Things to emphasize when applying
Love working with kids, can adjust to living in a foreign environment, always seeking a way to improve your work and open to suggestions, considering a career in teaching English and see this opportunity as a way to begin (even if this is a lie), and serious interest in experiencing Japan, making Japanese friends and learning some of the language would all be good additions to your cover letter. Love working with kids is a big one because I would say that seventy percent of English learners are children. Of course if you are applying for a job teaching business English, this is not going to work so you want to custom tailor each letter to what you feel the employer is seeking.
Also if you are applying to an eikaiwa versus an ALT position, the letter may need to adjust as well. For an eikaiwa you will want to promote yourself as seeking to work with all levels of ability and maybe being flexible to changes in your schedule to adjust to the different needs of your students. As an ALT you want to emphasize creativity, wanting to see how kids in Japan grow up and learn, working closely with Japanese and willing to eat less than delicious Japanese food for lunch everyday. I would save the last one for the interview. Some schools have a kitchen and fix their food there, but others like mine have their food trucked in from a factory that churns out lunch for a bunch of different schools each day.
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Originally Posted by pandayanyan
What sort of portfolio should I put together? Does general work experience help or would they rather just see schooling and grades/reccomendations? It wont be for awhile since im still in college but im trying to get it together fresh that way I have more time to perfect it for em when it counts.
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You basically want to keep it as brief as possible while highlighting aspects of yourself or your background that make you appear like a teacher and master of the English language. Both your cover letter and resume should be no longer than a page. If you were applying for a job at a university or upper tier high school, then you may need a portfolio showing grad school credentials and any publications you have written or co-authored.