I want to teach english in japan. Are there any tips i might of missed?

[tatsuchan18]

Hello! this is my first post here, ive been reading around the forum and stuff and im glad this forum exists.

Anyways, i just recently realized my dream of teaching english in japan. I've always loved anime and japanese culture and i love the society and the people.

Im in school working towards a BA in english. I'm just starting out and i thought a major in english would be the most appropriate one for teaching english in japan. (Is there a better major i could have chosen for this particular field?)

Additionally im also going to take classes on how to teach english to foreigners. and get a teaching license (maybe)

I'm also going to take 4 or more years of japanese classes. (class doesn't start till the 2nd of February tho..im sick of waiting. XS) until then, i have a copy of Rosetta Stone to help me learn japanese. What the program doesn't do though is teach me how to write.

Im a firm believer that if your going to live or even visit a country for an amount of time, you need to at least know the basics of the language. (i get so sick and tired of the spanish people in the U.S. who try and order something from me ((at work)), they don't know any english so their 6 year old child has to translate for them. ugh.)

I've also been looking at the different companies that can sponsor you for a work visa, im not sure which one i'm going to go with yet, but ideally i would like to live in an area where the rent is not to high, where i can bike to school or walk to the train station to get to school, and also be 1 hour or less train distance from tokyo. (as i am a huge anime/manga fan i want to be close to akihabara.)


So BA, learn to teach, learn Japanese, get employed by a company, have them set me up in an apartment sort of close to tokyo.

Is there anything im missing that i haven't considered?

[MMM]

If you are going to be taking Japanese classes for four years, why not get a Japanese major?

[tatsuchan18]

well i thought to be a japanese major, you'd have to know the language really really well. Also, if i end up not staying in japan for the full length of my career i was thinking of teaching english to japanese people who are studying/traveling abroad to the U.S. (so i can be closer to family i guess) Would a japanese degree then be sufficient to teach that sort of thing in the U.S.? That's why i thought an English degree would be better.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by tatsuchan18

well i thought to be a japanese major, you'd have to know the language really really well. Also, if i end up not staying in japan for the full length of my career i was thinking of teaching english to japanese people who are studying/traveling abroad to the U.S. (so i can be closer to family i guess) Would a japanese degree then be sufficient to teach that sort of thing in the U.S.? That's why i thought an English degree would be better.

It depends on the school, but to graduate with a degree in Japanese at my school, you had to pass four years of Japanese with at least a B- in every semester, and take a handful of culture, literature and history classes (I think it was five classes all together).

If you want to be a teacher in the US, you should probably get a degree in education and then a teaching certificate. People studying in the US already have teachers, and people traveling in the US are not looking for teachers.

An English degree may be useful for teaching children, but high school or college level usually requires more.

[tatsuchan18]

ah i see. hrm. maybe ill just stay in japan then. XD