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Liz Johnston
Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 5:49 pm Post subject: US Elementary Teacher Needs Help With Job Search! |
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First thank you to all of you for posting information about your experiences in Japan. I have been researching and reading information on Dave's Cafe for several weeks now.
I am currently teaching 1st graders in Indiana and this is my fourth year teaching. I have a Bachelor's in Elementary Education and a minor in reading instruction.
After reading a variety of posts, at times I feel even more confused about where to search for a job next school year. I am hoping to get help with the following questions...
1. With my current experience, should I "skip" the conversation schools and try regular public schools in Japan?
2. Even though I am certified to only teach 1st-6th grade in the states, I am also interested in teaching older students to adults. Would that also limit me to teaching at a converstion school?
3. Could I possibly be paid more with my teaching degree and experience?
4. Do most schools have a set curriculum or lesson guidlines to follow or are they unstructured lessons? (I personally tend to like guidlines with creative freedom in teaching.)
I realize I have asked a series of random questions. I would appreciate any help I can get.
Thanks again,
Liz <>< |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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| 1. With my current experience, should I "skip" the conversation schools and try regular public schools in Japan? |
Maybe. The teaching styles can be quite different. If you have any questions about that, just ask. Also, public schools are usually quite full with JET ALTs and other types of ALTs, so you might have better luck with private schools or international schools.
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| 2. Even though I am certified to only teach 1st-6th grade in the states, I am also interested in teaching older students to adults. Would that also limit me to teaching at a converstion school? |
That or business / corporate classes (or even private lessons). Your certification actually means nothing here, by the way. Your degree and experience and status as a native English speaker are all that is important to employers.
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| 3. Could I possibly be paid more with my teaching degree and experience? |
At high schools or elementary schools, yes. At eikaiwas, the salaries are pretty much the same with very little allowance to be paid more for your experience. The degree you hold will probably not mean any higher salary. A few exceptions exist.
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| 4. Do most schools have a set curriculum or lesson guidlines to follow or are they unstructured lessons? (I personally tend to like guidlines with creative freedom in teaching. |
Hard to answer the word "most". There are a lot of eikaiwas that have their own set curriculum, text books, formats, etc. Certainly, the bigger ones do (like NOVA, AEON, GEOS, etc.). You can figure that any place that offers training certainly does. I think it's safe to say that most places offer their own text books, whether it's something they've bought or created. How you teach from them is up to the employer. |
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Celeste
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Fukuoka City, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:22 pm Post subject: Re: US Elementary Teacher Needs Help With Job Search! |
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| 1. With my current experience, should I "skip" the conversation schools and try regular public schools in Japan? |
You would not be able to get a regular job with an elementary school. You would have to get a job as an assistant language teacher (ALT). The two best routes for doing this are the JET programme or Altia. I do know several experienced certified teachers for Canada and the US currently or previously on the JET programme. They seemed happy with it.
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| 2. Even though I am certified to only teach 1st-6th grade in the states, I am also interested in teaching older students to adults. Would that also limit me to teaching at a converstion school? |
I would recommend that you do private tutoring or part time eikaiwa work once you already have a day job.
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| 3. Could I possibly be paid more with my teaching degree and experience? |
Only if you got a job with an international school. But then you wouldn't be teaching EFL, you would be teaching regular elementary school to English speaking students. This can also be a good way to experience a foreign country.
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| 4. Do most schools have a set curriculum or lesson guidlines to follow or are they unstructured lessons? (I personally tend to like guidlines with creative freedom in teaching.) |
At the elementary school level, there are no set curriculm guidelines for EFL instruction right now, though that may change in the next few years as there is a lot more interest in elementary foreign language instruction.
For junior and senior highschools, there is certainly a set curriculum for the Japanese teachers to follow, but often the foreign teachers are left to devise their own materials to go along with that curriculum. The foreign teachers are supposed to be teaaching conversation, and as that won't be tested at many schools, there are often few materials available. That said, it is easy to get a copy of the textbook that the kids are using in their grammar classes and go along with that. If you are an ALT, you may have very little choice (at first) in what you do in the classroom because the regular teacher will need to build a relationship with you before they allow you to teach their students. |
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Liz Johnston
Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 3:39 pm Post subject: Thank you! |
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Just a quick thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions. You definitely gave me helpful information to narrow my search.
Thanks again,
Liz <>< |
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kiracle
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Gifu, Japan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:35 am Post subject: |
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Liz,
With your expereince I would definately at least make an attempt at international schools. Some of them are having fairs soon (or recently did) in the States. Many positions are filled at these fairs, but not all. It's worth a chance checking out each international school in Japan's website and looking under employment. While you wouldn't be teaching only Japanese, the benefits in terms of support and salary are incomparable and the student body can be quite diverse and international ( certianly different than Indiana). You could probably teach a few privates on the side if you really wanted to teach ESL.
You might get a bit frustrated by Eikawa teaching methods knowing what you must know as a "real" teacher. I am also a certified teacher and I'm lucky to work with a few others that have years of expereince teaching in their home countries. It sometimes is difficult to reconcile what we know about effective teaching with what we are asked to do in our classrooms.
Than again, once that door is shut, it's more or less your thing....
Good luck! |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| kiracle wrote: |
| Liz, Many positions are filled at these fairs, but not all. It's worth a chance checking out each international school in Japan's website and looking under employment. Good luck! |
The best place to go to check out international schools is the website at
http://www.tokyowithkids.com
Hope this helps
P. |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Liz,
Speaking of international schools, if you are happy to work with preschool age kids, Nagoya International Preschool is a very good place to work. Pays well, good holidays and great working environment. They have grown a lot recently and so may still want staff.
My wife worked part time there for almost three years (she's a nursery nurse). Basically they take kids with zero English and provide an immersion environment with zero Japanese allowed. Within six months they start to talk. Within two years, the kids are fluent. It is amazing to watch. I got a whole language acquisition paper out of six months with one kid.
If you want, PM me and I will give you contact details. |
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