Gap year in Japan - Teaching English

[Pariah]

Hi guys, I've been a bit of a lurker here for a few months and have seen some really helpful advice given out, so I thought I'd try.

I'm definitely having a Gap year (year out between high school and Uni) in Japan and I would really like to teach English there to a) raise money and b) get a much better grasp of the languages, both Japanese and English (everybody's grammar needs help every now and again).

I've been searching around the net and guidebooks and stuff, but almost all the places I see want a University degree before they'll even consider you (i.e. JET org in England).

Are there any Gap year organisations, or simply organisations that would be able to set me up with a teaching placement (or assisstant) in Japanese schools for anything from one month to half a year without the need for a degree?

My Japanese skills are limited, but I've booked myself onto a language course and will study intensely over the next year to be able to do this and visit Japan in 2007/8.

Thanks for any advice or help you guys can give
Alex

[Kstyle]

Hmm, I don't know if there are any organisations of that sort. But I would recommend Evening school for Japanese. Or try do it on your own with books.

Good luck. ;)

[Suiko Eiji]

From what I've heard, prrtty much all organizations that will contract you for a short term teaching stint in Japan (JET, AEON, etc.) all require a Univeristy 4 year degree (we call them Bachelor's in the US, but I forget if European Unis have a different title for them). I don't know the exact statistics of representation but I would imagine that American (US) and Canadians make up most of the JET program in Japan and as far as I know, taking a Gap Year aren't all that common in North America. In short, there may not be a staffing service like JET (or AEON, etc.) that selects people without college degrees simply because there may not be as big a market for it; or, perhaps, finding a reliable candidate in this field would be too cumbersome.

Perhaps looking into some Japanese Eikaiwa directly, explain your situation, and see if they'll sponsor you on the work visa. The worst they can say is "no, thanks" or "piss off."

[Gibb]

Watch out for Kancho!

[greg]

I've never heard of anyone hiring an 18 year old kid to teach English. No offense, but 18 year olds cannot be taken seriously. I was making french fries at your age. I don't think any English school will put someone at your age in the position of being a teacher. There's a lot of cultural ramifications associated with age and the status of being a teacher. Again, no offense. You're more than welcome to unofficially teach private lessons and such under the table if you were on a student visa or something, but it's nothing to get you a work visa.

I don't mean to be a downer, but that's how it is. I had the same dream to be an English teacher in Japan after I graduated high school, and I finally did once I got my degree five years later.

[MIKE123]

This year my school had serious discussions about GAP programs that you can take to different countires. To be frank, I don't remember any of them names of the organizations. But, I do know that you could probably get a GAP placement in Japan, if you tried really hard. Asian countries are always looking for English teachers to help out with teaching English, since it is the main language in the world.

You will most definitely NOT be a highschool English teacher, since you don't even have any sort of English degree, except what you have complete in Highschool(not enough). The more wealthy families usually start their kids at a younger age to help them later on, so they aren't totally lost through Highschool and University. You might be asked to help at an Elementary school if you're lucky.

When I went to Japan, I met a University teacher on a bullet train who told me about these kind of jobs, since I told him I was very interested. One, your Japanese must be close to exceptional. You need to understand the kids your teaching, and the Japanese teachers who will be helping you out, if you get lost after one sentence, you are screwed and fired. You must also know a lot of the Kanji for translations for writing material. Two, you must have knowledge of how to teach English. Sure, you can speak it but do you know how to teach grammar, sentence structure, etc. And, can you apply those to Japanese sentences to make it easier for the students? There's more but this is the base of it all. You may also need to take Japanese verbal and written test.

Apply for a GAP, get in contact with people who can give you better information than me. Better yet, it might be more worthwhile to ditch the GAP program and just go as a homestay, you'd be suprised at how many families love taking foreigners in.

I give props to you for wanting to do this, it might work out, it might not. It's worth a try though, just don't worry too much if your let down. If you want anymore information I'd try just googling around.

[Suiko Eiji]

MIKE123, I have a question, is a gap period, like the OP described above, common in Canada? I've never understood it to be, but my actual contacts with real Canadians is rather limited.

[Schuldich]

Unfortunately one of the major reasons that Japanese schools (eikaiwa or public) require a university degree is to satisfy visa requirements...not because it makes you a better teacher. it's very, very hard to get a visa without a degree if you want to teach, and without even going to college you won't be very helpful to them.

the best i can suggest is make friends with someone going there/already there/affiliated with your high school some how. then maybe you could go over there to visit for a while and intern/volunteer. an american doesn't need a visa if they go for less than 3 months.

[greg]

One, your Japanese must be close to exceptional. You need to understand the kids your teaching, and the Japanese teachers who will be helping you out, if you get lost after one sentence, you are screwed and fired.
Wha--? What kind of job are you describing? What level of English teaching is this? I've never heard of such an unforgiving system.

[MIKE123]

Wha--? What kind of job are you describing? What level of English teaching is this? I've never heard of such an unforgiving system.

They would most likely not do that if you are helping out at Elementary level, but at highschool level, of course they would. It's like a Japanese person coming here with no knowledge of English and trying to teach an English 11 course at your higschool. You must have some knowledge of the Japanese language, not just the basics, you need to know what you're talking about.

Suiko Eiji to answer your question, I'm not sure if it is popular or not. Among private schools here, yes. We've been approached by many different private schools on this matter, for recommendations because we hold many "conference" type meetings with GAP employees. We had people come in from England, Africa, Japan, and China, all looking for people who would be interested in the GAP program. Now, this isn't just teaching English, this can be to help around the community as well, in a variety of areas. It also looks good on your transcript for University that you went out of your comfort zone and helped out in different parts of the world(even if you did skip out on university for 6 months to a year).

[Pariah]

Thanks a lot Mike123 and Suiko Eiji, that's really helpful.

Mike123, you mentioned homestays, I'm not sure what that involves exactly, could you elaborate? And if you know of any organisations which organise this, or any links with information that would be much appreciated.

And to Greg, teaching placements for 18 year olds are fairly common in my experiance. Countries across the world take 18 year old Gap year students on as teachers either in a full time or part time capacity. My brother just got back from 6 months in South America where he worked as a full time english teacher for over a month in Rio.

The fact is, English is such a desirable language that being a native speaker with some knowledge of the local language is often enough to get you at least an assisstant placement.

I don't know how you've been taught foreign languages, but once you reach a higher level (after 1-2 years of study) conversing is generally done as much as possible in the language you'ree learning, with the native language being reserved for questions or difficulties in understanding.

Thanks again
Alex

[Suiko Eiji]

Suiko Eiji to answer your question, I'm not sure if it is popular or not. Among private schools here, yes. We've been approached by many different private schools on this matter, for recommendations because we hold many "conference" type meetings with GAP employees. We had people come in from England, Africa, Japan, and China, all looking for people who would be interested in the GAP program. Now, this isn't just teaching English, this can be to help around the community as well, in a variety of areas. It also looks good on your transcript for University that you went out of your comfort zone and helped out in different parts of the world(even if you did skip out on university for 6 months to a year).

Okay, thanks for the explaination.

And to Greg, teaching placements for 18 year olds are fairly common in my experiance. Countries across the world take 18 year old Gap year students on as teachers either in a full time or part time capacity. My brother just got back from 6 months in South America where he worked as a full time english teacher for over a month in Rio.

To be honest, I would take Greg and Schuldich's advice on a higher level than my own - they've been there and worked in the system.

Greg may have been blunt with his comments, but he's right - there could be cultural rammifications of "just handing out teaching jobs". While I admire your drive to go out and do something (of potential good will) before college, I think you might be barking up the wrong tree. Your brother just went to South America to teach English? I am sure this practice may be common amongst many other "third world"/"developing" nations but Japan does not belong to this, nor do they, how to put this... openly subscribe to internationalism? No, that's not quite right.

What it boils down to is that they have a system and procedure in place and I don't think they are really hurting for qualified English-speaking personnel to warrant changing the system.

As I said before, you might want to try contacting someone directly, but make sure you have Schuldich and Greg's advice close by when you do.

[Prons]

If you get good enough at Japanese to translate anime, I demmand you come translate for my fansub group to hone your skills in both languages!