Learn Japanese Online

Teaching English in Japan can be a worthwhile and rewarding experience. Not so much because of the of the job, more because of the opportunities that Japan can give you. The actual job and enjoyment of the job itself really depends on where you work and who you work for. If you desire to work for a large commercial eikaiwa (English conversation) school then your job will most likely be pretty average. It doesn’t mean the you won’t have fun. Just, the actual job and working conditions are pretty average. Working in Japan as a English conversation teacher is just a job. Don’t expect to be well paid for what you do.

I sometimes think that rather than being a teacher the average Eiakiawa teacher is a part coach part entertainer. Japanese students are very teacher dependent. You have to “baby” students English with simple exercise and drills. Getting them to freely talk and express their opinions is very difficult and at times frustrating. Also, all students have a confidence problem and will never recognize there own ability or improvement. Students will speak negatively of their ability even when they are reasonably fluent. “I can’t speak English very well” and “I’m not good at English” are proclamations you hear all the time. Some Japanese are also ashamed to use there language skills. They hide there skills or again just speak badly of their ability.

English Teachers

Qualified Teachers: Qualified teachers coming to Japan should know that unless you are working at a University your teaching qualification won’t really make you any more important than anyone with a any kind of degree or anyone without a degree. There is just too much demand for teachers. Most companies are solely focused on making money rather than providing quality teaching. Not trying to discount anyone with a degree, but your education and qualification would most likely not prepare you for English conversational lessons in Japan. At most schools you teach 2 to 8 students, usually about 4. The environment is not a like classroom. It is usually a small room where everyone sits down while the teacher coaches students.

NOVA

NOVA: The Eikaiwa Giant finally bit the dust. It was just a matter of time. It actually blows my mind when I think about how large and how much consumer trust the company had. NOVA had about %45 market share of the Eikaiwa School industry. In the year2005, NOVA had almost 500,000 students. It is extremely unfortunate for the 6000 staff who have lost their jobs and haven’t been paid for the last few months. Also thousands, and I do mean thousands, of students have lost a lot of cash. Some students had purchased 3 year contracts and other students had paid for contracts for kids classes for 2008. They will get nothing. However, the warning signs were there for about 6 months. Anyone who joined NOVA in the last 6 months were far too trusting or just plain stupid.

Japanase Universities

University jobs: These are the jobs to get. The money is excellent. I work part time at a Fine Arts university. Admittedly it is not the greatest university out there, but the money is very good. I receive about US$95 for a 80 minute lesson. I can do pretty much what I want. I have no homework or reports to write or anything like like. However, I am required to try and get classes of 15 to 30 students conversing. This is near impossible. When Japanese get together in large numbers they just switch off completely. They say nothing, no eye contact, no facial expressions. I pretty much get zero participation with my students. Forget about the polite diligent student. That is a myth. Students won’t greet me, they roll up 30 minutes late for a class and say nothing, sleep during lessons and never do their homework.

When I think about the industry and the huge demand for teachers and products in Japan it just blows my mind. A culture or society conditioned not to express their inner feelings or thoughts, and in my opinion socially challenged, compared to other cultures or countries, spends millions and millions of dollars on learning English. Students learn English with no real goal in mind, and are often afraid or ashamed to use their English abroad. Learning English is more of a hobby, than about learning a skill in Japan.

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