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amity
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 72
Location: central Texas
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 Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject: medical ESL in Japan? |
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Hello everyone. I am looking for a job teaching medical ESP. It has been suggested to me that Japan may have a market for this. My question is whether Japanese medical and nursing schools (there seem to be plenty of them) teach medicine in Japanese or in English. Do those entering the medical professions in Japan need to learn English at all? The university websites I have checked do not actually say what language the course work is in...
Thanks for your help with this. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:39 pm Post subject: Re: medical ESL in Japan? |
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| amity wrote: |
| Hello everyone. I am looking for a job teaching medical ESP. It has been suggested to me that Japan may have a market for this. My question is whether Japanese medical and nursing schools (there seem to be plenty of them) teach medicine in Japanese or in English. Do those entering the medical professions in Japan need to learn English at all? The university websites I have checked do not actually say what language the course work is in... |
I assume you mean ESL, not ESP. The short answer is that you will not be able to make a living just teaching, "medical ESL."
You might be able to teach a class to nurses or doctors or at a community college environment, but not to the point where you just teach to those students and make a decent living.
Students do their course work in Japanese, other than their English elective.
I know of someone who teaches part-time to different students. He views it as a nice part-time job for a few months with lots of eye candy. He was approached by the a friend of a friend teach a group of nurses for a 3 month block each year, 3 hours twice a week. They concentrate on general conversation and basic medical terms.
Last edited by canuck on Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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amity
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 72
Location: central Texas
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:55 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, that is good to know. I guess my hopes of teaching Latin to Japanese students are misplaced! Maybe in Korea?
It is "ESP" by the way. "English for specific purposes," or "special purposes," I have seen it both ways. Business English is another, more frequently encountered example of ESP. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| amity wrote: |
Okay, that is good to know. I guess my hopes of teaching Latin to Japanese students are misplaced! Maybe in Korea?
It is "ESP" by the way. "English for specific purposes," or "special purposes," I have seen it both ways. Business English is another, more frequently encountered example of ESP. |
I don't know about Korea. Good luck. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:16 pm Post subject: Re: medical ESL in Japan? |
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| amity wrote: |
| My question is whether Japanese medical and nursing schools (there seem to be plenty of them) teach medicine in Japanese or in English. Do those entering the medical professions in Japan need to learn English at all? |
Don't know much about the nursing schools, but the medical schools fall into two broad groups: the older schools teach in Japanese and German. The newer schools teach in Japanese only. The reason for this is simply historical: back in the late 19th century/early 20th century the best medical schools were in Germany and that's where Japan drew the instructors from. You can still run into specialists and older doctors in Japanese hospitals that will use German medical terms rather than Japanese (or English or anything else).
The schools will all include some English component these days, but it is minimal and usually limited to reading. For students that go on beyond the basic medical degree they will often pick up a second language properly and it is often English these days. The market for that is *very* tight and you're unlikely to get a decent job without good contacts - a personal introduction and recommendation, etc. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: |
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I agree with Cthulhu that such a market is tight. The science English program for med students at Hokkaido University folded (actually, I think it was simply taken over by the Japanese staff). I know of an ex-Army doctor or 2 who formed their own medical English program in Tokyo, but they had to leave, so I don't think it's still on. Asahikawa University has a program for students aspiring to be doctors and nurses, but I don't know if they are hiring. Last year they advertised, so they might have enough teachers now. Smattering reports elsewhere seem to indicate that unless you have an "in" and good credentials, you are not very likely to land such a slot.
One of the major universities in Tokyo (forget the name) has a very serious English program for its med students, but it's not focused on medical English. Rare as it may be, I think the point from this school that you should take home is the following: Japanese high school students graduate with 6 years of English instruction, but they can still barely converse in simple language. So, what is needed is to get them up to speed on conversation skills (basically, all of the 4 skills), and then work on their medical English.
If you don't have the credentials to get a university job (MA degree, experience, publications, Japanese ability), then you are going to be forced to look elsewhere. IES is a place that offers some courses to businesses with pharmaceutical ties. You might also want to look at what other business English schools (like Simul or Sumikin) offer in medical English courses. They'll probably want some serious experience of sorts doing that sort of ESP, though. |
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amity
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 72
Location: central Texas
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Okay, advice taken. Thank you. |
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