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| Would you stay in Japan or go home? |
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| Total Votes : 4 |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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 Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:30 am Post subject: job hunting question |
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I live in Japan and have a nice job as an English teacher at a private elementary school. I enjoy my work and feel it is quite fulfilling. However, I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels here and would like to take the next step towards furthering my career. Living in Japan has been up and down for me. As it is now, I could take it or leave it. If I decide not to renew my contract for the next school year, I would go home and live with my folks for a bit (no probs there, I like my folks and they really want me to live in the USA) until I find a new job - teaching ESL in the USA at the community college level.
What would you do? Continue what you're doing now while looking for jobs back home OR go home, face unemployment while job hunting?
Some other info: I am not interested in changing jobs here in Japan (e.g. working at the university level in Japan), it's either stay at my current job or go home. I have an MA-TESOL and some pubs under my belt as well. |
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Sweetsee
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 2302
Location: ) is everything
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:09 am Post subject: |
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| No brainer. Bail back to the States and introduce me for the job. Afterall, I have a family to support and a mortgage. |
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dove
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Posts: 271
Location: USA/Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:41 am Post subject: |
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| If you can live with your parents (willingly) and if there are community college job options in your area (and if you like your area in the States), I would definitely go back and do the job hunt there.... It seems that although you can tolerate Japan, you are not really loving it here. I know how you feel. I am bored out of my mind. It's not Japan's fault, it's mine, and it's probably natural after being here all these years. I'm not looking to go back to the States, however. I want to try teaching in another country next year. That is why I got into ESL, afterall. Good luck, but I already think you are extremely lucky because you have parents who want you to come back. |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:43 am Post subject: |
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| Sweetsee wrote: |
| No brainer. Bail back to the States and introduce me for the job. Afterall, I have a family to support and a mortgage. |
In addition to having to potentially replace me, they want to expand and add a couple more native English speaker teachers. Just keep your eyes peeled at ohayosensei. The position should be there soon enough.
Last edited by ripslyme on Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:48 am Post subject: |
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| dove wrote: |
| If you can live with your parents (willingly) and if there are community college job options in your area (and if you like your area in the States), I would definitely go back and do the job hunt there.... It seems that although you can tolerate Japan, you are not really loving it here. I know how you feel. I am bored out of my mind. It's not Japan's fault, it's mine, and it's probably natural after being here all these years. I'm not looking to go back to the States, however. I want to try teaching in another country next year. That is why I got into ESL, afterall. Good luck, but I already think you are extremely lucky because you have parents who want you to come back. |
Yeah, I have a nice safety net for when I return home. I'm from an urban area in Florida, and if you've ever been to one of those, you know there are parts that are more like Latin America than the United States of America. There are definitely ESL options at the CC level there. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| ripslyme wrote: |
| I'm from an urban area in Florida, and if you've ever been to one of those, you know there are parts that are more like Latin America than the United States of America. There are definitely ESL options at the CC level there. |
I know someone who has a MA-TESOL and couldn't find a decent job in the United States because of his lack of Spanish. He came back to Japan. |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: |
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| canuck wrote: |
| ripslyme wrote: |
| I'm from an urban area in Florida, and if you've ever been to one of those, you know there are parts that are more like Latin America than the United States of America. There are definitely ESL options at the CC level there. |
I know someone who has a MA-TESOL and couldn't find a decent job in the United States because of his lack of Spanish. He came back to Japan. |
Spanish, check. |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:07 am Post subject: Re: job hunting question |
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| ripslyme wrote: |
| I live in Japan and have a nice job as an English teacher at a private elementary school. I enjoy my work and feel it is quite fulfilling. However, I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels here and would like to take the next step towards furthering my career. |
Where do you see your career going?
| Quote: |
| Some other info: I am not interested in changing jobs here in Japan (e.g. working at the university level in Japan), it's either stay at my current job or go home. I have an MA-TESOL and some pubs under my belt as well. |
Well, with those credentials, you'll eventually get a full-time cc position somewhere. You'll probably have to start off part-time for a year or so, making local connections and building up your cv. Still, as you already have housing taken care of, you should be fine.
However, as I've mentioned before, a full-time teaching position at most US community colleges is a tough gig. You'll usually be expected to teach 20-25 hours per week, plus maintain office hours and fulfill university service (e.g., committee work) obligations. Class sizes will be very large, and student abilities will be very mixed. Still, if you like teaching a lot and are not afraid of hard work, it can be a really rewarding career.
Here are some links with good general info on cc hiring:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2006/02/2006021701c/careers.html
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/04/2002041901c.htm
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/12/2003121201c.htm
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/09/2005090101c/careers.html
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/03/2003030401c.htm |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:06 am Post subject: Re: job hunting question |
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| taikibansei wrote: |
Here are some links with good general info on cc hiring:
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Thanks for the links! They look really informative!  |
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