Quote: (03-08-2012 09:24 AM)memcpy Wrote:
Quote: (03-07-2012 09:42 PM)RioNomad Wrote:
Quote: (03-07-2012 08:42 PM)memcpy Wrote:
I'll be teaching English in Japan, leaving this weekend. I signed a contract and the pay is around 230,000 yen. I found this company through craigslist Tokyo of all places, after trying the major English schools AEON, JET, INTERAC. Basically they don't want you unless you have experience and a work visa.
The pay isn't great but also not bad. It's basically enough to save and take a few small trips, and party.
From what i've researched most Japanese English teacher's are either:
1: the gaijin clown entertainer
2: the human pronunciation machine
3: have control over entire lessons
I hope I at least am not 1 or 2, 3 would be nice.
Once I get there I want to do some private lessons on the side, even though doing so is against my contract. I'm seeing lots of opportunities to teach on the side, once the school season starts in April you will start seeing people drop out, teachers getting sick, and posts go up wanting someone to take over their class for the day/weekend.
I've got business cards made up, got friends already over there, and I'm ready to see what I can get into.
That is $2,800 a month. Pretty good wage for most places, not sure about Japan though.
Got a few questions if ya don't mind.
1. Is your housing included like in S. Korea, or do you have to pay for that yourself? If you have to pay yourself, about how much will you be paying?
2. Which city will you be living in? If in Tokyo, are you close to good nightlife and the happening spots?
3. Have you taught English before elsewhere?
4. Do you a TEFL or other similar cert?
5. Do they provide a work permit, or will you be living and working illegally?
Anything else someone interested in this should know?
Hope you have a blast in Japan, bro!
1. The housing is provided and they set it up for you since it's hard for foreigners to find apartments in Japan. (Thank you money, Key Money, Finders Fee's, Japanese Guarantor).Some company's do this and some don't. The company apartment is 66,000yen which is kind of expensive. I found several apartments going for 30,000yen -40,000yen.
2. I'll be living in Mito City which is 2 hours north of tokyo by train. It's still a large town. The best places to work are Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa which are all 20 min train ride to tokyo and have cheaper housing than tokyo. Tokyo is Expensive so it's better to live in one of those city's that are on the outskirts and just take the train there since it's not far. This info was given to me by my Japanese friend who lives in Kanagawa.
3. I haven't taught English elsewhere
4. All you need to teach in South Korea/Japan is a piece of paper that says you graduated from somewhere and did something.
5. They give you a work visa, first you get a certificate of eligibility, then you take that paper to the nearest japanese embassy in the U.S. that piece of paper gets turned into a work visa and it valid for 1year.
The Japanese school year starts in April, so the best time to look for a job is now. You can still find positions open all year long. I would recommend finding a job online vs. going to Japan and looking. You should probably check out Craigslist:Tokyo since people don't really check it out to much but it has lots of postings. http://tokyo.craigslist.jp/edu/
Memcpy, when are you leaving for Japan? I'd be interested to hear about your experience there as I've been contemplating making it my next stop. I spent about 2 weeks there in the summer of 2010 while on vacation from my teaching gig in Korea and loved it. Tons of hot girls, great transportation, clean, good food, beautiful scenery, quality beer, and good nightlife. Let us know what it's like when you get on the ground.