Hello! My original intention was to become an ALT in Japan through the JET program, but after being rejected from JET and accepted into Korea’s EPIK program, I’ve ended up across the pond instead. Still, I’ve been interested in possibly transitioning to Japan in another two years. For teachers who began their English teaching careers in Korea and ended up in Japan, how did it go? Did you find eikawa work comparable to hagwon? Was a JET program salary liveable? I’m addition, given I have 3 years experience co-teaching in Korea with a masters degree, could I get a direct hire to an international school or public school rather than using an agency?
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International schools will require a teaching license. No license means you won’t be considered unfortunately. Additionally, Co-teaching esl isn’t considered experience for international schools. Good luck wherever you land!
When people say international school here they usually mean the older, established ones that you need a home country license for. There are starting to be more “international school”s where you might not need a license and they might even bring you from abroad but your conditions might be iffy. (Japanese are finally catching on to bilingual ed from preschool and the market has attached to the idea.) Agencies are usually not a thing here, you might be hired from a dispatch company from abroad for public schools. Those conditions will be iffy.
I was a teacher at a hagwon in Seoul for 3 years before I moved here to Japan. The hagwon I worked in gave me all the perks, health insurance, pension, etc. Plus I had to do summer and winter camps. The apt was also paid for.
Once I came to Japan, I worked for an eikaiwa and was put under a æ¥å‹™å§”託 contract which is a contractor. My boss wasn’t paying my half of my health or pension. Which means I was left paying these on my own and no transportation costs. Basically, I wasn’t able to save like I did in Korea and it left me with a bad experience.
There have been a lot of threads about this question before, so I advise searching it. I worked in Korea 15 years ago now. Some of the differences I’ve noticed include a) it’s harder to save money here b) learning Japanese is much more necessary than Korean. Start now c) Japanese ESL tends to be much more rigid in how you teach – little freedom in Eikaiwa jobs usually d) you don’t get your hand held like in Korea – you often need to find your own apartment, sort out your visa, and so on e) ALT jobs are notorious for low job satisfaction.
The move worked out in the end, but I had to grind shit jobs for a few years before I found a decent one.