Job Discussion Forums

[Bozack]

Hiya,

First I'd like to say that I've read many, many posts over the past few weeks and I've found answers to 95% of my questions about Teaching English in Japan. What's more, I'm seeing questions that I hadn't even thought of! It's great to have an impartial Devil's Advocate.

I have done a few searches on this list and on Google, and have not been able to find any tips on the following - so be gentle

I am 26 years old and have been fortuante enough to have found work in my field (IT) for as long as I can remember. The problem here is that I have never written a non-tech based resume. My goal is to work for a FRIENDLY eikawa for a year and head back home and get a job in tech again. I would be on a WHV as I only have a 3year diploma (no degree ) I'm not looking to make a ton of cash, in fact, i'd be happy just to break even. The experience would be the payment for me.

Having no teaching experience means I've got to draw on the aspects of past jobs that relate to teaching.

Does anyone here have any suggestions for transferrable skills from tech to teaching? Has anyone here made a similar move?

Just as a disclaimer, I'd like to say that I am not exploring this because I can't find a tech job. This is something I've put a lot of thought into over the past year. I would be dedicated and happy just to have the opportunity to learn more about Japan and its culture.

Cheers!

[Tonester]

Firstly a tech person like yourself would generally have an aptitude for learning things quickly. Have you ever trained anyone in your job? If you have, you can also say that you have skills in training new people to the field and that you can use your training abilities to suit the eikaiwa field. English in the Japanese way of thinking is a language that is usually studied via grammatical methodologies so if you have a grasp of basic grammar you can also say that from the tech field you have an understanding of english and can use analytical skills to explain technical/grammatical aspects of the language. What about teaching english to people in the tech field in Japan? At least you can make it relevent to your career in Canada!

Other skills I'd suggest is patience. In the tech field patience is required for some aspects of the job (especially if a job is harder than what you thought it was) and you can use that personality trait when explaining to students who do not understand what is being taught.

In my opinion, the skills you have now will help you greatly when you go to apply to whoever you choose. It's all about selling yourself by taking relevent things from your current field.

[markle]

In a hurry so I'll be brief.

Any aspects of your previous experience that has you dealing with groups of people, especially where you are explaining things to them.

Any training (individual or group) that you have conducted emphasising any prep or course of study you planned.

One other hint, develop a niche for yourself teaching IT orientated English

[TokyoLiz]

Bozack,

I'd say that, if you're only marketing your resume to eikaiwas, they'll be satisfied with a resume that shows that you're organized, intelligent, adaptable and are able to communicate well.

Beyond that, I'd second what Markle said. Market the crap out of your IT experience and go see www.senseisagasu.com/www.findateacher.com. Put yourself on there and make sure it's clear that you talk 'geek speak' and want to teach it to IT professionals here. It's invaluable here. Some other foreign workers who are also second language English speakers might be interested in you, too. There are lots of Europeans working in IT here.

[Gordon]

Have you ever done any public speaking or given presentations? This is excellent training for teaching.

[Bozack]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions! I'm going to start a new topic regarding how to exploit my tech skills in teaching "Leveraging tech skills when teaching English". I've got many more questions now!

I was under the original assumption that my tech skills would be essentially useless when teaching english in Japan (I gotta stop assuming ). My original thought was that the concepts in my tech field would be too difficult to teach since i've got 0 Japanese capability.

The only idea I came up with was to offer my services to other (English-speaking) gaijin as a way to supplement my income and meet new people at the same time. (Which pretty much echoes what you said TokyoLiz).

TokyoLiz, you mentioned the www.senseisagasu.com site, which I visited. Looks like something that would cater to the idea above, but it also looks like I'll need to actually be in Japan before posting my profile - can you confirm any experiences with this site?

Thanks again!