So I’m looking at going into English teaching after I graduate University. I’ve lived in Japan for a year as an exchange student, and hold JLPT N2.
I have experience working in an English school (juku-like place)
My degree is in Japanese language (minor in international business).
The company I was working for wants me back when I graduate for full time work, but pay is not the best (~2.5m)
I’m also going to apply for the JET Programme this fall. It’s pay would be better (~3m) and if I play it right, would have job security with steady raises for a good 5 years.
Looking at interac too. Any suggestions?
7 comments
If you are serious about going into teaching then hold off and keep the ball rolling with your education first an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics, or even better a proper teaching license will make job hunting much much easier for you. By going straight into ALTing you will just get trapped, or have to fork out far more than you would getting qualified before coming.
What do you want to do after you do teaching?
Consider also applying to the mext scholarship for a graduate degree or I’d suggest taking an extra semester to get a double major in international business Instead of only a minor, apply for an MBA and come to Japan with that as you’ll make a much more fruitful career and life with an MBA and international business degree as opposed to eikaiwa work which is not something you wanna do for more than a year or two.
2.5m is about what you’ll get at interac maybe a little more but rarely.
The best thing is if you want to improve your Japanese more while being an ALT, you could try to get directly hired from the Board of education after working with JET or Interac. The pay would be 3m~3.5m, plus if you work directly hired with BOE you’ll have more chances to use more Japanese. You’ll feel more like a teacher since you are consider to be one more than an ALT hired through a middle man company.
I’m half Japanese grew up in America moved here 8 years ago, and I am now married to a Japanese who doesn’t speak English.
I worked as an ALT for almost four years. I had great relationships in the teachers room, and lots of opportunities to get better at Japanese by just talking with my co workers. I was not hired by JET or BOE, but one school I worked at had ALTS directly hired from the BOE. I got the scoop on pay and also how much input and more of an actually job a direct hire is.
For you the main thing would be to further your Japanese level. My advice don’t hang out with people who speak English.
Me growing up in America and then moving here with not a lot of Japanese ability(parents divorced when I was young and grew up with only my dad in America) I didn’t get caught in the gaijin trap of getting into an English bubble.
Guess one good thing is I would visit my mom every summer break in Japan so I have friends and family here. So I never had the need to find an English speaking community I guess.
The main thing they want for business level Japanese for work is being able to communicate in Japanese like you would in any English speaking company.
Your plan seems like a bad one, especially if (a) you’re not planning on teaching as a career and (b) you’re getting married soon. You’re basically going to not be getting experience in what you want to do and working a near-poverty-level job while trying to follow vague plans to ‘pad’ your résumé with IT certifications unrelated to your work, your university study, or your future working plans.
English teaching *can* lead to better things in *education*, but for you it’s just going to be just a black hole in your resume that you’ll have to explain away. If you want to be a teacher in the future, fine, but follow the advice of u/Calm-Limit-37 and do something that will make you a real teacher.
Why not try to enter JET as a CIR? It’s really dependent on your placement, but you could get lots of experience translating, interpreting, etc.
Don’t look into Interac