Job Discussion Forums

[MrCAPiTUL]

Greetings and salutations!

I was wondering if anybody might be able to point me in a direction towards better paying teaching gigs. Perhaps?

I hear it is the season for finding work in Japan, but have not located anything via searches (mostly, I keep getting the Big 4). I am certified by the State of Florida (USA) to teach and have experience here in the States. I've heard that the 250k en is a joke, really, for somebody with experience teaching. Having said this, I am extremely interested in living in Japan and teaching. A friend of mine is trying to get me to come on a student visa and STUDY at a school (Nagoya College of Foreign Languages), but hasn't done much in the way of work. I make a comfortable salary here in Florida, and really don't want to regress too much in terms of pay. Replies are appreciated!!!

Thank you in advance!

[Gordon]

I would look into teaching in an int'l school. I am sure you missed the hiring season for that, it was probably 3-4 months ago. The school year starts in April here.

[johanne]

Actually this is the middle of the hiring season for international schools, most of which follow a September-June calendar. Most school heads are now at recruiting fairs overseas. If you've been teaching for at least 2 years and have a teaching certificate you meet the basics qualification. Here is a link to most international schools in Japan if you wanted to contact them directly. I got my job at an international school this way.

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/%7Etc9w-ball/useful/schools.htm

You would have to move quickly to be considered for the 2006/7 school year, although there are often last minute hires in the spring as teachers bow out of their contracts or a teacher who was thought to be staying decides to leave.

The salaries range from about 350,000 - 600,000 yen per month depending on the school and your level of experience. This is much more than teachers make at most English conversation schools, but in my opinion, having worked at both, you work a lot harder at international schools where the responsibilities and expectations are quite high. Personally, I'm much happier at an international school, where the teaching is varied and interesting, but it is very hard work and I come home most nights with only enough energy to watch a little TV and then go to bed.

[MrCAPiTUL]

Thanks go to the both of you!

Johanne: what are your hours like? It sounds like you work pretty late into the evening. The amount of work I have here, stateside, is quite heavy, at present.

Having said that, money is definitely important to me. I would have to make 400k to break even with my current salary. 250k is a HUGE pay cut! I have a four year old daughter and student loans, which are approaching repayment terribly soon!

I will definitely check out those links. Thanks!

Anybody else with good information that you are willing to share?

[johanne]

In September and the beginning of October as I was setting up the classroom and getting the kids into the routine of things I would work roughly from 7:30 - 5 or 6 most nights. Now that things are running quite smoothly I usually work from about 8-5 and at least twice a week even take my whole lunch hour. I don't know what subject you teach, but I teach Grade 1 so my day is full on as those kids are bursting with energy and there is very little down time. After work I take care of my 4 year-old daughhter so by 9 o'clock I'm quite exhausted. The kids are really fun, though, so every morning I'm usually quite happy to get back to it.

During report card time I will often stay until about 7 or 8 in the evening for about 2 weeks and usually put in 4 or 5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays at home during that time. Otherwise, my weekends are sacred! At my school we write 3 report cards a year.

I have a total of 14 weeks paid holiday, determined by the school calendar and which includes 2 months in the summer. This is obviously a very nice perk and more than makes up for some of the late nights during the school year. Hope this helps you.

[Gordon]

Johanne, you are right. I forgot the int'l schools run on a different semester system than Japanese schools.

[MrCAPiTUL]

Very insightful, Johanne! Thanks! That really did help give me a feel for how the schedule will be, in the event I find a job, of course.

On another tangent: how does your child do w/Japanese? Picking it up well?

[johanne]

Considering she is being babysat by her Japanese Grandparents or her Japanese Aunt everyday from about 3-6 I don't think she's picking up Japanese that rapidly. She's able to say what she wants and what she doesn't like and a little bit of what she did during the day, but compared to her English her Japanese is still quite limited. In English she tells stories, makes jokes, gives me long explanation about why she needs to wear a particular pink sweater, etc.

I think she will obviously pick up more and more (we've only been here 6 months), but to really give her a chance at becoming truly bilingual we are planning on sending her to Japanese elementary school rather than have her continue at the international school.

These decisions are very personal and I don't know your situation, but at my school children who have 2 non-Japanese-speaking parents don't become fluent in Japanese if they are attending an international school. The learn phrases and if they are here enough years they can chit-chat, but they are not bilingual. Children with at least one Japanese speaking parent, especially if it's Mom, do seem to become bilingual. I was talking to the Japanese teachers at my school (in the elementary school the children get 3 40-minute periods of Japanese a week and are divided into "native" speakers and "beginners" of Japanese) and she said the "native" class is usually 1-2 years behind their peers in Japanese public school.

By the way, if you are hoping to get a job for this September you should be getting your resume out there today and contacting schools as soon as possible as this is the time of year when contracts are being offered.

Good luck and if you get any nibbles and would like to PM me about the details feel free. I did a lot of research on the Tokyo/Yokohama international schools and have heard a lot from my current collegues, so I might be able to give you some useful information.