So I’m interested on becoming an eikaiwa in the future. Currently I’m in my last year of high school in Romania.
I looked some stuff up and I know I’ll need a Specialist in Humanities visa, which in turn requires a degree in something part of the humanities category.
The thing is, as I mentioned, I’m from Romania. I’m not a native speaker of English, but I have been studying it at school since I was 7.
I’ve seen an article where a couple people were interviewed about how they managed to become an eikaiwa while not being a native English speaker. One of them is even the same nationality as me. The one that’s not the same nationality mentioned she had to prove she studied English at university, which, if it’s true, I’d have to go to one that will do that. The eikaiwa schools I checked have the following thing as a requirement: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university where the instruction was in English. I’m not at university yet to be sure of this, but I’m assuming the teachers there will also speak in romanian to us, so would it count?
I just want to be sure of everything before I graduate high school and go to university, as I’ll need to plan accordingly.
EDIT: When the Specialist in Humanities visa says degree in something related to your upcoming job and 10 years of experience, is that **and** or **or**? The AOEN site is saying it’s “or”, but other sites aren’t as clear and as a result, I’m not sure if I need a degree *and* to have teached for 10 years as well.
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I can’t answer none of that, but since no one has answered yet, I can tell you that you can teach English at private academies in Europe and outside before even finishing university if you get a CELTA certificate and have a good English level (C1-C2 mainly), which is what I did here in Spain.
I fear that many Japanese companies will prioritise native speakers, even if they don’t have proper teacher training or qualifications (even though you can find non-native speakers working there). Surely someone more experienced than me in this sub will be able to correct me if I’m wrong.
Also, if you get an official English certificate, I have been told that the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2) is not very well-known in Japan (they have other assessment methods for English that you can Google). But hopefully someone might be able to shed some more light into this.
You don’t need a humanities degree. You can get a bachelor’s degree in literally anything. So if you enjoy STEM, absolutely get a STEM degree. Or just the easiest degree you can find which is what many people do. Also you don’t need any experience.
You’re right that you don’t need to be a native speaker. Even companies that claim all their teachers are native have non-native teachers, if you have 10+ years of schooling in English many consider you native. Having native level pronunciation is a big plus.
But since you’re still in high-school you’re at least 3 or 4 years away from applying for jobs. Relax and enjoy university. And remember when you do start applying you’ll get turned down from a lot of companies irregardless of your qualifications.
Don’t go to college with the intention of working in an eikaiwa. it is not a career – it’s the teaching equivalency of working in fast food for your entire life. It’s bad wages, poor management, ill treatment, no respect, and no career progression, raises, or skill development.
Some people do enjoy the job, but at most they work from 3-5 years. After that, the majority of people burn out and begin to hate it.
Those fancy websites that exclaim how amazing it is to teach ESL abroad are *selling* you something. They never, ever mention the downsides. I have a friend whose face is part of an ad campaign for the school she works for, and she *hates* her job. But since it’s the only job open to her, she can’t quit. That brings me to my next point: she can’t quit because she lacks the qualifications to do anything else.
If you want to teach as a career, go to university and study linguistics, education, or TESOL – get your master’s degree, and then you’ll be well-qualified and able to find a job at a school or university, where you’ll have a much better chance of making enough money to support a family (assuming this is your eventual goal). At eikaiwa, you’ll be struggling.
And why Japan? With qualifications, you could teach in many different countries. You could even be a teacher in your own country.
You need to be more realistic about this.
Hey! Fellow Romanian here!
I am currently teaching in an eikawa in Japan but that is only because I first came here on a student visa (to learn the Japanese language) and then I was searching for a part-time job that eventually became my full time job. The main reason I was hired though was because I had a degree in the UK and like you I have been speaking English since I was a child.
I suggest if you want to come and live in Japan then you need a Bachelor degree no matter from where. School is important for them.
Also working in an eikawa as the others have mentioned is not a career. You can never evolve, get promoted and will be stuck in the same role for years with no chance of getting a higher pay. Not to mention the Japanese working life where you only get 10 days of holiday per year. Remember they don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter so you will probably work 5 days a week (if you are lucky) with hours from 12 to 10pm (if it is an eikawa). You might also not get any weekends off depending on the school.
If you want to teach English get a TEFL certificate and teach for a year as an experience to add to your CV. Japan usually offers you nothing in return, but South Korea (at the moment) they pay much more better and China not only do the pay you to work but also offer you a place to stay and money to travel around the country. (It depends on the company though I guess)
Like the others said…working in an eikawa is like working for McDonalds. At the moment for me it is just a way to stay in the country and get experience in Japan while trying to get a job somewhere else.
You need to think this really through as it is your future at stake. And with this whole pandemic no idea what is gonna happen or how things are gonna turn out.
So I suggest you think about what you are good at and what would you like to do with your life and get a degree that would help you. If you really want to come and work in Japan then study Japanese, but also get work experience (that is necessary no matter where you go) and then move here.
Hope this helps.
as long as your uni lectures/exams are held in english, and the uni can write a letter proving this, you’re good. but as everyone says, eikaiwa is not a long term career path. a lot of people apply for them as way to get their foot in the country or to stay in the country.
my advice is take a degree course that you like, apply to eikaiwa, get to japan and start looking for better jobs in other fields if you like. if youre into teaching, getting an MA is best.
I can actually help as my girlfriend is from Romania.
So she went and studied in the UK and did a TESOL degree, it was 3 years in the UK and one year in Japan. You could maybe do the same in any EU country or Ireland for an English speaking country.
Now when she needed to get a job in Japan most Eikaiwas wont hire her so we didnt try. We applied for some kids companies, originally the job said native english only but they accepted her easily.
It worked out as the kids company treats her far better than any eikaiwa and her actually teaching hours is only like 2 a day.
Now in Japan she plans to do a masters and we will see what after then.
Sorry, “eikaiwa” and “future” do not belong in the same sentence.