Teaching English in the Far East

BrenOS · 24 Apr 2006 at 13:56

Spoke to a cousin this weekend and she mentioned that a friend of hers had gone to Japan to teach English. She didn't need to know any Japanese, and only needs 'a' degree to go out to do it. No specific training, no teaching experience, just be western and have a degree in anything. This is interesting, as it's clear she's made a fortune in two years and was able to buy a house on her return to Canada. She also had a bit of extra curricular work (curricular in the loosest sense of the word, you don't need to make any lesson plans or take any work home apparantly) where she would meet a group of business men on their lunch and just basically make idle conversation in order to improve their English. Same sort of thing in the mornings going to wealthy families and speaking english while they eat breakfast. She'd pick up equivalent of £50 for 30 minutes chat.

If I did it I'd want to learn Japanese aswell but it's nothing more than a bit of thought at this point. Anyone done it/know anyone who's done it?

theleg · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:13

She bought a house with the money she earned? You sure you heard right?

You can earn a decent amount of money but its not fortunes

You can save more money in Korea but quality of life is better in Japan..

Ukadder · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:17

Friend of mine is currently teaching English in Japan. She used the JET program to do it JET Link I know she loves it and is about to finish her 2nd year.

I think they were very helpful in finding a school for her, timetables and I believe she has been given her own house/flat as part of the program!

thebrasso · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:18

A good mate of mine has just moved out to China to teach English. He's a year older than me (23) and when he was 18 he went out to Nepal to teach English as part of a voluntary scheme.

He said to me that a lot of people who want to do things like this get a qualification, called a TEFL I think (teaching English as a foreign language).

He's in China at the moment, so I can't really ring him but I'll message him on myspace...

BrenOS · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:26

Balddog said:
She bought a house with the money she earned? You sure you heard right?

Not outright, but saved enough for 3 months backpacking in SE Asia and a down payment on a house on her return to Canada.

Cheers for the link Ukadder, and anything other info your mate can pass on thebrasso would be great, thanks

theleg · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:29

BrenOS said:
Not outright, but saved enough for 3 months backpacking in SE Asia and a down payment on a house on her return to Canada.

Cheers for the link Ukadder, and anything other info your mate can pass on thebrasso would be great, thanks

Ah got it...

I know dozens of english teachers out here...most of em are here to pay off their student loans...

if youre prudent you can save about a 1.5 grand a month tax free..

Kamikaze_Pigeon · 24 Apr 2006 at 14:37

Just thought I'd chuck in my 2 yen worth. I work for a kids English school in Japan and in 2 years I've gone from being a teacher to the Regional Performance Manager of West Japan ( basically I manage all the foreign staff in that area)

A few observations that I have made along the way (bearing in mind that this is just from my experience)

1. Japan is not as expensive as people think, in fact, I'd say on balance the cost of living is slightly lower than the UK, it does depend on your lifestyle though.
2. As an English teacher in Japan you can almost guarantee a starting salary of 250,000 yen a month (roughly £1300) - this is below the average wage in Japan although you get an extra 5,000 with our company...sounds a lot? It's about £25

JET get about 300,000 (I think)
3. Japan is not for everyone, and teaching certainly isn't for everyone. I've seen people really suffer badly with homesickness, these tend to be the people who haven't lived from home before let alone visited a country on their own. I've also had to fire people who have taken this job purely to fund a year long "holiday" Whilst it is a fantastic opportunity to experience a different culture, it's still a job and should be taken seriously.
4. At the end of the day you'd be working for a Japanese company, so many of the ways they do things will be very different to what you get back home. Some people adapt to this really well, others don't.
5. I won't sugar coat the job, but for the right people it's a great experience and some of the guys I work with have been here for 5 years +
6. A lot of people do tutor in their free time too and that's were the extra money comes in, technically, for most companies this violates their employment contract but most turn a blind eye....usually

Shameless pimpage of the company I work for follows www.peppy-kids.com, the company is called KTC Gaigogakuin, peppy kids club is the brand.

The name sounds embarrassing I know (they get a lot worse, Lik English school and bing bang bong spring to mind - I haven't made any of those up by the way)