Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Life


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 06-11-2005, 04:52 PM   #1 (permalink)
Junkie
 
almostaugust's Avatar
 
Location: Oz
Teaching In Japan

Anyone on the TFP had experience teaching overseas?

Me and my GF are thinking about teaching in Japan. I dont know much about the place and am sure it will be a massive culture shock.
__________________
'And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'
almostaugust is offline  
Old 06-11-2005, 06:37 PM   #2 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Location: North America
I don't have experience teach but if you wanna teach over there the big question is do you write and/or speak japanese. English is the universal language but I doubt many over there care enough to be fluent at it.
catback is offline  
Old 06-11-2005, 10:47 PM   #3 (permalink)
Insane
 
Yep, it will be a culture shock, that's for sure. The average English teacher lasts between 6 months to a year here. Get on the Net and check out the many forums out there...here is one www.gaijinpot.com.

You don't have to know how to speak/write Japanese but the basics will help. Your school will help you get set up with your Visa, bank, alien registration, water/hydro bills, etc.

Catback is right saying many don't care enough about it (English) to learn it. They spent to most money learning English and rank near the bottom in Asia in ability. It's amazing.

Basically, your enjoyment or disagreement with the country will depend on your school. There are lots of great places, many good places and tons of shit places. You will have to do a lot of research before you go if you are serious about coming here.
__________________
Life's jounney is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn-out shouting, "Holy sh*t! What a ride!" - unknown
Jackebear is offline  
Old 06-12-2005, 05:56 AM   #4 (permalink)
.
 
bundy's Avatar
 
Location: Tokyo
what kind of teaching?

actual classroom ALT work (ie JET) or do you mean English instruction schools like Nova or Aeon?
__________________
Ohayo!!!
bundy is offline  
Old 06-12-2005, 10:54 AM   #5 (permalink)
Rawr!
 
skier's Avatar
 
Location: Edmontania
this http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html has some stuff about a guy's experiences with his JET program. There are also forums there where you can ask questions etc.
__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim
skier is offline  
Old 06-12-2005, 05:44 PM   #6 (permalink)
Junkie
 
almostaugust's Avatar
 
Location: Oz
Thanks all.

Yeah, im a qualified classroom teacher (English/ History), but am thinking Nova school or something.
__________________
'And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'

Last edited by almostaugust; 06-12-2005 at 05:53 PM..
almostaugust is offline  
Old 06-12-2005, 07:34 PM   #7 (permalink)
.
 
bundy's Avatar
 
Location: Tokyo
so.
if you're a qualified teacher, you would be more suited to the JET program... or actually going it alone with a gaijinpot advertised job. the main problem with JET is that they will NEVER place you in a big city such as Tokyo or Yokohama. you will always be sent out to the surrounding prefectures. also, JET does not pay well (but this is not a serious problem as you'd most likely be living in an inexpensive area).
NOVA pays well, but you'd probably find the NOVA curriculum remarkably restrictive, since its a VERY regimented system designed to help non-qualified teachers, teach. however, i'm lead to believe that NOVA will take into account that you are actually a teacher, and will give you an increased level of pay, as a bonus.
despite the reputation for being the McDonalds of English schools, NOVA is a decent way of getting set up in Japan. the pay is good, they give you accomodation (its nice to have a place already, but you'd want to get out as soon as you can arrange it as NOVA charges its residents WAY to much for rent), the work is EASY, and while you do it you can find your feet in Japan, and then think about branching out to other teaching jobs or jobs in other industries.

feel free to PM me if you want more details.
__________________
Ohayo!!!
bundy is offline  
Old 06-15-2005, 06:46 PM   #8 (permalink)
Junkie
 
almostaugust's Avatar
 
Location: Oz
Thanks Bundy. Ive PMed you mate.
__________________
'And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'
almostaugust is offline  
Old 06-20-2005, 10:05 PM   #9 (permalink)
Non-smokers die everyday
 
Location: Montreal
Ah, Bundy? I don't know where you got your salary info from, but I'm on JET and it pays quite well. I have my rent subsidized and only pay half (around 30,000 yen) for an apartment in downtown Sendai. The rent subsidy is not a Japan-wide thing, though, each city/prefecture has its rules.

The reason an ALT (Assitant Language Teacher) is never placed in Tokyo or Yokohama (which is considered a Tokyo suburb anyway, except by those who live there!), is because American/English culture already saturates these areas and everyone has easy access to native speakers, as well as a plethora of "eikaiwa" (English conversations schools). Where people REALLY need exposure to English is in all those prefectural "inaka" (farm towns, boonies), where no foreigner thinks of going. It's a challenge, that's for sure, but your Japanese skills go up mighty fast and you live in a very different Japan than an ex-pat parked in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, or any other big city.

Speaking of Japanese skills, my advice for those who come here is to learn hiragana and katakana as quickly as possible (it's not that hard), then purchase a decent kanji exercise book (such as "Basic Kanji"). This will take care of your reading and writing, as long as you back it up with regular exercises. As for common, day-to-day speaking, listening skills, NEVER rely on books or tapes. Get out there and make friends fast. They will teach you the spoken Japanese actually used in the real world. They'll be happy to do it, too, since they'll see you as a free English lesson on legs.
__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.
Bob Biter is offline  
 

Tags
japan, teaching

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:59 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360