Teaching Kids in Japan
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On and off over the years I've had some experiences teaching English in Japan. I see questions about it from members here at Matador and today, got Tweeted or Twittered, or whatever the hell you call it, so decided it's time to put my two cents worth on paper. There are laws, actually written down in a big book at the Immigration Office concerning English teaching positions. I had a good friend (Who was a classmate of the Immigration Chief) take me downtown to check out the requirements, years ago. We got to sit behind the counter and sip tea while all the other poor foreigners stood in line sweating and dealing with the bureaucrats and their endless paperwork. It's all buried under a pile of other important paperwork I'll never get around to, but what I got at the time was copies of the law, written both in English and Japanese. The laws may have been updated over the past 15 years, but it went something like this: A company or institution sponsoring you as an English teacher (Working Visa) has to pay you a minimum of 200,000 Yen a month. Then, there's all the usual forms, photos, fingerprinting, address verification and a statement that the company will make sure you don't become a ward of the state. Alot of folks are willing to work under-the-table; they may only have a tourist visa or be foreign spouses of someone here working for the US Government and not needing a visa. So, alot of privately owned schools get around the Immigration laws by hiring part-time teachers. No minimum wage, insurance costs, etc,. I've probably taught at 20 different schools over the years and had some great experiences and some that were downright NIGHTMARES! So, when I was Tweeted today about teaching kids, my reply was, "How old, how many and are they supervised by anyone?" MY BEST CLASS: Thirty 20-30 year old single women who liked to pay for my expenses on field trips. BEST KIDS CLASS: 20-30 grade school students supervised by Catholic Nuns (in their penguin suits). WORST NIGHTMARE: Five boys who got dumped in a room with no furniture, windows, or even a working fan. They didn't want to learn English, were unsupervised, literally climbing the walls and I wasn't supposed to beat them ! Moral of the story: Find out all you can about who, what, where, when and why you'll be teaching. If you can, ask someone who has held the job before. Then ask what the pay is and decide for yourself if it's worth your time and talents. |
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I think 8-10 year olds are best for kids' classes, retired salarymen for adults - had a lot of fun talking to those guys.
Good advice here!
Mike, sorry I've been out of touch for a while. I've been offline in the mountains. Think you could write a piece on Okinawa-ben for www.matadorabroad.com? I think it would be a cool piece because Okinawan dialect is so different from standard Japanese...
That'd be fun, Tim. I shoot a camera alot better'n I write. How bout a Pictionary with the English/Japanese/Okinawan under the photos, as captions?
pictionary! might be tough to format, but sure. i think you're a solid writer. wouldn't need much text. just the phrases, with a translation and an explanation of how they're used / where they come in handy.
Useful info, Mike. Nightmares can make great stories later, right?
Probably should put together a 2000 word post on this topic, I actually had a blast in some of my teaching experiences and was paid pretty decent hourly wages. For awhile I ran my own English Conversation classes, right out of my own home, 2 hours a night Mon-Fri and on Friday's I taught the gals how to cook American food like lasagna, tacos and salsa ! Ovens are real small over here, so I invented Bbqd lasagna. Soon, the wife got fat, the economy headed south, all the girls got married and I bought my first digital camera and haven't looked back until yesterday !