Job Discussion Forums

[tcatsninfan]

So I'm in my mid-twenties and have wanted to teach English in Japan for awhile. I haven't made it there yet but I've been stepping up my name and have been trying to get my resume out there a lot more recently.

The thing I've been wondering about is this: for those of you that are already there teaching, why did you do it? What made you decide to move to Japan and start teaching English?

I'm just curious what drives people to go there besides the whole "OMG manga/anime" people (I don't think the obsessive manga types are on this forum much). As far as I can tell, there are a few possibilities:

1. You wanted to live in/experience Japan, and the easiest way to do that is to take a job teaching English
2. You don't really have a long-term career path in mind, you just know you're enjoying your time teaching in Japan
3. You plan on teaching in Japan and doing that until you retire
4. You enjoy teaching English and just happened to end up in Japan
5. You want to use your teaching experience in Japan to help you get a job back in your home country at a later date
6. You want to become a translator, so you're teaching right now to pay the bills and help you learn the language
7. You want to obtain some other kind of job in Japan, but teaching was the easiest way to get into the country and start making connections

I know a lot of you will probably identify with more than one possibility, but like I said I'm just curious. I know I'm not there yet but right now I'm a combination of #1 and #2...it's something I've wanted to do for awhile but I don't know where I'll end up.

I was working in IT and got laid off, and unfortunately my particular job is one that's slowly dying off or being combined with other roles. I don't know if I'll teach in Japan on a long-term basis but I'd at least like to give it a shot.

[Glenski]

The career path for most English teachers in Japan right now is pretty bleak, IMO. Declining birth rate, closing/merging schools, short-term contracts, poor ALT situations, lack of requirement for proper teaching credentials, etc. all contribute. The fact that the economy is in the toilet doesn't help, either.

I got here 12+ years ago as a change in career. I had been here previously twice before then, once for 5 months of work and once for a holiday, so I knew my way around a bit more than the typical newcomer to TEFL.

I hadn't planned on making teaching a career change. It just happened after I'd been here a few years. My main goal in coming was to sniff around for a specific non-teaching line of work similar to what I'd been in. That didn't pan out, and I moved up the ranks of teaching from eikaiwa to HS to university. Now, with a J family that will not likely relocate to my home country, I foresee remaining here, and I can only do my best to stay on top of things in TEFL for the sake of security, but I wouldn't rule out other things if they become possible, especially after I hit retirement age.

[Apsara]

I had never heard of manga and anime when I came to Japan- I doubt that in the 90s anyone outside Japan had, apart from perhaps some hard core geeks!

I learned Japanese from high school through university just because I had an interest in learning foreign languages, and when I left university I just wanted to go overseas- Japan seemed like a good place to start because I was already familiar with the language and could get a working holiday visa. I taught English because that was about the only job possibility I knew of in Japan- this was 1995, so pre-internet- I responded to a newspaper ad and I had to post my CV!

So my answer is probably closest to your #1- I actually don't teach English any more, which begs the question as to why I still post here I suppose... force of habit maybe...

[seklarwia]

[PO1]

My reasons for coming to/currently living in Japan:

1. My girlfriend lives here
2. I want to learn the language so I can become a translator
3. I've always been interested in Japanese culture from way back when I used to play Nobunaga's Ambition on the NES (yes, I learned about Japanese from a video game, but it was historical stuff, so it's kind of like learning )


I have no interest in being a full-time English teacher even though my educational background was all focused on English. Unless I'm teaching English literature or creative writing to enthusiastic students, then I don't care to teach English much longer honestly. I'm just burned out on the "pulling teeth" style of teaching.

[rtm]

I suppose for me it was #4 on your list.

I had majored in applied linguistics in undergrad, and found that one of the only things that such a degree qualified me for was teaching English abroad. I wanted to teach abroad somewhere (anywhere) and I heard about a thing called the JET program. I had absolutely zero interest in Japan at the time - it was just a chance to teach somewhere.

I ended up really liking the area I was placed, maxed out my 3 years on JET, stayed and taught at a non-profit org and then adjuncted at universities for another few years. When a FT position at one of those universities became available, I was told that although they would like to hire me, they couldn't because I didn't have at least a masters. So, realizing that I had reached the limit that my qualifications would allow me, and knowing that I had absolutely no interest in starting my own school, I came back to the US to get that masters (and then decided to stay for a PhD as well).

[Pitarou]

I'm in group 1, or maybe group 7. My wife's Japanese and her health hasn't been too good lately, so I had to come to Japan. I don't want to be an English teacher forever, but it'll be some time before my Japanese is good enough to do anything else.