Job Discussion Forums

[latinamericaorasiaorbust]

Hello. I’m American and taught in South Korea for one year followed by approximately 8 years of teaching EFL in various Middle Eastern countries. I would like a change in scenery and am strongly considering Japan. I have a Master of Science (not an MA) in Education and a CELTA (6 years experience post CELTA). I have a few questions and would greatly appreciate any feedback that can be provided.

1.With my credentials, can I get a job that pays more than Eikaiwas? If so, what other types of institutions can I apply to? (I am debt free so I would consider an Eikaiwas as long as I could save some money.)

2. What pay should be expected at Eikaiwas and other types of institutions?

3. How much should I be able to save even if working at a Eikaiwa? (don’t really need to go out a lot as I am past that age)?

4. With my credentials, could I work at a Japanese K-12 school, or MUST I be licensed?

5. Do most jobs in Japan include medical coverage? If not, which EFL jobs do?

6. Is there a preference for Caucasian instructors? Do you know of any teachers that aren’t Caucasian that work at better positions than Eikaiwas?

7. For most jobs, is it better to arrive as a tourist and then apply, or is it possible to find a job before flight? Is it possible to change jobs without leaving the country and returning?

8. Would an international school consider me or is a license required?

9. Is there a certain time of year that is better to apply?

10. Am I correct in assuming flights are not paid for nor reimbursed? If only some institutions, may I ask the names of institutions that you know of which do pay upfront or reimburse?

I sincerely thank you for any feedback you can provide. Please feel free to PM me. And if anyone has considered the Middle East, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have as I have worked in the U.A.E., Saudi, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. Thank you again.

[ssjup81]

1. I'll let the more experienced members answer this, but I'm certain you'd be relegated to ALT or Eikaiwa work even with that experience. If you're interested in classroom teaching,like at an international school, you need to be licensed to teach back home.

2. At an Eikaiwa, maybe about 260,000円/month before taxes. Some, about 250,000円. For ALT work, seems to vary. I'm not sure about teachers in international schools or those who work at universities.

3. That depends on one's lifestyle. If you're good at budgeting, quite a bit. If you suck at it, even if you made a whole lot of money, you wouldn't save.

4. As far as I know, you must be licensed.

5. Well, there's the national insurance that everyone must pay into, but some employers offer their own insurance plan too. I suck at explaining insurance stuff so I'll let more experienced users answer.

6. Doubtful that there's a preference. In Japan a foreigner is a foreigner, despite the fact that most westerners do seem to be "Caucasian" males or Caucasian in general. We non-Caucasian types do exist and I'm sure they do have jobs outside of Eikaiwa work.

7. That's technically against the rules. As Americans, using our 90-day visa, we're prohibited from job searching. You'd be here as a tourist. Too bad we don't have the Working Holiday Visa option.

8. License I'm sure, but who knows. Maybe your experience will make up for it.

9. The Japanese school year begins in April, so looking in maybe January or February or even as early as December may be good. With Eikaiwa, though you can check the job ads and can advertise all year round. For instance, maybe a teacher had to leave for some reason in August, for example, and they'll advertise for a replacement. As a matter of fact, the Eikaiwa I'm working for is advertising for a part-timer and as you can see, it's late July.

10. Other than those who get chosen for the JET Programme as CIRs or ALTs, I don't know of a place that pays for airfare.

[rtm]

[ssjup81]

I completely forgot about private high schools. I forgot that a license wasn't needed for that. I'm more curious about that myself and what the qualifications are.

[nightsintodreams]

2. What pay should be expected at Eikaiwas and other types of institutions?

This is something that people never seem to agree on, but I'd say it is possible to earn more than 250,000 as an entry level eikaiwa teacher or alt. Aeon and Berlitz both pay in the region of 260,000 to 270,000 base salary, factor in over time and you could break 300,000 if you work at a busy school or a school short on teachers. There are also direct hire positions with schools and BOEs, although these places usually require at less a basic level of Japanese, some a high level.

5. Do most jobs in Japan include medical coverage? If not, which EFL jobs do?


The previous poster is correct in that all companies SHOULD pay it, but in my experience most don't. Close to zero of the alt dispatch companies pay it and most eikaiwas don't (Berlitz and nova don't, aeon do I think). You still must pay half yourself though on the shakai hoken system, the system in which you pay health and pension individually by yourself really doesn't end up costing muh more than half of shakai hoken anyway, so I wouldn't make this a major concern.

6. Is there a preference for Caucasian instructors? Do you know of any teachers that aren’t Caucasian that work at better positions than Eikaiwas?

I work at what would be considered one of the best jobs outside of teaching at university, out of 30 teachers there are 5 black people, 3 Philippinos and a few Latinos and Asian looking guys. So the majority are white males but I'm not sure if that's down to discrimination or simply because there are more white males in japan than other ethic groups.

[mitsui]

Frankly I think Korea is not so bad.
You can get a free apartment, and at least there is only one alphabet in Korean.
I think it is getting tougher to get a good job in Japan.

[latinamericaorasiaorbust]

I sincerely thank all of you for your responses. The answers have been very helpful. I will continue to look back here for any future responses.

RTM: If i am correct, an MS is not necessarily geared for teaching, but more for administrative positions in education and an MS, unlike an MA does not provide any hands on practice at teaching or even necessarily cover teaching strategies or philosophies. I could be wrong though. Just a guess. For example my specific major only discussed systems of education in different countries and issues that affect education, such as student to teacher ratios, public v. private, issues related to funding, etc, etc. Not once did it touch upon how to teach.

[ssjup81]

I think you're right. The MA and BA deal with the arts, communicable type studies, like sociology, philosophy, and psychology. The BS and MS, I doubt you'd study those in particular. I have a BA, education was a minor. I had a lot of communicable types of study, including child psychology, childhood development, philosophy of teaching, etc.

You know, I'm surprised Glenski didn't reply, as he's very helpful. Seems he'd have knowledge about private high schools.

[rtm]

[Kitkat Biriyani]

Please no .....
May the xxxxski free weeks/months continue.....
Discussions are now so much more ........and less......

What's for breakfast?

Is my spelling ok....grammar too....punctuation..??
Ohhh I do hope so, before .....

[latinamericaorasiaorbust]

[quote="ssjup81"]I think you're right. The MA and BA deal with the arts, communicable type studies, like sociology, philosophy, and psychology. The BS and MS, I doubt you'd study those in particular. I have a BA, education was a minor. I had a lot of communicable types of study, including child psychology, childhood development, philosophy of teaching, etc.

I also took a couple courses in philosophy and child psychology that counted towards my major but that was by choice, not necessarily required. I'm sure such courses are required and more emphasized in BA and MA programs of study.

[timothypfox]

4. With my credentials, could I work at a Japanese K-12 school, or MUST I be licensed?

As one of the posters mentioned, you would be only qualified to work at a Japanese private K-12 school. These type of schools (and I speak from going through the hiring process and getting a job as a teacher at a private high school) that they are looking for persons with experience working Japan. They also looked favorably on my experience working in public schools in the US, and the fact I have a Japanese wife.

My colleague, however, got hired with an MA in International Relations and prior experience working in a Japanese private high school elsewhere in Japan.