Quote:
Originally Posted by Compaqmac321
im well aware of all of that, which is why i said that just because i can speak english doesn't mean i can teach it to someone. right now i know a some a few years older than me that graduated from the same school i went to (the university of georgia) that has a degree in international business and now she teaches english in korea. so years of study doesn't necessarily have to take place at all. i was just shocked that they'll allow any english-japanese speaking joe blow off the streets of japan to teach english.
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Ah. Bulldogs, in Athens. Been there a few times when I lived in Atlanta. More of a GT fan myself though...
What we had there was a semantic miscommunication. What you speak of is what I would call a teaching
attempt and sadly, Japanese companies will indeed allow, with the right paperwork, any English speaking individual to attempt teaching. This is usually a degree necessary for the visa, but plenty of companies hire individuals with only spouse visas. Some aren't even native speakers. Japanese ability isn't usually necessary at all.
It's possible to teach younger students without teaching credentials/experience because of internalisation, but if it was possible to teach older students without teaching experience Japanese Teachers of English would not exist. A native speaker would simply be able to handle a classroom entirely by him or herself regardless of what their degree (or whether they have one) was in. With my experience teaching alone at the junior high school level, I am pretty sure that most individuals, even with degrees, could not teach grammar construction in English, let alone in Japanese (which I have done, and continue to do on a regular basis).
I'm not arguing with you, you obviously agree with me, I am just clarifying for understanding.
Momomaggie, good on you! Just the type of people we NEED in Japan are passionate and caring teachers. Like you, this is my career, and it is what I went to school for.