Job Discussion Forums

[grace]

Hello everyone. I hope that you are all well. I am a 32 year old female Canadian TESL teacher. I am seriously thinking about going to Japan to teach English for one year this following summer. I have already taught in Mexico and Italy, which were okay experiences, but never in Asia. I do not know anybody there nor the language. I was hoping that you would give me your input on teaching in Japan. I would like to know for example which cities to work in and avoid and the same with language schools, and anything else that would be helpful for me before going to Japan . Thanks for all your help!!

[grace]

Thank you for replying Writerman. How woud I be able to move it to the Japan forum? Unfortunately, computers is not one of my strengths.

[Paul G]

Grace, dear, now that we have this moved to the correct forum, you need to watch this thread and see who replies to you. If you have additional questions, click the "Post Reply" button below. Don't use the "new topic" button because that will start a new thread.

I would also suggest that you read all of the threads here in the Japan section. To do this, just click on a topic. A lot of your questions have already been answered and there is a wealth of information about Japan in those posts.

Paul

[Glenski]

Grace,

Send me an email for tons of information (in Excel format). The first ones you will probably want are the files I made on Pluses and Minuses of Living in Japan, and on Eikaiwas. Others include:

expenses
groceries
recommended books
recommended web sites
planning to come to Japan
private lessons
advantages/disadvantages of job hunting from abroad vs. in Japan
comparing the Big Four eikaiwa and JET
pictures of a typical teacher's apartment
grammar terms in romaji

These amount to over 1 megabyte of memory. I haven't yet set up a web site, so sending these by email is my only option.

Meanwhile, to answer one of your questions, I'd advise to steer clear of Shane, GABA, and Interac.

As for what cities are good/bad, a lot depends on you. That is, do you prefer a big city (where there are more opportunities, but more competition, too), or a smaller town (where there are fewer opportunities, less English in the surroundings, fewer shopping malls & such, and fewer foreigners)?

[jsmurf]

hi glenski,

i'm brand spanking new at this. Would you mind emailing me those files too?? for some unknown reason, I want to teach and live in japan, no where else, just japan. kind of odd hey (i've never been west of tofino)? ANyway, I just started researching this all a couple days ago, and if you don't mind passing it on i'd love to look at your info.

thanks! my email's [email protected]

[nasigoreng]

I would love to see this information too.

[email protected]

[Shonai Ben]

The best way to come to Japan imo is to get a job with Geos,Aeon,Nova,Ecc,etc..Let them do all the ground work for you;for example: sponsor your visa,act as a guarantor for housing,sign you up for natl. health ins.,look after all the paperwork at immigration,etc..
Then,once you are settled in Japan,you can either stay with your current company or bail after you give two weeks notice.Once you have your visa stamped in your passport,you can do pretty much what you want.It is up to you.A lot of people at Nova bail out after only 6 months.Hope this helps.

[Scotty]

Hi Glenski, I would really appreciate your sending me the information also. Thanks.

[jenaya]

sorry to be a pain, but i would love that information as well please.
Jenaya [email protected]

[Glenski]

If I haven't already sent the above files to you, please send ME an email and ask for them specifically. I can't come back to this one message and check on the number of people who want the info. Sorry.

[email protected]