Teaching English in Japan

This mans writing and insights into teaching in Japan are so good we are just going to keep going with it.

by Mark Edwards, part 2

Most of the schools teach both adults and children - work as an English teacher in Japan and you'll find yourself educating anybody from the age of two to eighty-two. And it's not just ages that are diverse. I taught housewives, teachers, government ministers, brain surgeons, students, bus drivers, singers, schoolteachers, translators, astronomers, designers and a lot of systems engineers. Some of them need English for work; some study it as a hobby; others for travel or for meeting gaijin (foreigners). Some just want somebody to talk to - the language isn't important, but going to a language school gets them out of the house.

As an English instructor, you'll need to learn to talk about every topic you can imagine - and many you can't - from culture, food and politics to fashion and pop music. Favorite topics include what it's like in your home country, what you think of Japan, and your 'hobbies'. Students are encouraged to talk about their interests - to have natural conversations - but a lot of the lower-level students don't understand sentences like, 'What do you do in your free time?' You have to ask, 'What are your hobbies?' Answers can be - ahem - interesting. Window shopping. Sleeping. 'Driving a car'. 'Watching a movie'. One of my students only ever wanted to talk about dogs.

An average day for a full-time teacher lasts about 9 hours, including preparation time (for which we didn't get paid). You work 5 days a week, usually including Saturdays and Sundays, and can start in the morning or afternoon. At Nova, known by teachers as No vacation, you get 10 days annual leave plus a few days off over New Year, although the other schools are more generous. You don't get public holidays off, nor do you get any extra pay for working them. There's no sick pay. However, teachers are told this before they go - there are no really nasty surprises waiting for applicants; no false promises. You'll be expected to work hard, to dress smartly and be punctual. In return, the language school will arrange your visa, find you accommodation (although they do make a profit from renting you a room) and give you a pretty good salary. Working full time, with no overtime (of which there is always plenty available) I had a disposable income of about 200,000 yen a month (£1000). That's after paying for rent and utilities. Japan might be one of the most expensive countries in the world, but unless you go crazy and eat out every night and splash your cash on a new pair of Evisu jeans monthly, you can live comfortably on that money and save a fair amount.

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