Job Discussion Forums

[johanne]

I would just like to throw in a word of caution that while working at an international school where your children are enrolled is much easier to handle than working for an English conversation school, it is not a 100% solution to child care. I teach Grade 1 at an international school and my 4-year old attends the kindergarten at the school. Unfortunately, they finish 20 minutes before I do, so I need someone to come and pick her up (luckily my mother in law lives in the neighbourhood and is enjoying her granddaughter). Even though that is arranged, there are days where you must work (In-service, professional development days, etc) where your child is not in school and you have to arrange care. Very few international schools will allow you to have your child in your classroom while you are suppose to be teaching or doing other related work. The parents are paying a lot of money so that your attention is completely on their child, so I can understand this rule. As well, there is usually at least one after school meeting a week and of course there is the time you need to prep your classroom for the next day. Especially if you teach kindergarten or the lower elementary grades you will need to physically be in the classroom to prep it as many things cannot be done at home.
I'm not trying to discourage you in any way as I think if you can swing it an international school is the best way as the difficulties are easier to solve than if you were working a 12-9 schedule at a conversation school, but I just wanted to point out that there are still arrangements that you will need to make.
Also, at my school most teachers had over 5 years experience when they were hired, with a couple being hired with 2-3 years experience. Other schools I interviewed at were more flexible. It really seemed to depend on how "international" they really were. Many kindergartens, especially, call themselves international, but are more of an "english immersion" pre school for Japanese kids and don't pay as much as a real international schools, sometimes they don't pay much more than the conversation schools but the hours are way better.
Anyway good luck with your plans. It is possible to live here with a child comfortably, and much more so working at an international school in my opinion, but there are still many little problems that you will have to think about and solve that singles don't ever worry about.

[mrichardson]

Good information to have. Thank you for all your encouraging comments.

[orangecurls]

Do you think you could get a babysitter on base? I would think that a housewife on base would like to watch your child (especially at 10-15 dollars per hour.) If your friend could set up child care (ie. post a note or advertisement), I think you could work at a language school and finance your time in Japan. Though remember that the hours will be strange, so the babysitter would need to be flexable and much of your pay check would end up going to her. But I think if you could find a really flexable/reliable babysitter, I think you could do it.

You would be living near the base right? Look for a small private school, one that only has one or two sites, and maybe you could talk to the owner and she/he will be flexable once you tell them your situation and how you have child care already set-up. They need teachers in Japan, so I think it will take just the right language school, not a big school.