Job Discussion Forums

[_Bardamu_]

Hello, I would love to spend a year or so teaching English in Japan. I have a BA from one of the best Canadian universities, excellent grammar, and I would say that I'm pretty articulate. There is a problem however. I was born in Europe and came to Canada in my teens so I do have a slight accent. I was wondering whether I have a chance to get a teaching position in Japan with one of the main organizations like Aeon for instance.

I should add that I don't have any speical credentials - I don't have a TEFL certificate and I have never taught before.

Thanks.

[southofreality]

Applications can be submitted online to AEON, ECC, Interac, etc...
It's worth a try to just go directly to them. When I worked for Interac, there were several non-native English teachers in my training group.

Give it a shot.

[_Bardamu_]

I'm curious what the actual defenition of "native speaker" is. Is it defined in terms of how much time you have spent living in an English speaking country, or in terms of one's proficiency or both? I'm asking because there can be a situation where a person has flawless English but has lived only a short period of time in an English speaking country or conversly one might have spend nearly one's whole life living in such a country and yet still have an accent.

[Yawarakaijin]

Since when does having simply having an accent disqualify you from being a native english speaker. That would mean, in the eyes of Canadians, that Brits, Kiwis or Aussies aren't native speakers, and the combinations go on.

If by accent you mean simply a variation in the way you pronounce your words, I wouldn't even bring it up. Apply to the schools, show them your B.A. from a Canadian university and if they want to hire you, leave it at that.

If they are tools enough to refuse a job offer after a phone interview, it's probably not a place you would have enjoyed working at anyways. If they fire you upon arrival, hey you have the visa and its yours. Use it to find a better job.

[johanne]

If you have a Canadian passport and a BA from a Canadian univerisity most schools will consider you a native speaker. I wouldn't mention the accent. If it is slight it's very possible the interviewer won't even notice it. There are so many variations of English out there, that really it should be an non-issue for you.

[_Bardamu_]

Many thanks guys. I feel reassured now.

[Apsara]

I have a Pakistani friend with a fairly obvious Urdu-influenced accent (he was educated in English and is a native speaker, just not a "standard" one) and he is working as an ALT in Saitama. His accent has never been an issue as far as I know.

[gaijinalways]

That is not even the main consideration. Schools should look at how you were educated and if you can pass a telephone or face to face English interview. Some English teachers we have had and have now are; Indian, Israeli, Russian, Swiss, and German. All of them spoke/speak with a slight accent, but I would say none of them are below an early advanced level. So guess which level of students they don't teach ?

[womblingfree]

[gaijinalways]

For some of the schools they want to see verification that you were educated in English. Not that it did me that much good, most of the time I can't understand the 'English' of my Japanese students!

[uberscheisse]

my coworker is italian and has a pretty thick accent. he said it was a bit difficult for him to find a job, but he's been in japan for 2 years... first started teaching italian for nova, and after the collapse has had a few english teaching jobs. he does alright, but the fact he's nearly at the 1-kyuu JLPT test level in japanese helps him.