Hello. I’m a 30 yo woman from South America, so I’m not a native English speaker, but I got the C2 Cambridge Advanced English Certificate. I know that not being born in a English-speaking country is a disadvantage, but I’m still willing to try to get a teaching job in Japan (Spanish or English). I work with Japanese people in my country, and I have teaching experience as well as the JLPT N2. Recently, the quality of life in my home country has worsened, and I have taken more seriously he possibility to get out.
I started applying for NOVA 2 days ago, and will continue to submit my application to other companies too.
For those who already got a job in Japan, could you give me some kind of advice? I also think that if I don’t get a job for a while , I could save money and get a student visa, go there and have more possibilities to get a job.
If you could tell me your experiences that would help me a lot.
Thanks.
11 comments
Would you be able to get certified to teach Spanish in your home country? You could apply to teach Spanish at an international school.
Also, do you have a bachelors degree? If not then there is no chance sadly.
NOVA is your best option. Even though they’re a bad option. I work with some people who aren’t native speakers. And NOVA does offer Spanish classes.
Your Masters helps and if you have a teaching certificate even better. Once you get here through NOVA or such immediately start applying for better jobs. At N2 Japanese you should be able to find a job doing anything from marketing to sales. Visas are pretty generous in Japan regarding the work you can do.
If you have any experience or qualifications in being a real teacher, anything related to dispatch, ALT, or eikaiwa work is honestly going to be pretty beneath you and you’ll be likely to clash with management since you’ll know significantly more than they do about education and language.
Your best bet will be international schools, but the Japan market is very competitive, so you may need to get experience in another country first before breaking in to Japan. However, the market for Spanish might be more favorable in Japan int’l schools so you might be able to make it in one jump.
Another option would be to get published and break in to the university teaching market here. Either way, I’d recommend you not waste your education, experience, and knowledge on entry level jobs that won’t appreciate you.
Borderlink hires non-native speakers, apply for them ASAP you’ll probably get the job
Hi there, non-native English teacher in Japan here 🙂
I have a… khm… small channel on a certain video platform that rhymes with Shoe Lube that you can find if you look at my profile. I’m not fishing for subs or anything (haven’t uploaded in a good while), but I have a bunch of content about how I got to Japan as a non-native English teacher, perhaps you might want to take a look?
I believe there are 2(?) high schools in my prefecture that offer Spanish language classes, might be worth hitting them up and see if they have some chances for you.
You would be better off trying to get into an international school in Japan. Most English ekaiwas and ALT positions want native English speakers or people that have had 12 years of English education.
International schools may want a Spanish teacher though, you should apply to them. Gaijinpot will not have international schools on it btw.
Another way you can look at getting a job is to search outside of the bigger cities and get a job in a more remote eikaiwa. Use that as a starting point. It just so happened that many years ago, after seeing out about 30 application forms and getting nowhere, that I got one reply from a small out of town eikaiwa. I interviewed with them and they offered me a position. I took it, moved to japan and didn’t look back. I stayed there for the filled my contract and had an awesome experience away from big cities for a year.
Of course, after that year was up it was more than time to go…. But it worked. As soon as you are here the job market opens up a little more. You might have to sacrifice a lot, but if nothing else works…. Try it!
Good luck.
If you look white, being non native English speaker won’t be a problem.
You just have to look white
You could try Berlitz Japan. I actually know the 3 Spanish teachers that they have here in Hyogo. One of them is from Peru and the other 2 are from Spain.
I taught at Zenrinkan in Morioka twenty years ago. They’re an NPO school with a Christian history that’s now more like a community centre. They had a wide variety of classes, including Spanish. Really quirky, interesting place. I don’t know what they’re like these days but back then they did hire from overseas, and knew the value of real teaching credentials and experience. And Morioka’s a pretty sweet little place – the New York Times did a feature on it this year. You could try to contact them and see if they’re up for hiring anytime soon.
https://zenrinkan.weebly.com/