clearly includes this item: “Native speaker of English (grade 1 through completion of high school conducted with English as the main language of instruction)” Does this mean that this particular company wants their applicants to be native speakers by definition, regardless of the visa requirements?
Those rules are rarely hard rules. You can bet your ass there are few people working at ECC who don’t meet that criterion.
>Eikaiwa teachers: Do you have time (or energy) to explore or travel? How about learning Japanese? Job hunting and networking?
Before I had kids, I had time and energy to travel, date, learn Japanese, network, get sloshed on Saturday nights, play sports, and play too many video games. Now… not so much. I don’t work eikaiwa anymore though.