Teaching English in Japan..

If you Google these keywords "teaching English in Japan" you will likely come up with a lot of information, including a lot of advertisements from language schools in America promising you job positions in Japan. I don't know much about the big language schools like Aeon or Nova. I heard both good and bad comments from teachers that worked there. But I do know that you don't need them to find English teaching jobs in Japan, because they are abundant. Finding English teaching jobs (I will refer to this as "ESL" from this point - English as a Second Language) isn't the problem. The problem is finding a school to sponsor your working visa, which you must have to legally work in Japan. You can find schools that will hire you for contract work without a visa, but be cautious. This is illegal.

Most of the information I will give you will pertain to when I was living in Yokohama in 2005 & 2006. It's possible that legalities and/or the economic conditions have changed since then. So do your homework and find out all you can about working in Japan before you make the leap. It was a good experience for me overall, but it wasn't something I wanted to do for many years.

Also, keep in mind that I am American, and unlike America, Japanese labor laws are dependent upon your nationality. So Chinese, Americans and British for example all fall under different Japanese labor laws in terms of working visas. I remember there were a couple of Australians that I met that were on "holiday visa" for 6 months. This allowed them to stay in Japan and legally work without obtaining visa sponsorship from an employer. However, this option is not available to Americans. No, I don't know why. I've only heard rumors about why this is the case.

I never went with one of the big language schools because I went on vacation to Japan before deciding to move there and teach ESL. I had considered teaching in China or Taiwan, but after my initial vacation to Japan in July 2004, I had decided that I wanted to go to Japan. If you can afford to take a vacation prior to moving there, it is a great opportunity to go on a few job interviews. Technically, I heard this is illegal - looking for jobs while on a tourist visa. But I also heard that many foreigners do it, and unless someone turns you in to the authorities, it's not likely anything would happen to you. A lot of the smaller language schools like to meet you this way in person, so unless you want to teach for one of those giants like Aeon or Nova, this is another way to go. The giant schools you can interview with in America - usually in major cities like Los Angeles or New York City. If you want a job with a smaller, cozier school you will need to be in Japan for the interview.

Basically, the working visa is good for one year. At the end of that year, you can reapply for a one year extension. You will need an employer to sponsor your initial working visa and each subsequent renewal. I had some coworkers that upon their 3rd extension request, meaning they had been working in Japan for 3 years, they were granted a 3-year working visa, meaning they did not have to worry about renewing it for each subsequent year. This can be really nice if you want to just do contract work and teach private lessons without worrying about teaching for a language school to maintain your visa sponsorship. Contract work pays higher, but you don't earn any vacation days. Private lessons are of course students that you teach in your home or at a cafe. At the time I was there, contract lessons usually paid about $30-$40 an hour, though I knew some people that claimed they were being paid more. Teaching at a language school you generally are paid a salary - something in the 250,000 Yen a month range would be average - that's roughly about $2,500 a month depending upon the current exchange rate. But usually the schools will get their money out of you by "forcing" you to work longer hours or weekends - remember it is a salary, not an hourly wage at the language schools. However, my experience wasn't too bad, though I always worked Saturdays, which was a little annoying.

Private lessons depends upon how good you are really. I charged about $25 and hour. There were a few students I picked up for less than that when I was running lean, but I never charged below $15 an hour, and I had a few students I charged $30 an hour when business was booming - summertime! I placed ads in local papers and put up fliers on community bulletin board to find students. When I was checking ads in papers, I saw some foreigners charging as little as $10 per hour for lessons. However, generally speaking many Japanese people do not mind paying more money for what they consider to be a better product. If you charge $10 an hour, the perception likely will be that you aren't any good. And you likely will only attract those students that are difficult or unmotivated in some way.

Many Japanese people like to take private English lessons. It's sort of a boasting point to their social circle. So keep this in mind that some of them may really want to learn English, but for others they just want to keep up appearances. This is a good thing to keep in mind as well when you are teaching at a company - the company forces the workers to study English. Some of them like studying English and realize it can advance their career, others despise being forced to learn English and may even tell you so, and some fall somewhere in the middle. Also, for your private students, it is polite to offer something to drink for each student if you are hosting the lesson in your house. I always kept tea and coke on hand. If you meet in a cafe, usually you pay for your drink and the student pays for their drink.