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spetial_guy
Joined: 08 Jun 2006
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:45 am Post subject: |
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Shakey and rtm,
Thank you both so much for informing me regarding possible and probable employment options. I am ashamed to admit that I had not even considered the visa issue and am not in a position to procure one easily. I am also living outside of Japan now.
For some reason, I thought stringing together part-time work at multiple schools would be a reasonably uncomplicated move. Now I realize that moving to Japan for work is a decision which requires much forethought and planning, unless you have access to a spousal visa or are pursuing teaching at a language training school, perhaps. I simply don't have the resolve for such a lengthy process at this time, and may look into a more accessible and temporary set-up in SE Asia.
Thanks again!
Sg |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:05 am Post subject: |
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| spetial_guy wrote: |
| I am ashamed to admit that I had not even considered the visa issue and am not in a position to procure one easily. |
Yes, in order to work in Japan (or any foreign country, actually) you will need a visa that allows you to work. You will need a sponsor for your visa. In Japan, you can do what is often called a "self-sponsored" visa, which only requires that you make a minimum amount of money per month and can be based on a string of part-time jobs. However, you can only get that kind of visa on renewal, not as an initial visa. So, you would need to first come over with full-time employment and a visa sponsor.
| Quote: |
| Now I realize that moving to Japan for work is a decision which requires much forethought and planning, unless you have access to a spousal visa or are pursuing teaching at a language training school, perhaps. I simply don't have the resolve for such a lengthy process at this time, and may look into a more accessible and temporary set-up in SE Asia. |
Relocating abroad to any country is a decision that requires forethought and planning. At a minimum, moving abroad is going to require a certain amount of money saved away to cover startup costs (initial apartment rental, furnishing, etc.) In Japan, it's usually recommended to bring about USD$5,000 for this purpose. It may be less in other countries, but it will still require some amount of money for set-up (and enough for an emergency flight home if everything goes south). Also, anywhere you go is going to require some time for visa processing, if you hope to get hired from abroad. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:41 am Post subject: |
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| Shakey wrote: |
| spetial_guy wrote: |
Just to add, I am 42 and am wondering what impact that may have. |
Without any Japanese language proficiency and without any publications, you likely will not be hired for even a full-time non-renewable contract teaching position at a university. You can try, though. I have seen a lot of strange choices made with regards to who gets hired and who does not.
42 is getting to be too old, also. At least for full time teaching positions. Again, unless you have very high Japanese proficiency, know people on the inside and have a lot of publications, you are on the wrong side of the target hiring age for full time university TEFL positions. Many universities will not hire someone older than 35 and they used to explicitly state this in their job postings.
Many of the people who I have met who have been successful at stringing together several part-time university jobs have been here for 15 - 25 years. Some of them earn a good living, but they are teaching up to 20 - 25 koma week. That's a lot of teaching! And it took them a long time to fill their schedules, so it doesn't just happen in a few months usually. |
I know of a few people who have been hired full-time at universities, and of them only one of them wasn't over 35. Public universities and most private ones use age as a basis for salary (for tenured; some also do it for contract teachers). Of the full-timers, the one who wasn't over 35 had one publication (from 6 years before) and the others had none. I do think unis will look down on someone in their 40s with no publications and minimal experience in English (in other fields I know they won't).
BTW 20-25 koma a week is absolutely crazy! At that rate (25 koma a week is a full day every day, and no place I know gives 5 koma in a day) someone would certainly lose it at some point. |
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currentaffairs
Joined: 22 Aug 2012
Posts: 828
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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Most of the part-time university teachers that I knew were teaching 20-25 classes a week. This was usually a mixture of private and public university gigs. Teachers would often teach two classes in the morning and then go to another university in the afternoon..
Public universities would often offer at least four classes a day to most teachers. Private universities wouldn't often offer more than three per day in my experience.
Yes, it took me around three years to fill out my week from when I landed in Tokyo. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:41 am Post subject: |
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Public universities are good for the name recognition but not worth it in the end - much better to take 3 classes a day at a private uni than 2 at a private then 2 at a public (most public unis only pay for time in session - hence most teachers work there for name recognition).
20 classes a week is crazy - that is still 4 koma a day, and at only 25k per month that winds up being 500k a month. It's honestly not worth it for only that, especially if people can get their act together and do research to get publications. The worst thing about online master's degrees is that people aren't taught how to do research (neither qualitative nor quantitative), so they can't get publications nor can they really go and get a Ph.D. Getting a Ph.D in Japan is really cheap - can be done easily for 500k a year over 3 years (in English!).
I know some private unis that offer 4 - my first direct private uni gave me that my first year. |
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Shakey
Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Inflames wrote: |
Public universities are good for the name recognition but not worth it in the end - much better to take 3 classes a day at a private uni than 2 at a private then 2 at a public (most public unis only pay for time in session - hence most teachers work there for name recognition).
20 classes a week is crazy - that is still 4 koma a day, and at only 25k per month that winds up being 500k a month. It's honestly not worth it for only that, especially if people can get their act together and do research to get publications. The worst thing about online master's degrees is that people aren't taught how to do research (neither qualitative nor quantitative), so they can't get publications nor can they really go and get a Ph.D. Getting a Ph.D in Japan is really cheap - can be done easily for 500k a year over 3 years (in English!).
I know some private unis that offer 4 - my first direct private uni gave me that my first year. |
Those people all over the age of 35 who were hired for full time positions at universities, you did not mention if those positions were non-renewable contract jobs or regular, permanent positions.
There was this Canadian guy in Tokyo teaching 27 koma per-week as a part-time teacher at various universities. His teaching started to suffer at one school, so the university took away a couple of his classes.
The rule at some private universities is no more than 2 koma per teacher, but in the past, there were part-time teachers receiving 7 or 8, or even more, koma at a single school! It might not be as common now to find teachers who are getting that many classes from a single school. |
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