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Naturally there are jobs to be had teaching other languages, but
the vast majority of the 5,000 or so language schools in Japan
are focused on teaching English. The English-study boom may have
lost some steam since it peaked in the late-80's but it's still
going. Once the economy picks up again, it's likely to fuel even
more growth in the industry. Also, the Mombukagakusho (Ministry
of Education) has finally realized that the best way
to improve English fluency at the high school level is to start
early. So they have finally got around to including eikaiwa (English
conversation) as part of the elementary school curriculum, which
will create even more demand for native speakers. Although the
number of young people is on the decline, you can be sure that
there will continue to be jobs available for both those who just
want to make a bit of money and also people who want to establish
a teaching career in Japan. There are several different options
open to people looking for a teaching job: eikaiwa
schools, the JET Program and private
primary, secondary and third-level schools. Once you've got yourself
established with a job and a valid visa status, there is also
the possibility of teaching lessons privately.
Unless you're both qualified and experienced, the entry-level
salary is pretty much the same as it has been since the English-study boom
started in the 1980s - around 250,000 yen per month. With the 90's having been a period of deflation
and falling prices, this is enough for a single person to live on, even
in Tokyo, but it won't make you a millionaire. Qualified and experienced
teachers or those with luck and connections can expect to make
two to three times that.
Eikaiwa schools
The late-1980's saw an explosion in the number and size of eikaiwa
schools throughout Japan. Internationally established names like
Berlitz battled with local companies like NOVA,
GEOS, ECC, Aeon and Bilingual in a fiercely competitive
industry. Thousands of smaller chains
and one-man operations survived on the crumbs left behind. Some
of the big names, like Bilingual, and many of the small fry didn't
last more than a few years, especially once the economic bubble
burst in the early 90's. Nova grew to be the Big Daddy of them all,
with 900 schools across the country and employing as many as 6,000
foreign teachers. So it came as a big blow to the entire eikawa
industry when Nova went bust in 2007, months after the government had
slapped a penalty on the company for irregular (to say the least)
business practises. The comapny's name and many of its schools were taken
over by a Nagoya company called G Communication but some serious damage
had been done to the industry's reputation.
But the desire to master English or at
least have a chance to hang out with foreigners has outlived the
usual short lifespan of trends in Japan and the eikawa giants
have grown bigger than ever. None of them present a very academic
recruitment message to prospective students, relying instead on
the use of famous personalities, large-scale advertising or hard-core
sales pitches by school 'counsellors'. One story tells of a young
woman who walked into a certain eikawa school thinking it was
a travel agency and leaving two hours later, having signed up
for English lessons to the tune of 6 month's salary and no longer
able to afford the trip she had been planning. The still generally
poor level of English ability in Japan is proof that these companies
are largely ineffective. They survive by placing pressure on their
underpaid school staff to meet quotas by bringing in large numbers
of ever-gullible new students.
But on the other hand, these schools do provide a service that
the people seem to want as well as a foot in the door for many
westerners without teaching qualifications or experience.Some
hire their teachers abroad and most will provide sponsorship for
a working visa. As long as you are a native speaker, have a university
degree and are prepared to complete a training course and see
out your contract, you should be offered a job with a salary in
the 250~300,000 yen range. Higher qualifications and
a business background might
get you a more lucrative business-teaching position. Other possible
benefits include transportation payments, subsidized housing and
the cost of a return trip to Korea to change your visa status.
Smaller schools often require job applicants to already have a
valid working visa or spouse visa as well as varying standards
for qualifications and experience. More and more schools are looking
for people to teach young children. Many schools advertise things
like their out-of-the-way location, use of a car or free housing
as incentives. These schools don't usually pay much more than
the big boys but they do offer more flexibility and less of a
production-line atmosphere.
The JET Program
The JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program, initiated in 1987,
brings thousands of young people to Japan every year. In 1999,
some 5,800 people from 37 countries took part in the program.
The basic requirements are given below (from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs):
Applicants must:
- Be interested in Japan, and be ready to deepen their knowledge
and appreciation of Japan after arrival.
- Be both mentally and physically healthy.
- Have the ability to adapt to living and office conditions that
could be significantly different from those experienced in the
applicant's home country.
- Be a citizen of the country where the recruitment and selection
procedures take place, on the closing day of recruitment for the
year. (Except those holding Japanese nationality in the month
of arrival in Japan.)
- In principle, be under thirty-five years of age. The main purpose
of the programme is to foster ties between Japanese youth and
JET participants composed of young college graduates as described
above. (This is to be changed to under 40 from April 1st, 2002)
- Hold at least a Bachelor's degree or obtain one.
- Have excellent English pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and voice
projection skills in addition to other standard language skills.
Have good writing skills and grammar usage.
- Not be a current or former participant of the JET programme.
- Not have declined, without justifiable reason, a position on the
JET programme after accepting an appointment as a participant.
- Not have lived in Japan for three or more years in total during
the last ten years.
In addition to the above, applicants from non-English speaking
countries must have a functional command of English or Japanese.
Successful applicants are expected to make an effort to learn
or continue learning the Japanese language prior to and after
arriving in Japan.
As well as positions as ALT's (Assistant Language Teachers)
in public schools, the program
also offers positions as SEA's (Sports Exchange Advisors)
and CIR's (Coordinators for International Relations) who work at local
governments around the country. Extra requirements for ALT's (or
JET's as they're often called) are that they must:
- Be interested in the Japanese education system and in the Japanese
way of teaching a foreign language.
- Be interested in working actively with students.
- Be those who already have qualifications as language teachers
or who are motivated to study the teaching of a foreign language.
Applications are made at the Japanese Embassy in your country.
Suitable candidates are invited for an interview and the final
results are announced by the end of March. Chosen participants
arrive in Japan at the end of July. The deal is better
than at the eikaiwa schools - as long as you don't hate kids!
Private schools
Jobs at private schools, whether elementary, junior/senior high
or third-level, are much sought after and are usually better paid
than the other teaching alternatives. Positions are often filled
by word of mouth as one person leaves Japan and puts a word in
for a friend with his former employers. There are a few companies
that act as go-betweens or agencies but they also rarely advertise.
University and college positions usually require you to have a
relevant Masters Degree, published papers and some teaching experience.
In recent years, more foreign professors have been receiving tenured
positions.
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