Job Discussion Forums

[Elmo_Chic]

G'day! Like many other people on this forum i am considering going to Japan to teach. Currently i am a primary school teacher in Australia.
I have a few questions:

1. I would like to go with a company, possibly one of the big 3-4 as long as they are realiable. Is there any that i can go with where i can teach in a primary school? (I think this may be known as elementary school)

2. I want to go with my friend. What are our chances of ending up in the same town? We are prepared to go to different schools but just want to live close enough to visit each other and have that support.

OK that is all i can think of right now. At present i am researching my options and gathering as much info as i can. I plan to go over early to mid 2004 depending on my circumstances at the time.

Thanks for any help.
Chrissa

[Glenski]

[nakanoalien2]

When I went through the NOVA recruiting, I had a friend in Kanagawa. I justfied being placed near the area my friend was living in by saying that it would be good for supporting each other with education and culture tips as well as dealing with the culture shock. I was placed 7 minutes away.

But keep in mind a few things:

-it was NOVA, not a public school
-Kanagawa and the Odakyu line have tons of NOVA schools, so I'm sure there was alot of demand for NOVA teachers in that area anyway
-my friend had been living in Japan for a few years so the justification might have been a little more considerable (i.e. a sempai-kohai relationship)

[homersimpson]

As Glenski and Nakano rightly point out, NOVA (and the other Big 3) is not an elementary school. Although the conversation schools tend to have separate divisions for teaching kids of that age range (i.e. NOVA Kids, AEON's Amity, ECC Jr., etc.). The best bet for getting a job in an elementary school (as an Assistant Language Teacher, not the primary homeroom teacher) is to apply with companies like Interac or Altia. I have seen a few postings occasionally on ohayosensei.com for private elementary schools looking to hire certified elementary school teachers, but they require a high fluency level in Japanese. To the best of my knowledge, public elementary (and junior high) schools in Japan DO NOT hire non-citizens to be full time homeroom/self-contained classroom teachers. Perhaps others out there can confirm or refute this?

[Sam Adams]

If you want to be an ALT in an elementary school then I would reccomend JET or Interac. Jet places you in August. Interac also has job openings year round, as positions are always opening up.　　Best of luck.

[Rhialto]

I would not recomend Interac. While the situation on the ground is very much on a case by case basis, Interac all but has a company policy of paying late (once in a few years is bad planning - one every few months is more like a conscious decision), and they can't be rusted to faithfully account for the items you return, and may charge you regardless of whether you return them, by withholding money from your pay.

[ajarn]

Get on to the westgate website they now have positions teaching High School and Primary School teachers www.westgate.co.jp

[Dean T]

there is more than interac and jet if you wish to work in elementary schools or kindergarten or junior high.

as a australian i can asure you that the system here is nothing like home and it will be a eye opener for you.

[Stella]

As you can see frm the other posts, there are companies that arrange ALT's for primary schools but as a fellow Australian who has taught in the Australian primary school system I would reiterate what one other poster said that the system here is very different. And I'm confident saying that you probably won't find much about the sytem here that you would be impressed with at all. Personally I'm apalled at it. Sure there are some school and teachers who are OK but I also see lots of teachers who:

*seem to have no clue about how children learn
*have zero classroom management skills
*turn a blind eye to violence in the clasroom because they don't have the balls or any idea how to stop it
*also ignore children who are no paying attention or not keeping up with the rest of the kids because it's easier for them to ignore the problem than deal with it.

I do some work in primary schools for the board of education in my town (but I was hired directly by them) but I refuse to be referred to an an "ALT" because that "A" stands for 'assistant' and I am NOT an assistant. I plan and teach all my classes myself and know far more about real teaching than most of the so called teachers I come in contact with here.

I don't want to make it sound too trerrible or put you off coming to Japan but I do think it's best to know what to expect and that's my thoughts based on what I've seen in schools here. One thing I should say is that the smaller more rural schools seem to be a bit better than the bigger ones I go to.

You could try for a job in an international school as a classroom teacher since you have the teaching skills and qualification they'd require.

Whatever you decide to do - I wish you luck.

Stella

[Celeste]

Stella-

I totally agree with your comments! I too am teaching in Elementary schools. The first thing I had to tell the homeroom teachers was that in Canada, we don't let children address adults by their first name in the classroom. (I know that Japanese teachers are not referred to by their first names in the classroom either). Many other JET ALTs think that I am really old fashioned, but the truth is that I have been teaching for 6 years and demand more respect in the classroom than some of my colleagues who are recent university grads and are teaching for the first time.

I have been able to get support from the administators at my elementary schools. They have had long talks with children who have misbehaved in my classroom (one little fellow who thought it was funny to make an obscene gesture towards me was in tears and apologizing to me in English and Japanese after he and I took a little walk to the principals office- the gist of her conversation with him was 'You really hurt Ms. Munger's feelings, and now she thinks that you don't want to be her friend. How do you feel when other boys make fun of you? Do you want Ms. Munger to come back to your class?" Tough stuff, huh? It worked though. That kid is a great student and always hangs out to talk to me after class.)

At one of my schools, the administrators were really cold. They never spoke to me. I was shown to the principal's room in the morning to wait for my classes. He never spoke to me. He sort of looked up and said to the secretary (in Japanese) "Who's that?" She told him who I was and he went back to his paperwork. The kids at that school were awful. The teachers were burnt out and uncaring. I told my supervisor about it, and magically, I don't have to go there anymore (apparently, I have enough glowing reports from my other schools that I don't have to go back to the one school that really doesn't appreciate having me there.)

I too am the lead teacher in a lot of my classrooms. I go to the schools as an ALT, but after one or two visits, they all stop calling me the ALT and start referring to me as Eigo no sensei(the English teacher).

[Elmo_Chic]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful information. Just to clarify myself on a few points:
I realise that the big 3-4 are conversation schools. I just wanted to see if there were other options where I could specifically work either in an elementary school or with children of that age group. I don't mind if I have to be an assistant or the actual teacher. The only Japanese I know is how to count from 1-10, so the option of working somewhere that requires to speak Japanese is not practical.

A few people mentioned there experience working in elementary schools:
Did you go through an organisation or just apply privately? (I would like to organise before I actually leave for Japan).
Do you know of any organisations that hire primary school teachers - as teacher or assistant? (From Australia)

I am not sure that I am wording this correctly to say what I mean - it is late and my head is a bit fuzzy!

Thanks again for all the info so far. If anyone has more specific experiences or information they wish to share, I would be so happy to listen.
Chrissa

[tjpnz2000]

Hi,

There are organisations that hire teachers for positions from outside Japan. including Australia. The place to find such organisations if this site or gaijinpot.com or other websites. Many, but by no means all, jobs in public schools (elementary, junior high school and high school) require the applicant to be in Japan. Depending on your situation you may want to work at one of the Big 4 first and then look for a job in public school. Most contracts are one year long and Big 4 schools are a lot more understanding if you break a contract because you don't like Japan and want to go home.

Be aware that when you work in a public school in Japan you are very much in the Japanese world. This is not `bad`, in my opinion why would you go to another country if it wasn't different? However, be ready not to understand 95% of what is happening around you or why.

I say: Give it a go because you only live once.

T

[PAULH]