Job Discussion Forums

[gochubandit]

always wondered about that. Japan seems like fun, but with the high cost of living, the increasing rate of English speakers both living and teaching, it doesn't seem very stable in the long run. plus if you plan to do the whole marriage/kids bit, it seems even less stable.

so a question for you nihon lifers, how do you see life in Japan in the long run? still do ESL or switch out to another field (public/private school teaching, univ, or another field altogether)?

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

[abufletcher]

Teaching EFL overseas (wherever that happens to be for you) is best suited to a "just passing through" mentality. Most of the EFL people I've met who are "permanently affixed" to one country (usually by virtue of marriage) are a somewhat forelorn lot. Particularly those with kids. I wouldn't exactly say they are full of regrets but the sense of wide-open possibilities that brings many people into this field is gone. Or maybe that's just age!

My own feeling as a 22 year veteran of overseas EFL (Saudi, Kuwait, Oman, Mexico, and Japan for the last 10 years) is that you have to see EFL as a technical commodity perhaps on a par with major domestic appliances. There are several major markets for this commodity at any given moment. Currently I'd say the Japan and the Arabian Gulf represent the prime markets. This could change with a shilf in global economics but at least for the foreseeable future we can write off Africa, South and Central America, the Sub-continent, and most of southern Asia as valuable markets for EFL teachers. China holds some as yet unrealized potential -- perhaps 5-10 years down the line.

Note, I'm talking strictly about the high end of the market here: university EFL teaching. The lower end jobs are strictly for short-timers -- or people who don't mind working 60 hours per week to make the family's ends meet. The low end of EFL is akin to being a door-to-door salesman in terms of marketing -- or maybe like being a basic grunt in a white shirt and tie on a sales teams in the better cases.

To sell yourself in the high end market you HAVE to have an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics -- preferrable a well-respected one -- and be willing to move around as jobs come and go. And they will. There are a few "tenure-like" university jobs in Japan but those positions are becoming increasingly competetive and you don't have much of a chance anymore without a Ph.D. and publications. There almost no such jobs in the Gulf. Most expat EFL teachers there are on 1 or 2 year renewable contracts and it's rare that people stay more than 10 years -- though there are a few long-timer. No one seriously considers living out his or her days in the Gulf -- not even the people who love it there.

Of course the prospects aren't much rosier "back home" for most EFL professionals (all the others just leave the field when they return). A stable full-time ESL job in the US is almost unheard of -- unless it's a public school gig which has a different career track. Most EFL teachers in the US end up being "Road Scholars" commuting back and forth between as many as 5 jobs.

No thank you.

[taikibansei]

[seanmcginty]

I had to make a pretty big decsision about that a year ago. After five years in Japan as an English teacher, two spent running my own school, and with a Japanese wife I had come to the point where I had to decide whether to go back to Canada or basically spend the rest of my life in Japan.

There were a lot of things to think about. We were pretty happy with things, we made a decent income in a not too demanding job. But there were a lot of other issues too. Family was one. The ability to buy a house was another, in Canada we could buy a house twice as large as most Japanese places for less money.

In the end we decided to move to Canada, and we left Japan in March of this year. I think we could have been pretty happy if we stayed in Japan, but I got accepted into law school and was pretty keen to get out of English teaching and into a new career. I suppose it depends on the person, I know a lot of people who have lived in Japan for more than a decade and are quite succesful and happy.

[Glenski]

The people that I have met who have been here 10 years or more seem to fall into a couple of categories.

1. Those who have changed from teaching to something else. They usually own their own businesses.

2. Those who have stuck with teaching. Many, probably most, live on a string of part-time jobs. A few rare ones have become entrenched in long-term university jobs, whether full-time or part-time. Long-term life at universities is in itself extremely rare. With the rise in popularity of English for younger children these days, I would suspect that the older you get, the less your chances of teaching such kids.

Then there are the "talento" types like Patrick Harlan and David Spector.

[abufletcher]

I know that the OP was talking about a basic "English teacher" gig in Japan but I thought I'd add that the vast majority of tenure-track positions for a professor of applied linguistics/TESOL that I've seen have been looking for a specialist in literacy and/or testing.

Moral if you have mercenary reasons for doing a Ph.D. it's best to be mercenary about the research area you choose.

In terms of overseas EFL it'll be a whole lot more comfortable if you have a working spouse. The economic crunch comes when it's time for the kids to go to high school and you need to decide how to manage to have them attend one of the pricey Engilish-medium international schools. It's about this time that most expats start thinking about heading home.

Of course if your kids are born and raised fully bilingually (or Japanese dominant) in Japan you could have them go to Japanese public schools, but for them to succeed in this system you have to count on spenting tons of money on jukus like all the other Japanese parents are doing. In essence you are not just deciding where YOU will spend you life but also where you're CHILDREN with spend their lives.

Overall, I've enjoyed my life and career as an overseas EFL teacher (and more recently "professor") but if what you're looking for is the house in the suburbs life, it's going to be a challenge.

[abufletcher]

[gaijinalways]

Yes, you can do it here, but language skills and graduate degrees give you better options. Some people also do the self sponsorship route, and start building their won privates/school business, which can be also very lucrative and you manage to avoid paying some taxes (either privates--usually no taxes, or with your business, you can write off a lot of expenses, thus reducing your tax load).

Depends on how much you like working and what kind of life you want to have while doing it. It's harder now to start a school in the more urban areas (every Japanese, whether they speak English or not, seems to want to start a small school), but if you start one outside these areas, not countryside, more like urban suburbia, preferrably teaching a mix of kids and adults, it's possible and can be very lucrative. Some people start off with a few privates and eventually find they have enough individual and group lessons to float a more permanent school.

[canuck]

[gochubandit]

hmmm....

curious about the MA degree. does it have to be in TESOL??? i was considering getting an MA at the international studies program at one of the major unis in Seoul. also was planning to get CELTA cert in Thailand sometime in the next few years. but are tenure uni jobs unobtainable with those qualifications? i know here in korea you can get a decent uni job (fairly good cash, most of which is untaxable, and 3-mo school vacations).

and professors in humanities don't make much money? are you talking about prof teaching abroad? i know in the States that's true, but i'm curious about professor salaries overseas in places like Japan, Korea, Europe, etc.

what i hope to do in the long run is teach ESL and float around the globe for a bit, and settle down and either do a Ph.D and get tenure position in some uni either in the States or Europe or Asia. my other option is go back to the States and do law school, but i'm not really keen on that. worked in that field before and although you do get good cash, it's not a lifestyle i envy.

[PAULH]

[abufletcher]

[abufletcher]