Teaching in the JP 2.0
 

It's all about teaching English. Yokoso!

Wheels of Steel
 

Transportation can be a big deal if say you don't live in the megaopolis that is Tokyo. Many places in Japan have wonderful public transit systems, but let's say you live in Gunma which has the highest number of cars per household (because there is relatively no transit system).

If you are doing the private ALT gig, look for a school that offers to provide you with one or more of these. They are rare but out there somewhere.

Bicycle
Aren't you just the most eco-friendly ALT in the neighborhood? Cruising around on your BaBa Cheri. Having a bicycle is a really good idea no matter where you are in Japan. You can pick up a nice granny bike for about 12,000 yen with basket, bell and lights. Mountain-style bikes run about around 20,000 Yen and you may have to purchase your headlight. (Riding a bike at night without a headlight in Japan is illegal and will get you a fine. So is drinking and riding but I have yet to meet someone who has gotten in trouble for this one.) Then there are the folding bikes which are a good idea too if you ever get the chance to bring it along on an extended sightseeing excursion.

Scooter
Oh the joys of scootering in Japan, passing traffic caught at busy intersections, the cool mountain breeze of one lane roads high in the hills, and the awesome gas mileage that allows you to cruise all day for five hundred yen. Used scooters will cost somewhere around 40,000 to 80,000 yen. New ones are about 100,000 to 150,000. Please note that these are the prices of 50cc scooters. After 50cc you need a motorcycle license.

Cars
Well aren't you a high roller? Rolling around in your kei car like the pimp you know you are. Cars you can get used for as cheap as 40,000 yen. But the expenses of owning and driving one can add up fast. There is what is called Shaken which is an every other year major inspection and overhaul which will costs 50,000 and up. Gas is at about four dollars a gallon if translated into the US equivalent. Interstates (ie freeways) in Japan are virtually all toll roads which could run you a couple thousand yen for one way. Then there is tax and insurance. You have to pay for your parking space. If you have an accident both drivers pay unless you were not moving at all. One more thing, if a car is really cheap it is most likely due to the fact that the shaken will be due soon after purchase. Somtetimes your vice principal will try to give you his car because the shaken is due and otherwise he is going to have to pay a disposal fee to get rid of it. Ask the dealer when the next shaken will be if you're buying. Oh, and leasing. You can lease a brand new car for like 50,000 yen a month. Otherwise ask around if there is anyone who knows a place that leases to ALT's.

Etceteras
International permits for US drivers can be purchased at AAA for ten dollars. If you don't know what AAA is, you are most likely an R'tard and should not be behind the wheel. However they are only valid for one year, after which US drivers will have to face the challenge of obtaining a Japanese license.

Japan has a zero tolerance policy regarding alcohol consumption and driving. Translation: no drinking at all if you intend to drive. Also if you are the passenger of a drunk driver, you will also be fined.

Japanese licenses can be obtained by foreigners. Motorcycle licenses are more difficult to obtain. Wear a dress shirt, tie and nice shoes when you go, and don't forget to drive on the left. Google for more info.

A regular day at my Jr. High
 

Removed for the fun of it.

Excellent Q/A from the old thread. Enjoy.

This means that you are given 10 days you can ask to receive as holidays. You will get some national holidays off and they should be paid for as well. There will be most likely other holidays that are unpaid around like the New Year holiday.

By law, Japanese companies can only require workers to work for six days a week. At most schools five days is the normal work week for English teachers. The only ones doing six days are usually ALT's at private schools where the kids are in school for six days a week and those who choose to find extra work or put in overtime.


Most if not all companies will set up your housing when you are first coming over. Sometimes you move into the place of the teacher you are replacing. I think Nova was the only one though that sets you up with roommates which could be good or bad.

Yochien (kindergarten) are either three to five or four to six (No ALT)
Shogakou (elementary) are six to twelve
Chugakou (Junior High) are twelve to fifteen
Koutougakou (High School) are fifteen to eighteen (public HS rarely hires non-JET ALT's, some hire only teachers with a master's degree in TESL, private schools are the best paid non-JET ALT's)
Daigakou (college) are eighteen to twenty-one (No ALT, master's required, cushiest job in all of Japan)

ALT-JTE Relations
 

Removed for the fun of it.

You have to hold a bachelor's degree and speak English to meet the minimum requirements. A few criteria you can meet that will make getting a job teaching English easier are being a native of a country where English is the official language, choose a major like English or an area of teaching and studying Japanese helps especially if you take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test which is made by the Japanese government. You can also get a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language but all this does is really show your dedication to trying to be a good teacher.

Cover Letter and Resume Advice
 

Things to emphasize when applying

Love working with kids, can adjust to living in a foreign environment, always seeking a way to improve your work and open to suggestions, considering a career in teaching English and see this opportunity as a way to begin (even if this is a lie), and serious interest in experiencing Japan, making Japanese friends and learning some of the language would all be good additions to your cover letter. Love working with kids is a big one because I would say that seventy percent of English learners are children. Of course if you are applying for a job teaching business English, this is not going to work so you want to custom tailor each letter to what you feel the employer is seeking.

Also if you are applying to an eikaiwa versus an ALT position, the letter may need to adjust as well. For an eikaiwa you will want to promote yourself as seeking to work with all levels of ability and maybe being flexible to changes in your schedule to adjust to the different needs of your students. As an ALT you want to emphasize creativity, wanting to see how kids in Japan grow up and learn, working closely with Japanese and willing to eat less than delicious Japanese food for lunch everyday. I would save the last one for the interview. Some schools have a kitchen and fix their food there, but others like mine have their food trucked in from a factory that churns out lunch for a bunch of different schools each day.

You basically want to keep it as brief as possible while highlighting aspects of yourself or your background that make you appear like a teacher and master of the English language. Both your cover letter and resume should be no longer than a page. If you were applying for a job at a university or upper tier high school, then you may need a portfolio showing grad school credentials and any publications you have written or co-authored.

I :rheart: Yen

This is a little bit about money. Earnings for different types of teachers and a little something on living expenses.

JET ALT's get 300,000 yen a month, private ALT’s range from 210,000 to 300,000 with average being 250,000 and eikaiwas vary a lot depending on the number of students and hours put in but for the most part starting pay for full time work should be 240,000 to 276,000.

Contract completion bonuses, most private ALT's and eikaiwa teachers, range from 50,000 to 100,000 on average for one year, but I once saw one for 600,000 on completion of two years. JET ALT's I believe have their return flight paid for and take home the money they paid into the pension program as a bonus.

Extra work taken outside your company will earn you around 2,000 to 5,000 an hour. Sometimes you can get special gigs or group lessons that earn you a flat fee like 10,000 for two or three hours. These are your average rates too for freelance teachers who give lessons legal or illegally on their own. Think of GABA who pay 2,000 to 3,000 an hour to their instructors who do one on one lessons. University and upper tier high schools pay 400,000 to 500,000 per month to start out. The best postions go to those who are published. I don't know what sort of bonus they receive, but consider that standard Japanese yearly bonuses average two months pay.

Out of your pay, unless you are freelancing illegally, comes income tax which seems to be a flat 10 percent. JET ALT's pay into the pension program which you will get back something like 60 to 70%. This usually adds up to 40,000 Yen out of your pay in taxes.

Bills- Keitai (cell phone) 5,000 to 3,000 Gas 5,000 to 3,000 Water 1,000 Electricity 5,000 to 3,000 Of course all of these are based on usage and vary a lot with the time of year.

Rent is one thing that varies on location but average small apartment is 40,000 to 55,000 a month. The closer to Tokyo the more expensive your apartment will be. Also there is key money. Sometimes you get key money back but never all of it if you go through a realtor because they have to eat just like everyone else and have fees that they charge. Some companies provide you with a housing supplement, but this is rare. Also you need to think about internet and appliances. A lot of Japanese homes and apartments are not wired for the net so be sure to ask your employer if your place will be. And try to get the minimums provided by your employer like a futon and pillow, a bike, some pots and pans, fridge, washer and a microwave or toaster oven.

A car is probably one of the most expensive things you can own in Japan. There are businesses that will lease you a vehicle if you plan on only doing a year or two. Car expenses include 1) the cost of your car 2) the gas you spend driving around 3) driving on toll roads 4) vehicle tax 5) shaken which is an inspection and repair service done every two years 6) getting rid of your car when you leave or it breaks down 7) parking (you pay like 3,000 to 5,000 a month to park at your own apartment). If you want a car and find a job that says you are going to be driving around a lot, take it because this means they will give you a car and pay for half of this stuff. To get an idea of car costs check out the infozone on jetsetjapan.com in the links I will post below.

School Related

Every now and then, you have to pay out a little bit to do your job. Here are some of the expenses of being an ALT.

Kyushoku (Lunch)-Probably one of the cheapest meals you will eat in Japan and most likely one of the worst from time to time. Price-4,000 yen a month

Enkai-Quarterly or so booze parties for the staff to get together and unwind. Why do they do this on nights when you have school the next day, I have no clue. Price-3,000 to 5,000 yen per enkai

Gifts-You go somewhere and they expect a souvenir (omiagei) or someone gets sick and they collect money.

I :rheart: the internets!

Job Searches
O-Hayo Sensei
Gaijinpot
Daijob.com

ALT/Living in Japan Info
Jetset Japan - Serving JET Programme Participants

Teaching Materials/Lesson Ideas
Genki English
MES-English.com
Three Wise Monkeys "Greatest Resource for ALT's Ever!!"
Welcome to DiscoverySchool.com!
Free Clipart

Removed for the fun of it.

I Got a Bisa, How 'bout you?
 

MOFA: A Guide to Japanese Visas - Documents to Be Submitted with Visa Applications

Instructor
Documents certifying the academic career or a copy of an educational license of the person concerned.
Documents certifying the professional career of the person concerned.
Basically what this amounts to is proof of your education and/or career as a teacher. Note that TESL certificates do not alone qualify you to teach in Japan no matter how they are promoted. A degree would be a different story because it is not a certificate.

Specialist in Humanities/International Services
Materials describing the business undertaken by the recipient organization.
A diploma or a certificate of graduation with a major in a subject relating to the activity of the person concerned, and documents certifying his or her professional career.
Proof that the company hiring is in the business of hiring teachers/ALT's. Now the second one about "major in a subject relating to the activity of the person concerned" is not enforced word for word. Why else would most ALT's I know be computer science majors? Basically all you need for this one is a degree which is why most teachers fall into this category. They're foreign, they went to school, why don't we make them a teacher?

Short Term Teaching
 

Removed for the fun of it.

Finding a job before or after you come to Japan
 

Read above.

Types of Teaching
 

More of the same.

To JET or Not
 

Simple answer is, yes.

Killed this one too.

thanx!..
u interested me

Removed for the fun of it.

Does anyone know if Jet will fly you family over as well or will they only pay for the employee?

No I don't think they do, but then I've never met a JET that was married.

yeah it is normally a thing you do when single... call me crazy, but I got married and starting having kids before I got out of University.

You're crazy! But, I'm guessing they won't be paying for anyone but yourself to get over there. Consider yourself lucky, I just bought my ticket to get over there today to work for Nova. G'luck. What city will you be in?

I have not applied yet... I will not be going until next year if I do go. At this point I will probably apply for it this coming fall/winter at the same time as I am applying for Masters positions (or PHD) at other institutions.

Dunno what will be the case but I would certainly love to spend a year in Japan. Much to my extended families lament.

Where do you think the best place would be to teach english. The city with the most need?

The demand for English teachers is around the larger cities in Japan such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagoya, etcetera. This is simply due to the number of people living there which requires more schools and more teachers. The places with the most need for native English teachers would be somewhere like rural Nagano, rural Kyushu, rural Akita, etcetera. They have a greater need because they are less desirable locations as far as the teachers ability to travel and other things. Usually there are few to no eikaiwas in the countryside. Also most schools in rural areas share one ALT between three, four, maybe even five or more schools in the area.

Big universities do provide housing for their professor, but only if you are really a big time professor or a researcher :vsign:

Let's Union!!
 

http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/Laws.htm.

General Union.

Nambu FWC - NUGW Tokyo Nambu.

Fluent in Japanese Lang?
 

Hi,

Firstly, i'm new to this forum..hope all of you can guide me along.
Thanks...

I will like to ask whether being fluent in Japanese will be an added advantage when applying for ATL?

I heard from other people in other forums commenting that the JET program actually looks for candidates who are not too fluency in the Japanese language. The reason being that a JET teacher is encouraged to engage his/her students in English, and having Japanese fluency can potentially defeat that purpose.

Is that true?

Regards.

JET Selection Process
 

The truth is that the selection process of JET's is a complete mystery to me, those rejected and those chosen as well. I have a theory though. My theory is that five or six Japanese gather in a boardroom. Each one selects their favorite candidate. Then they janken (rock, paper, scissors), and the winner of janken has their favorite chosen. One of the current ALT's in my city was turned down by JET twice. His major in was Japanese studies and has a rather high level of Japanese. That being said, I also knew one of the former JET's who was at the 1st or 2nd proficiency level on the JLPT. He also studied in Japan during university which visiting Japan before entering the JET program supposedly also harms your potential for being selected.

Every other ALT hiring company and many city boards of education are always going to choose the person with Japanese ability over the one without. However the JET program seems to choose at random. Good luck and if they don't take you, somebody will.

....
 

Hmm...So there is no fixed tips?

That really sounds confusing and double standard.
I think i will apply to both JET and priv schools at the same time.

The hiring process for JET's is really long. Like you start the application in the fall of your senior year of university and find out if you're in or not in the spring. At that point, you still have enough time to apply to private eikaiwas because they start their hiring process at just about the same time the JET process ends.

As far as tips, the standard I love kids applies. Then you can throw in something like, I'm considering a career in teaching and thought this might be a good place to start. Then you have to make a sample lesson or something, I suggest some sort of game or something. Maybe a song or two, nothing too bad like "Head, shoudlers, knees and toes." Best to stick with something your interviewers will recognize and be sure to say I just want to do my best to make English fun for the kids. Following this format should guarantee a job in my opinion because it's all I do.

Re:
 

Have you spoken in person with English teachers in Japan who said they were planning on getting permanent residency in Japan? Is it common for a foreignor to take a position in teaching with the sole purpose of 1 day becoming a permanent Japanese resident? How often do foreignors who've gotten permanent Japanese residency find work in fields other then teaching?

I'd like to use teaching only as my ticket into Japan. Once I've gotten permanent residency, I'd like to find another profession not pertaining to English. How common is it for a foreignor to achieve this?

Hi all. First-time poster; new to the boards, not to Japan.

>Have you spoken in person with English teachers in Japan who said they were planning on getting permanent residency in Japan?

Not to be rude, but if you're serious about coming over here and getting permanent residency, who cares? Just get here however you can and do it.

(p/s - Judging from previous posts, you may want to re-read on what exactly is required in getting your PR. A simple five years in residency isn't going to cut it.)

>Is it common for a foreignor to take a position in teaching with the sole purpose of 1 day becoming a permanent Japanese resident?

No, at least in my experience, because most foreigners are here to screw around in an "exotic country" for a year or two before going back home.

>How often do foreignors who've gotten permanent Japanese residency find work in fields other then teaching?

There are *way* too many variables involved in this question. You can have PR and speak so-so Japanese, or speak fluent Japanese but have few marketable skillsets, all of which would influence the kind of job you can get. You're putting way too much emphasis on the PR and way too little on what YOU have to offer. If you're serious about coming over here, major in a marketable field, get over here, and then use said skill to land a job in the field that it pertains to.

>I'd like to use teaching only as my ticket into Japan.

Whatever works for you. Me, I rode that ticket for a couple years before moving on to a career as a full-time translation monkey. By comparison, a guy I came here with started teaching English and found it his life calling.

>Once I've gotten permanent residency, I'd like to find another profession not pertaining to English. How common is it for a foreignor to achieve this?

Again, way too many variables. Even assuming you're in Japan and have PR, what the heck can you *do*? PR is good, Japanese knowledge is good, but areas of specialty are even better.

No offense but that attitude is why the system is so messed up over here.

Teaching/inspiring minds is second only to a parents teachings in the impact it can have on peoples lives.

Hey whatevers....

i'm new to this forum, so i'm not quite sure if this inquiry has been addressed before (my apologies to all). i am considering a job offer for japan, and it starts january. the salary is entry-level; this would be my first stint as a programmer, if ever i take it. the contract length is one year.

reading through some posts in this forum, i believe that the salary ill be getting is enough for me to get by okay. however, i would like to be able to save up a bit as well, without having to give up a few things. so, i was thinking, maybe i could get a part-time job teaching english in japan.

and then i find out there are different types of working visas (good thing you guys have these fora, thanks)... does that mean i can say goodbye to that teaching idea? :confused:

Been here 6 years and I thought a work visa was a work visa. :confused: Another person might be able to answer that.

You should have no trouble getting part time teaching work, over or under the table. Say for example you learn of a part time gig in the evenings that pays you straight cash. You wouldn't really have to report this extra income. Or say you get an actual part time job. The only thing your part time employer cares about is that you actually have a valid visa, the type doesn't concern him. Then you have the actual immigration office which initially will only be looking at your contract with the ones who hired you for programming. The next year or whenever you go to renew your visa, they are going to be looking at your new contract with your primary employer, the contract or agreement with your part time employer and your tax statement from the year before. If your part time work does not appear in your tax statement, then you don't need to show that you have a part time job to immigration when renewing your visa.

whew, that was a relief. thanks, Thuglife and jasonbvr. by the way, do english schools in japan have a preference for native english speakers? i am from an asian country, but i do speak (american) english well (sadly, i speak english better than i do my native tongue). also, do they have preference for caucasians/other non-asians? i've read from a previous post that females are preferred. would that be the only thing working in my favor? *wink* :D

p.s. and any degree will do? even an engineering degree? are there opportunities for a foreigner as a math tutor (although i would think that there are enough japanese math tutors around already; are there?).

If you are getting the work visa from your programming job, there is no need to worry about what type of degree you have. The only ones who want to see the degree are immigration officials. When applying to jobs, just send them a picture of your visa and say one of the degree can be obtained if necessary. Most likely they won't need it.

As far as hiring natives, indeed there is a big preference for native speakers. That doesn't mean non-Asians but rather just from a country where English is an official language. But, I have heard of half Japanese, half Americans being turned down by Nova (the eikaiwa that just went under) because half their childhood was in Japan. Again however, you are not looking for regular work as a teacher just part time. You should be fine as long as you really emphasize fluency in English.

As far as math tutoring, that would be something Japanese students would go to jukyu for (cram school). It would require fluency in Japanese. There are some schools that teach math in English, but that would be a full time gig, most likely at a private school.

thanks for the info. however, although my country has 2 official languages (and medium of instruction) and one of them is english, i think a great majority of people outside the country doesn't know that. but still, i'd like to give it a shot (teaching english).

i hope they listen to me speak the language first before they see me in person heehee... :D (can i hand out my resume in person rather than email it to potential employers? that way, i'm hoping i don't get rejected before they hear me talk :D )