What Teaching English in Japan is REALLY like

tell me the pros of cons of teaching English in Japan okay okay prose English teachers tend to have a bad reputation I've heard of it yes because hey guys hi there I'm Takashi from Japan so today I'm going to interview English teachers in Japan so I interviewed someone who is working in the public school aikawa school someone who has their own English teaching companies as well okay let's get started okay thank you for your time where from I'm from Michigan in the U.S I've been in Japan for just about nine years and you teach English right I used to teach English currently I'm still a teacher but I teach at an International School teaching music how did you find English teaching job in Japan first nine years ago um I actually was teaching English in China at the time I taught there for three years also and I heard about the school I first taught at here in Japan through my sister she was also teaching at that school I was able to visit her um and see what her school was like and uh decided I wanted to move to Japan yeah it was through my sister that I found out about my school okay I've heard many story from my friend like you know Finding English teaching jobs through mutual friends or friend friends who already work in the company and is it true is it common in Japan for foreigners like yeah kind of true or at least there's a few few main websites that people use to find English teaching jobs except people from anywhere in the world um and you don't need a connection necessarily but uh a lot of people do find jobs through friends or you know relatives that is a pretty common thing from what I hear the one that I always use which was called gaijinpot.com that one seemed to have pretty good options and I think most of the companies are legitimate I found jobs through Gaijin pop my second job in in Tokyo no sorry my first first job in Tokyo second job in Japan was found through gaijinpot yeah the the job was fine it was a legitimate company and everything so a lot of the time people do have those kinds of you know worries but with the more like established websites the well-known ones you should be pretty much fine what do you think is a pros of a cons of teaching English in Japan specifically just because it's Japan yeah you have any big Pro would be that you get to enter Japan you know you're supplied with the VISA and you can come to Japan that's a big draw for a lot of people you know you're in the country you can explore you can learn a language you can do so many things con of teaching English in Japan is that English teachers tend to have a bad reputation I've heard of it yes because so many English teachers use that as just a way to get in Japan and then have fun easiest way to come to Japan I think it's the easiest way yeah okay a lot of teachers will come to Japan they don't take their job seriously they don't value the students that are teaching they don't value their school they just do the bare necessities the bare minimum to you know fulfill their requirements at work and then they just like go wild on the weekends and like what you want to do in your free time is is that's yours your your thing but um they tend to be the kind of Foreigner that is loud that is like disruptive in public they tend to do all these things that kind of get looked down on by Japanese people and that reflects on the rest of us like all foreigners not even just English teachers but all foreigners in general because I think a lot of Japanese people assume that if you're a foreigner in Japan you're an English teacher another might be that it is a bit more difficult I think to learn Japanese because at your work a lot of schools are like this not all schools are the same but my school you could not speak Japanese with the students right you're teaching them English yeah it makes sense yeah because you're not able to speak Japanese um and you have to tell the students you know stop speaking Japanese in the classroom it becomes like an English environment which is good for the kids but then you aren't provided with opportunities to learn and that's fine like you can take the time outside of your work to to learn Japanese but when you're at work almost 24 7 which is a lot of schools Unfortunately they really work you hard it feels like your whole life is just English English and so you don't get the chances even outside of work to like enroll in a class you know make Japanese friends who can practice a language with you I would come home from work and just be so exhausted I wouldn't want to do anything I wouldn't want to enroll in a class I wouldn't want to go out and explore because I was just so exhausted and so my Japanese level was pretty basic for a lot of my time in Japan those first few years and so I would say that's another con that people don't really think about you get excited to come to Japan and you think oh I'm going to learn the language so quickly and be fluent and you know interact with Japanese people make friends be able to watch anime with no subtitles but it doesn't happen because it's just really difficult to learn language even you know I have a lot of friends who goes to a language school yeah studying Japanese but they don't speak Japanese yet so if you're English teacher in Japan and you don't speak Japanese you know like during the weekdays you know 95 right yeah yeah it's more definitely more difficult yeah yeah and yeah I I kind of wish I had been able to come to Japan as a student as a student yeah that's what so many foreigners do they come as a language student and they learn like a decent amount of language before they move on to work in Japan or maybe they do both they their students and work part-time or something like that but a lot of people don't have that opportunity they just come straight to English five six seven eight nine years down the line you're still struggling to like hold basic conversations with people can we talk about sorry if you don't mind it's okay like is it is it good money just in general teaching English in Japan is taking money or um I think as a first year teacher the money is not great um I think it again it it really depends on where you're at what qualifications you have going into a job a lot of schools require a bachelor's degree that's like the the most basic you know qualification that's going to get you a most like a very basic salary as an English teacher in Japan walking a Japanese public school teaching English five days a week like how much do you get um 210 000 or uh to 230 000 Yen a month that's that's pretty much like average salary just in general in Japan right last question do you speak Japanese in Japanese um beginner [Laughter] uh Sendai when I was in Sunday um okay okay thank you for your time we're from Italy Rome how long have you been in Japan well like total three years but I worked here for two and a half years you teach English right yes I'm an English teacher in Japan I was working for an AK Iowa so like explaining what a kaiwa is all right it's like a school where Japanese people can can learn English through conversation so it's mainly conversation so you have to be very open and friendly in my AK Iowa we only had adults we didn't have children so Japanese adults who want to improve their English they pay akaiwa and then that's kind of screw is it yeah I had I had both like private lessons like one-on-one always with adults and group lessons but like small groups so that you can still have conversation but like small groups like four five six people Max and it's always like extra so usually people who were who wanted to improve to go on a vacation or for their job exactly as a non-native English teacher because I'm Italian it was very it was a little hard for me to get a job even though I have a ba and an M.A oh because you're not native English speaker exactly and like that was a little bit like disappointing because sometimes I feel like if you're a native it doesn't mean that you're a good teacher but I'm a good teacher even though I'm not a native and it was very hard for me to get a work visa when I was in Italy so I had to get a student visa first and then I was able to find a job so that was a little bit tiring but I did it the money you've said like how's the salary I couldn't complain I wasn't Rich if you're just doing that for an Akai where you're not getting rich like hey but you you can definitely get by and like I could travel Etc to me the pros of accounts of teaching English in Japan okay Okay so it's adults and you talk a lot like they have to talk with you for like one or two hours a week you get to know the Japanese culture a lot because at an egg as a teacher you shouldn't be the one who speaks the teach the students should speak so they tell you about their lives their past their like the things they like so you really get close to your students also your students will give you like some random presents like fruit at first I was so like surprised when it was like my birthday and they were like hey here are two peaches here three apples maybe because it's you oh maybe no no they're nice they're nice they're also adults nice so that means like you get access to talk to local people why are you getting paid so that's Pros cons well as I said if you work for a Japanese company sometimes it can be a lot a lot working hours also like not having time off um I had 10 days a year which is not normal in Italy 10 and and sometimes I wasn't able to take off all the 10 days so I could only get like eight and I'd go to work when I wasn't feeling good because I didn't want them to like deduct my days off what's it like learning Japanese why are you teaching English in Japan difficult when your friends know that you're an English teacher Japanese friends uh sometimes you know when you're trying to learn and communication is hard you switch to English like you start in Japanese like hey what did you do today what did you eat and then when you want to go deep it's like yeah I switch to English because they all all of my friends can speak English so I'd say it's a little bit difficult in in the egg guy why you only speak English so you speak Japanese that's my question it is I don't know thank you so much thank you okay thank you for your time we're from I'm from La hi everyone my it doesn't my name's Lena Bambino I am an educator here in Tokyo I teach Mainly Kids I teach at a cram school and I also teach some people privately how long have you been Japan eight years eight years and you'll have Japanese right I'm half Japanese I'm half Japanese and Italian Irish from Los Angeles from La okay you have Japanese passport you don't need to teach English to stay in Japan right it's not like that right no right no so why are you still teaching English like you like teaching English or I do like teaching English I think it's a very rewarding job nothing compares to seeing a kid's smile when they're able to understand me and communicate in English have you thought English adults yes I have but that I know or people that I know of I think in Japan there are many websites or platforms where you can connect with strangers and teach them privately but I'm very uncomfortable putting my information out there and meeting strangers in public even though it's in public because I've seen many people go through some unfortunate I don't want to call it yeah incident sorry I'm very uncomfortable talking about it because I don't want to share too much of their experience but I think it's very important to know the risks that comes with meeting someone one-on-one in the coffee shop or something right yes but yes it can be scary because sometimes I know a friend student got really obsessed with my friend and kind of followed her home she was um able to kind of tell him off but there those situations are pretty common so I feel like like from Japanese guy to like foreign like that yeah yeah so it is common so just know the risks yeah is there anything you need to know before coming to Japan as a English teacher is any other advice you give to someone who just started English in Japan don't just put yourself in a and think that's the only job available because if you look into other jobs there are other jobs available even though you don't speak um Japanese yeah so I say look outside the box that's interesting because I think most of people coming to Japan and using it teaching English because that's the only and easiest way um but absolutely not right so I I love the job but I'm sure not everyone will love it or like it so just keep researching there's a website I forgot what the website is called but you can look up different websites and they do have other options available so make sure to check those out thank you so much thank you for your time away from I'm from England England you teach English in Japan yes that's right okay what kind of what kind of English teaching is it I have my own company and I teach lessons online can you explain your experience with teaching English like when you came to Japan or what did you do first and then how come you ended up you know like teaching pronunciations sure um I first of all I started teaching English in uh School an International School for Children between zero to 16. um and then I started working more with adults and then I created my own company and then started to progress online and then the pandemic so it kind of fitted nicely for me I mean obviously there's so many English teachers in Japan but like not many people have their own company and make money by themselves and then you're the one who's doing right like how did you do it great question yeah yeah so I I before I left my job I created a following online so I began the process of creating a community and my original thing was just to help people but then eventually it ended up helping me with my transition out of my job during in the transition I did 30 40 hours at work and then I also did 20 to 30 hours of my own business so I could build up the the company so when I left I actually transitioned nicely but you already had like your foundation already I I tried to build the foundation before leaving because I have a family I want to be as secure as possible so yeah first you a teacher in international school right how did you get a job in England first or you came to Japan and you find a job or like so I I did teach some people in England English but that was a very individual Case by case uh one-on-one but then when I came to Japan I searched a lot and I tried one other job beforehand and then I moved to a full-time job online I just searched any kind of job search engine but the key one was gaijinpop yeah I've heard of it but like it's quite popular for foreign people who come to Japan I think it's quite popular because obviously it's completely in English so I think it helps a lot of people otherwise there's some difficulties I think yeah teaching English does it help to learn Japanese for you it's great question so you know and maybe I have a slightly more unique situation than most foreigners that come here but I have a family I have two kids and I'm an English teacher and my English teachings teaching is my business not anyone else's so I have to prepare myself and make sure I get enough clients you know so I'm using English a lot especially on social media then at home for my kids I'm speaking in English all the time you know I want them to become as bilingual as possible so is your wife my wife is Japanese and they go to Japanese schools so they're speaking Japanese the only chance is at home so for me it's like 24 7 English but I still those core things that I believe in where you need to be putting in some effort each day even if it's 10 minutes I apply that to myself as well in Japanese so I think it's important to do thank you so much no worries thank you okay thank you for watching so far how was it that was interesting I hope this video will help you if you are planning to come into Japan as an English teacher okay anyway thank you for watching if you like this video click like button please subscribe to my channel and if you want me to make video about specific occupation in Japan like this video please give me the comment to see you next time

Channel: TAKASHii from Japan

Views: 1,586,926

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Id: afZJlrjHpEI

Length: 17min 18sec (1038 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2023