English teachers

[MMM]

Originally Posted by jasonbvr

There are not as many, but I know teachers from Finland, Denmark and Tunisia, one non-JET ALT, one JET and one eikaiwa.

They must have expanded the countries they accept from at JET...That's good, I suppose.

[jasonbvr]

And a Ukranian too but he lost his job because he was dull to put it mildly and refused to engage with the school children which is really dumb if you are a school teacher.

[chachava]

Originally Posted by Neffiline

(Sorry for the double post, it seems the forum won't let me edit my previous one.)

Another question:

Are there any ways to go around the 'english must be your mother tongue/first language to be an english teacher in japan/other countries' issue?

I was born and raised in a french canadian family, and then learned english through school. Due to various situations and things that happened in the past 4 years, I've immersed myself in english and it's improved a lot since I graduated from High School. Even thougn my english is far from being perfect, I feel more comfortable speaking and writing in english, though I still use both every day(speak english at work, speak french at home). Would I have to go through some tests/exams? Or would I automatically be rejected?

This might be a stupid question, but why not teach your 'mother tongue' instead of English? Japanese people learn all kinds of languages (one of the Japanese guys who I work with speaks fluent Norwegian for example)

[Neffiline]

Because I feel more comfortable teaching English?

French isn't all that hard to speak once you have the pronounciation of the letters and syllables correctly. That hard part is the grammar and how to spell every word. And also the meaning of the words, for example, for one English word, their could be up to 5 different words(or more) meaning the same thing in French.

Example:

You have the word 'The'.

In French you can use: 'Le', 'La', 'Les'.

Plus the fact that I've been speaking and using English more than my French in the past two years, I feel like it's not as good as it used to be. When I talk with my family or French friends, every sentense ends up having an English word in it. Sure, if I took the time to think about everything I said, it might come out better, but my writing skills have gotten even worse. For people that don't know French, it might look great, but to me, since I've always been around the language it looks horrible, lol.

[typing]

It all depends on which company you go with.

I went with NOVA and well...

We all know how that's turning out *sigh*

My official wage was something like 250,000¥/month
take off taxes, unemployment insurance (HA!), rent, utilities, and a phone bill and I was looking at 160,000¥ take off food about 140,000¥

I was able to save about 1000$/month and have 400$ as fun money every month, (However that's so easy to spend as one night at Karaoke can be between 50-100$, go out every weekend and your moneis gone)

But then it cost me 1000$ to get here (had to pay that back) 2000$ to go home for x-mas and when NOVA went belly up about 2000$ just living while waiting to find out what the hell was going on.

Average hourly is 20-30$ as an english teacher, average rent is about 700-1000$ depending on location, size and roommates, average food cost is 100-200$/month if you cook (double if you don't) average phone bill is 50-100$ same for any other utilities (water, gas, electricity, internet) Average taxes is effin redonkulos.

[typing]

Originally Posted by Neffiline

Because I feel more comfortable teaching English?

French isn't all that hard to speak once you have the pronounciation of the letters and syllables correctly. That hard part is the grammar and how to spell every word. And also the meaning of the words, for example, for one English word, their could be up to 5 different words(or more) meaning the same thing in French.

Example:

You have the word 'The'.

In French you can use: 'Le', 'La', 'Les'.

Plus the fact that I've been speaking and using English more than my French in the past two years, I feel like it's not as good as it used to be. When I talk with my family or French friends, every sentense ends up having an English word in it. Sure, if I took the time to think about everything I said, it might come out better, but my writing skills have gotten even worse. For people that don't know French, it might look great, but to me, since I've always been around the language it looks horrible, lol.

If you're Canadian they acctually generally assume you're bi-lingual already, you have no idea how many people ask me if I can speak French. Blimy I'm from Alberta, I hardly speak proper english. XD

Unless you're applying for something like JET, just lie and say you're "Native"
if you think you can get away with it. Some places like GEOS have grammar tests but if you're already in Japan many ALT jobs (check gaijinpot) don't requite tests, but some profficiancy in Japanese.

[Neffiline]

Well, at the moment I'm not looking to move anywhere. I'm happy where I am at right now and I enjoy my life as it is. Though going to teach english in Japan has been on mind for the past year, I'd like to eventually experience it, that's just why I've been asking questions. I'm a curious person, it just comes out naturally. xD

I was also wondering, how does it work when you get there? I assume they don't just shove you into a class and leave you to your own, right? And, what kind of class can you get? Is it random? Or do you get to choose? Can you only teach to beginners, or are there intermediate classes? Generally are there only young students (12 and younger) or do you get teenagers also?

[jasonbvr]

Originally Posted by Neffiline

I was also wondering, how does it work when you get there? I assume they don't just shove you into a class and leave you to your own, right? And, what kind of class can you get? Is it random? Or do you get to choose? Can you only teach to beginners, or are there intermediate classes? Generally are there only young students (12 and younger) or do you get teenagers also?

All of these questions' answers depend on where you work and what kind of teaching you were hired for. In general...

No, you do some sort of training/orientation first. Then again, you could just be handed some textbooks and a schedule before being asked, "Could you prepare something?" This was my case.

Depends where you work. Gaba has one to one classes, some eikaiwas outsource you to a business, there is the ALT thing, university writing classes, that question is really broad.

Usually you get both types of classes. In some poorly structured eikaiwas you get beginners stuck next to advanced students. In elementary schools you have three kids out of thirty that go to eikaiwas screaming the answers while the others look at you with a blank face. Mixed level classes are pure torture in my opinion.

Your last question is a tough one, but I would say that the majority of eikaiwa students are over 12. However, Japanese housewives who can afford to drop the kids off at the eikaiwa once a week just to be rid of them are quite common. Eikaiwas on the other hand target young learners for a few simple reasons, they are easier to teach because the subject matter is so basic at that level. It is all fun and games. Second reason, if the kid shows progress the parents are going to keep sending them back. Last reason, English is one of the five core subjects taught in Japanese schools and is crucial in how far your kid makes it in school.

[Neffiline]

How did you manage in your situation? I think I'd probably have a panic attack if I was left to myself to decide what kind of class I was going to give.

Is there a way to prevent that from happening? As in, before you 'register' with a program, you make sure that they will provide at least a basic kind of training/orientation.

[jasonbvr]

Since I am an ALT and not an eikaiwa teacher, I was able to look at the work of my predecessor and figure out roughly what I could and couldn't do. For most ALT's it is actually a lot easier because you get an English teacher who can tell you what you need to do or focus on the lessons, but the first teacher I worked with was only a temporary teacher at my school. ALT's learn a lot about what works and what doesn't from other ALT's. Plus, on the upside of things if you screw up as an ALT you just blame it on the Japanese English teacher you work with because afterall, as the name assistant language teacher implies, you are not the one supposed to be leading the class.

However, generally speaking your very few first lessons are going to always be introducing who you are and where you are from. I always suggest that new ALT's make a basic level 45 minute lesson with pictures from home. Twenty minutes to introduce yourself, twenty-five to divide them into groups and play a jeopardy-like game reviewing your intro. Your next class is going to be making them introduce themselves. There are lots of different ways to do this. Say partnered interview sessions followed by the each student introducing the other to you. Or you can do a speech contest where each student writes a short self-intro and gives it in front of the class. That would take about three to four classes. First they write in Japanese and translate as you correct the English(2 classes), next they practice (1 class), and then they give the speeches (1 class).

And there you have it, you have just made it through your first month of teaching English at junior high.