Ok I AM a bit of a go-getter. But some things in life are hard and you have to decide how much you want them. As you must know if you have read anything else on here: I work in Japan as an ALT. Don't let the title fool you. When I teach, I assist in nothing. I have the full class time to make the biggest clown of myself and teach those peanut-eaters (the gallery) as much English as I possibly can. However there is only one of me and 500 of them. Therefore I am spread out quite a bit and cannot be any one grade let alone class's English instructor. (For me in my JHS there are 3 grades, 6 classes per grade and 2/3rds of the grades have split classes, therefore 12 classes in English per grade.)
It is a great job. Let me tell you. I have wonderful students, who really appreciate me and what I do. And they try very hard to communicate with and please me. I have great teachers that I work with and a very helpful and generous company (especially with the vacation time). However, all of this, it was no easy task to acquire.
Many people have the misperception that Japan hires anyone, and that they are always looking for English teachers. This is just not true. First off, when you come here and try to speak to most anyone, they are extremely hesitant to speak to you. And even then will typically do so in very broken poor English. This is because Japan does not have as big of an emphasis on their English program as you might think. Sure they started early integrating it in their school systems, but they spread their teachers thin, having them go to multiple schools and seeing their students only once a month.
What most people do not know, is that there are way more (tens of thousands more) English teachers in Korea. Any given Koreans' English is almost bound to be better than any given Japanese persons. They study way harder there. Almost until 10pm at night. Additionally, I saw my kids, the same ones, 3-5 times a week.
Yes, Japan has marvelously integrated English into almost every useful public system and have become a slight degree more foreigner friendly than Korea in that one aspect. But Korea is catching up. Rapidly.
The point of this, is that Japan English teachers are not that prevalent and if you want to see prevalence, then you should visit Korea. So yes, the Japanese English teachers are a bit renowned. They were the first country to do anything like it, which opened a whole bunch of jobs for people like me. But over time, as more and more people became interested in these positions, they have been able to become selective about who they can choose. Oddly the surplus of interest and the competition of Korea does not mean it creates more jobs for the English teacher. Jobs here are on a slow incline. If you check the stats of foreign teachers in Japan of the years, you will notice a very slow incline, where in Korea is is more like a radical Everest sized spike. As such, actually acquiring a Japan in Japan can be rather difficult.
Many people have the misperception that Japan hires anyone, and that they are always looking for English teachers. This is just not true. First off, when you come here and try to speak to most anyone, they are extremely hesitant to speak to you. And even then will typically do so in very broken poor English. This is because Japan does not have as big of an emphasis on their English program as you might think. Sure they started early integrating it in their school systems, but they spread their teachers thin, having them go to multiple schools and seeing their students only once a month.
What most people do not know, is that there are way more (tens of thousands more) English teachers in Korea. Any given Koreans' English is almost bound to be better than any given Japanese persons. They study way harder there. Almost until 10pm at night. Additionally, I saw my kids, the same ones, 3-5 times a week.
Yes, Japan has marvelously integrated English into almost every useful public system and have become a slight degree more foreigner friendly than Korea in that one aspect. But Korea is catching up. Rapidly.
The point of this, is that Japan English teachers are not that prevalent and if you want to see prevalence, then you should visit Korea. So yes, the Japanese English teachers are a bit renowned. They were the first country to do anything like it, which opened a whole bunch of jobs for people like me. But over time, as more and more people became interested in these positions, they have been able to become selective about who they can choose. Oddly the surplus of interest and the competition of Korea does not mean it creates more jobs for the English teacher. Jobs here are on a slow incline. If you check the stats of foreign teachers in Japan of the years, you will notice a very slow incline, where in Korea is is more like a radical Everest sized spike. As such, actually acquiring a Japan in Japan can be rather difficult.
For Example, let's have a look at my personal experience:
I actually was accepted and hired by the first company I applied to...Interac, for those who need reminding. At first, I didn't hear back for weeks. And the position wasn't even a guarantee when I did finally hear back. In the mean time I made the most of my time and I applied to a few other companies. 45 to be exact.
It is one of those things that I just wanted bad enough. I taught for a year in Korea and discovered I loved the work and the kids, which is crazy since for those who know me, they know I typically want nothing to do with kids. Which is still true! ...Asian kids are just different. And cute. Anyways I wanted to continue that, only in Japan.
Japan is super competitive for jobs and very often only accepts applicants who are applying from within the country, since there are enough of them, English speaking natives in Japan looking for jobs. If you are job hunting and dead set on Japan. Then my advice is to move over to Japan first and then look for a job after. And then get your stuff sent to you. By hiring people who are already in Japan, the companies can often get around not having to sponsor your Certificate of Eligibility for your visa. Not that it is difficult, it is just a nice lot of time and investment into a person to get one. Additionally, they can usually interview people in person when they live in Japan, which is a bonus to them, it gives them a certain amount of security that you will not cancel or run off once you get to Japan. Apparently Japan just doesn't have contracts like Korea and it is very easy to break contracts with very minimal consequence. Basically they are glorified toilet paper.
So if you are serious about applying and finding a job in Japan. It can be done. I actually got more than one offer. And I did it with my preferred placement running against my odds. I wanted, in particular, placement in the Kansai region, which is extremely difficult since so does everyone else. As such, the region can have a nice fat lot of people to pick from. The less picky you are the easier it is for you.
When I told you I applied to 45 places...I wasn't lying.
there is more down there...trust me
I didn't just make all these up, I did this so that I could keep track of the ones I applied to so that I wouldn't reapply to them. Also it helped me to get a good comparison of all the ones I applied to.
Funny story
As an after thought, I decided to include an embarrassing story of one of the places I applied to. What you first need to understand, is that for a lot of these places, you apply by email by sending your resume and cover letter and photo and whatever else they may want of you to a listed email address. They sort through the herds and find the finest goose of the flock. Regardless, in the process, instead of sending my cover letter, I sent this document. YOU WHAT!? Yup. Can't take that one back.
But oddly enough, two or three weeks late, I got a reply from the school. They were most amused, and appreciated my organization and my perseverance. I turned around my situation and got several interviews and a job offer out of the craziness. Though I did not take the offer, it kind of goes to show that...umm...crazy good stuff can happen.
It wasn't until I fully concentrated a full year in applying for a job in Japan that I finally realized how hard it was to get an ALT job from Japan.
ReplyDeleteI was applying on and off for the past 5 years but it wasn't until last year where I concentrated my efforts towards applying in Japan and I finally got in. When it comes to Japan you need persistence, patience and an absolute strength of will.
About Japan and their poor English ability, there is a lot to it. Even their government is blocking itself on truly being multilingual. You can see that by the contracts and regulations that slip by them. But in all honesty, take a look at multilingual countries like those that are in Africa or India. Totally multilingual (not bi... maybe tri but that might be on a bad day). Their use of language is far different. As one Russian ALT told me, in Turkey, why do they speak English? Because if they don't, they WILL die. Well, perhaps he meant economically. This coming from the same guy that said something like, "Why candy coat an English lesson to just fun and games in Japan? When I learned (one of the many languages he had to as a child), I learned it to survive in school/life. Not to have fun." Interesting. But again, this is a hot topic of curious foot shootings of one's self.
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