Oh well - teaching English again...
 

Hi there,

I wouldn't post this one if I had found an answer already. For some reason, most people don't want to teach English. I DO!!

Unfortunately, I'm neither a university nor a college graduate. And I'm German. However, I graduated from a US high school and went to college for a year (and two more in Germany). So, my pronunciation is similar to that of an American native. I hold a 120 hrs TEFL certificate (with a letter of recommendation), and I worked at a Thai Catholic high school for one semester. For the last 2 years, I've been working for an English media group in Thailand.

Now, I'd like to get to know Japan, but where do I go from here? Are there any agencies that can place teachers with schools? What are their requirements? Would it be better for me to teach German instead? How do working conditions/living costs differ when comparing country side to urban areas?

Many questions...maybe someone knows who I should get in contact with. Any suggestion is highly appreciated.

Danke schön!
mike2519

Wow, you have a lot of experience. I'm sorry I can't be of help, but I'm sure one of the topics around here might can give you an idea. One thing I do know of, is that you need a Visa in order to go there, naturally, and usually, one needs a Bachelor's degree to qualify for the Visa. Of course, there's always the other way, where you get hired through a company, and that company sponsors you and then obtain a Visa that way.

I'm also certain that there's a website you can look at that offers English Teaching jobs, but I can't recall it right off.

You could always try this topic....http://www.japanforum.com/forum/livi...-jp-2-0-a.html

http://www.japanforum.com/forum/livi...ive-japan.html

That's the best I can do...

Teaching English is great, but almost every company will require a BA degree. The degree can be in anything. They just want to know you can read, write and speak well.

So there are no places that might use experience in place of University/College degree?

possible, but unlikely. cruise the net and check out school's requirements.

If they want to hire a foreigner, they must get permission from the Japanese government. The governmnet must agree to allow that company to hire a foreigner to do a certain job.

This is a long and arduous process.

At the very least the applicant needs to have a four-year degree. Or else why would the Japanese government accept them?

That is the train of thought.

Visa questions come up quite often in this forum... Just a few days ago I began reading the official guidelines for Visa requirements, just to get a better understanding of them. From what I've been reading, if you do not have a bachelor's degree, you need a minimum of 10 years experience in a particular field to qualify for a working visa. An exception to this is the so-called "entertainer" visa, which isn't an option for most people.

You can find the entire guidelines here -> MOFA: Visa

It's been a while, so I might have this wrong, but I thought English teachers were under a sub-class of Entertainer. When applying for a job they could ask for a photograph because we were "entertainers."

???????????????

Paul, no, English teachers are classed under "humanities/international relations." They're not entertainers but people with an ability to help establish relations with other countries -- in this case, people who are native English speakers.

Though they may feel like dancing bears sometimes ;)

The reason why you need to submit a photograph is because they want to know what you look like. If you think that's because they have preferences in hair and skin color you would not be far wrong.

I met many AETs when I was an English teacher and they were all blond, except for one redhead. But times may have changed...

Technically, you do not need a bachelors degree to teach in Japan. What you do need to qualify for a visa is three consecutive (and verifiable) years of teaching experience, and 12 years of education in the country who's language you wish to teach.

You will not be able to apply for a teaching job from overseas without a degree, you'll have to come to Japan and convince a school to hire you. Some are aware that they can sponsor and hire a person who doesn't have a degree (provided they meet the above mentioned requirements), but most won't.

To verify your experience, you'll either need to bring pay stubs, tax records, or certified/notarized copies of a labor contract/s from your former employer/s.

Bring the above mentioned paperwork, a signed sponsorship application from your employer, and passport photos (as well as your passport) to the immigration office.

You'll need to make a good impression with whichever school you are applying to, it's not particularly hard to find teachers who possess a degree, so you'll have to convince them as to why they should hire you over someone who has a degree.

I appreciate all comments. Thank you!

"Not easy" without a Bachelor doesn't mean "not possible", right? I wouldn't mind the waiting period if the result was positive.

A Bachelor's or even a Professor's degree says nothing about a person's abilities of teaching. It's just proof that someone has fulfilled certain requirements. If I think about some of my teachers...

Same thing by the way with native/non-native. At the TEFL course that I attended, about 20% participants were non-native. All of them received a letter of recommendation. The ratio of the natives was, well, not quite as good. The 3 highest ranking ones were also non-native. I came to learn that this is no exception.

There is a way, I know. And I'm gonna find out - one way or the other.

Thanks again!
mike2519

If there weren't, literally, 10's of thousands of people WITH bachelor's degrees trying to do what you are doing, I would say "Do your damndest" but the B.A. is king.

The demand for English teachers in Japan is once again rising. I continue to be amazed at the kinds of people who are hired to teach. These are generally people with little to no real work history, all they possess when they arrive in Japan is a degree. Their English is often not very good, and is sometimes actually quite bad.

The larger companies in Japan will not hire anyone without a degree. Not because it's impossible, but because it requires more paperwork, and because they advertise in their literature that the teachers they employ all possess a 4 year or better degree.

Smaller schools (and there are countless smaller schools) are much more flexible with whom they hire. The downside is that they are often difficult places to work for. They generally offer lower pay (though that's not always the case), less than great working conditions, and will often have you sign a labor contract that would land them in jail if it were to see the light of day in most western countries.

Google any potential schools you might have an interest in, and look for comments about them. Many teachers who have had mishaps with schools have published their experiences on the internet

The main issue for someone without a degree is the VISA.

If you have another visa classification such as a working holiday or spouse visa then having a degree to work for a smaller school (not a franchised type) doesn't become a problem especially when word of mouth and blow them off their feet stereotypical appearance dictate.