How to become an English teacher in Japan?

Question

What should I major in at college? What college would offer that near me (South Jersey near Philly area)? What should I do?

I mean teaching there permanently.

Answer 1

You can major in anything as long as you graduate with a Bachelors. However Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL or TESOL), English Education, English, or Linguistics are good choices for obvious reasons. Also to prepare yourself, you should probably minor in Japanese or make the effort outside of school to learn about the Japanese culture and the language.

You can apply to the Jet Programme which I think is the most well known. There are other teach English in Japan programs offered by companies such as AEON. But you should definitely be weary of some of these companies as they will sign you up for a year contract, send you to Japan on a paid air ticket and ask you to resign with them in a year. There have been instances where people who have declined the additional contract are left stranded in Japan. This of course is more likely to occur with less reputable companies.

Japan is bulging at the seams with people wanting to teach English. You have to be at the top of your game to have a chance. Learning about the culture looks good to many companies. Also don't be surprised if you are placed far from any major city. Everyone wants to teach in a big city (Tokyo, Kyoto, etc) but this of course crowds the job market.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can teach English in Japan with a bachelor degree in any field as long as you're not psycho. People want to know that you are educated and that English is your native language, or at least that you are fluent in English.

If you really want to pursue English teaching in Japan as a career, then you might as well major in English and go for an actual teaching degree. Check your local schools personally to find out what sort of TESL courses they provide.

That will get you off to a good start in Japan. If you really want to live there and teach for a long time or permanently, you should take Japanese lessons now too.

If you're fairly wealthy, you might want to consider actually living in Japan now and going to university there to end up with a Japanese university and teaching degree. This would give you something that almost no foreign-born teacher in Japan has: the power to work as a teacher in the public school system (i.e. not as an assistant).

Answer 3

You can do it with a degree in anything.

However you say you want to do it permanently and that is something you seriously need to review.

A lot of teachers "burn out" after 2-3 years. English "teaching" has a very high turn over rate. Also, teaching english in Japan is not as great as it used to.

NOVA which was once the largest employer of English teachers, and the largest English conversational school, went bankrupt, this left over 4000 teachers out of the job. A new company has taken over management but has only hired back less then half. So at the moment there's some 2000+ unemployed English teachers.

English teaching, good for a short term to mid term, not so great for the long term.

So hopefully if you plan on the long term, learn Japanese fluently so you can move on careers. English teaching might be the foot in, but have some skills in something else.

Answer 4

I took a few English 'conversation' classes when I was in college.
Teachers and professors of those classes were all from English speaking countries, mostly US and UK.

If you want to teach English permanently, you may want to try teaching in college or university.
In that case, probably English (and Japanese) major would help a lot, I think.

Answer 5

A masters in TESOL is the best ticket, it doesn't really matter about what the undergrad degree is.