Job Discussion Forums

[Slev]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum, but have been lurking on here for some time. I have a few questions regarding my prospects for teaching in English in Japan.

I am 24 years old, about to turn 25 in a few months, and finished graduate school this past December. I possess two Master's degrees (History & International Relations) and am currently enrolled in a 120hr TEFL certification program which wraps up next month. Right now I am teaching 1-2 nights a week at a local immigration center near Washington, DC, but have only begun doing so a few weeks ago. Otherwise I have no prior teaching experience.

My overarching goal to teach in Japan, or Asia more generally, is to save up some money and gain meaningful teaching experience before moving to Russia or Central Asia to continue my language studies there. Originally I considered South Korea, but the visa requirements, and the purported corruption of their private schools, scared me off.

I know that Japan is a less lucrative option, but from what I can gather I could start working in Japan a lot more quickly than jumping through all the bureaucratic hoops required by South Korea.

My question(s) I guess are these:

1.) Considering my credentials, how much could I feasibly look to save on a monthly basis while teaching in Japan? What salary should I be seeking for someone with my background?

2.) I have been looking at a few bigger corporations such as AEON, Berlitz etc. Am I better off going through a larger corporation such as these (average salary 270k yen per month) or conducting a search more narrowly focused on other, smaller, eikaiwas? Which would be more lucrative, and / or have a faster turn around rate to start employment?

3.) Finally, is there anywhere else in Asia I should consider looking for employment, if my main criteria are: i.) ability to save ii.) fast turnaround to start work iii.) having the ability to secure a job outside the country before leaving home.

Thanks for taking the time to read this admittedly long post. I appreciate any and all feedback or guidance you can give me while I continue my search. Thanks in advance.

[kah5217]

Two MAs tell me you're too good for eikaiwa work and your talents will be wasted. Try looking on sites like ohayou sensei instead.

[thomthom]

In the case of Korea you need a criminal background check and an 'apostille' to get your visa, which takes a little longer, it's true, but the length of fulfilling this is cancelled out by how quickly it is possible to find employment in Korea, compared to how long you might be applying before you find employment in Japan. There are not many Japanese companies that employ from overseas, and many that do have employment events on set dates, which again you might have to wait for.

I think Taiwan and Korea are happy mediums for (a) finding employment easily/quickly, (b) decent salary/benefits and (c) cheap cost of living.
I can understand why Korea wouldn't appeal to you - I was absolutely sick of it by the end of my second year... but then, I did have a brilliant time in my first year, because it was my first year living and working independently abroad. If you've never lived/worked in another country before, Korea will provide a lot of buzz, for 3-6 months at least. It's generally easier to make friends in Korea (albeit because it's like a theme park for ESL teachers).
Taipei might actually be more interesting than Korea, I'm not certain, but then you're unlikely to get both flight and accommodation paid; maybe one or the other.

In terms of what you can save in Japan, if you did find academy job paying over �250k, you could save quite a lot, but this bearing in mind you will spend at least $3000 (probably $5000) on your first 10-or-so weeks before your first pay check. In the case of Korea you could feasibly go with as little as $500 assuming everything goes to plan.

Note also: all of those big Japanese academies are going to work you every bit as hard as your typical Korean hagwon. (Actually, my first year in Korea I ended up working a really easy academy job - it could go either way)

[qwertyu2]

[JustinC]

Slev, if you can get a job in China, paying 8-10k and outside of first tier, expensive, cities you can save a good amount. Korea has its faults and you'll be waiting around a month or two longer to start, but get a job in a public school in the boonies and you'll save money and breath easy.

Unless you have a wedge of cash to see you through the first two months forget Japan until you have some savings.

A word to the wise; there are good academies but it's unlikely you'll find them online. Word of mouth, my boy, word of mouth. You can only get that when in country. Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean?