I was browsing Gaijinpot the other day and found plenty of English teaching jobs. Plenty of them. Most of them were asking what JLPT level I was or what English certification I had or what degree I had. Trouble is, I don’t have any of these. And I’m not sure I want them.
The JLPT: I think it might help me get my foot in the door somewhere, but I tend to think that speaking fluently is a more valuable goal. If I aim for fluency and pick up the JLPT1 along the way, that’s icing, but I need to focus on the cake.
I would like to work in Japan, but I think English teaching is the pits. If I were ten years younger and single, it would be the ideal thing, but I have a family to support now, so I need something that will make money. For that I’ll need a real job. For the real job I need fluency.
The college degree would be nice. I’m almost to an associates degree (two years), but it’s tough to invest the classroom and study time when you’re working full time and have a family. Besides, it’s in English, which cuts into my immersion time. Jury’s still out there, obviously.
I think the best investment of my time right now will be towards fluency. If you speak the language, you can talk your way into a job that you might not normally qualify for. If you don’t speak the language…well, you have to beg for whatever you can get. Personally, I’d rather be in the asking category than the begging category.
I think that along with my Japanese RTK deck I will try to add as much vocabulary as I can. Right now I’m struggling primarily because I don’t know enough words. I think if I know what the words mean, I can figure out everything else. I am hearing the grammar patterns and sentence structure, but I need to know what all the words mean. Perhaps getting a JLPT word list would be the right thing. I’ll take a look.
Good luck. I know exactly what you’re going through. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears for me to get my current job in Tokyo.
I think you’re absolutely right to focus on the language. Ability there will help you more than anything else.
I’m thinking that the right doors can open if I know the language. Even if I have to slog through a 4-year degree, the relationships I’ll make through networking with folks in Japan will be invaluable.
Without a doubt, the number 1 thing that helped me was Japanese language ability.
Number 2 was the experience I’d already built up – I’m still working in the same industry.
Number 3 was being connected to someone working in recruitment, who set up the interview. I find that getting to interviews is a nightmare but once I’m there, I reckon I have a fair shot. The interview was 100% Japanese though, so I needed to practice a lot with friends and loved ones, writing out answers to anticipated questions like “Why do you want to work in Japan?”, “Why do you want to work at our company?” etc.
I also wrote out a resume in Japanese and ignored the formal style. The 履歴書 doesn’t leave much room to include and explain your achievements.
Note that if your hope is to one day get a job in Japan, you’re going to need the 4-year degree. It’s a tough task to land a work visa without one. With a Japanese wife you can come on a spouse visa, but employers will still be looking for that sheepskin in most cases.
That’s kind of what I’m afraid of. I already have a wife. I don’t know, we’ll have to see. Money and time are at a premium right now, as you can tell.
My own take is that nobody can get truly good at this language unless they’re in Japan, using it every day in a variety of settings. So I’d focus first on building the foundation to get here (if that is indeed a key goal of yours), which means getting the degree first and foremost. The fluency can come, and will come much more quickly, once you’re here.
I agree with Durf that getting here first is the key step. Despite some major efforts, I didn’t manage to get a job from London, where I was. (That was actually mainly down to the markets crashing but anyway…)
I saved up to make sure that I had enough to survive for at least 6 months and came over on a tourist visa. You could come over on a spouse visa. Once you’re over, you’ll be seriously motivated and something will turn up.
It sounds like economically this might be too much of a risk for you though (considering you have your family). In which case, you might want to consider swallowing an English teaching job. If you get the right job, you can get paid well and it can be very rewarding. If I was to do it again, I’d definitely teach kids and get involved with a real school, perhaps as an ALT. I’ve heard that you can get a decent salary, although it might be tight for someone with kids. If your wife is willing to work too though, it might be ok. You also get plenty of free time, with which you can really progress with Japanese and focus on your next job.
I disagree with Durf about the degree though. It would definitely make your life a LOT easier to have one, because of the strange rules on this, but if you’ve got a spouse visa, you’ll find a way. 4 years on a degree isn’t worth the benefit it will give you, I think.
I don’t think his wife is Japanese, though, which would make the paper an absolute must.
Just re-read his reply to you. Apologies – big mistake!
Haha, thanks guys. I’ll do some serious thinking and praying about how to go forward. I know that by the end of next year I want to be in a much better place. We’ll see.
Regarding the qualifications that they want you to have, Japan’s a prime dictionary example of a society that places more importance on certifications and qualifications than actual knowledge or experience. I’m sure that’s less of the case in the foreign communities here, but then again English teaching companies are generally run by very Japanese Powers That Be. Japan’s also the country where the English teaching industry is so overrun with people who qualify because they speak English; although there are large eikawa schools that seem pretty reliable, the majority of the industry is made up of web services that host teachers’ resumes and charge students to pair them up – there is no teacher training, quality control, or even a unified syllabus involved. I would suggest not placing all your eggs in the English teaching basket.
Yep, I think getting fluent is more important. I have no aspirations towards English teaching otherwise, so it’d be better to learn the language so I can start out doing something I want to do. :)