My name is Nick and I am currently teaching ESL in Okayama, Japan. This is my second semester in the MET program.
I am very excited for this unique course because I have spent a lot of time thinking about emerging market trends in the ESL world. I think that most Educators regard themselves as public servants rather than competitive professionals who have enormous potential in the private sector. I am glad I had a few opportunities to teach in the private sector and hope to have more.
Near the end of this course, I will be leaving Japan after living here for 2 years. It has been a fantastic experience but I am ready to go back to Ontario for a little bit before considering another international teaching opportunity. This course will be a great way for me to focus my energies before moving onto the next step.
I look forward to learning something from everybody.
Hi Nick,
Nice to see you again, looking forward to reading your posts and working with you.
Courtney
Hi Courtney,
Nice to hear from you again! I hope you had a good break. I look forward to working with you again as well!
Hi Nick!
I think you will bring an awesome perspective to this course having experience teaching and working in the private sector! I am planning a trip to Japan next August to do street photography and I cannot wait.
Talk soon,
Cheers,
Chad 🙂
Hi Chad,
I don’t have as many years of experience as I would like to have, but I am hoping for greater opportunities in the not so distant future (here in Japan or elsewhere in Asia).
Photography in Japan is interesting! People here often tend to go onto train platforms (there are about a million more of them here then there are in Canada which has few rail lines) and snap pictures of arriving/departing trains. I thought it was a little strange at first, but I am used to it now. The Japanese are very proud of their high-tech cameras. I had the rare opportunity deep into the mountains to take pictures of fireflies with a bunch of photography enthusiasts. Each person had 2 tripod cameras that cost at least a month’s worth of salary. Very friendly people, total strangers fed me like a king that day!
Do you have particular cities in mind?
Hi Nick,
Nice to “see” you again!
Kuljinder
I did a practicum in Japan and loved the experience. I have also heard that the potential for business education, especially in the ESL market Asia is huge! I look forward to your perspectives this term.
Hey Kuljinder!
I’m also glad to see you in this course! All the best as we go forward!
Nick
Hi Jonathan,
The ESL market here is indeed very interesting. Japan has the JET Programme, which I am with, as the government initiative which is rapidly scaling back in this time of austerity. There are 5 or 6 other big player companies that do the exact same thing JET does (puts a foreigner in a classroom), but offers teachers a significantly lower salary.
Outside of the public system there are essentially two routes: the private international schools and the small English conversation schools. My goal is to ultimately end up at a private IB international school where the technology available to educators is top-notch and the salary is unbeatable, but I need a BEd in addition to my advance degree first! I know many people in the English conversation school system. Commission is serious business in those “schools” and more often than not you have to drive to many locations.
You can also get into post-secondary institutions with an advanced degree albeit you would have to stick around long enough to make the necessary connections. From people I have talked to, being an assistant professor teaching ESL is a pretty good gig but the Japanese government recently limited permanent jobs for foreigners to a 5 years.
China and Korea are somewhat similar but there are key differences that I am still trying to wrap my mind around.