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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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 Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject: Getting a University Job |
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| What are the chances of getting a University job to start with? How much are they concerned about experience? I have an MA and I have taught German for two years. Furthermore is it important what subject your MA is in. I have an MA in German Literature and Foreign Language Pedagogy. What does everyone think? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:32 pm Post subject: Re: Getting a University Job |
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| JZer wrote: |
| What are the chances of getting a University job to start with? How much are they concerned about experience? I have an MA and I have taught German for two years. Furthermore is it important what subject your MA is in. I have an MA in German Literature and Foreign Language Pedagogy. What does everyone think? |
JZer, this question depends very much on the university you apply to. There are over 700 universities in Japan and they do not have all the same hiring requirements in their advertisements. Some part time jobs will not worry if you have a masters on German while others will want a TESOL or an ESL Masters. Most will wants some teaching experience teaching Japanese students in Japan. Teaching a multicultural class in the US is not the same as teaching in Japan.
Remember there are a lot of guys out there with MA's, publications up the wazoo and teaching experience and you are coming to the table with a non-major degree wanting to teach English. Part time jobs at a uni, possibly. Full time I'm not sure, though Im working with a guy who has taught and speaks German and has a background in Philosophy. You will need publications for most (but not all) full time jobs as well as Japanese ability. What do you bring to the table re Japanese ability and publications, or are you just looking for part time work?
If you dont have what the job advertisement asks for in the way of edcuational background, TESOL etc you have very little chance of getting an interview IMO. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| PAULH, thank you for the information. It does not look like I have much of a chance. I cannot speak Japanese. Maybe I will just have to teach in a cram school for a few years and then see if I can get a University job! Plus I have read that you cannot find a University job from outside Japan anyways. Could you tell me how much per hour part- time University jobs pay? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| PAULH, thank you for the information. It does not look like I have much of a chance. I cannot speak Japanese. Maybe I will just have to teach in a cram school for a few years and then see if I can get a University job! Plus I have read that you cannot find a University job from outside Japan anyways. Could you tell me how much per hour part- time University jobs pay? |
I just want to add that most full time positions you will likely attend faculty meetings (in Japanese) keep office hours, attend to office memos and paper work, perhaps even help create department or class-level tests (at least thats what I do). Conversational Japanese ability is pretty well required in many full time jobs I know of.
Many of the English language job postings for jobs in Japan will get a lot of responses, some as many as 30-50 or more, sometimes as many as 100 for one position in a big area like Tokyo for instance. A lot of job openings come through referrals and recommendations from friends working at the school, as many universities dont want to have to deal with a huge pile of resumes. They would rather a teacher recommends a qualified and experienced candidate, so this is often where connections are important, and if you are not in Japan and don't know anybody, its pretty well impossible to land a position. A school will not offer a part time job to someone not even in the country and whom they can not sponsor for a visa.
Its not that you can not get university classes from outside Japan, but when they have 50 or 60 people already in Japan apply for a part time position, which may be only 2 or 3 classes a week, there is no need to look for teachers overseas. Moreover they will want an interview, something that is impossible if you are still in the US. Are you going to fly to Japan for a job that may only pay $1000 a month, one or two days a week part time? I teach two part time classes at the moment and get about 60,000 yen which is about $600.
If they are offering a position which is a specialist position not found through an English teacher (say teaching History or Philosophy or a Guest Lecturer position) they may post job ads overseas, but many of these people who apply have PhDs and publications.
You really have to have some experience here, get to know people to get your foot in the door, and you can do this by joining JALT, meeting people who work at universities and hearing about jobs from people who leave etc. A majority of job advertisements I see are in Japanese anyway, those ones have less applications and less competition, so you are at a big disadvantage if you can not read and understand the language to respond to ads. Part time Japanese is not such a big requirement as you may simply go in and teach your classes and go home again, but full time you will be on campus 3 or 4 days of the week and interacting with non-teaching office staff at the university.
University classes are not paid by the hour but by the "koma" or 90-minute time slot of a lesson held per week. The same class will be held at the same time every week in a month and these units of classes are called "koma". A block of such classes the "average " pay is around 25,000 yen a koma for part time classes, and some pay as low as 20,000 yen. So for 6 koma you would get between 120-150,000 yen a month. A lot will depend on the university. Public universities you are only paid during the time you teach, not during vacations, whereas private universities you are paid year-round, even during vacations. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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You may be able to teach German. You could ask the universities, I know my university has a German and French program.
From what I have learned, nothing is impossible with Japanese universities. It is possible to get hired from abroad with no Japanese language ability, but you would need a connection somehow to the universdity. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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Gordon,
I have no connections. I will just have to come to Japan and get some experience and try to make connections. I do not know whether a Japanese University would hire me to teach German? I am not a native speaker of German. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
Gordon,
I have no connections. I will just have to come to Japan and get some experience and try to make connections. I do not know whether a Japanese University would hire me to teach German? I am not a native speaker of German. |
FWIW I know Germans who teach English at universities here as well as german but they have been living and teaching English here for years and their English is fluent (albeit with an accent). There are probably not that many qualified Germans around with Masters degrees so you may have a shot.
Again a lot of it is waiting for the right opening. Japanese students do not study German at high school so you would be teaching raw beginners at a university. Another place you may want to try is Music colleges, as many women studying music will sing music scores in foreign languages such as German and Italian and they take lessons in those languages.
My guess is they dont hire unless they advertise (usually in Japanese) but a well timed resume drop may work wonders. You may have to do some research and find out who is in the departments, some times the staff are listed on school websites for each faculty. Joining JALT is a good idea and their journal has job postings every month. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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| PS I just saw a job opening at Tsukuba University for a full time German professor but required at least 5 publications and teaching experience. Foreigners could apply but you needed quite high functional skills in Japanese, and the job posting itself was in Japanese. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Paul,
Thanks for the information. It looks like the only way that I could get a University job is if I learn Japanese. I want to learn Japanese anyways but by the time I learn Japanese I will probably leave Japan. You never know what will happen but going into the situation I plan on returning to the U.S. by the time I am 30 to persue my PHD and then teach in America. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
Paul,
Thanks for the information. It looks like the only way that I could get a University job is if I learn Japanese. I want to learn Japanese anyways but by the time I learn Japanese I will probably leave Japan. You never know what will happen but going into the situation I plan on returning to the U.S. by the time I am 30 to persue my PHD and then teach in America. |
The only way to get a university job is put out publications on a regular basis, present at JALT conferences, network like crazy and work on your Japanese in your spare time. I know guys at universities with only a little Japanese but many now ask for conversational ability (Level 2 or above of the Japanese proficiency exam, about 600 hours or 3-4 years of constant study).
Ive been here nearly 20 years and I'm still learning. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Paul,
The problem is that by the time I network, learn Japanese, and publish, I will be already to return home. I would just like to live in Japan for 3-4 years before a PHD program ties me down. I want to see the world before I am tied down by my career!!! Secondly, when I graduate this year I will have spent 7 years studying at a University. At this point I am not ready to spend another 5 years studying for a PHD. That is why I am taking some time off and there is nothing I would rather do than live abroad for a while. |
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Albright
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:27 am Post subject: |
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| Could you specify what exactly is meant by a "publication" in this context? Thanks. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:40 am Post subject: |
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| Albright wrote: |
| Could you specify what exactly is meant by a "publication" in this context? Thanks. |
A publication is an original piece of writing, usually related to research on or about a topic related to ESL, TESOL, Linguistics, language teaching etc, that has been published in a university journal, academic journal, a referreed TESOL website (e.g. TESL-J), or as part of a conference proceedings (this is where 'live' presentations or poster sessions are written up as articles and sent to conference attendees in the form of a journal or CD)
Publications do NOT normally include creative writing, poems, editorials, essays, weblogs, unless there is some element of original research, analysis and presentation of findings. A lot will depend on the journal and audience you are writing for.
A publication may include a critical review of books or articles with references and citations and a bibliography or a list of references. The Language Teacher for example has a section for textbook reviews, computer-based lessons, lesson plans, special features based on monthly themes etc.
Weighting of publications by a university committee will depend on the name of the publication, whether its an overseas or domestic journal, whether it is referreed or unrefereed, as well quality of research. Some universities dont care about quality but rather quantity. |
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