Letting go
Teaching Japanese adults is winding down to an end. By March 1, I’ll be working full-time from the kangaroo’s office.
All this week, I’ve been informing all my students about my new job. All of them said nice things like, “I’m so sad to see you go!”, “All the good teachers eventually find full-time jobs — they don’t stay in teaching”, “You’re a really good teacher!” and my favourite: “Where am I going to find another one from Singapore?”
I’m so going to miss chatting about Japanese culture and lifestyle. They sort of became friends and I will miss some more than others, especially the chattier ones like Saturday’s fashion executive Mami, Tuesday’s translator Asami, Thursday’s real estate mogul Nozaki, Wednesday’s education business boss Mayuko and Monday’s advertising account manager Takashi. Everyday of the week, I learned something new about Japan and what make the Japanese tick.
On the other hand, I won’t miss explaining vocabulary nor the repetitive grammar exercises. And the ones who are fairly mild in opinion or wait for me to stir up conversation every single minute.
But the reality is, these lovely souls are just a part of one small phase in the scheme of things. Time to encounter new experiences.
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April 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
hello Big Roar,
I’m Benjamin. I’m planning a trip to Tokyo this coming May, June & July. I’m rather ambitious. I’ve been there a couple of times and I wish to find a job and a place to stay.
Are english-teaching jobs easy to find? I reckon I would require some kind of perpetual income whilst I search for a more prospective job in my field of work.
I am also looking for a place to stay. I have seen tokyo apartments’ shared room going for 60,000 ~ 80,000 yen a month. Are there any more affordable ones?
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 am
Hi Benjamin,
Is finding a teaching job easy in Tokyo - yes and no. It depends on your qualifications. If you have a teaching diploma or degree, you would get snapped up. It also depends on which country you’re from — I do see a trend that peeps from the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do find it much easier to land a teaching gig.
The other factor would be — who are you willing to teach? There are many junior high schools and high schools which have a perennial demand for teachers, but are you keen to teach students of this age?
I would advise you to apply for a working holiday visa as the safest bet to work part-time and look for a job. If you can’t, there are two options: take the risk of working on a tourist visa or apply for a full-time position till you have found the job you want.
For a full-time teaching position, it’s best to apply online first, and then if they are interested in you, they would ask you to fly down to tokyo for a face-to-face interview. The whole process from sending in your application to getting the job takes at least three months, so it’s better to get a couple of months’ headstart.
The rental rates you stated are the going rate. The cheaper it is, the further away you will be from the city centre. It’s a trade-off — do you want to spend more money on transport and lesson rent, or vice versa.
Hope this helps and good luck!
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 am
Sorry, I just wanted to add one more thing: if you have a finance, economics, or IT degree, you could teach Business English that is industry-specific. These are the English teaching jobs that are much more lucrative, but the flipside is you need to put in alot more effort and go through some training if you are inexperienced. Some companies have in-house English trainers for their staff and there are teaching agencies that supply such teachers to these companies.