Japan

Although there are 3 basic roads to teaching in Japan most recent graduates use to start their teaching careers, the destination in terms of salaries and working conditions are fairly similar.

Teaching English Conversation in Japan “Eikaiwa” The Most Heavily Traveled Road
“Eikaiwa” refers to the teaching of English conversation and it’s billion dollar industry in Japan. These consist of your large chain schools like ECC, Berlitz, Geos & Aeon. They employ thousands of English teachers all over Japan and can be found in all but the tiniest cities. There are literally thousands of “eikaiwa” schools dotting the country side.All of these schools are attempting to carry out the daunting task of teaching English to the Japanese.

What You Need to Teach
You need a 4 year degree from an University to get a job. (2 year degrees won’t cut it.).You need to be a native level fluent speaker of English. There are some that do find teaching jobs in Japan even though English is not their first language but this is more an exception than a rule.

Although there is no minimum wage, most teachers drag in  250,000 yen a month before taxes.Most work weeks will be 5 days. Don’t expect western stuff like weekends off. The “eikawa” business whirs like a motor on weekends and someone has to teach the students right? This means that most teachers work at least one Saturday or Sunday with another weekday off.Most school’s vacation packages are remarkably similar. 2 weeks of paid vacation and a handful of national holidays off is the norm. Of course there will be a bit of difference between how many national holidays any given school observes, but expect 8 to 10 per year. It’s worth noting that ECC has the best vacation package of the monster chain schools and  arguably the  fewest complaints. To see a comparison chart outlining: working conditions, salaries, perks, accommodations, vacations days and recruitment methods for Geos, ECC, Berlitz and Aeon, click here.

You should expect roughly a 40 hour work week. Each school is different but you can expect roughly 20 to 25 actual teaching hours per week with the rest being office hours.Many schools will subsidize your health insurance or pay for it out right. Most office hours get filled by preparing lessons, talking with students and taking class notes. And (depending on the school) some teachers are expected to hand out school advertisments. No joking here folks, by the end of an average day, you’ll know you worked. When the dust settles, your typical teacher workds roughly 40 hours per week.

Huge chain schools, mentioned in the previous paragraph, all have fixed curriculums. What this means is that you’ll be using their textbooks and other teaching materials. For those who don’t have a lot of teaching experience it’s a helpful in reducing stress (there already is quite a bit in adjusting to the culture and learning the language etc.) Those who need to express their creativity in the lesson will probably find it stifling.

Students  assigned to a typical teacher schedule will probably be of all ages. Literally from a mere 5 years of age all the way up to 75. Some schools deal specifically with children  like Amity and Peppy Kids Club. Other  schools like Gaba concentrate on adults.  Because of the competitiveness of this industry, most schools cater to all ages. Most teachers teach children, young professionals and some housewives.

All most all of your large chain schools will provide their respective teachers with some kind of accommodations. This is a very big help as it’s difficult to find accommodations on your own without the help of a Japanese national. And it’s definitely not cheap. But the type provided will vary, you should expect things to be half the size of what you might find in most western countries. In general, furnishings will be a bit sparce as often they consist of departing teachers belongings.