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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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 Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:55 am Post subject: NNS husband, raising a family, pay, quality of life Qs |
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Trying to figure out where a good place to go with a NNS husband could be. We want to get out of Peru and South America and are looking at Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Many people have recommended Taiwan, Japan and Korea. So my question is, what do you think of Japan as a place to settle down in and raise a family? Is it doable? Financially, we're used to scrimping and saving. And hopefully will be making some property investments to help support us as well.
Any thought? |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:13 am Post subject: |
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Does your husband have a degree? Does he have any special skills? What is your educational background?
I'm guessing you would have a tough go here. Please provide more information for a more accurate answer. |
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JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe I'm showing my ignorance here, but at the risk of sounding stupid, what on earth is "NNS"? |
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furiousmilksheikali
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1660
Location: In a coffee shop, splitting a 30,000 yen tab with Sekiguchi.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:32 am Post subject: |
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Non-native speaker?
If this is the case it would have made more sense to say that he is not a native speaker of English as opposed to Japanese or any other language which could cause confusion. |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:18 am Post subject: |
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NNS is non-native speaker.
I'm an Ameri an with five years TEFL experience and halfway thorugh an MA.
My husband is Peruvian, works with Oracle, CISCO and Java as a Database Administrator, but no degree |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:27 am Post subject: |
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| naturegirl321 wrote: |
NNS is non-native speaker.
I'm an Ameri an with five years TEFL experience and halfway thorugh an MA.
My husband is Peruvian, works with Oracle, CISCO and Java as a Database Administrator, but no degree |
If I were you, I would come to Japan once you have your Masters. Find a job, an support the two of you. For that year, have your husband learn Japanese and work part-time if he can find work. After a year, move to Tokyo (if you don't start off in Tokyo) and your husband would find it easier to get a job, with Japanese ability and experience. He would have to stress his experience and hope for the best.
As far as teaching goes, I think it would be difficult for your husband to find a job, but not impossible (assuming he speaks English very well). As far as teaching his native language, without a degree and on a dependent visa, it would be very difficult, because of the lack of demand. Good luck. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| If I were you, I would come to Japan once you have your Masters. Find a job, an support the two of you. |
canuck, I think you may realize that for one person fresh into the country, supporting a spouse will require a tight budget. Even with a master's degree, it will be hard to find something that pays well enough on a single salary if they have no previous experience in Japan. They will have to live frugally, and perhaps she will have to take secondary work. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Quote: |
| If I were you, I would come to Japan once you have your Masters. Find a job, an support the two of you. |
canuck, I think you may realize that for one person fresh into the country, supporting a spouse will require a tight budget. Even with a master's degree, it will be hard to find something that pays well enough on a single salary if they have no previous experience in Japan. They will have to live frugally, and perhaps she will have to take secondary work. |
Even on a eikaiwa salary, it could be done, with no savings. I agree, it would be tough. I know of some non-native teachers that got jobs teaching English mainly because they had a valid visa. It's sad. Zenken/ZIAC is famous for that. I'm sure they make at least 180K a month and ride a Razor scooter to work.
Non-native English speaking teachers often teach kids. I know a few who are great teachers too. However, it's tough initially getting a job. Most have decent Japanese ability.
I think the most prudent thing is to continue to ask questions on this forum and if they decide to come to Japan, come with a plan and realistic expectations. |
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furiousmilksheikali
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1660
Location: In a coffee shop, splitting a 30,000 yen tab with Sekiguchi.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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Your husband is a non-native English speaker, but what is his level of English like?
There certainly are good teachers of English who are not native speakers. In fact, whereas canuck finds it sad that there are non-native speakers teaching English purely on the basis that they have a valid visa I find it a little sad that there are people employed to teach English purely on the basis that they were raised in that language.
Aside from ALT positions which employ non-native speakers to teach English (be careful of the more disreputable dispatch companies), there are other schools such as Berlitz who employ Spanish teachers. Also, I believe that NOVA's multimedia centre in Osaka also employs Spanish teachers. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 12:31 am Post subject: |
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| furiousmilksheikali wrote: |
| I find it a little sad that there are people employed to teach English purely on the basis that they were raised in that language. |
I agree. I seem them on their scooters around Osaka every day, trying not to bump into people.
| furiousmilksheikali wrote: |
Aside from ALT positions which employ non-native speakers to teach English (be careful of the more disreputable dispatch companies), there are other schools such as Berlitz who employ Spanish teachers. Also, I believe that NOVA's multimedia centre in Osaka also employs Spanish teachers. |
Those positions are few and far between. It's also very unlikely they will hire someone without a degree. Furthermore, I think the biggest demand for non-English teachers at NOVA is for French, German and Chinese teachers. Are you sure they employ teachers to teach Spanish? |
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furiousmilksheikali
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1660
Location: In a coffee shop, splitting a 30,000 yen tab with Sekiguchi.
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 1:28 am Post subject: |
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Let me start by saying that it is possible since I have a NNS spouse and I'm on a eikaiwa salary (admittedly it's over 300K). I second the Masters suggestion, have as many aces up your sleeve as you can.
As for your hubby, well it's not all doom and gloom if you're smart about it. There is a sizable Peruvian population here (thanks to Fujimori) so that is a good source of info to plug into. My wife teaches a few privates on the side. I also have a Brazilian friend that teaches English to the Brazilian community. I wouldn't entirely discount the IT background either, there are opportunities around. |
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