esljapan.com: Looking for an ESL Job? Advice and Links

Teachers: Jobs

ESL Japan is a forum for students and teachers to meet, learn and discuss topics related to Teaching English as a Second Language in Japan. As there are several websites specializing in "ESL Jobs in Japan" I will give a brief overview of the hiring process and then you can click on the links to visit those sites.

We hope that after you get a job you will return to ESL Japan to share your experiences teaching and learning in Japan!

Types of ESL Jobs in Japan and Who Tends to Get Them

There are two types of educational institution, public and private. There are two main types of teaching situations, formal and informal. Taking these four, we get:

public-formal

public-informal

private-formal

private-informal

In general most ESL employers in Japan are looking for a minimum of:

native-speaker of English (NSE)

with a bachelor's degree in anything

acceptable appearance

one-year commitment

Japanese employers rarely hire "sight unseen" and they don't have to as even now there are many applicants. So you have to meet a recruiter abroad, have a personal introduction by someone known to the employer (this is a very effective way to get a job) or go to Japan and start looking. Before you click on the links to some great sites like Safe Jobs in Japan or Ohayo Sensei (Good morning teacher) read this. It sounds like a civics lesson but you'll play the game better if you know the players and some of the rules.

Good luck and please return to ESL Japan to meet other teachers, list your homepage and talk about teaching!

Public-formal
There are three levels of government in Japan: national, ken (prefectural i.e. state, provincial), and municipal which can include city (to, shi) and ward (ku).

Government-sponsored schools, colleges and universities hire NSEs to teach in a wide variety of programs. The best known is the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET). Basically they want young BAs right out of university for a maximum three-year commitment. JETs are hired from outside Japan. They teach in public middle schools and public high schools. They get airfare and a monthly salary. There are two kinds of position ALT and CIR. See their site for up to date information.

Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) are often directly hired by prefectures, cities and kus. (nobody calls them wards/districts so I'll stick with "ku") Basically, you have to be hired in person. ALTs can teach at elementary, middle or high school level. They are generally paid per hour and get an annual contract for a maximum number of hours. Some ALTs want minimum hours to pursue other interests in Japan while others want maximum hours to make money. One school might offer 90 or 180 or 240 hours of teaching per year. The rate is fixed and non-negotiable. When I was an ALT for the Tokyo Board of Education I was getting 6.500 yen/50 minute hour. I did it for five years. A typical year might involve teaching at four schools and having a total of say 720 hours per year. Apply in person to the board of education where you want to teach. This will look and feel like teaching in a "real" school. You need stand up teaching skills for this work but they don't expect you to have any experience and they seem to go out of their way to avoid hiring teachers qualified in their own countries.

Public-informal
This is mostly at the municipal level. You can get part-time work teaching the staff at various government offices. Sometimes you will be paid by the office officially and other times it comes out of the students' pockets. This is usually teaching small conversation groups sitting around a table.

Private-formal
This is working for non-public elementary, middle, high and tertiary (post secondary) institution such as colleges and universities. There is a wide variation in working conditions, pay and qualifications required. The main point is that you are working directly for that institution, not the government. They pay better and you may get benefits like being allowed to join the private health plan instead of having to enroll in the very expensive public health plan. Like public-formal, this is "real" school.

Private-informal
This includes language schools where you are working for a company, and private lessons you drum up on your own. The language schools are generally known as "eikiawa" which just means "English conversation." Big names are NOVA, AEON, GEOS and Gregg. There are hundreds of eikaiwa. These schools teach the students at locations all over Japan. The best locations are considered right in front of important train stations or on the route students or workers take to or from a station. As for the work, you can find yourself teaching at the school's location or being sent to the client's site. You can teach one-on-one (known as "man to man"), small groups or in classroom settings. Schools differentiate themselves in the marketplace by factors such as price, teaching materials, location, class size and type of teaching.

Blonds get more jobs
Looks are certainly a factor in the eikaiwa business. There seems to be a bias towards blonds, and an emphasis on hiring young, attractive teachers. Some teachers will dye or tint their hair blond. Frankly speaking, there seems to be a big element of "show business" or "modeling" to the eikaiwa business.

Turnover is very high at many of these schools and the schools are not necessarily unhappy about this because new teachers are fresh and enthusiastic and try harder. After they begin to burn out they can be easily replaced. These jobs make an excellent "foot in the door" opportunity from which you can apply for the other three types of teaching position.

Look before you leap!

Two complaints frequently heard by ESL teachers new to Japan concern teaching hours and travelling.

Teaching hours:
When will you find out your teaching schedule for each day, week, month, term or for the whole year? Will you work "split shifts" that is do they tell you that you will only work, for example, six hours a day but not tell you that those six hours are from noon until three and from six 'till nine at night? Find out your "teaching blocks." Will you get the same hours every time? Your landlord isn't going to discount your rent that month because you didn't realize that your school doesn't pay you in August or December. Or because your hours were changed. Be sure you make enough to cover your fixed costs! It is also a sad fact of life that even very big schools go bust. Check out your prospective employer very carefully. There are a lot of resources on the net where you can find out the current state of affairs.

Vertical and Horizontal Scheduling:
Which would you rather have, five hours teaching at the same location each day or five hours spread over five days? Your company will tell you that the money is the same. But you'll have five times the transportation time and depending on when the hours are, you may be prevented from working somewhere else. So when planning your schedule, unless you are a student who needs a certain block of time free, go for the vertical schedule.

Travelling:
Tokyo and Osaka are big places. I leave my house at 6:50 am to arrive at my university at 9 am to begin teaching at 9:20. On the way, I change trains three times. Over the years I've picked my jobs and train lines so that I can generally count on getting a seat. But if you can't do that you can expect to be standing, quite literally, for hours. By the way, don't expect to be paid for travel time and any commute less than one hour is considered easy. Really! And if you serve client sites, you may be going to quite a few different places every week. That means you will have to become an expert in taking trains and reading both hiragana and kanji in a big hurry. The mistakes you make in travelling are on your time!

Summary

FORMAL: PUBLIC or PRIVATE

To teach at:

elementary, middle, high school
2 or 4 year university

you typically need:

NSE with a BA in anything
NSE with an MA preferably in TESOL

INFORMAL: PUBLIC or PRIVATE

To teach at:

private English schools,
local classes with companies
or government offices
you typically need:

NSE with a BA in anything

The exceptions that prove the rule

Having given the general picture, you need to know that in Japan things are very much "case by case." I know people without even a BA who are teaching in colleges and being completely above board about it. If they know you and want to hire you, you will get the job, regardless of formal regulations. On the other hand, even if you have a string of Ivy League degrees, if they don't want to hire you, they won't. You have to be in Japan for things to happen!

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Learn hiragana as soon as possible!

By the way, I have yet to learn much katakana so I guess it isn't very useful. If it was, I would have run up against a wall and been forced to learn it. What I did learn, on the job so to speak, was hiragana. People will tell you that katakana is useful because it lets you read foreign words e.g. English words in Japanese. Trouble is, the Japanese tend to use Japanese words in Japan. When you get away from the city centre, it's hiragana or kanji. As for driving, you need kanji outside the city centre. Time spent studying city maps, train maps, station names and hiragana is time well spent!

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Good Luck! Please come back and visit us at ESL Japan!