Japan is a country I’ve been considering teaching in for a while. I’ve been teaching South Korea for nearly two years. It’s alright, but I never really wanted to be in Korea but with covid it seemed like a fun option. But after two years I’m starting to consider what to do next. With Japan on my list and two years under me in TESOL work. I’m trying to decide if it would be worth going back home for a while to at least a teaching license or possible do a master’s in teaching then go to Japan or is it better just to find a lower paying job and work the way up. I can’t really consider myself for JET or any of those programs because I have two small dogs I committed myself to to care for the rest of their lives and I can’t just leave them behind. So, those programs aren’t really open to me because of that.
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If going back home to get a license is an option, please do that.
Get the teaching license.
The only reason to come to Japan after that is to visit. No one actually teaches English in Japan; it’s purely a facade for the Old Men in charge to say, “Look, Japan is actually an international country!”
Even at the good international schools, you probably won’t make as much as you can in your home country.
There is no “working your way up”. That’s not how this industry works.
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If you want to get anywhere, you’ll need the teaching license/MA.
License or MA, depending on what you want to do in the future. The former is better for an international school.
1. License? Go back to the west… there’s always fast-track routes and they’re often subsidised due to the teacher shortage. These will involve doing a master of teaching, which generally takes about a year (a masters degree doesn’t make you a big cheese – most teachers have at least 1).
2. Master of Arts? Dunno why you’d want one (they’re unrelated to teaching). Presuming you mean a TESOL… don’t bother unless you’re looking to to migrant English programs or pre-uni English programs and the like in the west.
3. Going to Asia won’t help you ‘work your way up’ as a teacher. It’ll give you a gap year as an assistant teacher (plus possibly some sorta unqualified ‘international school’ gig). Why didn’t you get a teaching degree in the west? IMO most people have to address that one first. If you were too lazy to get a teaching degree in the west, WHY would it be easier to master a foreign language and do a teaching degree in a foreign language? If this is purely so you can stay closer to an Asian girl then it’s a LOT of effort for a bit of pussy and a shit job (with few promotion prospects even if you pull it off). I wouldn’t bother. Take control of your relationship and your career instead of hoping that working in assistant/eikaiwa roles while doing a TESOL will give you a mad career path.
I’d say avoid the MA unless you specifically plan to get a PhD and work at universities. Instead I’d go for the teaching license and I highly recommend you get IB (International Baccalaureate) certified as well if you want to make good money. Most decent paying respectable international schools will require one or both and pay well.
If you want to work in international schools get the license. If you want to work in Japanese university get the Master’s. I would only make that kind of commitment if you love Japan and see yourself here long term.
Also you can get a Master’s online in many fields. I have several friends who got a TESOL MA online studying part time who are now university teachers.
“I can’t really consider myself for JET or any of those programs because I have two small dogs I committed myself to to care for the rest of their lives and I can’t just leave them behind.”
Wait, what? Either way, these dogs are going to be a right pain to bring over here. Perhaps look into that before you decide on a future that can’t exist without them.
Be sure to look into what the salary is like for Japanese ESL teachers, as I understand it, both Korea and China pay much better, and have much better language programs.
If you have a BA I don’t think you need a teaching license. You can always get an MA online while teaching in Japan if you want to move into university teaching, which is really the only way to “work the way up.”
It depends what you want to do. MA for university work, Teaching license for private/international school work.