I’ve been working in the IT industry for 5 years now and I’m not getting anywhere. I was thinking of getting into webdesign/developing but the competition is fierce and it will take me another 5 years to make something of myself in that line of work.
Due to some personal issues with home life I’ve decided to try teaching English in a another country. I was wondering if anyone else had tried this? You can do the course in a 4 week intensive session or part time over 27 weeks. In the end you get a qualification that helps you get a job abroad as an English teacher to kids and high schoolers.
The courses can cost from £300 to £10000 pounds, the grand course is CELTA and apparently that?s the best one out there and overseas employers love it.
So here I am thinking about taking a year out of the UK and relocate to Japan to try something different. Have any of you guys done this or know people who have? What was it like? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.
lol i have a blog? the one on srk? i rarely post anything though haha.
sure man, ill be here for 2 more years. anytime man.
oh wait, im kinda plannin to go for a euro trip this summer(or later in dec), if all goes well, im sure plannin to drop by UK (wanna go to anfield lol), maybe we can get a few matches then haha
CELTA or TESL cert is good in many countries. In Japan, it’s not worth a lot initially. In order to get a visa into Japan for employment, you must have a 4-year degree. No Exceptions. Now once you have that, a CELTA could be your ticket into a decent English teaching position. Please note that you’re better to try and find a job in a real school as an ALT and to avoid Ekaiwas (private language schools) as they have a tendency to go bankrupt, not pay their teachers, students, and leave people stranded.
Thank you ever so much for the links dude! I know the JET programme has a good rep but is very hard to get into, think they expect candidates to be able to speak some Japanese/Mandarin too. Once I’ve done the CELTA I will first try and apply through some reputable agencies, if that doesn’t get me anywhere I will go direct to the schools. However, the latter will requires me to actually go to Japan, I don’t want to go out there without a guaranteed job
The Japanese requirement is not true. More than 50 percent of JETs in my area started off with little to no knowledge of Japanese language. I actually think the less you know about Japanese culture and language in general, the better your chances of getting in. Part of the goal of JET is to allow people from other countries the opportunity to see what Japan’s all about.
Japanese language abilities are only required for a CIR position, which involves a lot of office work that is not related to teaching English at a school. You have be practically fluent for that job, since the administrative duties you would have involve a lot of translation work.
A English teaching certification will help you a lot… I did a month-long course for TEFL, myself. I also did about 2 years of volunteer work as an English tutor, which helped my cause greatly.
I don’t think it was incredibly difficult to get into JET if you put in the time and effort, and showing that you are interested in teaching English. I had to go that route because I applied for JET 5 years after graduating from college.
I was in the same boat as you… had a degree in Fine Arts (graphic design and illustration). Couldn’t find stable work, was incredibly bored because I was in the same city since I was born. Being a JET for almost 3 years (and counting) really was everything I hoped for and more.
If you’re interested in JET, get started right away. From what I remember, the application period starts around September… so you got plenty of time to get those teaching qualifications and/or experience.
Good luck. Feel free to ask us more about JET… quite a few current JETs come to browse these forums.
Kunai is right about the JET program. Plus it’s the best paying English-teaching job in Japan as it pays nearly 1mil more yen/year than the standard teaching wages. You should definitely look into it first before anything else.
I somewhat disagree about the usefulness of the TEFL/CELTA certificate personally. It’s great for classroom experience, learning the “system”, and as a resume bullet-point, but it’s not the “holy grail of English teaching” in Japan like it is in African or South American countries. If you plan to try other countries, get it. If it’s just for Japan, I’d take a look at some of those links and job postings I sent you to help you decide.
I also agree that TEFL isn’t going to help too much, at least with the job itself. It did show how much I wanted to get into JET, but the actual things I learned from that class only helped very little at best. TEFL taught me about teaching methods, but it didn’t tell me how to make lessons. I only got that by real-world experience. Even the 2 years of tutoring didn’t help me much when I became an ALT. It’s a whole different ballgame when you are in that class, helping kids and having responsibilities to create lesson plans or make your team-teaching classes interesting.
And believe me, JETs are pretty safe with the contract that’s year-by-year. I’ve seen guys who have lost their jobs at independent English schools, and it’s tough for them when they have to scramble to find a new job or return home to plan their next move. With JET, you’d have to get arrested to lose your job. If things don’t work out and your school decides not to renew your contract, at least you’ll have a 1/2 year to plan your next move, and you’ll still be receiving money and even have a reimbursement for cash to fly back to your home country.
However, positions are drying up here and there because of the steady decline of the Japanese economy… and the global economy in general. I don’t think JET will end up defunct anytime soon, but yes… it may become a lot more competitive to get in nowadays. It’ll probably be because there just isn’t as many available slots as in years past.
Thanks Kunai and nikkos010, I really appreciate your advice. I want to get out of the UK asap, so even though the JET programme looks like an awesome way to get in Japan I really can’t cope with another year in the UK I WILL go mad lol
I’ve got a years experience taeaching reading and writing to 8-11 year olds which I feel has given me the desire to get into teaching. I was going to do a PGCE course at University which would allow me to become a teacher in the UK but due to family issues I had to work instead to make the money.
I’m going to try to apply for some jobs in Japan and see what happens. I know it will be harder for me to find work as Im not in Japan but I really don’t wanna go out there and start applying hoping to find work. If I don’t get anywhere I’m gonna think about doing a TEFL/CELTA course and apply for the JET programme for September.
Im thinking long and hard about this as its a life changing experience. Read some forums of peoples experiences and I know I can cope but food is an issue, I gotta eat Halal meat and after some extensive googling I can’t find any place in Japan that does Halal meat, means I’ll be a vegetarian for a year… the horrror… the horrrrrror!
dude, japan… theres always fish/seafood you can cook/eat??? dont tell me you cant eat fish, i dont know any haram fish lol
plus, halal meat is so available in japan, how do you think the muslims there survive? i also know because i was born n raised a muslim (though im not really a good example of one) but yeah, halal meat is so easy to get(most of my friends, even me, usually buy em online) plus there are a lot of places where you can eat out and halal. im not sure how strict are you when it comes to food though since ive known people who seem too strict(they check everything down to the molecules), and some who are cautious but not paranoid or anything, those who only eat certain meat, those who only dont eat pork and those who just dont give a fuck.
i also assume you can cook. if not, you better start learning lol, save lots of money to just buy chicken/meat/fish etc and cook.
foods never an issue, except maybe if youre too lazy to cook… even then its only because of money factor ( i dont know whats ur income etc)…
I run into Hummus and Halal foods all the time when Im not even looking. Yeah, it’s Tokyo, but they are the burbs of Tokyo and I still see it.
I figured people who are into hummus know how to make it on their own. If you go to just about any Indian restaurant you can buy (probably overpriced) the stuff you need. Thats if you cant find a specialty shop. Doesnt “Kaldi” have just about anything you would need?
Wow didn’t know there was a decent amount of Muslims in Japan, shows how little I know about the place. I should really read up on this stuff. Getting some phone calls from agencies next week, fingers cross they go well
I have a mixer and can make hummus if I want to, but it never turns out to be that tasty. I think it has something to do with the garbanzo beans I use.
There’s an Israeli restaurant up north of Nakano that has awesome take-away hummus. I also know about Hummus the Great somewhere on the east side? Wasn’t aware of Kaldi, but I’m dropping by an area with one today so I’m gonna go check it out.
My main experience of not finding hummus was living in Osaka where it was literally non-existent. Halal meats though were quite easy to find (Indonesians).
