Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
Thank you for the compliment. 
I think I may be able to help you out more with the childcare bit than a lot of the others here. (As I have a child!)
If you have a degree and experience teaching English, you would likely be able to get a *good* job teaching English - ie in a high school, or university - and not be stuck with one of the crappy ones.
As for your son - if he is your dependent and you receive a working visa, it is no problem to get him a dependent visa. If he`s only 4, I have no doubt he`d pick up Japanese in no time at all. As for childcare, it really isn`t *THAT* expensive depending upon the school. At his age, the easiest thing would be to put him into kindergarten and register for a nursery school to pick him up after they are finished. If you`re teaching in a regular school, hours are pretty definite and you would be getting home in time to pick him up from there. Kindergarten is really a flat price depending upon the school, and the nursery schools are based upon your income. There are also daycares that have (at least in our area) competitive pricing who will watch a child until late into the evening. In Tokyo, everything is much higher so I would suggest looking elsewhere if you seriously plan to make a life here.
If all else fails, you could live close to me and I`ll watch him for you!  |
Actually, I think you're in Nagoya, right? I was a student there! And I loved it very much. I'm sure my son would pick up the language pretty quickly. He had just started with his Mandarine when I left my husband, just over a year ago, but dropped after being here a couple of months. I still try to speak to him some, but I'm loosing my tones, and we speak a little Spanish. I'd like him to be exposed to as many languages as possible. He's very intelligent and has a very large vocabulary for a 4 year old! Sorry, had to brag a little.
But changes are very hard for him and I worry that it might be a very big adjustment in the beginning. And might it not be a little hard for me to be a foreign single mother? Do you think my son would face problems because of his race? Everyone might assume him to be half Japanese, which might make him popular, but I do worry.
How old is your son? It would be nice for my son to have a playmate!
It would be nice if we could meet sometime. You sound like you must be pretty young. I'm 35 already! But I bet we have a lot in common.
And thanks for the tips about better employment opps. I understand these positions allow teachers to be treated more professionally, and the hours and pay are better? I'll need to do some more looking into this. I taught at university in Taiwan and it was one of my favorite jobs!
Housecat