Job Discussion Forums

[ebond007]

Greetings, All,

The wife and I will be relocating to the Chiba area in September for Eikaiwa work. Our credentials are fairly standard: BA degrees, I have ESL experience with my university, she has a teacher's certification, etc. We hope to parlay this experience into actual careers, and so we're trying not to get caught up too much in "Ooo! We're going to Japan!" mode and actually be looking ahead, a bit. I imagine once we get there we'll be trying to move up through the progression to ALTs, then maybe international schools or beyond. Will we ever return to the U.S.? No idea.

But we've read all the "life after ETJ" threads, and we want to avoid the pitfalls and continue to advance our credentials while we're there. We're working on our Japanese-language skills and will eventually be taking our kyu tests, so that's one skill. However, I hope to seek higher education (MA and hopefully Ph.D) over the next several years, and I was wondering what options I might have while in Japan. Here are some of my major questions (numbered for ease of perusal):

1. Is it even realistically possible to get admitted to graduate programs as an American in Japan?

2. Is the selection of programs in the Humanities (International Relations, Philosophy/Religion, and other Social and Poli-Sciences) very strong?

3. Are there any programs taught primarily or concurrently in English? No matter how good I get at Japanese, I have a hard time seeing myself actually excelling in an entire graduate program taught primarily in a language not my own.

4. Anything else worth considering on the matter that I might not have thought to ask?

5. This is a separate question from the above four, but relevant nonetheless: I have a degree in English, but I do not have a Teaching Certification. Is it possible to earn one while teaching in Japan? How might I go about it?

Thanks, guys!

[ingrey]

There are a couple American universities in Japan that offer graduate degrees related to education. Unfortunately, both of them are pretty expensive, so that could be an issue. But if you want to check them out, here are the links to their websites:

http://www.tuj.ac.jp/guide/programs/index.html

http://www.tc-japan.edu/


There are also some universities that offer online MA programs in applied linguistics and TESOL. I'm in a similar situation to you in terms of circumstances and career goals, and I opted to go with this route. I will start teaching in Japan for an Eikawa toward the end of the year, but I don't want to stay there forever. In the Fall of 2010 I'm starting an MA program through the University of Mass. If you want to check it out, here's the link: http://ccde.umb.edu/degree/apling/courses/

[guest of Japan]

International schools do not take eikaiwa or ALT jobs seriously as experience.

The advanced degrees available in Japan are only conducive to teaching English as a foreign language or business. They are pretty much worthless if you want to go the international school route.

You may have some luck doing the UMASS program if you can arrange a student teaching experience at one of the international schools. I'm actually doing a UMASS degree in Boston and it is a very valid and challenging program and the online courses are no joke (only some of my courses are online). Experience is everything. A teaching cert doesn't mean much without experience unless you or your wife does science and/or special ed. Humanities backgrounds are a guaranteed way to not find a job doing what you want to do.

My advice is come to Japan, save some money, apply to grad school in the states, go back home and do it, teach inner city for about two years, then make the choices you need to.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

A lot of people get MAs in TESOL or Applied Linguistics by distance (universities in the UK and Australia are the most popular). If you want to teach English at the university or college level, then they're a good way to go. You usually need two or three years of experience teaching English before you qualify (probably to make up for the lack of a supervised practicum).

They can help you get work in other language related jobs as well (editing etc), but in an English speaking country, maybe not. They're basically for teaching English, and then if you go on to do a doctorate in it, then for training people to teach English. Not recommended if you don't want to actually do either of those things.

If you are thinking that what you really want to do is teach core subject material in a college or university in your home country then you need a master's degree (or a doctorate) in that discipline and you're far better off just saving as much as you can in Japan, and then returning to do one. Qualifications from non-English speaking nations in native English speakers don't go over too well.

Of course it's also possible that you can find an accredited program by distance in a humanities area (creative writing programs are very common, though I don't know if they're accredited) and do that while teaching in Japan, though (because you mentioned you don't know if you'll ever return to the US) keep in mind that you likely won't actually get a chance to actually use your Humanities MA outside of the US, there isn't a need for foreigners with foreign Humanities degrees, and because they're non-related to teaching English and there are so many people with masters degrees in language teaching areas, then they aren't likely going to get you a job teaching English at a university either (other than in a country that people with MAs in language teaching tend not to go - countries with low salaries etc).

International schools require qualified (k-12) teacher status + at least a couple of years teaching in your state.

[ebond007]

Thanks for all the advice so far. What about an option for study in a "Diplomacy" type field (i.e. - International Relations, Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, Japanese Studies, or other Poli-Sci areas)? Are there schools which offer such programs in Japan, or which have an "exchange" relationship with U.S. schools? Just trying to explore my options.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Have you looked into doing your MA through American Military University? You could do an MA in international relations (I think), Poli Sci, Humanities, History, TESOL etc. It sounds like a good fit for the range of interests you seem to have (I'm Canadian, so I'm used to a system where you cannot do a master's degree in Poli-sci without an undergraduate degree in poli-sci. There are very few exceptions to that system, one is [some of the] M.Ed programs and another is Medieval Studies and some other interdisciplinary programs).

http://www.amu.apus.edu/Academics/Degree-Programs/index.htm

Or maybe you need to go through American Public University (a connected type of thing- one may be only for military and former military, the other for anybody, I'm not sure. There are two and they seem to offer basically the same programs)

http://www.apus.edu/APUS/Academics/index.htm

I think University of Birmingham (it's in the UK, and their distance programs are some of the most common ones in Japan) also has a distance degree in Japanese studies. Not sure what the Japanese language requirements for entry are, though.

[ebond007]

Again, thank you. I will be investigating all of the suggestions made thus far, and more are certainly welcome.

Does anyone have any input on my fifth question? (re: ways to get actual teacher certification while teaching in Japan?)

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[seashell78]

It's very unlikely that you would be hired by an international school while you are living within Japan. Most schools hire overseas and you want to be hired as an overseas contract because it includes benefits like housing and airfare.

I did my teaching certificate through www.drexel.com and did my practicum while living in Japan. It was expensive, but the opportunity costs made it worth it as I didn't have to move home and leave my job for a year. I was able to do the practicum at my job (I was very lucky and an assistant teacher at one of the large international schools).

[ebond007]

seashell78: That was very helpful. Thank you for posting. What you did sounds very much like what I'm looking for. Do you (or anyone else, for that matter) have any advice for how I might go about setting such a situation up? Do I need to apply to an International School with the request that I be allowed to earn my certification? Do I contact a school that certifies and then have them set me up with an International School? I just have no idea how these things work.

Thanks!

[womblingfree]

[Noor]