Job Discussion Forums

[Marigold]

Hello,

I am 26, Filipino, a librarian working in an international organization in the Philippines and I want very much to teach English in Japan or maybe Korea. I'm not a native speaker of English so I don't have an American or British or Australian accent. I also don't have a TEFL certificate or anything like that to show to my prospective employers. Nevertheless, I speak and write English very well. I am praised always for my fluent English. I believe I can be a good teacher and I already had experience teaching kindergarteners and tutoring English to some Koreans before. Do you think I can work as an English teacher in Japan? What are my chances of finding work? I know that I have a very slim chance of getting hired considering the fact that I'm not a native speaker. Can anyone give me advice please?

Thanks.

Marigold

[Gordon]

Do you have a university degree? That would be a requirement for a work visa as an English teacher.

[shmooj]

Marigold,
I have personal experience of helping a Filipino colleague get a work visa here. Be prepared for it to take quite a long time. My colleague had an MA degree but they wanted her original degree certificate - this is a ridiculous requirement as everyone else was fine with a copy. After some hassle, they backed down and went with a copy. But even then, they stalled over it and in the end it took about five months where it usually takes less than 3. This was Nagoya immigration about three years ago. It may be different now.

She worked at our school for over a year and had, as far as I know, no negative feedback from any students about her not being native. In fact, she was missed particularly by the adult students when she left.

A TEFL certificate would help you find work but, with standards in Japan being low for eikaiwa (private conversation schools), many would not require it. There would be work for a non-native speaker but it may well pay significantly less than positions requiring native speakers. This was what some of the Filipino acquaintances I knew here a few years ago were doing. They also did not get great treatment from either their Japanese colleagues and in particular their, often male, bosses. This was not one isolated incident but then they may all have been unlucky.

So, it is not impossible for a non-native speaker to find work here. I suggest you search the Japan forum for the word Filipino or Philippines or non native and see what you get. A lot has been written over the short time I've been here so there is probably quite a lot of advice already on the forum in old threads.

Hope this is informative for you

[GFunK]

Mabuhay Marigold
If you do get over this way PM me because I would really would like to/need to learn tagalog.......well, more specifically visayian.
I'll make you fish kinelau!!!!!!!!